Routines are helpful in keeping a steady rhythm with things that are important or helpful. Daily running, meditation — a blogging practice — those sorts of things.

Rituals are the same, yet different. With routines, similar activities are typically grouped together and are incorporated into your daily schedule. Rituals, on the other hand, focus on a specific activity at a time. And they’re often done less frequently but held to a particular time and place.

This is a generalization, of course. There are many people who consider their morning routines to be a ritual, and vice versa. For me, a routine is something designed to be on autopilot — a way to build habits. Rituals should not be automatic. There should always be a conscious effort.

I don’t know if I have any specific rituals at the moment but there are several things that I would like to turn into rituals.

One is focusing on the state of my office at the end of the day. Because my office is used for both personal and work activities, throughout the day things can get a little cluttered and messy. I rarely tidy and organize everything until I notice how out of place everything is.

And after I do, the next morning when I sit down to work, there’s something different about the vibe. It’s more than just clean, it’s fresh and inspiring.

I think this would be a good place to create a new ritual. When I’m done in the office each day, I’ll spend 15 minutes tidying things up, putting books back on shelves, and reorganizing my desktop.

I’m curious to see if ritualizing this process will have any lasting effects.