Athletes use similar strategies to get themselves in the mind-set to perform. During my baseball career, I developed a specific ritual of stretching and throwing before each game. The whole sequence took about ten minutes, and I did it the same way every single time. While it physically warmed me up to play, more importantly, it put me in the right mental state. I began to associate my pregame ritual with feeling competitive and focused. Even if I wasn’t motivated beforehand, by the time I was done with my ritual, I was in “game mode.”
You can adapt this strategy for nearly any purpose. Say you want to
feel happier in general. Find something that makes you truly happy—
like petting your dog or taking a bubble bath—and then create a short
routine that you perform every time before you do the thing you love.
Maybe you take three deep breaths and smile.