There’s a reason militaries train drills, martial artists bow before stepping on the mat, and serious lifters follow the same barbell warm-ups and setups every rep: ritual anchors action.
Every time I approach the snatch or clean and jerk, my warm-up is identical. But more importantly, before each lift, my mantra is the same: strong, smooth, execute. Strong off the floor. Smooth through the transition past the knees. Execute the finish as fully and explosively as possible. That’s not superstition, it’s neurological priming.
And it’s not because rituals are magical but because they’re neurological.
Your brain craves predictability. When you repeat a behavior in the same context, you create neural pathways that make the action automatic. Decision fatigue drops. Willpower becomes irrelevant. The ritual does the thinking for you.
Routines are what you do. Rituals are what you become. And what you become is what earns you success in everything you do.
As we move into the tail end of the year, that time when holidays, social demands, stressors, and schedules swirl into chaos, it’s tempting to believe our nutrition, training, or recovery practices must go on pause.
That belief isn’t just unnecessary, it’s counterproductive.
What keeps progress intact isn’t perfection; it’s persistent, ritualized behaviors that stabilize and center the day, no matter what’s going on around you.
Build the Day on Behavioral Anchors, Not Outcomes
When people ask me how to stay consistent in “real life,” they usually mean: how do I not fall off the wagon when life gets chaotic?
The answer is simple: build it from the inside out.
Here are four anchors that form the bedrock of consistency:
- Movement Before Screens:
It doesn’t have to be a full workout. But 5–10 minutes of movement (walk, stretch, bodyweight flow) before checking the phone, laptop, or email changes the tone of your entire day. Why? Because you’ve claimed the first decision. You’ve told your nervous system: I control my attention, not my inbox. That psychological win compounds throughout the day. - Hydration Habit:
A full glass of water (ideally with a pinch of sea salt and lemon if you don’t get enough salt in your diet) within 10 minutes of waking kickstarts your digestion, cognitive function, and blood pressure regulation, before that first dose of coffee. - Protein-Priority Breakfast:
Especially when life gets hectic, humans skip meals or over-rely on convenience. Anchoring your day with 30–40g of protein early (eggs/egg whites, Greek yogurt, turkey sausage, et cetera) improves neurotransmitter production and blood sugar regulation for hours. This isn’t bro-science, it’s biochemistry. Protein provides the amino acids needed for dopamine and serotonin synthesis. Skip breakfast, and you’re running on cortisol and caffeine until lunch. That’s not energy. That’s borrowed time. - The 3 pm Prep Pulse:
Set an alarm. Use it as a check-in: have I eaten enough? Do I need to prep dinner? Can I cut back on caffeine now to improve my sleep later? It’s not a full pause, just a quiet calibration. Most people crash in the afternoon because they’re reacting—grabbing sugar, slamming coffee, pushing through. The 3 pm pulse is proactive. It’s a moment to course-correct before the evening gets away from you.
None of these is radical. That’s the point.
The fitness industry profits from extremes. Thirty-day challenges. Transformation programs. Biohacking protocols that require a PhD and a trust fund. More complexity means more products to sell, more content to consume, more reasons to feel like you’re not doing enough.
But rituals win because they’re repeatable. And what’s repeatable is sustainable. And what’s sustainable is what actually changes your life.
Field Notes: Coaching in the Chaos
A few years ago, a CrossFit athlete of mine was juggling a full-time job, coaching mornings, and training for her first comp. Time was tight. Energy was tighter. She came to me overwhelmed, trying to follow a six-day training split, meal prep on Sundays, and track macros down to the gram.
“I’m doing everything right, but I feel like I’m failing,” she said.
The problem wasn’t effort. It was sustainability. So we simplified everything down to three non-negotiables:
- Never skip breakfast (30g protein minimum)
- Get one quality training session per day as prescribed (not six mediocre ones)
- Set the coffee pot timer at night as a small win (and a moment of morning Zen)
That’s it. No macro tracking. No six-day splits. Just three rituals she could execute even on her worst days.
It wasn’t flashy. It was ritualized. She podiumed in her first comp three months later. Not because the rituals were magic, but because they were repeatable.
Full transparency: we also got her front squat, deadlift, and strength endurance up during that time. But here’s the thing, the PRs didn’t come from complicated programming. They came from consistent execution. Higher protein intake and quality training sessions made both the podium and the PRs possible. The rituals created the conditions for everything else to work.
Chaos Is the Test, Not the Excuse
Everyone can follow a plan when life’s calm. But performance, in sport, work, or life, is forged when conditions are not ideal.
Chaos doesn’t care about your goals. It doesn’t wait for January or “when things settle down.” Chaos is constant. Which means your rituals must be too.
The path forward isn’t motivation. It’s not willpower. It’s intentional design backed by disciplined repetition.
As the holiday season ramps up, resist the all-or-nothing mindset. Build your day on anchors, not apps. Choose a few small rituals, do them well, and repeat them until they’re part of who you are, not something you have to remember to do.
Then repeat them until you can’t get them wrong.
Consistency doesn’t come from a spreadsheet or a thirty-day challenge. It comes from rituals that show up for you when everything else is falling apart.
The reward isn’t external. It’s internal. And that’s something worth protecting.
Matt Shannon, Security Pro 