Is your preparation ritual more trouble than it's worth?

On an episode of the Graham Norton Show, Graham asked his guests about preparation rituals. Here's Josh Groban's response:

"I used to have some crazy pre-performance quirks. I've decided to get rid of all of those because I'm the personality type that if decide that I'm going to start needing things before I go on stage, it's just going to escalate to the point of being completely intolerable.

In the first two or three years of my career, I decided in my own crazy mind that I couldn't go onstage unless I had some kind of patterned or colored socks and underwear. I know, it sounds crazy, but I could not have white underwear or socks. I just thought if I go out onstage in white socks and underwear, it's gonna be the worst show I've ever had in my life. So I would actively find polka dot underwear to wear onstage."

As former professional basketball player, speaker and life coach Fran Harris told me when I interviewed her about her pre-performance rituals, "Honestly, a ritual can cripple you as much as it can aid you in succeeding. So, I try not to get obsessive about anything but just to develop the skills necessary to perform."

Do you have a specific preparation ritual when you speak, play a sport or perform? Have you ever found your ritual to be more trouble than it's worth?

See my preparation rituals series here.

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