Brilliant performers in any field often have rituals or practices that they fall back on to help them perform consistently at their peak. When you are charged with doing complex work every day, rituals can bring order to your world and help you focus more effectively. If you want to deliver a result consistently, you must systemize it, and that’s precisely what a ritual does.

However, the danger of rituals is that they can remain in your schedule long after they have stopped serving their original purpose. Worse, they can begin to work against your ability to be effective.

While I believe that high-performing people and teams must have strong rituals in their life to support their goals, I also know that these rituals must be examined on a regular basis to ensure that they aren’t becoming fossilized ruts. Here are a few suggestions for shaking up your rituals before they stall your progress.

This episode originally appeared as an article in my column at Inc.

Also, hear the Adaptive Rhythms re-mix by DJ Z-Trip here and the original episode here.