Rituals can help us to forge winning teams, heal families experiencing grief and encourage us to rise to challenges, big or small. Now it’s time to create yours.

Think of the quirky traditions that you keep up with your friends. Or the unusual ways that you and your family mark special occasions. Or the gifts that your partner gives – and what you’d think if they’d bought the same for an ex. These are rituals: practices that are imbued with symbolic meaning. And they have the power to turn black-and-white moments into technicolour.

In this livestream talk, renowned Harvard behavioural scientist Michael Norton will demonstrate how turning everyday habits into rituals can improve our work, our relationships and our lives.

Along the way, Norton will share stories from sporting superstars (Serena Williams always bouncing the ball five times before her first serve), million-dollar companies (Zipcar urging staff to destroy their old desktops with sledgehammers) and ordinary people (inventing their own “ritual signatures”), who reimagine everyday moments, build camaraderie, and spark joy.

Join us to explore the difference between habit, rituals and compulsion, and ensure that rituals work for you rather than against you in your everyday life.

Tickets to this livestream event are free for members of How To +.

Praise for Professor Michael Norton’s The Ritual Effect:

‘If you are looking for purpose, better family dynamics, or simply a happier life, Michael Norton just might be the answer.’ – Arthur C. Brooks

‘The Ritual Effect opens our eyes to the rituals we already perform—and the ones we can choose to create—which have the remarkable power to infuse the mundane with meaning and emotion.’ – Angela Duckworth

‘Brilliant . . . A really great guide to bring meaning into the everyday.’ – Philippa Perry