The power of ritual
I’m not big on superstitions. I don’t have lucky socks, and there are no periods of life in which I’ll avoid showering to enable something good to happen.
But I do have one exception. It’s a habit I started almost two decades ago, right before my wedding ceremony.
A few moments before every major appearance, important meeting or speaking opportunity, I close my door. I take a deep breath. And I watch the cold open of the 2001 West Wing episode “Bartlet’s Third State of the Union.” Not the whole episode. Just the cold open.
I’ve probably watched this clip 30 times, and it still gives me chills. Writing. Direction. Leadership.
It’s a collection of scenes leading up to the State of the Union address. The press secretary goes over the schedule at the podium. The chief of staff is in the car with President Bartlet. The speechwriters are applying the final touches. The President arrives at the Capitol, ties his shoe and crosses himself in front of the House Sergeant at Arms.
“Mr. Finney, will you tell the Speaker I’d like to see him, please?” Bartlet asks, in more of a statement.
The Sergeant at Arms thunders, “Mr. Speaker, the President of the United States!” He throws the doors open, Bartlet’s face is flooded with light from the chamber… roll credits.
The only words of the address we hear are from the speechwriters, and they’re totally unremarkable. “... setting aside our partisan blinders and abandoning our ideological entrenchment.” The content of the speech itself is totally unimportant for the clip. It’s the TV version of a movie MacGuffin. And the scene is historically inaccurate to boot. The President never walks alone into the House chamber, followed by his staff. They’re flanked instead by a delegation from Congress. But that doesn’t matter.
What matters, from the motorcade to the handoff to the silent prayer, is this: no person is an island. You are there, in front of this awe-inspiring challenge, because of others. Your nation. Your staff. Your parents. Your team. You’re taking all of them in with you. And yet the responsibility for avoiding missteps is ultimately yours. You must tie your own shoes.
Months of preparation, leading to weeks, to days, to hours and then to moments. And at the end of it all, the doors are thrown open to bright light, and the whole world is watching.
Your moment has arrived. What will you do with it?
Cover image: NBC