Stability Through Ritual
Inspired by on Lenny's Podcast
In chaotic environments, stability comes from ritual and common practices - not from everything going smoothly.
Claire Hughes Johnson observes that high-growth companies are inherently chaotic. What creates stability isn't the absence of chaos - it's 'ritual and common practices that you share. We set quarterly goals. And that's a ritual, and that's a thing we do, and it's actually a source of stability.'
Parenting is chaos. Nothing is predictable. Sleep regressions, tantrums, growth spurts, changing preferences - it never stops. You can't eliminate the chaos. But you CAN create islands of stability.
The bedtime routine isn't just about getting your kid to sleep. It's a ritual. Bath, teeth, two books, lights out. Every night. Same order. That predictability isn't boring - it's stabilizing. When everything else is spinning, the ritual is solid ground.
Mealtimes together. Saturday morning pancakes. Sunday walks. These aren't optional extras. They're 'the way we do things' - and that phrase itself is a source of stability.
In chaos, the ritual holds. Build rituals worth holding onto.
PM Theme: Operational cadence / process
Parenting Theme: Creating stability through routine
“Where stability comes from is in ritual and in common practices that you share. So we set quarterly goals. And that's a ritual, and that's a thing we do, and it's actually a source of stability.”Claire Hughes Johnson · 00:44:52
“Picture yourself sort of spinning out of control. You think, how do I come back to this is the order I do things, this is how I get decisions made, this is how we make plans.”Claire Hughes Johnson · 00:44:52
