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Purposeful Mini-Rituals

Summary

The episode challenges the common abstraction of career purpose as a distant goal or position. Instead, host Jonathan Cottrell argues that true purpose is found in connecting meaningfully to one’s day-to-day work. He frames this as a “stealth goal” of the show: to help developers care about and focus on the work they are doing right now.

To bridge the cognitive gap between the grand concept of purpose and daily tasks, Cottrell proposes a practical exercise: developing a single, small ritual that takes just five to ten minutes. This ritual should be sustainable and repeated for at least a month. Examples include journaling, meditating, making one small code improvement, or sending a thank-you message—practices that can be self-reflective, practical, or outwardly focused.

By consistently building meaning into these small daily practices, the host suggests a shift in perspective occurs. Meaning becomes less about a far-off vision and more about how one treats their time and cultivates their perspective in the present. The ritual serves as a tangible tool to address the gap between one’s current state and their sense of purpose.

The episode concludes by encouraging listeners to ask themselves difficult questions about their purpose and to use these mini-rituals as a pathway to finding answers. Cottrell reiterates the show’s dual mission of helping developers connect to their purpose while also becoming technically better at their craft.

Recommendations

Practices

  • Daily Journaling — Suggested as a potential five to ten minute ritual for self-reflection and building meaning into the day.
  • Daily Meditation — Presented as another example of a small, self-reflective ritual that can be incorporated into a daily routine.
  • Daily Code Review & Small Improvement — A practical ritual for developers: taking five to ten minutes to look over code and make one small improvement, which over time leads to drastic skill improvement.
  • Sending Thank You Messages — An outwardly focused ritual example: taking time to send a message of gratitude or reconnect with someone.

Topic Timeline

  • 00:00:00 — Introduction to daily routines and rituals — Jonathan Cottrell introduces the concept of daily rituals and traditions, distinguishing between universal acts like breathing and personal routines we build. He states the episode’s goal: to discuss how to build meaning through small rituals. He introduces himself and the podcast’s mission to help developers connect to their career purpose.
  • 00:01:06 — Redefining career purpose for the present moment — Cottrell critiques the common view of career purpose as a distant plan or position. He clarifies that the show’s focus is on finding purpose in day-to-day work, not just achieving a future goal. He connects this to recurring themes on the show like mindfulness and focus, emphasizing the importance of caring about your work in the present second.
  • 00:03:00 — The practice: developing a single small ritual — The host presents the core practice: adopting a new, small ritual that fits within a five to ten minute tea break. He provides examples such as journaling, meditating, making a small code improvement, or sending a thank-you message. The key is that the ritual should be something sustainable that you can connect personal meaning to.
  • 00:04:22 — Commitment and the shift in perspective — Cottrell asks listeners to commit to their chosen ritual for at least one full month. He explains that as meaning is built into these daily practices, the understanding of purpose shifts. It becomes less about a grand, long-term vision and more about how you treat your time and cultivate your perspective in the here and now.
  • 00:05:13 — Conclusion and call to action — The host encourages listeners to ask themselves difficult questions about their purpose and to use rituals to address the gap between where they are and where their purpose lies. He thanks the audience, reiterates the show’s goals, and teases more technically practical episodes in the future, ending with the show’s signature sign-off.

Episode Info

  • Podcast: Developer Tea
  • Author: Jonathan Cutrell
  • Category: Technology Business Careers Society & Culture
  • Published: 2018-09-14T09:00:00Z
  • Duration: 00:06:07

References

Podcast Info

Transcript

[00:00:00] No matter who you are, there is something that you do every day.

[00:00:11] And it’s not something that necessarily everyone else shares, although there are certainly

[00:00:17] a list of things that we all do every day.

[00:00:19] We all breathe every day and those who are able, most of them at least, walk every

[00:00:26] day.

[00:00:27] We likely eat every day.

[00:00:30] These are things that we always do.

[00:00:31] But there are other things that we build into our routines.

[00:00:37] And some of these things have more meaning than others.

[00:00:41] These traditions, these rituals that we have, they can be incredibly important to

[00:00:46] our lives.

[00:00:47] We’re going to talk about how you can build meaning through small rituals in today’s

[00:00:53] episode of developer team.

[00:00:54] My name is Jonathan Cottrell.

[00:00:55] You’re listening to Developer Tea.

[00:00:58] My goal on this show is to help driven developers like you connect to your career purpose so

[00:01:02] you can do better work and have a positive influence on the people around you.

[00:01:06] And one of the things that we don’t often focus on is how to take this idea of incrementally

[00:01:14] seeking your purpose, your career purpose, and acting on it.

[00:01:19] If you ask someone what their career purpose is, most people will talk about a position,

[00:01:25] some kind of distant plan that they have.

[00:01:30] And they don’t really know exactly how they’re going to get there.

[00:01:32] Maybe they have some steps completed on the path to that thing becoming a reality.

[00:01:40] But the point of purpose as it relates to this show and the things that I want

[00:01:46] to help you find for yourself is not achieving some goal, although that may come

[00:01:53] as kind of a byproduct.

[00:01:55] But instead to find purpose in your day-to-day work.

[00:01:59] This is kind of the stealth goal of this show is to help people connect to their

[00:02:06] work today, not just find some kind of passion to seek after for the long run,

[00:02:13] but also for the present moment.

[00:02:16] We talk about this a lot on the show.

[00:02:17] We talk about mindfulness and we talk about being in the present moment, caring about

[00:02:21] your work, focusing.

[00:02:23] All of these things have to do with your purpose as it relates to the work you’re

[00:02:28] doing right this second.

[00:02:31] But this can be a big cognitive barrier and probably is for most people.

[00:02:36] To talk about purpose is, it seems, like a grand concept, like a big concept.

[00:02:43] Something that we can’t really wrap up into a single moment, into our day-to-day

[00:02:48] work.

[00:02:49] We abstract purpose away from what we’re doing.

[00:02:54] What I’d like to do is encourage you to adopt a new practice today.

[00:03:00] You can kind of think about this over the weekend, since this episode is releasing

[00:03:03] on a Friday.

[00:03:05] Maybe you can think about what your ritual will be, but here’s the practice.

[00:03:10] Develop a single, small ritual.

[00:03:14] When I say small, I mean something that can fit even inside a tea break, right?

[00:03:20] The five to ten minute ritual that you can connect meaning to.

[00:03:27] For example, the ritual may be as simple as every single day for five to ten

[00:03:33] minutes, you take that time to journal or meditate.

[00:03:38] These are kind of self-reflective things.

[00:03:41] Or it may be even more practical than that.

[00:03:43] Maybe you take five to ten minutes to look over your code and make one small

[00:03:48] improvement.

[00:03:50] If you make one small improvement to your code that you otherwise wouldn’t have made

[00:03:55] and you do that every single day while you’re working this year, you’re going

[00:03:59] to become a drastically better developer.

[00:04:03] Or maybe your five to ten minutes is outwardly focused.

[00:04:08] You take some time to send a thank you message or a message to someone that you

[00:04:13] haven’t talked to in a while.

[00:04:16] Whatever your ritual is, I want you to find something that you can sustainably

[00:04:20] repeat.

[00:04:22] I don’t want you to change this ritual for at least a month.

[00:04:28] That’s kind of an arbitrary goal, and hopefully you’ll find rituals that you

[00:04:31] can keep longer than that that are more valuable to you than just keeping

[00:04:35] them for a month.

[00:04:36] But I want you to commit, if you’re going to participate in this, I want

[00:04:40] you to commit to doing this for a full month.

[00:04:45] As you begin to build meaning into your days in these five to ten minute

[00:04:50] ritual kind of practices, what you’ll realize is that meaning is far less

[00:04:58] about that grand vision, that long-term vision, some far-off goal, and much

[00:05:05] more about how you treat your time.

[00:05:09] It’s much more about how you cultivate your perspective.

[00:05:13] I encourage you to take the time to ask yourself difficult questions about

[00:05:19] your own purpose, and to develop rituals to address the gap between where

[00:05:25] you are and where your purpose is.

[00:05:30] Thank you so much for listening to Developer Tea.

[00:05:32] Once again, this show is about helping you find your purpose, but we’re

[00:05:36] also about helping developers become better at what they do.

[00:05:39] And so in future episodes, perhaps even next week, we might get a little

[00:05:45] bit more practical, specifically more technically practical with

[00:05:50] upcoming episodes.

[00:05:51] So I encourage you, if that’s interesting to you, go ahead and

[00:05:54] subscribe in whatever podcasting app you use.

[00:05:56] Thank you so much for listening, and until next time, enjoy your tea.

[00:06:06] Thank you.

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