I was through the first draft of this book when I realized I would need a Chapter 0—and that it would be about our ritual at Rakuten of cleaning our workspaces.
There is quite a bit of good advice in this book. But if you only take away one idea, I hope it will be this one: Make sure you clean your office by yourself.
I don't mean set a time for the janitorial staff to come by. That's a different issue. I mean: clean your own workspace. It is a ritual that I believe is a crucial building block of professional success. Sometimes, it is the most basic of rituals that allows us to achieve greatness.
Every week, at the same time in the morning, everyone at Rakuten cleans his or her workspace. We take out the rags and spray bottles. We clean off our surfaces. We pick up any trash. We get down on our hands and knees and polish the legs of our office chairs.
When I say everyone, I mean everyone. You will find me doing this chore every week, without fail.
Why?
It is a question I am asked often, since it's not common for everyone in a company to engage in this behavior. We do it because I know it's important. In fact, I know it's critical to our success.
Like many company rituals, this one started in the earliest days of our company. That's when Rakuten was just a handful of people in a single room, trying to start something big. Every week ...
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