EN

◫ Career

Backpack ritual for your first day at a new job

The first day at a new job mixes excitement and nerves: unfamiliar faces, names to remember, tools you have not mastered yet. Packing your backpack or bag the night before is a practical gesture that, done with intention, becomes a small ritual of beginning. This ritual helps you arrive with what you need, with an open attitude and the confidence that nobody has to know everything from the very first minute.

By the Cardaluna editorial team · Updated

In short: The first day at a new job mixes excitement and nerves: unfamiliar faces, names to remember, tools you have not mastered yet. You need 4 simple items and 5 steps. When: The night before starting a new job, a different role or a new team.

When to do it

The night before starting a new job, a different role or a new team. The new moon and the waxing moon are traditional phases for beginnings.

What you need

  • Your work backpack or bag
  • A small notebook and a pen
  • A water bottle and a snack
  • A small object that cheers you on (a stone, a photo, a note)

Step by step

  1. Empty the backpack completely and wipe it clean inside. Imagine you are leaving the worries of your previous stage outside.
  2. Pack the practical things: any documents you were asked for, charger, water, the snack and the notebook. Check your route and the time you need to leave.
  3. On the first page of the notebook write: “today I come to learn”, and below it three questions you would like to ask on your first day.
  4. Put the encouraging object in an inside pocket and say: “I carry what I know and I open myself to what I will learn.”
  5. When you get home, note in the notebook the names you remember, one thing you liked and one question for tomorrow.

Safety first

These rituals are symbolic. Do not ingest herbs or oils, ventilate the room when burning incense or herbs, and never perform a ritual to harm or control anyone.

To finish

The first weeks are for observing, asking and making mistakes without drama: nobody expects you to know everything. Go to bed at a sensible time, bring water and a snack, and never share passwords or personal data outside the company’s official channels. To keep growing in your new role, pair it with the compass ritual or the bamboo ritual.