Whether it’s in business or your personal life, your habits can speak volumes. What makes someone a great leader? These habits are the things that pulled them there.
What is a habit?
A habit is a regular behavior you follow. It’s something that gets repeated over and over again without any change or variation. You don’t have to tell yourself you’re going to do something, you just do it automatically.
You can start any habit of your own at any time. As long as you pick something that has value and that you enjoy, there is no better tool you can use to be successful in life.
Here are the 5 habits I’ve developed and used to be successful:
1. Focus on short-term goals
Just like in some areas of your life, there is no need to have a long-term goal. Why? The effort it takes to make a long-term goal will consume you and won’t help you have any long-term success. When you set short-term goals you know you’ll achieve your goal in the short term.
The habits of successful leaders
1. Successful leaders continuously improve themselves
The great ones stay curious about new challenges.
No matter where they are, they always want to be better.– Steve Jobs, Apple
2. Successful leaders are always on the lookout for ways to become better versions of themselves.
Here are a few tips for improving yourself:
3. Successful leaders never settle
“So far as I can remember, I have never settled on anything, but instead have sought to find the next thing.”– Chuck Burt
When you decide to do something, do it wholeheartedly. Don’t half-ass it. You will meet many people along the way that will question your abilities, but you’ll only meet one that will encourage you.
Why good habits are so important?
Growth in life and work requires habits that support high performance and accountability.
For high-performing employees, they need habits that are personal, measurable and actionable. These are the most important habits that will be the most reliable predictors of high performance in your life and work.
Employees have complex needs and priorities. One of them is that their work can become all-consuming and their private lives suffer. Habits that enhance high performance are often the opposite of a disruption of your private life. A new opportunity or challenge often requires you to change. For example, if you are about to make a career move, you may need to leave a job you love. Your habits need to support this change. They need to be comfortable with change.
How to develop new habits?
Your habits, however good they are, are only a starting point. Your goal should be to develop better habits. The better habits you have, the stronger you’ll be as an individual and as a leader. It takes time and effort to change old habits into better ones.
To make good habits a habit, it’s best to break them down into small steps. Here’s how you can do that.
1. Set goals and focus on the day’s work first.
2. Avoid multitasking.
3. Take your time. Don’t rush through any decision. Make sure that everything is done properly.
4. Slow down. Time is valuable. Make sure that you’re not on a treadmill that’s always running.
5. Avoid distractions. Try to focus on the most important thing that you can do right now.
Conclusion
As the month of January came to a close, it was clear to me that I had chosen the wrong approach to this year. I have been trying to let everything happen to me and to “get the ball rolling”. I have been waiting for something to start for me to take control. It’s not going to happen this way.
Here’s the thing: as humans, we naturally want things to happen. The problem is that we set ourselves up for failure. We create imaginary scenarios in our minds. We make things happen for ourselves. We wait for that one action to pay off. When this is the case, we end up with something that’s really not as great as we thought it would be.
So, if you want to start something, or change your habits, make sure you have realistic expectations. If you want it to happen today, for example, then do this.
