I know without a doubt in 2024 I want different! Why? Your character is built from your habits and habits are more powerful than we think. Even in our leadership work and my keynotes we share the power of leadership and habits. I know the difference and power of empowering habits and mindset. This year we will be even more determined via our habits and behaviours to change the game of leadership around the globe! See below for some great books, ideas and FREE Online Journal!
What habits do you want to create and build for yourself this year?
Table of Content:
What Are Habits?
Habits are the small decisions you make and actions you perform every day. According to researchers at Duke University, habits account for about 40 percent of our behaviours on any given day.
Your life today is essentially the sum of your habits. How in shape or out of shape you are? A result of your habits. How happy or unhappy you are? A result of your habits. How successful or unsuccessful you are? A result of your habits.
What you repeatedly do (i.e. what you spend time thinking about and doing each day) ultimately forms the person you are, the things you believe, and the personality that you portray. Everything I write about – from courage and leadership to kindness and mindset – starts with better habits. When you learn to transform your habits, you can transform your life.
As human beings we are all creatures of daily routines. Yes, even you and even me. Have a think about a usual day for you. Do you get up in the morning and go to the gym before work, do you grab that much-needed morning coffee from the café just down the road from your work before you clock in for the day, do you stretch and say positive-self affirmations out loud when you first get up or do you go to your favourite pizza place every Friday night and order your usual?
Habits form a part of our daily lives and are an important part of who we are as people, who we will become and as leaders. We all have different ways of looking at things and going about our day. Just like leadership is a skilled that can be learned and honed, you can also learn how to build good habits and how to break old habits. Learning new habits doesn’t just come easy and happen overnight, believe me I wish that was the case. You just have to be willing to put in the hard yards and really work at building those new habits every day, incorporating it into your daily routine and make those new habits actually stick. Discipline is the Destiny (this is one of my favourite books too by Ryan Holiday)!
Free Leadership Habits Planner for 100 Leaders! Code – Courage
Building Good Habits and Breaking Old Habits
It’s important that as leaders we have good habits in place so that we can run our business smoothly and lead by example when it comes to our team members. But in the process of building those new habits in order to take our leadership skills to the next level, we need to be kind and understanding to ourselves. Sometimes bad habits are hard to break, even if we break our good habits the first time, we need to keep trying to keep that new habit up. It just takes a little bit of work, so don’t be hard on yourself. It can take a couple of months for a new habit to fall into place sometimes.
There is a great book called Atomic Habits by James Clear, one of the world’s leading experts on habit formation, that offers a proven framework for improving every day. It’s a great read for people who are wanting to change their habits but are struggling. It will get you started on the right direction to forming good habits and breaking the old habits. In the meantime, I have also added some tips of my own below on how you can build good habits.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. – Will Durant
How You Can Build Good Habits
Practice what you preach
Your team learns how to act and carry themselves in the office by watching you, their leader, and how you conduct yourself. If you leave early or play on your phone too much, they will start doing the same thing and productivity within the workplace will drop. By getting to work on-time, respecting all members of your team, communicating, and getting on and doing your own work – your team members will follow suit.
Be optimistic
I know it’s hard to be optimistic at times, especially when we are all bouncing back from the past few years. But try and stay positive in your mindset as you go about your day, this will help your team members to be more positive. When you talk about your business – be optimistic about what the future holds and encourage your team members to see it from your perspective. It also helps to be optimistic when it comes to trying to form new habits, if you fall off the horse. Go and get back on.
Be confident in your abilities
We all have strengths and weaknesses. Be confident in your abilities and who you are as a person. If you are confident, you will create a ripple effect around you which will help members of your team to be confident in the workplace and in the work, they are doing. Be the kind of leader people look up to, encourage confidence in the workplace and you will see productivity soar.
I know you can do it!
Create a good working environment
No one wants to work in an environment that is rife with toxic people, bad leaders and bosses, they want to work in a place where their work, skills, talent and experience are appreciated. That’s why it’s important to create an environment where employees feel safe, respected, appreciated and positive. We have reached the point where people won’t stand for working for a toxic boss or even setting foot in a workplace environment that is negative. They will leave in droves.
Praise where it’s due
Give praise where it’s due. Did you tell your employee when he or she turned in excellent work “thank you” or “great job, keep it up.” If you didn’t, you need to get started. You don’t have to rain down the praise every 5 minutes. But maybe if you make it a mission to once or twice a week, to give your employees a compliment or even holding a group meeting with a few kind words from yourself. Your team members will respect and appreciate you more for it.
Listen and communicate
Kindness and empathy are vital in today’s workplaces. You get more out of your team when you communicate clearly and listen to what they have to say. My book ‘First Comes Courage’ is a great way to sit down and explore the power of leading with courage. Not only that, but it will also give you some tips on how to form good habits when it comes to kindness and empathy.
You can read more here!
What habits are you finding it hard to break as a leader? What kind of habits would you like to build into the future?
By Sonia McDonald – CEO of LeadershipHQ and Outstanding Leadership Awards, Leadership Coach, Global Keynote Speaker, Entrepreneur, CEO And Award Winning Author.
Some of the favourite habits for success are –
Waking up early and doing 6 things – meditation (for a five minutes), journalling, setting my intentions and focus, little exercise, visualisation and affirmations. I teach this in my coaching and programs too.
I also reflect at the end of each day and ask myself questions to keep myself congruent with my values and leadership.
