10 Powerful Habits of Ultra-Successful Leaders
“Successful people are simply those with successful habits.”
– Brian Tracy
I recently had a dynamic lunch with one of my favorite leaders, Janelle Bruland, CEO of Management Services Northwest. I’m privileged to co-lead a bi-monthly, CEO/Senior Leadership Mastermind group called Leadership Edge with her. We discussed and began planning our next few Leadership Edge gatherings—including our upcoming inspiring retreat.
Janelle’s intentionality always strikes me when I am with her. She possesses an uncommon virtue of international habits and personal standards.
In working with some truly world-class leaders, I’ve identified, “10 Powerful Habits of the Ultra-Successful Leader.” These habits include:
- Possessing an intentional morning ritual of purpose
- A spiritual-peace practice
- A healthy-mind practice of reading or inspiration (not email)
- A targeting of what that days “main events” are
- Vision, including visualization
- Dress for success, internally and externally
- Brain-map great results by the practice of visualization
- Attract success because you’ve created success ahead of time in your mind
- Creating urgency around each day with clear priorities
- Urgency gets things done fast
- Clear out noise that distracts you
- Seize the day and refuse to be paralyzed by perfection
- Practicing early rising
- Go to bed one hour earlier, and rise one hour earlier—that’s 365 additional hours, equaling 2 full weeks of production
- Having a clear strategy and plan for success
- Have a clear strategy of how you will build and measure your success
- Set clear, doable goals each quarter
- What is your vision?
- What do you want to accomplish in the next 12-24 months?
- Practicing self-control
- Self-regulate emotion
- Avoid practicing an “eye for an eye”
- Refuse to burn bridges and stay clear on drama-draining moments
- Welcome feedback
- Encourage feedback from useful, loving critics
- Adjust your leadership based on constructive feedback
- Listen to those who care about you
- Write down your goals
- Those who set and write down their goals earn twice as much, on average, as those who don’t
- Hold yourself accountable with clear, action goals for the next 60-90 days
- Exercise and eat healthy
- Exercise is not an extra, it should be a regular part of your weekly habit
- Eat to win and practice moderation
- Have a “Code of Conduct”
- Set rules to live by that are clear, not vague
- Set personal standards of character that ensure sustainability
Take a few moments to build your interim ultra-successful habits!
–Steve
As a master storyteller, Steve has unparalleled ability to communicate dynamic business and leadership truths through stories, anecdotes and humor. Harness the power of the “number one” predictor of professional success, impact, leadership, high performance and sustainable relationships in business and life. Steve’s highest rated keynote presentation.
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“The purpose of Leadership Quest is to help professionals develop their personal leadership, vision and emotional intelligence. Everyday I strive to help leaders and teams achieve their desired goals in sales productivity, leadership, time maximization, and life-balance. ”
About the Author
Steve Gutzler is the President of Leadership Quest, a Seattle-based leadership development company. Steve is a dynamic, highly-sought-after speaker who has delivered more than 2,500 presentations to a list of clients including Microsoft, Starbucks, the Seattle Seahawks, Pandora Radio, Boeing, Cisco, Starwood Corporation, the Ritz Carlton group, and the U.S. Social Security Administration. He recently was voted #1 by the readership of Huffington Post as the Most Inspirational Leader on Social Media.
A published author on leadership and emotional intelligence, Steve resides near Seattle with his wife Julie where they enjoy time with their three adult children and six grandchildren.
