Troubleshoot your routine and build the best one yet
Routines power sports success. The greats — Babe Ruth, Serena Williams, Michael Jordan — wouldn't be great without their regimens (Tiger Woods’ routine is legendary). Behind the home runs and slam dunks is a lot of repetition of fundamentals.
99 years ago, the @Yankees acquired Babe Ruth.
— MLB (@MLB) January 3, 2019
Needless to say, conditioning has changed since then. 😂 pic.twitter.com/LoVV1BIG7d
Routine matters in business, too. If you want to win every time you step up to bat, you have to create a custom routine that gives you a foundation to do your best work.
Routines lead to proficiency and mastery — and raise your energy leadership
Like the sports greats, leaders with great routines inspire confidence in their teammates by operating at the highest levels of energy. They are Level 4 leaders and above, acting collaboratively and with a solutions mindset, making work all-around more enjoyable and productive.
In our coaching practice, we've uncovered four truths to empower you to build effective, long-lasting routines.
Truth #1: Leaders are humans, and humans are creatures of habit
Habits — things we repeatedly do, often without thinking about it — can define who we are, how we spend our time, and the trajectory of our lives. Habits can be positive, like eating vegetables and exercising; or negative, like eating fast food or staying sedentary. It’s just as easy to build healthy habits as bad ones, but much harder to break them as they’re knee-jerk behaviors.
Three elements make up habits:
To intercept a bad habit, you have to be mindful of your triggers and take a different, more constructive action at the routine stage of the cycle. Some leaders — who are level 1 and 2 leaders — have bad habits like micromanaging when they're stressed, which may give them a "reward" feeling of control, but ultimately undermines their team's productivity and morale. Instead, they can empower their teams with resources and tools to help them proactively solve problems.
📌 Check out this customizable Google Spreadsheet to track your habits.
To create a routine that produces positive outcomes, you must first identify your habits, good and bad, and decide what to keep and evolve. Our coaches can help you take inventory of your habits and level up your growth.
Truth #2: Leaders are not aware of why they win and why they don’t
Relying on luck or happenstance isn’t good business practice. You need clear intentions to create repeated, sustained success. Take a look back at your business and do an audit, asking yourself two simple questions:
What actions produced results, and why?
What actions did not produce results, and why?
Get feedback from your team, and don’t be afraid to talk about and learn from past failures — discomfort can signal an area for growth. And get granular: For example, maybe the reason you’re not getting enough clients is that you’re not making enough phone calls. Or if you’re making the right amount of phone calls, perhaps you’re not saying the right things.
From here, you can add new actions to your routine that move the needle on your business over time. Keep in mind: It’s sometimes the smallest things — like committing to consistently following up with leads — that can make the biggest difference.
Truth #3: Leaders haven’t identified their critical business fundamentals
Sometimes leaders can get so in the weeds of the day to day that they lose sight of what their service or product is, who it’s for, and why it matters.
Take time to routinely assess your business around these three Ps:
Not understanding your business's fundamentals can keep you in the dark about actions to take that address these essential elements. We suggest walking through these questions quarterly to see if you need to evolve your methods.
Truth #4: Leaders don’t know how to build a routine into their lifestyle
Instead of aiming for work-life balance, try for work-life integration where instead of rigid boundaries, you weave your work priorities into your day.
It’s all about where you’re most comfortable networking and where your customers congregate:
Do you and your clients play golf? Invite clients to play with you and connect with them mid-game.
Enjoy socializing in groups? Speak at local business clubs and events (virtually or masked and socially-distanced, of course).
Or do you prefer to market online? Send out messages on LinkedIn while waiting in the line at the grocery store. Once you’ve identified what works best for you and your clients, build it into your routine.
It’s also important to keep up to date with your industry so that you can offer your clients the most relevant information and insights. Keep tabs on articles, books, and podcasts related to your and your client’s work.
📕 Check out this customizable Google Spreadsheet to track what you read.
Routines are built, not born
Creating a powerful routine, or tweaking an existing one, is best done with an experienced guide. With help from one of our coaches, you can create a routine that delivers dividends professionally and personally, attracting great clients and people to you and your business.