A Routine that Changes Everything
You don’t rise to the level of your intentions. You rise to the level of your routines.
Exceptional leadership is built by doing ordinary things consistently. Don’t fall in love with bold decisions. Drama corrupts judgment. Win with daily routines.
A universal principle of success: Don’t wait for motivation. Build a routine that makes meaningful work inevitable.
Choose One Routine
#1. Protect Your Best Hour
Reject the tyranny of moods. Our love affair with feelings weakens us. Moods don’t determine priorities.
Every day has peaks and valleys.
Do what matters most when you’re at your best.
2 questions to focus your best hour:
- What can you do that your future self will thank you for?
- How can you give energy to today’s big rock?
Here’s a radical thought. Charlie Munger sold his best hour to himself. He invested in learning. Don’t sell your best hour to your inbox.
#2. Recharge
Love movement. Go for a walk.
Beethoven, Kierkegaard, and Tchaikovsky all used vigorous walks to develop ideas. Read Daily Rituals by Mason Currey.
Great ideas come through your feet.
#3. Schedule Leadership
Good intentions fade. Routines endure.
Most leaders spend too much time running the business.
Trivial work steals time. Schedule people development.
Put coaching, mentoring, and recognition on your calendar.
#4. Be Boring
Clutter dilutes impact. Distill life into essentials. Only do what matters.
I live a boring life. Constant busyness offends me. I eat in. I give my energy to a few things that matter.
If you can’t be boring, capture a few short moments of solitude.
Challenge: Put one meaningful leadership routine on your calendar.
Which routine would make the biggest difference for you?
7 Habits to End the Day – Leadership Freak
Dan, you practice what you preach. For over 16 years, you have posted a daily blog on Leadership Freak. That requires a set routine and discipline.
Thanks for asking, Paul. I do the same things every morning. A big part of success is pouring into myself with reading and conversations.
Thanks for the good word this morning.
All the best Morris.
Great ideas really do come through your feet. One of my Native American elders used to tell us that we need to give special attention to our feet each and everyday.
Love it. I should have do that when I was younger.
Good morning, love the message today. As I do everyday. Thanks Dan for your “routine”. It helps a lot! “Your mind goes wherever your feet take you”.
Thanks Tim. One of the things I love is that I write what I want, not what I’m supposed to.
“moods don’t determine priorities.” struck me as most insightful. A ten year old boy I know busks and sings at events to raise money for his training to take him further in his vision of being an entertainer. I looked at him last Sunday and shared how impressed I was with his “focused energy.” We can all learn to enjoy stillmoments in which to energize our own focus on what is most important. Thanks for you share as always Dan Rockwell. You rock! Positively,
Thank you, Pauline. Imagine a focused 10-year-old. Amazing. So cool that you let him know how impressed you were. We can put a little gas in other people’s tanks. Cheers