5 Daily Habits of Successful Executives You Should Adopt

Executives are well known for doing things their own way. They often attribute their success to establishing and maintaining the right habits. Here are a few habits that many executives have in common:

Get up earlier. Don’t join the day already in progress. Use the extra time to plan, meditate, exercise, write – whatever makes you more productive throughout the day. Many well-known CEOs wake up as early as four or five in the morning to get a jump on their day.

Learn to delegate. You’ve probably earned your current level of success by managing every detail, but at some point in your career, that becomes less and less productive. Learning to let go is vital to success. By spending your time on tasks that could be handled by someone else, you dilute your own effectiveness.

Plan, but don’t over plan. Narrow your focus to one to three key objectives that you must accomplish each day, but don’t plan your day down to the minute. This allows you to focus on what’s important to you and your business, while remaining flexible to deal with unanticipated challenges and opportunities. For Leo Babauta of Zen Habits, focusing on his MITs (Most Important Things) ensures he achieves what he sets out to each day and moves him toward his goals.

Eliminate multitasking. The ability to focus on a single task without distraction is common among top performers. Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter and co-founder of Square swears by what he calls “themed days.” Each day he concentrates on areas such as product development, marketing or recruiting. Of course, fires come up during the day that he must put out, but his themed days keep him focused on the big picture.

Control your meetings. Meetings should help your business operate more effectively, not less. Keep them brief, keep them structured, and keep them small. Have a clear agenda and invite the right people. Drop the unproductive ones. According to the Harvard Business review, as much as “15% of an organization’s collective time is spent in meetings.”

The first success habit you should adopt is working with a trusted recruiting partner. BrainWorks is a professional recruitment agency dedicated to connecting top performers with leading companies throughout the nation. We specialize in consumer insights, relationship marketing and data analytics. Contact BrainWorks today to begin your talent or career search.