The importance of a good daily routine for CEOs

Perhaps you are facing cash-flow issues because of late payments of banks cutting your credit lines. Times are tough and you are finding it difficult to confront your fellow employees and inform them about being made redundant or letting them know their project has to be put on pause. Maybe you are having difficulty saying no, resulting in too many commitments which is stretching you even further. How is this affecting your family life? How is this affecting your health? Are you able to maintain a healthy work-life balance without either one interfering with the other? More importantly, what impact is this creating on your mental wellbeing?

Take for instance you list down your pain points and you score it on a scale of 1-10. People, time, money, execution, red tape, saying no, and fulfiling commitment are all pain points that need to be addressed.

Now that this is done, I will share two tools that you can apply immediately to declutter some of the mental and physical baggage in your life allowing you to lead with more clarity.

Implement a morning routine

“The first hour of the morning, is the rudder for the day,” Henry Ward Beecher.

It is no secret that most successful leaders have a morning routine to get them to a place where they can create maximum impact. I would like to share my personal routine to help you get started:

• Move for 15 minutes. After being fairly still for so many hours, it is time to get the body in motion again through movement to get the heart rate back up and pump blood around the body to wake up all the organs.
• Deep breathing for 10 minutes. I am talking about those deep breaths which make your belly go in and out. Do this to get more oxygen to all your cells and come alive.
• Meditate for 20 minutes. There are so many types of meditation – find the one that works for you. You can even just sit in silence and reflect. This is a great way to come to a balance between the mind and the heart.
• Journal for 15 minutes. Write down what you are grateful for and what you are excited about at that movement in time. Next put down the top priorities of the day to ensure you complete those and end with any statement to make you feel great.

Meditate for 20 minutes

Just imagine how much better you will feel after the morning routine – more energy for more impact.

Overcome confrontational conversation

Previously, I would try to avoid what in my mind I thought were confrontational conversations. Examples of these would include sharing bad news with fellow team members or being in conflict with other members of the C-suite. I had the habit of buttering things up or caving in a bit just to move forward. What I didn’t realise was that I was not being truthful to myself which over time was causing conflict within. Things had to change.

Before I share the break free framework, I want to highlight two very important factors in this equation in order to have a successful outcome:

• Have clarity on what outcome you wish to achieve otherwise you are just entering a dense forest not knowing which direction to go.
• Be fully aware of your emotions. I used to enter these conversations with emotions such as fear, anger or resentment whereas now I enter with love, compassion or empathy. How do you expect to achieve a positive outcome if you enter with negativity?

Now that we have that cleared, below is the framework I have designed (feel free to redesign as you see fit). It goes without saying that you should be in a quiet place with no distractions.

Listen to the other person when they are speaking and not the voice in your head

• Stay Calm: No raising of voices and absolutely no physical violence of any kind.
• Do not point fingers but rather talk about how you feel. Share facts only when it is about the other person.
• Listen to the other person when they are speaking and not the voice in your head. Very often we are analysing what they are saying or formulating a response.
• Do not make assumptions and keep asking questions to be crystal clear. Also do not assume they understood everything you said so ask questions to validate.
• Do not judge but rather understand the other person’s perspective. Just to highlight this point further, imagine we are facing one another and I draw a 6 on the ground. What do you see? There can be multiple perspectives to everything.
• If you feel your emotions rising, just take a pause and take three deep breaths (or more if required). You can change your thoughts but you cannot take back what you have said.

These are two tools which you can apply immediately to reduce your mental clutter and become a better leader. Not only will you see greater results within, but also with your team members around you amplifying the benefits for the organisation.

Are you ready to break free?

Saahil Mehta – an Entrepreneur, Author and a Passionate Mountaineer.