How 3 Micro-Habits Supercharged My Leadership and Decision-Making
Habits make the person, right? Well, they certainly make a solopreneur. At least, that’s what I’ve found in my day-to-day running of Ripple Effect Leadership.
But it can be hard both to start and stop habits. I mean, who doesn’t want to dwell in their comfort zone and see everything go ideally? I get it. But you know what they say: If nothing changes, nothing changes.
A new habit can feel like a drag, but often it’s worth the results: confidence, clarity, and a bigger bottom line. Here to ease the blow, I promise that only three habits can help transform your leadership and potentially lead to a breakthrough. Try them out and let me know what you think.
Let's focus on the small habits that have reshaped my day-to-day and revamped my self-leadership.
Habit 1: The Morning Brain Dump
Imagine waking up to no worries, everything pre-planned, and all ideas on pause, waiting to come up exactly when you need them. Now, let’s really wake up! Because this is a dream in anyone’s world.
In fact, the best among us advise to plan the night before, and always have a notepad ready to capture ideas before they disappear. You see, my friend, we’re all human. We’re not imposters, we’ve just been trained to strive for perfection, the only thing I may concede as an impossibility.
Yet with one tiny new habit, we can avert stress caused by lost ideas and chaotic mornings.
Before getting into the grind, I spend five minutes writing down everything on my mind related to my business. We’re talking ideas, new tasks, concerns, and insights.
Getting it all out keeps me from ruminating over the past and grants much-needed clarity so I can make future-focused decisions that will lead to success.
Pulling these thoughts out of my head and onto paper prevents mental clutter from building and sabotaging my focus.
Here’s how:
I can play out worries and see if they’re worth finding a solution for, or if I was just, you know, overthinking it.
I can rest easy knowing my brilliant ideas are captured.
The mental effort of task-planning is out of the way for the rest of the day.
My insights empower me, as I reflect on small wins and build on lessons learned.
Remember, it only takes five minutes – longer if you really want. However, I like to keep my morning brain dump short and sweet so I don’t start the day with any overwhelm.
Habit 2: Check Your Task System Before Email
Hands up! How many of us have made it a habit to check our email before anything else?
Here’s my twist, and why I’ve stopped this habit:
I prefer to open Asana – my favourite task and project management system – BEFORE checking my email. And I start my work day from there. I’ll make adjustments in Asana as needed, reviewing my priorities for the day based on where I last left off.
Why do I do this? Because checking my inbox first can easily derail my planned focus. If you’re like me, you might be inclined to respond to emails whether or not they’re that important. Under external pressure, it’s too easy to follow the direction of my inbox’s needs rather than following the flow I created based on my business goals, and adjusting as needed.
Checking my task system before email also prevents reactive mode, which can be quite draining and throw off my mental and emotional health. My new system keeps me proactive, fuels self-empowerment by putting me in control, and extinguishes early morning stress from potentially wacky emails.
One small habit at the start of my day – Asana before email – truly reshapes self-leadership.
Habit 3: Energy-Based Task Matching
The final of my three tiny habits is energy-based task matching, in line with my heavily praised habit of eating the frog.
While still not conventional, I believe this practice can help many struggling solopreneurs change how they feel about their work.
I mean sure, you may already be doing something you love, but when some days just feel like “work is work,” it might be because of an energy mismatch.
I advise my clients to schedule their hardest thinking work during their peak energy time. Why? Because intense mental work demands extra energy from the brain, and while it might not look physically tiring, it can leave you feeling just as wiped out as physical work.
You’re a small business owner because you believe in your product or service, so repetitive tasks probably aren’t what excite you. They also don’t take as much energy. That’s why it makes sense to save admin and email tasks for times when your energy naturally dips.
Something else I do is batch similar tasks together so I know what’s on my “easy” plate and my “hard” plate. For instance, I’ll batch all tech tasks and all content creation together.
Consider the opposite of energy-based task matching: Doing all the little things when your energy tank is full, then having to complete sizeable tasks when you’re mentally exhausted.
There are no stats for us to follow along, but most of us know when our peak productivity window happens versus when we’re just not up to the heavy grinding, whether or not it’s a task you typically enjoy.
How about taking a go at following our natural rhythms and making energy-based task matching a habit?
I'm most productive in the morning, and typically useless from 3-6 pm, so during the latter time frame, I’ll take a break from my laptop or call it a day.
Lead Yourself, Lead Your Biz
These three tiny changes are just a nugget of what's in the Lead Yourself, Lead Your Biz course and community.
My aim is to provide easy and effective techniques you can apply to see a change in how you lead yourself, and, in turn, how your business performs.
What else do you get?
Seven Leadership Labs, all packed with systems, frameworks, and habits that help solo entrepreneurs lead with confidence and clarity… without the overwhelm.
Plus, a community of entrepreneurs building these skills alongside you. I cannot overstate the impact of healthy support from people who have walked in your shoes or are walking alongside you.
They offer insights and perspectives you might have missed, as do you to them. Imposter begone. Confident, growing leaders unite!
Go here to see if Lead Yourself, Lead Your Biz is right for you.
Janic 💜
