The 3 practices of the best leaders to improve their performance at work and in personal life

He stress seems to be an integral part of the modern organizational world. Long working hours, tight deadlines and pressure to perform can harm the physical and mental health of CEOs, executives and professionals.

Although over the past decade many companies have become more aware work well-being, there is still a long way to go to adjust the balance between personal exhaustion and professional exhaustion. From the hundreds of executives I’ve worked with over the past thirty years as an executive coach, I know that the output is individual, because the notion of how far to get involved, when to cut the working day, set limits, and know how to manage the levels of responsibility with the same competence, requires in-depth internal work.

It’s complex for anyone. carry out to others when you don’t have the reins of your life. Although there are peaks of high stress, demand, and demand, to be good CEOs and hold high exposure leadership positions, there are three factors I invite you to consider in order to deal with a process of balance, without resigning from your professional role:

1) Understand that no one is Superman or Wonder Woman

Regardless of the exceptional conditions available to you to carry out your duties, the trait of humanity it must prevail and be very present in your life. Failure to do so can lead to mistakes that will pay off later, such as losing your family, your partners, your relationship with your children, and even your health. And, in the end, to end a very famous and successful career, full of money, and without the essentials. You have lost the meaning of life and so many years of effort.

How to practice it? : With personal rather than professional development. you can feed yourself with therapy and coaching business; take seminars and have experiences that at some point can be difficult and uncomfortable for you. In daily work, learn and practice the know how to delegate efficiently and say no, to start building a better life.

I also suggest that don’t put off personal commitments: a hobby, physical activity, meditation and mindfulness, surrounding oneself with genuine affection and friendships, having medical check-ups and adjusting one’s sleeping and eating hours, will be factors of a great help in orienting balance.

2) Learn to surround yourself with people who are better than you

El gran secreto del buen liderazgo que comparte mi maestro y mentor John Maxwell, considered el máximo referente mundial en la materia, consists in holding the astucia de convocar y rodearte de gente que nos sólo tengan el conocimiento técnico, sino que sean los májores expertsos en the area. That is to say -between us-: that they surpass you in everything.

When you surround yourself with people who are better than you, you achieve a better balance between your concerns, your strategy and your day-to-day management. This elite group will always be with you and will form a team of highly qualified advisers who will help you define the problems, contributing more clarity and perspective.

One point that can help you get started is to practice humility as a core value of your leadership, so that no matter what, your ego remains as regulated as possible and doesn’t interfere with the best decisions you need to make. . And you know what? When you befriend your ego —since you cannot eliminate it from your life—you also learn to live more harmoniously with the environment.

Another key aspect is to work on the emotion regulation, a field that will allow you to explore how you feel at any time, and what would be the most assertive response, instead of reacting on impulse, or rushing with your speed trying to resolve everything quickly. Of course there are exceptional situations, it’s the difference between something urgent and an emergency.

Al get to know you better, You will balance the emotions by first recognizing them and you will reduce the tension in yourself and in the environment. And, little by little, as a leader, you will stop adhering to the deceptive concept of “work under pressure” (as if it were something healthy and beneficial) to connect with the work with passion

In this way, you will achieve that your lows are not so deep or long-lasting, and your highs are not so euphoric: you will be in a healthy state. happy state, a Buddhist concept related to the possibility of living fully and with compassion most of the time.

3) Accept vulnerability: practice listening and saying “I don’t know”

For great leaders who run tens or thousands of jobs, sometimes it’s hard to come to terms with reality. Many come from “difficult” fields like finance, technology and engineering, and may have a long way to go in terms of general skills

Knowing yourself, appreciating yourself, and knowing your strengths and weaknesses will allow you to connect with your own vulnerability. Some people confuse it with weakness, and they have nothing to do with it. The trait of deep humanity in feeling you vulnerable in some situations it makes you someone close, empathetic and with sensitivity towards you and towards others.

It might be time to check some masks that maybe you’ve been supporting too many years and encouraging yourself to express what you think and feel without itching. And you’ll see the world (and business) keep turning. One aspect that will also help you is practice listening 80% of the time, and speaking the remaining 20%. With this simple tool, great leaders became people more subtle, observant and profound. Also, less rushed when it comes to processing information and making sensitive decisions, and, at the same time, you will connect better to what is happening in a more assertive way.

The other factor is learning to say I don’t know. No one “knows” everything. You may have deep knowledge of your industry, but not absolutely everything, and less at the speed of today’s world. This profound honesty in expressing this area more technically called “conscious competence”—you are aware that you don’t know it and express it, without hesitation—does not diminish your professionalism or affect your leadership. On the contrary: it opens doors for you to ask for help if you need it, you will receive it. And also, you declare your willingness to learn.

To exercise, I suggest that you delve into your weaknesses and your opportunities for improvement. Also, that you work daily in the recognition of your strengths: make them conscious, say them out loud, write them down, reaffirm them. How long has it been since you congratulated yourself by honestly looking at yourself in the mirror?

Continuing with practical ways to implement your improvement, surely you use a tool in your company: you can adapt it to your personal life to have indicators of your evolution, if you wish to change.

Here are some additional ideas:

– Rate yourself from 1 to 10 in your daily emotional states, average weekly and monthly. Make a simple plan, with micro-goals, for where you want to improve.

– Intersperse alone time in your agenda to reflect.

– Begin to listen, read and experience other types of realities that are not exclusively those of work, for example joining a volunteer.

– Meet once a week with mentors who inspire you.

– Hold all the difficult conversations that you have been putting off for years, personally and professionally, in one go: it will be very liberating emotionally and mentally.

In conclusion, I know that many of us have learned that to transform any life plan, you have to polish all the weaknesses: what hard work! It would literally take us a lifetime.

Bringing back John Maxwell, he gives us this formula which was for me an absolute revelation: “If you want to improve yourself, spend 85% of your time doing better what you already do very well. 10% of the time learning something new to further improve that 85%. And only 5% to polish your weaknesses”.

*Daniel Colombo: Facilitator and Executive Master Coach specializing in senior management, professionals and teams; mentor and professional communicator; international speaker; author of 32 books. LinkedIn Top Voice Latin America. Professional Coach certified by ICF at its highest level, Certified Coach, Member and Mentor in Maxwell Leadership, John Maxwell’s team.

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