We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
— Aristotle
Being a Founder is extremely rewarding. Bringing your ideas to life, making a positive impact in the world, and empowering those around you to thrive, are only some of the wonders of leading as a High Achieving Empathic Giver. On the entrepreneurial path, every day is a new adventure.
Performing at this level also means dealing with multiple challenges on a daily basis. We have experienced it first-hand during our 20 years of helping 1000+ Founders, CEOs, and investors thrive as High Achievers. Life as a Founder can often feel like driving a Formula One car while playing simultaneous chess with eight different opponents, whose only job is to focus on a single game.
Committing to a lifestyle with such a high level of intensity, where each decision you make has a significant impact, means that your wellbeing and alignment are some of your most precious assets.
Join us in the third piece of our article series to discover the game-changing habits that will help you protect and cultivate your body and your mind, creating a positive ripple effect on your journey as a Founder.
Dedicating Time to Leveling Up Yourself
Learning is one of the most significant investments in the Founder’s journey that brings immeasurable value and creates positive ripples beyond what we can foresee. Dedicating time and energy every week to leveling up, expanding your understanding, connecting the dots, and striving for excellence, can make a remarkable impact on the life and success of your ventures.
We also know that, in the adrenaline and the vibrance of the Founder’s life, it can be easy to overlook the importance of making time dedicated to learning. But there’s good news. Sometimes, learning can look like sitting down beside a fireplace with a cozy blanket, some nice jazz music playing in the background, and sipping on a cup of tea while you invest your undivided attention into learning something new. However, while this can happen every once in a while, it’s not what learning typically looks like in the Founder’s life.
A way of making sure you’re leveling up every day is by incorporating learning into your daily activities. Resources like audiobooks, podcasts, and courses make learning an organic part of our routines. Like we mentioned in our article about the six different types of time for Founders, your passive time like commutes or walks, or even the time while getting ready, and working out have significant potential to add more value if you pair them with a learning session.
The key to learning is that there isn’t a right or wrong way of doing it. It is important that you align the way you learn with how you best incorporate new knowledge and what allows you to find new connections and make sense of things, whether it is by listening, reading, experimenting, or a combination of the three. Another valuable habit is to dedicate some time on a weekly or monthly basis to reflecting and capturing your own wisdom — not just incorporating it, but making sure you capture it too. This can be done either on the fly as you are learning or in a separate, dedicated session.
Finally, one deeply valuable way of learning is through people like mentors, advisors, and trainers. Dedicated courses and interactive engagements are a way of supercharging your abilities and your understanding, that is fully customized for you. This investment typically has an outsized impact on your performance and wellbeing, with a positive influence on your company as well.
Nurturing Your Strength and Alignment Through Physical Activity
Gaining value from the incalculable benefits of physical activity is a matter of finding the activities that light you up. Similarly to learning, there isn’t only one right way of doing it, but rather, there are ways that will work for who you are, and for the things and priorities that are meaningful and that resonate the most with you.
Physical activity is fundamental for nurturing a healthy and strong body, mind, and soul. Creating your path in alignment with your values and with you as a whole human being can deeply elevate your wellbeing, performance, and connection to yourself.
Like with other healthy habits, it is important to build your habit of physical activity during the smooth parts of the ride, so you will rely on it and be strengthened by it when the road becomes challenging.
Creating Ripples Through Positive Giving
Positive giving is one of the main priorities and investments in a High Achieving culture. The value of giving is connected to building your legacy, giving back to your community, and nurturing your tribe.
Being specific and intentional will help you develop giving as a habit. For example, you can plan your giving by choosing people you want to help and show appreciation to this week or this month. Sharing knowledge that is valuable to others, being there for someone, sharing words of encouragement are all great ways of starting to exercise your habit of positive giving. Just like with other habits, the more you practice it, the more ingrained it becomes, and the less you will need to think about doing it since it will incorporate seamlessly into your identity.
An Expert Voice by Your Side
As the architect of high-impact initiatives, it is essential to look after yourself by designing routines that complement your work and align with your values and purpose. The key piece of wisdom here is that good habits will be there to serve you in challenging periods. When you build good habits during the smoother parts of the road, it will be much easier to strengthen and benefit from them when you really need them.
Your Founder’s Yoda can be a pivotal contributor to this level-up. By designing personalized tools, techniques, and resources, your Master Teacher adds value to your personal and professional journey, helping you step into the next level of your performance. Beyond providing expert guidance, this individual gets to know you deeply, is able to identify your strengths and areas of development and understands how they connect to your pursuits and your mission.
