How often are you performing at a peak performance state as a CEO or Leader? Do you spend time planning and improving your performance every day?
It is common for CEO’s and leaders to focus on the content of their work, the people they are working with and outcomes, rather than turning their energy towards how can they prepare the body and mind so they can optimally deliver a message, change the energy in the room, be more productive and have a positive influence on people.
There are four basic fundamentals that high achievers leading high performing teams are consistently engaged in and practicing on improving. These four components are the fundamental, non-negotiable, building blocks to determine how high your performance ceiling is. Talent will only set your minimum height, whereas the four basic fundamentals will determine how high you can raise your ability to perform at your absolute potential. The four basic fundamentals of being a high performing leader are:
1 Exercise daily
2 Fuel your body with the right food
3 Free your mind
But most importantly, and the area that more than 95% of human beings neglect, is
4 Recover with purpose!
You are probably sitting there thinking that you already know this. It is common sense. However, can you honestly say that you as a CEO or leader are constantly working on and have all four components in balance?
#1 Exercise daily
Expend energy through regular exercise to increase your energy in life. Exercising regularly for a minimum of 30 minutes a day increases energy levels, decreases stress, provides greater mental clarity and elevates your mood. Everyone can find at least 30 minutes to get the body moving, the blood flowing and the brain a chance to unwind from other stresses in our life. The exercise you choose maybe going for a walk at lunch time, commuting to work, having a walking meeting, going to the gym, playing active games in the back yard with your children, playing a game of tennis or doing yoga. For most people, scheduling their exercise in the morning prevents being distracted by work, family and other life commitments getting in your way. What will your 30 minutes plus per day of exercise, include?
#2 Fuel your body with the right food
Eat as though you are fueling a formula 1 car or a high performance athlete. Eating a healthy diet full of fresh grains, fruits and vegetables, allows us to sustain our energy levels, enhance our mood, improve our memory, sleep easier and prevent unwanted health problems. There are many diets and eating fads that come and go. In the end we are all individuals and the way we respond to eating food differs from one person to the next. Unless you have a medical reason or allergy to certain foods, then eating a variety of mainly non-processed foods, will provide you with the energy and vitality you require to perform effectively. What type of output will each piece of food you place in your body, give you?
#3 Free your mind
Free the mind, de-clutter and rewire it with clarity and positiveness. Creating habits and routines such as meditation, breathing exercises, going for a walk, and other ways to free the mind allows us to reduce our stress, control anxiety, enhance self-awareness, lengthen attention span, improve our sleep and enhance our emotional health. In a world full of technological distractions such as an iphone or laptop it can be easy to end up in a state where you are on all the time. The brain isn’t designed to be working at full capacity all the time. We need to let it rest, not just at night when we sleep, but also at regular intervals throughout the day. If you don’t allow your mind to recovery, take a break and be open you will become fatigued, more likely to make mistakes, limit your ability to have a birds eye view and isolate yourself from the other important aspects of life. What do you find works best to free your mind throughout each day?
#4 Recover with purpose
Proactively rest and recover with purpose. The most important component that gives us the really important performance edge is Recovery. Getting 6-8 or more hours sleep a night, taking planned and regular holidays to switch off work and allowing the mind to recharge can help decrease fatigue, improve our memory, reduce inflammation, spur creativity, increase our stamina, boost our cognitive function and lower stress levels. It’s not about the quantity of sleep, but the quality of sleep that is important. The busier you are and the greater the stress load you are placing on the body, the higher the likelihood you will require more time sleeping. If you are watching TV, working or on social media right up until the time you go to bed, then it is likely that your quality of sleep will be poor for the first few hours and reduce the number of hours of quality sleep. Over-sleeping on the opposite side, also doesn’t provide a performance benefit. Aiming for a minimum of 6-8 hours of quality sleep per night will provide adequate time for most people to recover effectively and deliver a good performance. How much sleep will you need each night and what time will you need to go to bed to achieve it?
So how do you recharge the batteries, refuel the tank, switch off and find time for yourself, so that when you are “on” as a CEO or Leader, you are fully present?
Over the next four weeks we will decode each of the four basic fundamentals of being a high performer leader. The four basic fundamentals make up the FOUNDATION phase of Breaking The CEO CODE, the future of leadership performance.
During 2020, we will decode a section of Breaking The CEO Code and present it to you, each week, in an article with examples and case studies to support your growth as a high performing leader.
In the meantime, please take the time to read the Breaking The CEO Code whitepaper. Click the download button:
For more details, please contact:
Craig Johns
NRG2Perform
craig@nrg2perform.com
+61 415 675 939
