By Teresa Lowry

I am fascinated by the process that takes us from knowing what we need to do to be successful to actually doing it. Nike encourages us to “Just Do It”. Life experience tells us it is not always that easy. We know the actions we need to take to be better leaders, better humans but how do we get from knowing to doing?

At Aegis Learning we are committed to creating a way forward for you. Successful leaders have energy and stamina. Leadership Impact teaches you to cultivate a positive emotional composition which results in increased physical energy. With more energy, we can maintain the habits created to meet our goals. To stay the course, we have peer coaches and mentors to hold us accountable. We can remain committed to positive habits by understanding our internal and external motivators.

GET YOUR EQ IN THE GAME

Emotional intelligence (EQ) is critical to successful leadership. Emotions drive attitudes and beliefs. Attitudes and beliefs drive behavior. 80% of our reactions, responses and decisions are driven by our emotions. Emotions have an impact (positive or negative) on our physical energy. By managing your emotions, you can consciously choose to operate in a zone of optimism and enthusiasm. Improved emotional health allows for increased energy to accomplish our goals.

At a recent company retreat several team members expressed a desire for more time to accomplish various goals. Highly accomplished and very productive professionals, these are the same people who the busier they are the more they accomplish. This started me thinking about whether the answer to what we need is more time or do we really need more energy?

In their book “The Power of Full Engagement” Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz conclude that energy not time is the fundamental currency of high performance. Their study reveals that performance, health and happiness are grounded in the skillful management of energy. In addition to monitoring our emotional composition to support increased energy we require the creation of positive habits.

To jump start new habits you need motivation. Back to EQ and knowing yourself. Motivation is unique to the individual and the habits we will cultivate must resonate at our core. Organizational theorists Thomas Malone and Mark Lepper have identified several sources of intrinsic motivation: Challenge, Curiosity, Control, Fantasy, Cooperation, Competition, and Recognition. Determine which motivators resonate with you. These intrinsic motivators become key to the creation of new habits.

HABIT IS WHAT KEEPS YOU GOING

Jim Rohn said it best “Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” Set up your surroundings to support your goals and habits. In “The Power of Habit” business reporter Charles Duhigg found the key to exercising regularly, losing weight, being more productive and achieving success is understanding how habits work.

For me, exercising seven days a week, at the same time every day lead to making it a habit. There is no decision to be made on whether today is the day or telling myself I can do it tomorrow. I removed the decision-making piece from the equation. Set up your surroundings to support your goals and habits. Changing into my exercise “uniform” first thing in the morning helps reinforce the habit. Cultivate habits that align with your intrinsic motivators. Next, establish your accountability team.

CHOOSE YOUR ACCOUNTABILITY TEAM

J.E. is my Shero. She works the graveyard shift as a nursing supervisor in Labor and Delivery at a local hospital. Married, with four active teenagers at home, J.E. finds the time and energy to attend an 8am Bootcamp workout at my gym. Committed to her health and fitness, this also qualifies as her “me time”. J.E. has a strategy to hold herself accountable. She pays her trainer or work out partner $40 if she does not show up. Her husband has similar habits and shared goals and together they compete in obstacle course races. J.E. knows the power of having friends and family hold her accountable.

Even if we put our workout, meditation, self-improvement related activities on our to do list or calendar many of us are far too willing to break a commitment to ourselves. If we have a friend or partner that we are accountable to we are more likely to not want to disappoint them so we show up. Most people are far more likely to maintain a new habit if they are accountable to a partner, coach or team. Personally, I am intrinsically motivated by a team environment. The thought of running a Spartan Race by myself sends my mind into excuse mode. If I am with a team, the commitment to others ensures I will be there to perform at my highest level.

At the office, choose a colleague, peer coach or mentor to help hold you accountable. Schedule regular meetings. By determining when, where and how it will be done your success rate will be substantially higher.

AEGIS LEARNING THE PATH FORWARD

Aegis Learning provides the tools needed to keep learning alive. The Aegis PATH is a series of emails delivered to you after you have completed a program. Each email will have Five Keys to continue to work on and remember to create the best application of skills possible. There is a self-assessment tool option with each email for you to assess where you are and create an action plan for where you want to be. Your supervisor, mentor or program sponsor will also be receiving a set of emails with discussion points and specifics of follow up. This feature will keep the learning and culture changing competencies in your organization alive.

It is up to you to connect the learning to action by understanding your motivations and creating habits that support successful leadership competencies. Let your accountability team support you. Continue to reassess and evaluate your progress and you will go from knowing to doing.