The Creative Upside to Habits

I’m a habitual list maker. Perhaps it came from an early practice of tracking my expenses to pay off my student loans or the modeling of bosses who manually tracked weekly tasks. I can’t get enough of creating a big goal, breaking it down into manageable to-dos, and tracking progress. (#GoalNerdAlert)

I’ll admit not all of my habits are the best, however. I’m fully aware of some less-than-admirable patterns that have formed. For example, my instinct is to fill time with busyness. Although it’s gotten better with age, I often feel the urge to do rather than be.

So what does creativity have to do with good habits? When behaviors become automatic, we need less brain power for those actions. It’s the reason Steve Jobs wore the same black turtleneck every day. Fewer decisions = more energy in reserves. That energy bank can then be applied to more creative thinking and decision making - the stuff innovation requires.

How do we create good habits to free up that creative energy?

For purposes of this conversation, let’s focus on good leadership habits. Most would agree we want to:

- Be clear about what “good” performance looks like with our team

- Be present and candid when giving real-time feedback

- Hold teams and ourselves accountable to results

- Motivate the team, reinforce good behavior, and celebrate wins

So how do we translate these aspirational behaviors into practical and tactical habits? Do what works best for you, but here’s what I’ve seen work:

Adopt a mindset of possibility. Habits are hard to keep if there’s not a compelling purpose for them. I like to start with the big picture. For example, if I’m a better leader, my team will be happier and more productive. It’s got to feel worth the effort. Perhaps I’m working on being more in tune with what my team members need and being an effective coach rather than a taskmaster. There will be setbacks. I might not be fully present one day and distracted by my own task list. But with the mindset of possibility, I can quickly get back on track.

Time block. If you’re like me, you live by your calendar. If there’s a behavior I’m trying to get to stick, I put it on there. When I led my last team, I put a reminder on my calendar each Friday afternoon called Reflection + Gratitude. It triggered me to email the team (or individuals) to call out their contributions, reflect on what we accomplished together and share my appreciation. It kept us grounded in gratitude.

K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple, stupid.) Humans love acronyms. They’re memorable. They stick. Leadership companies are full of ‘em - for good reason. They drive changed behaviors. What’s my EIM for a meeting? That End-In-Mind is the outcome we’re striving for by the time we wrap. This simple reminder can make the difference between a productive meeting and a meandering time waster.

Physically write things down. Ah, my love of journaling is revealed. But there’s a method to the madness. Writing something down forces us to focus. It commands our full attention, even if only for a moment. A couple of weeks ago, my computer was in the shop during a precious work day. Did I panic? Yes, briefly. Did the world come to an end? Nope. I used the time to do analog vision building, business planning and deep work. And it felt pretty good. It got me thinking: what could our workplaces look like if we all did this on a regular basis? How much more creativity might emerge?

Create friction (move the cookies to the top shelf) or remove friction (put a treadmill in your garage to skip the drive to the gym). For leaders, this might mean removing digital devices and notifications before coaching a team member. It may mean using an accountability framework when discussing team projects. When these small choices are done consistently, they build lasting good habits.

If this list to promote healthy habits has your head spinning, don’t fret. The nice thing about building good habits is there’s always an opportunity to change. If we slip, we can choose to get back on track.

And that reminds me, as we turn the corner to the final month of summer, it’s time for me to block out moments to be still and resist that impulse to be busy. I hope you can make a habit to do the same. I can’t wait to see what creative thinking will flourish because of it.