Why Cornerstone Habits Become So Important For Leaders

We all have heard how important habits are, but most people don't fully understand why it's true, nor how to actually apply it.

When we look at the science of it and understand what happens when we fail to create cornerstone habits, we can start to understand why most businesses fail.

80% of businesses fail in 5 years, and 96% in 10 years.

A major portion of why this occurs is that they fail to understand cornerstone habits (as well as the underlying science of it).

The Science

So what is a Habit?

It is a "Settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up."

Now, why is this?

Habits are behaviors that we do over and over again, which by doing creates new neural pathways.

As these pathways are created, it requires less and less energy (Mg-ATP) for our bodies to do those actions.

The more we cement those pathways, the less energy, and the easier it becomes to continue.

This also becomes the reason that these behaviors become hard to give up.

When we get into stressful situations (fight-or-flight or anything that impacts the nervous system quickly) or when we have low energy stores (which is happening more frequently in our world), our bodies choose actions with the least resistance.

The least resistance happens to be whatever neural pathways have been developed the best - our habits!

This pathway is chosen both because our bodies wish to get out of the stressful situation as quickly as possible (because "Dis-Stress" itself consumes energy) and because it requires little energy (our bodies does its best to retain as much energy as possible)

The stronger that pathway is, the more we rely on it in the toughest situations.

This leads us to what our "cornerstone habits" which are the behaviors that are our most fundamental.

They are the ones we have developed the most deeply in our lives.

Without fail, they end up being the ones that shape our entire lives.

Most people however don't choose these habits.

In our youth, many people develop these habits mostly out of desperation.

Some action is chosen quickly to get out of the stress situation, and from the body's perspective it "seems" to have worked (even if it wasn't ideal or practical in the long term).

The next time stress happens, the body does that action again.

Before we realize it, it is a cornerstone habit that defines most of our life.

However, it doesn't "have" to be this way, we actually can re-design all of our habits, including our cornerstone habits.

From a business perspective this becomes incredibly important.

The Importance For Leaders

There are multiple reasons Leaders need to be aware of cornerstone habits in their lives.

The first is that the position of "Leader" in any organization ends up being the most Dis-Stress filled.

The higher you go in an organization, the more stress it is filled with.

This means that you will default to your cornerstone habits more often - both because you are already in Dis-Stress and because your energy stores will deplete more quickly.

Due to this, you want to ensure that your cornerstone habits serve you well as opposed to work against you.

Partially because it's what you will do the most, but also because if the behavior serves you well then you will have more energy (Mg-ATP) to tackle the challenges that are outside the realms of your habits.

Since Leadership can require you to tackle many different types of problems, having more energy (Mg-ATP) is always beneficial.

However, this is only a very small aspect of successful Leadership.

Yes, you do need to take care of your cornerstone habits, but what about your team?

This is where most Leaders actually end up failing.

They are not intentional about designing their team's cornerstone habits at work.

Just like you, everyone on your team has their own habits.

All Stress Adds together.

When things get stressful in their lives, and in their work, that stress will add together.

On top of this, you can pass your stress onto the members of your team (a function of our Neurocardiology) which will impact them even more greatly.

Due to all of this, your team will likely fall back onto whatever their cornerstone habits are.

If you haven't designed them directly, then it is likely that those habits are detrimental to your goals.

Quickly, this can make things more stressful at work, and require more energy to solve.

This quickly becomes overwhelming for everyone, especially yourself as a Leader.

Hence, most businesses collapse quickly as things begin to go wrong.

The Solutions

There are multiple things you need to do as a Leader to overcome these challenges.

• Fix previous Stress Damage (Can be found with Hair and Blood Tests)
• Build Up Energy (Mg-ATP) Stores
• Develop Beneficial Cornerstone Habits (To Business Goals, Reduce Energy Requirements)
• Develop Your Team's Habits (So They Fall Back On Them)
• Reduce Overall Stress (Both In Your Life And For Your Team)

Do you have a plan to work toward these on your team?

If not, where can you start to work on this?

Both for yourself, and with your team.