35 Business Leaders Share Their Daily Habits

If I must have multiple meetings throughout a day, I often aim to set them back-to-back in one location. This way, I maintain efficiency and focus throughout the meetings, setting the pace according to the agenda and maximum time allotted, [while] knowing we must get straight to the points at hand since the next meeting is impending. Additionally, placing these meetings back to back enables me to maintain a clear frame of mind during the times before and after the block of meetings, since I am freed from the constant self-reminders to be punctual to the next meeting.

My first job at Warner Bros. was preparing a daily press packet without internet. I had to read everything physically, clip pertinent articles, copy and distribute them to execs. This job taught me the power one garners by knowing everything that’s going on in business and the world — who’s doing well and might be a candidate for a sale of a popular Warner Bros. TV series or movie and who is in trouble and might need a hit TV series or movie. One needs to be able to converse with other executives intelligently about their business.

The role of the CEO is really to keep the team focused on the most important topics, and it’s important that you do the same for yourself.

I get a lot of unwanted email from folks who’ve subscribed me to lists that are irrelevant to me. I combat this clutter daily and find it’s a useful way of removing one distraction from my day.

It is so easy to fall into daily distractions, forcing you to play catch up the next day. This cycle can go on forever. Time blocking keeps me on track. I schedule a timeframe where I am responding to emails, then the next hour is blocked for meetings, etc.

Every week I check in and participate with the product and technology teams. Even as the company has grown, I have forced myself to make time to stay connected. As an engineer, I personally enjoy participating in the technology challenges and love to learn about the solutions our team comes up with. Not only does it keep me up-to-date on the latest ideas, but it also gives the team an opportunity to see the bigger picture and ask why? Not all startup CEO/founders are technologists, but each CEO has a passion. Staying connected with your passion will keep you engaged, even when your job evolves to require bigger strategic thinking. Sometimes you have to let yourself have fun with the things you love.

It’s easy to get caught up answering emails all day and feeling like work is being done but by the end of the day realize that no progress has been made on strategically pushing the business forward. You just spent the whole day fighting fires and solving immediate problems but the to-do list remain the same as the day prior. Email can also be a bit of a disruption given that it comes in in random intervals and thus can take focus away from projects and work that require a continuous block of time and thinking. As a result, it is really important to invest blocks on time on email every day but also block off times where email is not checked. I do not let email become the default work item because it eventually [becomes an] insidious kind of semi-procrastination.

As a digital-only company, almost all of my time is spent in an office in front of a computer. This is why I make it a rule to be outside for at least one hour a day. Be it walking my dog, riding my bike or just sitting on a patio with friends, I find being outside to be a form of meditation. No matter if it’s broken into 20-minute chunks or late at night, the fresh air helps me relax, release any stress, and restart my mind for the next challenge.

Every CEO has a to-do list or actions they need to accomplish daily. While we have many strategic objectives and initiatives that we work on, one daily habit is to target relationships to accelerate our organization’s progress. These include clients, partners, internal team members, and board members. I schedule a weekly agenda of engagement with each of these relationships via a PRM tool, CallPlease, which allows for real-time daily prioritization of my relationship interactions. I leverage the mobile CallPlease app on my iPhone and, since it is a team-based system, my executive admin can support these interactions via a web console through its workflow.

I know even my best employees have a range of focus and performance. In addition to motivating them through traditional recognition methods, I’ve found that letting them know their personal objectives are important to me earns their best efforts and loyalty. In the past this has included sponsoring night classes not directly related to their job and helping an employee secure a book deal with a major publisher.

I can’t multitask. It creates too much chaos.

We may be co-founders, but we are also mom and dad to three daughters. No matter how hectic running a fast-growing startup is, we make sure to shut off the cell phones and have a family dinner with our girls. While many CEOs are still going strong at 6 p.m., we’re passing the green beans and focusing on what matters most to us — our family. What’s most amazing is how many of our business and marketing ideas have come from our twin 8-year-olds and our 11-year-old right at the dinner table.

I try and be religious about the time I leave my house in the morning for work and the time I get back. It helps balance things and ensures I am present, both physically and mentally, with my family.

I try to run every day, and science now shows a positive correlation between running and creativity. It has helped me maintain a sense of balance. It grounds me and offers an outlet on my most stressful days, and allows me to lean into risk and uncertainty. What I find is that many people, especially executives, take the workouts off the calendar when they get busy or are dealing with a particularly stressful time in their careers or lives. It should be opposite. The more stressed out you feel, the more important it is to carve that time for workouts that nourish not only your body but your soul as well.

I think proactively knowing about customer problems can really help you build a long-term intuition about the important things you need to get right when you build your company. And it helps you build empathy with the people that ultimately have to do the hard work of working through those customer problems.

As an organization grows, it’s easy to let a little distance get between the CEO and the day to day. By checking KPIs first thing in the morning, I already know the answer to how we’ve been performing and can immediately move on to the why. I’m in a better position to ask my team important questions, and we can all work more efficiently and effectively.

Successful people predict trends but are original and innovative. Have your own workflow, stick with it or break the rules, but try to stay ahead of others by getting away from patterns.

So much of work becomes too focused on the what — the plan we’re writing, the project we’re trying to complete on time, the deadline we missed. We don’t ask why enough, even though it’s the best way to get context for the stuff we’re trying to get done. I’ve found asking it of myself is as important as asking it of the people I work with. It’s critical to staying grounded in what’s most important. I try to keep asking why until I can’t go any deeper. Then get going.

This enables me to get things done on the same day instead of allowing the guilt pile to build up. I keep blocks on my schedule to avoid overscheduling each day… I am significantly more productive when I am not forced to multitask. Studies have shown that multitasking leads to inefficiency. By creating pockets of time in which I can work alone, I am able to accomplish tasks on the same day and leave time for collaboration.

I’ve made it a habit to be a positive, enthusiastic source within my company. Even in the morning, ‘hi’ or ‘welcome’ has huge ripple effects across the organization at scale. It seems simple but has the power to make employees feel valued and appreciated.

I’m a zero-inbox CEO. Occasionally I don’t get there, but each night I give it my all to power through via all available gmail shortcuts and give folks the response they need as quickly and efficiently as possible. I hate feeling like a delay on my response might prevent Omada employees from quickly progressing their work.

This is often described as ‘managing by wandering around,’ but don’t undervalue it. Having random conversations with different people across the organization will help you keep your ear to the ground on what is really happening. Be respectful and don’t interrupt people who are working, but catching someone making a coffee in the kitchen, give them a big smile and learn a bit about their day in a friendly, non-creepy way. You will easily stay on top of the pulse of the organization.

Thinking about spending this way keeps me focused on how each dollar contributes to building the company.

Olympic athletes have coaches — so should CEOs. I have had a coach for years, Ed Batista, who I work with at least biweekly to recognize and improve my weaknesses.

I use the first 15 minutes of each day to read competitive websites and any press they might be receiving. Knowing what our competition is doing or thinking is critical to our ability to both win and keep business.

I am a huge believer in walking, and in moving around in general. At the very least, I make sure to get up from my chair every hour and walk the office. Not only does this get the blood flowing, it helps me see what the team is working on and helps spur the spontaneous discussions that lead to new ideas and innovations. I also love to do walking meetings. Instead of going into a conference room, we’ll walk around our neighborhood, a mix of businesses and beautiful old houses and apartment buildings. I find this brings out more natural and authentic discussions, and keeps people in the moment — you can’t mentally check out like you can if you’re sitting at a table.

The first thing I do once out of bed is read 15 to 30 minutes religiously. I jot down anything interesting for rumination vis-a-vis healthcare, [such as] Netflix’s god mode, or Jaguar’s brainwave tracker. It’s amazing how many dots you can connect by just reading.

Every Tuesday at noon, San Francisco administrators test the emergency alarm system, which I now use as a marker for a notable time each week. Every Tuesday at noon, I deliberately try to “let go of all things negative, retain all things positive, and march forward to a better week, and a better you!” Though this started as a personal habit, it’s become a company-wide event across multiple time zones.

Anything that’s not actionable immediately, I get out of my inbox. This frees me up to think and focus on the tasks that I know will take up most of my time, like building a team of amazing people who are smart, thoughtful and motivated to achieve something. That is the No. 1 most important thing in building a company, as I truly believe a company is only as good as what is made up of.

“As CEO, my to-do list is never ending, so it’s important for me to prioritize. Typically, I’ll make a daily list of the three most important things I need to get done that day. It really helps to make my day more manageable. As a morning person, I tend to complete those activities before noon, which then gives me time to address other urgent items that come up during the day.”

Informally, I call each of my direct reports between 7 and 8 a.m. daily to catch up and get updates on various parts of the business.

I think Evander Holyfield said that. But anyhow, I use [the project management app] Trello to manage my day-to-day. It’s color-coded between Hiring, Investor, Legal, Sales/Marketing/Press, Product, Admin and JFDI. Every Sunday night, I get my week prepped by looking at my calendar and my Trello board. Then, every morning, I take a quick look at the Trello board and mentally prep myself for the day.

I keep my to-do list short. Every morning I write down the three most important things I need to do that day to move the needle forward. This helps me to make sure I’m playing more offense than defense. It’s so easy to get bogged down in email and other people’s to-do lists that when you look up at the end of the day you realize you didn’t make any progress on the things that are most important. Keeping my to-do list forces me to prioritize and do just the things that are most important.

As a CEO, you can’t be afraid of the decisions you make. But it’s just as dangerous to have full confidence in your decisions. Every day I reflect back on the effects of my decisions that day and how I can improve upon them in the future.