The 7 Habits of High Performers

NZ Mortgages Powering the Lead On Purpose podcast. You can check them out at nzmortgages co nz. Did you know that the top 1% of high performers follow a set of daily habits that take less than an hour to complete? In this video, I'm breaking down those seven habits that can help you stay focused, energized, and ahead of the game, no matter how busy life gets. Let's go. I'm James Laughlin, and on this channel we unlock your full potential through proven habits and strategies for personal mastery. So what are these habits I speak of? Well, over the years, I've been really fortunate to sit down with, interview, coach, work with some of the best performers on the planet, whether they're athletes, musicians, leaders, business owners. And I go deep on what do you do, how do you do it? And if I'm coaching them, I'm dropping these habits into their lives so that they can start to see the difference it makes. You don't have to be a world winner to implement these habits. Anyone can do it. So let's get started and have some fun. So, number one, read five pages every single day. Actually read now if you've got maybe, say, a challenge in reading, you don't. Can't really do it very well. It's a struggle. Okay, audiobook for five pages a day. But preferably if you can read, read the book, old school book, get it out, have a look at it. So reading five pages a day, what's that going to do? It's going to compound. It seems like nothing. Almost like, why should I bother compounding that over days, weeks and years, all of a sudden you're slowly and incrementally building incredible habits and deepening your understanding of the topic of choice, whatever it might be. Number two, listen 30 minutes a day. That's right. High performers listen over and over and over again. They're constantly listening to great habits, audiobooks, podcasts, masterclasses. I would urge you to have two or three podcasts or YouTube channels that you check in on every day. It might be one on a Monday, different one on Tuesday, different one on Wednesday, back to the first one on the Thursday, then next one Friday, next one. I want you to think about the importance of constantly listening to uplifting insights, wisdom, thought, leadership. Because what we listen to, we become. It's crucially important that you start to curate what you're listening to. If the news at 6pm every night is what you listen to, I'm really hoping you might change that habit. The news is not going to feed your mind with empowering insights as to how to better your life. If you really need to keep up with the news on a Sunday, sit down and get a quick overview of the week's news. But try not to drip feed it every day. Let's replace the news with listening to stuff that help us level up. I love listening to Andrew Huberman on the Huberman Labs. Why? I love neuroscience. I can go deep on that. You might listen to something totally different, but figure out what it is you want to listen to. Get on it every day. Make it a habit. Number three, high performers move their body. So moving for 15 minutes a day, it could be a short run, could be a short hiit workout, could be a 15, 20 minute yoga session. And 15 minutes is the starting point, but it's minimum. Get your 15 minutes in. You and I both can do that. I often will find excuses, oh, it's too late. No, I'm too tired. But actually when you do it, you feel better. Bdnf, brain derived nootropic factor gets released when we exercise and we sweat. That is so good for brain health, so good for preventing those neurological disorders later in life. So working out is something that high performers just do. Number four, mind training for two minutes a day. What's mind training? Well, just focusing your mind on one thing. If you can't focus for two minutes, how are you going to focus for 20 minutes? Look at it this way. I'm writing a book right now and it requires me to focus for extended periods of time before I write. I always do a two minute mental training or breath work or meditation. Why? If I can't get through two minutes of focus, there's absolutely no way I'm going to have two hours of writing time. It'll probably end up being quite nonsensical, not very powerful. Writing. That little meditation allows me to build my focus muscle and it is a muscle. So I want you to think about building that focused muscle. It's critically important. Look, if you're enjoying this right now, you're here on YouTube, please hit subscribe. If you're listening to Apple Podcasts or Spotify, please leave me a rating and review and share this with a friend. Okay, number five, journaling. Two minutes a day, getting out of your head and onto the page. I've had some of the world's leading neuroscientists and psychologists and spiritual leaders on the show, and the one thing that comes up often is that many of them journal. There are powerful reasons why people journal. So if you want to be a high performer? I'm going to suggest that this habit, regular daily habit of journaling, will help you. Why? Our thoughts go pretty quickly in our mind. Our thinking is rapid. When we start writing, it forces us to slow down. It forces us to distill our thinking. Some of the best thought leaders and creators and entrepreneurs on the planet write in their journal every single day. Okay, number six, alcohol free or at least limited alcohol. Right? The high performers understand that consuming anything that has a negative effect afterwards, as in a hangover or a degraded sleep, which obviously alcohol gives us. They know they can't afford to do that if they want to be bif best in field. So reducing or limiting alcohol or even better, just cutting it out. I did this a number of years ago, as many of you will know if you've been listening for a while. It's four and a half years at this point of no alcohol, which was pretty challenging because I enjoyed drinking. I used it as a social connector. I thought I didn't have a problem with it at all. But actually in challenging myself to that one year, no beer, AKA no alcohol at all, it really transformed my relationship with alcohol and my wellness. It gave me more energy, my wallet looked a little better and certainly my productivity increased. So that's something I want you to think about now. Last but not least, the seventh habit of high performers. They embrace the 3:2:1 evening routine. The 3:2:1 evening routine. This is often something I get asked about when I'm speaking on stages, usually at corporate events. But the 3:2:1 evening routine can be adopted by people who are in the corporate world, in the military world, in the software world, in the startup world, in the parenting world. The 3:2:1 evening routine is super simple. It sets you up for a great sleep. If you've got a great sleep, you're going to have a much better day the next day. Your energy levels will be higher, your focus will be better, your output will increase. What is the three two one evening routine? Well, super simple. Three hours before bed, you want to no work. Like zero work. Don't talk about work, don't take work calls, don't check your emails. Two hours before bed, no food, no liquid. That's right. Why? We can then let our digestive system relax that allows us to rest, rest and digest. So we don't want to be eating constantly and using that energy. So two hours before bed, no food, no liquid. The no liquid thing is important because then you're not getting up at 3 or 4 or 5am to pee. You know, say you rise at 6am you don't want to be getting up at 4:27am to go to the toilet. You never get back into your sleep, right? So simple little routine. That's three, that's two. And then the one is one hour before sleep. No screens, no iPads, no Netflix on the tv. Get all your screens out the way. Engage with a book, engage with a human. Go for a walk, hang out with your pets. Do a little workout, journal, meditate. There's like a list that goes on and on. Do the dishes, do the laundry that keeps piling up. Evening routine, right before bed, one hour, get rid of the screens. I don't know how often you find this, but I often find myself when I watch Netflix, watching the next episode and the next episode, the cliffhanger. After cliffhanger, of course I want to watch it. And it's so fast moving that it keeps my attention. We've got to get cool with slowing things down. Reading a book takes time. Journaling takes time and thought. I want you to consider these seven habits, going to run through them very quickly for you again. Number one, read five pages a day. Number two, listen for 30 minutes, probably to a podcast or YouTube channel. Number three, move for 15 minutes. Number four, mental training or mind training for just two minutes. Number five, journaling for two minutes. Number six, go alcohol free, or at least limit your alcohol. Last but not least, number seven, adopt a three, two, one evening routine. I'm gonna suggest you pick one of these and start running it. Don't do all of them all at once. It's too much to handle. Even though they seem really simple, our bodies don't like that much change. Neither do our minds. So I would suggest pick one. Do it for a couple of weeks until you're starting to build rhythm and slowly introduce the next one. I do not believe in 75 hard. That program, I think, is nonsensical. How many people have you met that can keep that up long term? 0.0000000001%. It's not sustainable. I don't believe in engaging in things that aren't sustainable. What's the point? Let's engage in practices that allow us to be high performers over the long term, not little short bursts, not trying to be heroic, just small things done well consistently every day and over time, they lead to sublime results. That obviously is how you would summarize Kaizen, that Japanese philosophy almost of like 1% incremental gains every day. That to me is the difference that makes the difference. Look, I hope you've enjoyed this. If you've enjoyed it, hit that subscribe button. If you're on YouTube or if you're over on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, please leave me a rating and review and share it with a friend. But until next time, please get out there and lead your life on purpose. NZ Mortgages Powering the Lead on Purpose podcast. You can check them out at nzmortgages co NZ.