Building healthy habits that boost your career growth

Have you ever wondered how something becomes a routine before you even realize it? Maybe it’s that morning cup of coffee or a chai break in the afternoon that you can’t do without. Or maybe you wish you could change the annoying habit of your team member who speaks over other people’s updates in a daily stand-up meeting.

While it is hard to break bad habits, it’s even harder to build good habits. For me, making physical exercise a daily habit is particularly hard. I always think, “I don’t have time to work out, I have so much work to do.” I used this excuse as a bad habit during the pandemic and paid the price of sacrificing my fitness. But I am happy to report that I am now slowly getting back to my fitness routines, and it took an “atomic” habit building approach to get there.

In my book club this month, we’re reading one of my favorite books: Atomic Habits by James Clear. I love Clear’s perspective on engineering our environment to make healthy habits our default behavior. It’s such a smart way to approach habit-building, which is so difficult when you have to rely on willpower alone. Whether you’re trying to create better habits in your career or your personal life, this book will help you get there.

Atomic Habits is an especially great read for leaders and aspiring leaders. As I reread this book, one quote in particular struck me:

“Learning one new idea won’t make you a genius, but a commitment to lifelong learning can be transformative.”?

I couldn’t agree more with this quote—as evident from the title of my newsletter! Lifelong learning is the backbone of good leadership and a healthy, happy career. It’s one of the most important career habits you can cultivate.?

There’s one more quote in Atomic Habits I just have to share:

“...Each book you read not only teaches you something new but also opens up different ways of thinking about old ideas. As Warren Buffett says, ‘That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest.’”

Reading as a habit ensures that you become a lifelong learner—a key tenet for success—and also has many other mental, physical, and emotional benefits.?

Some other healthy habits that can boost your career in addition to reading include prioritization, sharing feedback, speaking up when you have questions or opinions, and most importantly, summarizing outcomes after each meeting. Make these your work habits!

If you’re interested in reading Atomic Habits—and in making reading a healthy new habit—join my book club. All it takes is 10mins of reading a day—you have time for that ;-)

What healthy habits have you struggled to build?