Leadership Habits: 7 Daily Practices for Growth

When it comes to leadership, you’d be wrong to think it’s all about the big decisions or that one moment of brilliance, innovation, insight. It’s not. While those moments are quite frankly fantastic for you, for your team, for your company, they don’t define great leadership.

Great leadership centers around the small, intentional actions that people take every day. The most effective leaders don’t wait for opportunities to present themselves. They create them through consistent habits that strengthen their mindset, refine their decision-making, and enhance their leadership impact.

Consider some of the world’s most successful leaders. Warren Buffett spends hours reading each day. Indra Nooyi, the former CEO of PepsiCo, took time every morning for reflection and planning. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, starts his day at 4:00 a.m. to work out and catch up on emails, ensuring he’s prepared for the day ahead

Was their success a result of ‘fate’ or ‘good luck’? No. Their success was built through discipline and deliberate habits.

So, what are the key daily leadership habits that separate the good from the great leaders? Curious which ones you should be adopting? Read on.

Why Leadership Habits Matter

Before we dive into the nitty-gritty, let's explore why leadership habits matter and their impact. After all, understanding why they matter and connecting to that why will make them far more effective and long-lasting. When you know the purpose behind what you’re doing, you’re more likely to stay committed, make intentional choices, and see results.

Good leaders can only become great leaders when they recognize that their own personal growth is just as critical as the growth of their teams. Leadership is a journey of self-improvement, reflection, and discipline. 

As F.M. Alexander put it, “You can’t determine your future, but you can determine your habits. And your habits determine your future.” Wise words from a wise chap.

Great leaders know that clear daily habits help them improve. They stick to these winning habits. Every. Single Day. 

Research backs this up. A study by Harvard Business Review found that the world’s geniuses have something in common: they create and stick to daily routines that improve their effectiveness. These routines help them stay focused, engaged, and adaptable in a constantly changing world.

Your success as a leader is determined by the intentionality and thoughtfulness of your daily agenda. By refining your leadership habits, you take control of your growth and move closer to becoming the leader you aspire to be. So what are some daily habits you can implement?

7 Daily Leadership Habits for Growth

1. Engage with Your Team

Step out from behind your desk. You cannot lead by sitting in your office and making decisions in isolation. The best leaders make it a daily habit to check in with their team and foster real connections. 

A Gallup study found that engaged leaders boost employee performance by 20% and retention by 59%. If you are a leader who wants to improve employee performance, spend a few minutes each day talking to your employees. Ask about their work and show real interest. Remember, it is your presence and engagement that sets the tone for the team culture in your organization. 

2. Start Your Day with Leadership Journaling

Journaling is one of the most powerful tools a leader can use. Yes, we may be biased given we’re the only leadership development company offering 720 days of guided leadership journals, but many famous leaders (successful too may we add) are known to reflect in a journal on a regular basis. Daily journaling can help leaders to see patterns, identify blind spots, and improve their leadership. Studies also show that journaling can help with decision-making, boost self-awareness, and lower stress.

At My Daily Leadership, we recommend a structured way to journal each day. This approach provides the guidance you need, with prompts serving as both your mentor and roadmap throughout your leadership development journey.

3. Focus On Long-Term Vision, Not Just Daily Tasks

Emails. Meetings. Emails. Firefighting. Phone Calls. Emails. Firefighting. Emails. 

Did we say emails?

 We understand how easy it is to get caught in the day-to-day demands of your organization. 

Successful leaders prioritize long-term thinking and strategic planning over the short-term and being ‘reactive’.  Let your management team and experts handle the everyday. Steven Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, reminds us that we shouldn’t focus on prioritizing what’s already on our schedule. Rather, we should focus on scheduling our true priorities.

Leaders who think long-term make better short-term decisions and ensure their daily work aligns with strategic objectives. So long-term, not short-term, please. 

4. Give Meaningful, Real-Time Feedback

Feedback shouldn’t be reserved for annual reviews. The best leaders offer immediate, constructive feedback that helps employees grow in real-time.

Make it a habit to recognize great work daily and provide course-correcting feedback when needed. Teams thrive when they know where they stand and how they can improve. So please don’t be that leader that only gives feedback once a year. The best leaders provide regular, constructive feedback (critique) every day. 

If giving constructive feedback is something you struggle with, we suggest investing in an Executive Leadership Coach. Here at My Daily Leadership, our coaches are trained to provide perspective, support and strategies. Having a coach by your side can help you navigate providing difficult feedback and handling those  difficult conversations - which let’s face it happen more often than not. 

If you’re serious about becoming a better leader, discover more about our coaching services here.

5. Ask Thought-Provoking Questions 

Being in a leadership role doesn’t mean you have, nor should have, all the answers. Far from it. In fact, leadership is all about asking the right questions.

A great leader doesn’t dictate solutions; they cultivate them by encouraging curiosity and problem-solving. The best way to do this? Ask thoughtful, open-ended questions that challenge assumptions and get them thinking:

• “What solutions have you considered for this challenge?”
• “What’s the biggest roadblock we need to address?”
• “How will you prioritize achieving this objective?”

When leaders ask these kinds of questions, they actively empower their teams to think critically, take ownership, and drive meaningful progress. The very act of questioning builds a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement.

Andthe most important questions? They’re the ones leaders ask to themselves.

Self-reflection is a hallmark of great leadership. The best leaders self-assess their own behaviors, habits, and mindset every single day. They ask:

• “Where and how could I have done better today?”

And they don’t just ask it; they write the answer down. This is, again, where your daily journaling comes in. After all, the leaders who go further, faster are the ones willing to ask questions of themselves first.

6. Prioritize Communication and Collaboration

Create an environment where communication flows freely across teams, departments, and levels of the organization.

Effective communication is much more than sharing information; it’s about ensuring that people feel heard, understood, and aligned. Without it, even the best strategies can fall apart due to misalignment, confusion, or the dreaded ‘S’ word - silos.

The best leaders make it a daily habit to check in with key stakeholders, encourage open dialogue, and actively listen. They ensure transparency at all levels of the hierarchy by sharing updates, clarifying expectations, and ensuring that feedback moves in all directions. Remember, it’s not only top-down, but also laterally and bottom-up.

Collaboration is equally critical. Research from McKinsey shows that teams with strong communication and collaboration practices outperform competitors by over 50%. When leaders prioritize collaboration, they build trust, improve decision-making, and create a more innovative culture. And innovation is something we could all do with a healthy dose of. 

Ask yourself questions like this daily: Have I connected with my team today? Have I made space for open, honest communication? Have I encouraged collaboration? These small but consistent actions define the difference between a group that merely functions and a team that excels.

7. Build Relationships with Purpose

Leadership is, at its core, about people. If you’re in a leadership role and don’t genuinely enjoy working with, guiding, inspiring and empowering people, it might be time to update your resume and check Indeed.com.

Great leaders understand that their success is directly tied to the relationships they build. That’s why it’s essential to make strengthening connections a daily habit. This can be with your employees, peers, or mentors and it doesn’t have to be time-consuming. It could be as simple as:

• A quick check-in with a team member to see how they’re doing.
• Sending a genuine message of appreciation for a job well done.
• Scheduling a one-on-one conversation to provide support and guidance.

When leaders invest in relationships, they build trust, boost morale, and improve collaboration. People follow leaders not just because of their title; they follow those who make them feel valued and supported.

Putting Leadership Habits into Practice

Developing new habits takes time, intention and commitment. We all know that one person who  said they would run the New York marathon. Who said they would become CEO within 5 years. Who said they would increase the company’s revenue from $1 million to $10 million. But they didn’t do any of those things. Not even close.

And we also know that one person who actually achieved every goal they set. What’s the difference? Their daily habits.

We want you to leave this blog and start committing to these daily habits. However, we don’t recommend starting all seven at once. That will only lead to fatigue and overwhelm.

Instead, we encourage you to take imperfect action. Take one or two of these habits and make an imperfect start. Today. Yes, right now. What are you waiting for? Ta-ta. 

Put on your big brave leader pants - you’ve got this!

Take the Next Step in Your Leadership Journey

In a nutshell, great leadership is built through intentional daily actions. When practiced consistently, the seven leadership habits in this blog will make you a better leader and drive long-term success. Hoorah! 

Remember, every leader has the potential to be an exceptional leader. They simply need to discover the right tools, mindsets, and habits to unlock their potential.

So, if you’re looking for an award-winning leadership tool to help you become the best of the day, get your copy of our book: My Daily Leadership: A Powerful Roadmap for Leadership Success. Transform the way you think, behave and lead in just 464 pages.

Get your copy today and start building the leadership habits that set great leaders apart.