Six high-performing silent superpowers

What would it mean to you as a leader to consistently perform at or near your best? And what if you could learn to influence your team and family to do the same? There are six key silent superpowers that we can all tap into that will help us perform at another level on a regular basis.

The reason why I label them silent superpowers is because these areas don’t get enough attention for the leaders in our industry. Yet without them, our dealership will never live out its potential because we’ll continue to be on edge from low-quality sleep, chase the day by not having the proper routines in place, lack energy from inadequate nutrition and exercise, succumb to our emotions which often results in less than favorable decisions and outcomes, and we won’t have a keystone habit that positively influences the rest of our habits.

By focusing on our sleep, morning and night routines, nutrition, exercise, emotional intelligence, and our keystone habit, we will be better fit to lead and drive the financial results of our dealerships through higher retention, repeat/referral business, attracting higher-quality people, and increased overall productivity and performance from the entire team.

These are the six high-performing silent superpowers.

Sleep

Some of us only need four hours while others need eight. What I’ve found to be important is the consistency of when we sleep and the quality we get more than the quantity. Sleep is a major contributor to our state of mind and how we show up as leaders. Personally, I’m consistently in bed at 9:00pm and up at 5:00am. The room is pitch black and I’ll often have earbuds in with binaural beats or a sleep meditation.

Routines

How we show up matters probably more than we realize. This starts with an effective night routine which leads into getting the quality of sleep we need to perform at our best. From there, we need a go-to morning routine to help us show up with intention every single day, without fail. If we don’t then we start chasing the day by reacting to situations versus being proactive and taking control. The last five minutes and the first five minutes of our day are by far our most important. Get these time blocks right and we’ll massively influence the outcomes we desire.

Nutrition

While this may seem obvious, eating healthy has a direct impact on our energy levels. But doesn’t it seem as though the auto industry is known for crushing fast food and living on energy drinks?!  We use the time excuse to grab something quick – which is rarely a healthy alternative – instead of investing the time to meal prep for the week or pack our lunch with fresh fruits and veggies. Yes, it takes effort, but let’s look at it as a long-term investment in our body and energy levels.

Exercise

This doesn’t mean working out six days a week and having six-pack abs, although that does have its own benefits both physically and mentally. It’s more about having a plan to incorporate movement into our morning or night routine to help set our day up for success or get an even better night’s sleep. This could be as easy as a light 15-minute walk or hitting the gym hard for an hour. Either way, getting our body into motion daily will have a positive impact on our confidence, energy, and mental state.

Emotional Intelligence

EQ is largely about self-awareness around our own emotions, managing them and having the ability to understand it in others.  In my experience, the best process for this is understanding the NLP Communication Model. A situation occurs, we associate a story to it, give it meaning based on our beliefs and values which then influences our behavior and outcomes. By catching the emotion as it arises which can be developed through awareness, we can improve the story and ultimately the outcomes.

Keystone Habits

Keystone habits are small improvements that we incorporate into our routines that unintentionally carry over into other aspects of our lives. For example, by improving our night routine, we will set ourselves up for a better sleep which will help our cognitive functions and improve our EQ, gives us a head start on tomorrow which leads to more energy when we wake up, this then helps us get active and when we’re exercising regularly we are incentivized to eat healthier to maintain or continue to improve our overall health.

We must realize that by effectively leading ourselves first, only then can we effectively lead others. Running a successful dealership undoubtedly requires strong management but nobody wakes up excited to be managed.

They wake up excited to be led.

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