What are your Flying Habits?

As a coach I am often talking to leaders about their approach. At its most simple, their approach comes down to their day to day habits, which tell people the kind of leader they are more than anything they may say. An example of this is a head teacher friend of mine who walks around school before the bell goes to say hello to every teacher who is setting up their classroom. He connects with them in this way every day, doing it once as a stand alone has benefits but doing it every day changes the sort of relationship he has with his staff. They feel appreciated and listened to first thing and this changes how they in turn treat their class. It is so subtle and unnoticeable in the short term but over time it makes a huge difference.

I had the same idea as a parent a few years ago. There is a large age gap between my two boys and after a long day at work and finally saying goodnight to the youngest, I was exhausted and ready to sit down myself, my eldest was occupying himself in his room and he wasn’t asking for anything and he didn’t ‘need me‘, so I had been thankfully leaving him to it until it occurred to me; what if I made it a practice to pop my head around the door every night and spend 5 minutes in his company? In the short term nothing much changes but over time, we became more connected and our relationship is closer.

Habits are about helping us create outcomes we most want in the long term. They can be very small almost unnoticeable things like giving your child a hug as the first thing you do every morning or spending the last half hour of the day reading together.

What are the habits you might start that might one day help your child fly?

Whatever you decide ,start it today so that one day you can look back and see the impact of your practice.

We would love to hear more about your flying habits, please comment below or join our Facebook page. If you would like a copy of our adapted version of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Parents please click here