Six categories of daily practice, and the specific routines high performers use inside each one.
What separates the strongest chief executives is rarely a single decision. It is the routines and systems underneath the decisions — the things that run whether or not the week is going well.
Six categories, with the concrete habits inside each, drawn from Vistage Chairs, speakers and members. Your version of these will not look like anyone else’s. Take what fits and make it yours.
1
Focus on what matters most
Apply the 80/20 rule to your own calendar: work the fifth of the work that produces most of the result and hand off the rest.
Habits that protect your attention
Block time instead of listing tasks. Put every intended task on the calendar as a block. (Sam Reese, CEO, Vistage)
Run theme days. One focus area per weekday — strategy Monday, marketing Tuesday, finance Wednesday. (Marcey Rader, productivity expert)
Batch your email. Review it in passes through the day rather than reacting as it lands. (Maura Thomas, Vistage speaker)
Say no out loud. Without it you get absorbed into meetings and work that drain the day. (Rader)
Ask yourselfOf what I do today, what moves me, my team, or the organization closer to winning? — Holly Green, Vistage speaker
2
Prioritize productivity
Treat your own throughput as a business metric. Plan carefully, delegate deliberately, and measure whether it’s working.
Habits that raise throughput
Fix the start of the day. A morning routine you keep religiously. Tom Cuthbert’s is 5:30 a.m., devotional, email, gym.
Prepare for meetings properly. Agenda circulated ahead, purpose stated, solutions brainstormed in advance, and a 15-minute buffer between meetings. (Sam Reese)
Stop multitasking. University of Southern California research finds it raises error rates and lowers retention.
Hold yourself to three areas of excellence. Cuthbert’s recurring question: what am I doing that someone else could or should be doing?
Measure it. Revenue per employee, profit per employee — pick one and watch it.
Ask yourselfWhat emerging technology could raise personal and organizational productivity here?
3
Invest in your health
Recovery is an input to decision quality, not a reward for finishing the work. The practices below come from Vistage speakers and Chairs working with executives.
Habits that support recovery
Strength train twice a week. Luke Carlson, CEO of Discover Strength, points to gains in cognition, mental health and cardiovascular health.
Eat and sleep closer to how the body expects. Natural foods, water over everything else, sleep when it’s dark. (Dan Miller, nutrition and fitness expert)
Keep a gratitude journal. A few minutes, three things. Brian Davis, Vistage Chair, describes it as what keeps him connected to his purpose.
Run real sleep hygiene. Giles Watkins, Vistage Chair: off work and screens by 9 p.m., 7–8 hours, same bedtime nightly.
Ask yourselfIs it fact, or is it story? — Lara Patriquin, MD, Vistage speaker
4
Learn for a lifetime
The strongest operators stay dissatisfied with their own development long after they’ve stopped needing to prove anything.
Habits that keep you learning
Make learning non-negotiable. Conferences, courses, books in your industry — and podcasts or audiobooks when time is short. (Dave Nelsen, Vistage speaker)
Schedule coffee with another CEO monthly, or a working session with your Chair.
Use the Performance Triangle. Connect skills to activities to results so what you learn actually lands. (Sam Reese)
Tie learning to strategy. Link development to the company’s goals, vision and values so the team is aligned on what winning looks like.
Ask yourselfAm I on a constant path of growth and learning?
5
Collaborate intentionally
Seek counsel deliberately rather than as a last resort. The point is not consensus; it’s better-informed judgment.
Habits that build collaboration
Join a peer advisory group. Trusted CEOs outside your industry give you insight with nothing riding on your answer.
Break down silos from the top. They are built downward, so dismantle them with initiatives the whole company can agree on. (Joni S. Naugle, Vistage Chair)
Build an executive team with both IQ and EQ. Diverse backgrounds, aligned on mission and purpose.
Talk to frontline employees. They know your customers and the latest complaints better than anyone in the building.
Model it when things go wrong, not only when they go well. That is when people learn whether you meant it. (Naugle)
Ask yourselfAm I coming from curiosity and actively seeking views that differ from mine?
6
Embrace accountability
Accountability works as a guardrail, not a disciplinary tool. It keeps ambitions on track and gets you back on after you fall off — and a leader who visibly keeps commitments earns the credibility to ask for the same.