13 habits of high performers

 Elon Musk often talks about hiring job candidates for “clear evidence of exceptional ability”

But how do you identify exceptional potential employees? 13 non-obvious habits to look for in hiring high performing employees:

1/ People who take notorious notes Notes notes. Even your notes should have notes Notes are the closest thing that humans have to time travel You'll miss a finite detail and the notes will help you remember instantly If you want to be more focused, focus on note taking

2/ People with a strong self awareness to accept and manage feedback proactively Low performers: Can’t take feedback Average performers: Take feedback and attempt to integrate it High performers: Seek feedback and integrate it as essential to their success

3/ People who write well You can’t make work happen if you can’t write well It doesn’t matter if you’re a designer, engineer or marketer, you’ll always have points to get across Writing well means: 1) Clear thinking 2) Empathy Writing-well moves mountains

4/ People who lift others up Let’s be real: startup life is tough Having team members lift each other up is your team’s magic pill So yeah, I dig folks who lift others up

5/ People who aren’t hyper productive every single day You cannot be hyper productive everyday. It’s unsustainable Productivity ebbs and flows. That’s okay Sustainable workers outperform

6/ People who listen well Listeners make others feel valued Remember the RASA framework: - Receive: focus your attention on what the person is saying - Appreciate: show signs of appreciation - Summarize: sum up in a few words what the person was telling you - Ask a question

7/ People who smile and laugh often These are the little things that make work fun Startup life without fun is basically impossible Practice safe stress

8/ People with an "us" mentality (not a "me" mentality) Everyone loves a team player If you want to go fast, go alone If you want to go far, go together Employees who understand this are massive multipliers

9/ People who are allergic to excuses Superpowers: 1, Know how to make mistakes 2. Know how to apologize

10/ People who aren’t afraid to ask quality questions

Better questions lead to better answers How to ask quality questions: - Don’t ask yes/no qs - Use follow up qs - Never interrupt - Ask qs to which you want to know the answers - Never ramble - Be comfortable with pauses

11/ People who are able to prioritize on high value work I like President Eisenhower's model: Important + Urgent -> Do 1st Important + Non-Urgent -> Schedule Less Important + Urgent -> Delegate Less Important + Non-Urgent -> Don’t Do Point: whatever framework you use, use it

12/ People with high emotional IQ How to gauge for emotional IQ: Ask questions that make people open-up/vulnerable Keep it light and not too in intense or else you're flying too close to the sun

13/ People who are (mostly) on time If you’re consistently late, you’re basically saying that you’re time is more important than someone else Not cool. Bad vibe Point: you might think people don’t pay attention to punctuality. People do Being late ain’t great

LEARN AND ENJOY