5 Life-Changing Leadership Habits for Gen Z and Millennials (Career Success Guide)

Leadership doesn’t start with a promotion. It starts the moment you decide to take ownership of your life with intention.

In this episode, Dr. Jason Wiggins speaks directly to Gen Z and millennials who want real personal growth and workplace leadership skills without the fluff. If your days feel reactive, scattered, or drained, this conversation brings you back to the fundamentals that actually create momentum.

We break down simple but powerful leadership habits, starting with the “make your bed” mindset and why small wins build discipline and consistency. From there, we explore practical tools for productivity and time management, including tracking accomplishments, building goal-based to-do lists, and planning your week with purpose.

We also dive into gratitude and appreciation as leadership tools that strengthen teams, improve culture, and increase performance. Continuous learning is another key focus, including how to use AI tools like ChatGPT as a support system for growth and decision making.

Finally, we cover habits that protect your energy and sharpen your influence: reflection, self-care, active listening, strategic thinking time, and aligning your daily actions with long-term purpose.

If you’re ready to become the kind of leader people trust and follow, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show. What’s the one habit you’re committing to this week?

Transcript

Welcome, Thanks, And The Mission

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Hello, friends. Welcome to a new episode of Your Motivation to Hold Gen Z and Millennial Expert Podcast. I am your host. My name is Dr. Jason Wiggins, and I am so grateful to be here today. Let's get our heads right and let's really start to dive in. First and foremost, though, I want to thank all the listeners out there. You've continued to show and demonstrate your commitment to listening and learning, and hopefully sharing those with other people as well. I'm seeing all of the all the connections across the world of people listening, and I am very, very grateful. So please continue to subscribe, like, save the episodes, rewatch them. And again, please share them with your friends and family because I hope they're getting just as much as you are out of it. So again, thank you very much. Let's get started. I mean, this podcast is for Gen Z and millennials. It's about motivating, it's about getting the best out of our own abilities and the best of those around us. It's about lifting others up when someone is down. It's about providing opportunities for the opportunity lifts. It is about creating the pathway for success within our personal, our professional life. And today we're going to talk about how to become a better leader. Not only in the sense of being a leader at work and mastering our craft and mastering the ability to oversee others, but we're also going to dive in to the particulars about managing our own life. I mean, sometimes that can be the biggest obstacle is really managing our own life. And that's why if we're focused, we're ready, and we're doing the things that we need to do in life, we are going to achieve a lot. It reminds me of that book by William McCraven, Make Your Bed. The little things that can change your life and maybe the world too. The first decision you make in the morning, you make your bed. And guess what? You did something right when the day started. You got something accomplished. And let's just say you have a bad day. Things don't go right. But you come home and you come home to a nice made crisp bed. So it may not have gone how you liked it during the day, but at least one of the accomplishments that you had at the beginning of the day still stood tall at the end. Today is focusing on life-changing leadership habits. So when we work on these daily habits, they will not only help us transform as leaders in the workplace in our daily life and as parents and spouses and coaches, whatever it may be, this will provide us endless opportunities to maximize our own growth. And so one of the things that we so much forget, we dwell in the negativity in our life, the negativity around others, and we don't realize the things we accomplish within our own life. We are such a driven society that we forget what we did that was excellent. We only dive into what we failed at. So again, every leader should adopt the habit of reviewing their daily accomplishments and look at their agenda. If you didn't get anything done, what was your agenda made of? Was it playing video games? Was it eating? Was it doing something unproductive? And at the end of the day, you go, hey, I didn't accomplish anything. Well, what was your to-do list like? If you had a to-do list that says, hey, I'm gonna veg all day and watch reruns of my favorite episode, well, if you watched all those episodes, I guess you might have succeeded if that's what your goal was. But if your goal was real personal intent to accomplish, then maybe it wasn't. So success is determined by what you do. So it's very important to monitor our progress, not only personally, but in our leadership roles. If we have a to-do list at work, and I am so guilty of the to-do list, I am still the type that writes it down on a piece of paper and I cross them off as I get them done. For me, that is a sense of accomplishment. But that's where we really got to dive in as leaders and personal growth to be able to handle our own successes and make sure that we're notating things that are successful, that we are accomplishing it. It's like the roadmap. If you're gonna drive to the other side of the country, wherever that may be in your country, and you don't know how to get there, you don't have a GPS, you don't have a phone, how are you gonna get there? You have to map out, you have to plan. If you have an electric car, you're gonna have to determine what stops you're gonna have to recharge or what gas station, if you're getting gas, where are you gonna go? Maybe there's not a gas station for 50 miles, wherever it may be. So it's about pre-planning. Pre-planning is the success to being a leader and personal growth. The number two, the one that I like, and I think this is so important, is we have to be grateful. Be grateful and have gratitude. You hear that so much from leaders or from people that have just won major sporting events. They're they're thanking their higher power for the accomplishments of what they achieved, what their team achieved. And when you're able to connect with that feeling of gratitude, and you're able to acknowledge that and go, I was great today, but I was great because I had a great foundation. I had a higher power. I worked hard. I continued to hone my craft. I seeked out connectivity and relations, and I expressed that humanness of feeling like, you know what? It wasn't just me. It was the support that I had around me to help achieve my goals. That is where true success is built around. Another one of my favorites, I love this one. Invest time and continuous learning. Imagine, imagine this. If you go through school, you graduate with a high school diploma. And again, there's absolutely nothing wrong with graduating just with a high school diploma. But if that's all you do and you never strive to learn more, you close that book and you never try to continue to improve yourself, do more things, find better ways to invest in yourself, continuous learning. You have to be a lifelong learner. The most successful people in life, no matter who they are, Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, all of these individuals that have achieved so much, have had so much success. The one thing they have in common, not only did they never quit after continuous failures, they also were continuous learners. They were the hardest working person in their craft. They found ways to succeed when everybody else failed. So that is why when you invest in yourself, you invest in those around you as leaders, you provide the continuity, you find, you provide the growth, you provide the foundation for others to succeed around you, you are going to feel encaptivated. You're gonna feel motivated, you're gonna feel like there is nothing else that can stop you or your team. When you jump on LinkedIn, what I love about LinkedIn is that I see people gravitating around the achievements of the team, talking about the company, talking about the goals they hit, talking about how they help other people. These are the things that should spark and ignite that motivation for continuous learning. So if you're a lifelong learner, you know what I'm talking about. You know that there is nothing you can't do. I mean, you can just Google search, you can AI search, you can do deeper research on top of the AI search to learn about what is really true and what's not. I would like to caution everybody when they go to ChatGPT or OpenAI. I mean, they're pretty much the same, but when you go to these websites, don't take everything per betum. Remember that they are a resource. So you have to invest in that resource information and then make sure that it is correct. So the worst thing you can do is go, oh, I went on the JAT GPT and it said it's right. Well, no, you need to also do your background. It's the same thing with research and doing things for schoolwork, making sure you're making an impact, but finding the right resources and then referencing those resources in what you do. And then, my absolute favorite, I love it. Visualization. Ask what step you took today that you made towards your future. What impact did you make today to demonstrate that's going to help you in the future? It's about productivity, it's not about time fillers, time wasters, focusing on things that are important. It's about building your career. Every daily habit leader should adopt this asking. What have I done today to move towards my desired future? Why? Because look at all the social medias. Look at all I scroll through this, I flip through this, I comb through this, I do that. I mean, we waste so much time on social media, internet, tick tock, all of these. We have to focus on the important aspect is what have I done today to move towards my desired future? Don't get lost in the urgent task, but make time for planning, being a thought leader. Spend 10 minutes to think about what's important and how you can affect your ability to succeed. You know, building and maintaining relationships may not seem urgent, but when you do that, you are providing a lifetime conduit for success professionally and personally. Another one that we just talked about, and I want to focus on that again. When you go to LinkedIn, you see all the great things that companies are doing, that colleagues are doing, remember to express appreciation for your team. Every leader should be acknowledging and appreciate their team. Why? Because you're not going to get anywhere as a leader if you are not thanking those people around you, that you're not putting them on a pedestal, that you're not demonstrating their accomplishments because their accomplishments are not your accomplishments. But what they are is an indication, an indication of your leadership, your ability to promote, to strive, to cultivate and culture around you an atmosphere of success. So let the people feel value, let them be more engaged, be productive, be motivated to help contribute to you and your team success, which ultimately will make you a great company. Not a good company, but a great company, just like Jim Collins' book, Good to Great. Again, that's Jim Collins' excellent book. He's got Built to Last, he's got other books. So if you haven't read them, then please do. And then, as I mentioned, the book earlier by William H. McCraven, make your bed. Because the little things that can change your life and maybe the world, because it's a domino effect. Just by like taking the steps for your future, it's a domino effect. Expressing appreciation for your team, it's a domino effect. Why? It's that consistency, that collaboration, that meaning that they will likely do the same for you if you do for them. And another important one, again, I'm not going to say it's my favorite because they're all in my favor. I love them all. But it's reflect on successes, challenges, and opportunities. It's almost the same as strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats when you're out of business and you're looking to determine what's going on around you. But for this, leadership, the daily habits that you need to focus on, reflecting on successes, challenges, and opportunities. Because we should take time to review the great things that we've done, the challenges, the obstacles, the things that maybe didn't go the way we wanted to. But we have to find ways to review opportunities as the opportunity for self-awareness, clarity, better decision making. And this helps practice us as leaders and in our personal growth to stay in line with our goals, to be able to build stronger relationships, adapt to change, and driving the growth, the personal growth, the effectiveness of our teams. When we are able to do this, we are able to conquer so much more. And then another one, and again, I cannot overemphasize self-care. It is a crazy world we live in. We live in an absolutely insane world. A world that you turn it upside down, you shake it out five or ten times, and it wouldn't be as convoluted and chaotic as it is today. So we have to navigate around that. But to navigate that way in a successful way, you have to be able to have self-care. Self-care is about taking those priceless moments for yourself, taking care of the needs that you have. How can you invest fully in other people when you can't take care of yourself? So if that means meditating, doing yoga, getting a massage, doing something that is going to mentally help you disconnect for a short time to get those batteries recharged. Think about that. We have to use a remote for the TV. And we use that remote and use that remote to turn the channel until one day it stops working. That remote is an example of us when we don't stop to recharge the batteries. When we become exhausted, we just go through the motions, the daily grind. We let the daily grind take us over. But there is no reason. If you utilize self-care, get that massage, get that yoga, go out there and meditate, plant the flowers, whatever it may be that helps you calm down. Focus on that. Put your energy in that. And that will energize you, that will fill you with the energy that you need, that battery power to sustain the growth, the excitement, the motivation for you to continue to engage with your team, engage with your personal growth. So you'll then be able to fully invest in others when you're able to lead yourself, take care of yourself. And remember this listen to other voices. You have to be an active listener. That's why the higher power gave us two ears and one mouth because we need to listen more than we talk. The best leaders will be engaged, they'll listen, and they'll be theorizing their thoughts, but with a good deep understanding while being empathetic and really aiming to speak less than the person you're talking to, and then asking more questions about their statement. Because what this promotes, it promotes empathy, it promotes insights that you might have missed before. It creates environments about innovation, collaboration, and thriving to prioritize and demonstrate that they are the most important person in the room. Have you ever gone out of a conversation and said, Wow, that person was amazing. Why were they amazing? Because they were investing in what you were saying, they were taking your words and utilizing them for full understanding. They cared about what you were saying, they were engaged in what you were saying, and they believed that you had value in what you were saying. So that means a lot. And remember, as a thought leader, we need to dedicate. Yes, we need to dedicate the time for strategic thought. We need to dedicate that time to be able to enjoy the moment. Think about the creative side that we have. Don't rush to decisions and coordinate tasks. Leaders often get caught up in these reactive modes. But when we leave room for big picture planning, the ability to be proactive, well, how do you do that? You set 15 to 30 minutes each and every day for the thought process, uninterrupting strategic thought. This will help leaders be more engaged, help us achieve better results. And the last one that I want to bring to your attention today is aligning your purpose with the task at hand. Purpose dictates success. When you can dictate your own success by having the purpose, you align yourself with the bigger picture. Why are you doing what you're doing? And how does it connect to your broader goals? This simple act of alignment ensures that even the smallest things that we're doing can feel meaningful and intentional and will help you maintain that motivation and clarity throughout the day. But when you don't align purpose and you have continued reactive modes, you tend to do just the urgent things that have to get done, and you don't focus on yourself, you don't focus on being a thought leader, a strategic thought leader that can get things done, then you fall into that mundane what. So today we have talked about and we have emphasized the ability of changing some of our daily habits and what great leaders do. Great leaders are able to focus on the important aspects of what they do. And what are they? Very simple. It's about prioritizing the beneficials of how we can help ourselves, but we can also help the team. So as a Gen Z and a millennial, as a leader and personal growth, it is up to you to determine what's on that daily task list, what's on that goal list, what am I crossing off in life? How was I prioritizing how I'm gonna get to where I want to be, how I can help others achieve what they want to get? And those accomplishments, I need to remember those. If I remember those accomplishments and I remember those successes, and I review the challenges and the opportunities and all of those things, and you continue to invest time and learning and focusing on your future and appreciating your team and you know, prioritizing the important things in life, and then remember why are you leading? Why do you want to be a mentor to somebody else? What leadership is about communication, it's about the mindset, it's about reminding us what's important, what's our purpose, are the qualities that we have to lead. Keep focusing on what the mission, what how you can overcome the obstacles, and how you can model your way to being a great leader. The greatest leaders are the ones that prioritize the company, the team, the goals, and the overall mission and vision of your organization. So, again, I hope you gained some great insights today, and please share them with your family and friends. And again, thank you very, very much for continuing to listen to us and continue to like, subscribe, download, and share. So, thank you again and continuing to be a great motivator. Continue to focus on being you and striving to be the best version of you. That is all you can ask for. Strive to be the best version of yourself. When you do that, you have accomplished something. But remember, start with making your bed. Knock that one accomplishment out of the day, and you will feel fulfilled. So thank you, everyone. Again, this is your motivational Gen Z and Millennial Expert Podcast. I am your host. My name is Dr. Jason. Until next time, we'll see you later. Take care. Bye bye.