Successful people...Habits...But which ones do we copy?

The book 7 Habits of Highly Successful People by Steve Covey started a trend of analysing successful CEOs and entrepreneurs with the aim of creating a list of behaviors that if repeated will bring success in business and career. It is obvious that you can't just repeat a list of behaviors, or habits, by rote and expect to become the next Jobs or Grove. But hell, I love this type of stuff.

The latest edition of Fortune has an interesting article titled: Secrets of Greatness - How I work, and is a series of featurettes by successful CEOs and VP's.

Now, I have a number of mentors and read about a number of people I admire and try to learn from who I have never met; Welch, Grove and Dell (well I've sort of met Jack, or had lunch with him and 600 others!), its just that when I read stuff like the Fortune magazine, there are so many habits to choose from...which ones do I use?

Do I start at 5.00am and have a coffee (expresso macchiato or Indonesian?) like Howard Schultz of Starbucks? I would love to, but tea is easier that early in the morning? Do I do marathon email catch up sessions for 10 to 14 hours straight on a Saturday like Marissa Mayer of Google (I'm not going to link that one!)? NO! How long does it take to send a hundred emails into the deleted file anyway? Anyway, Saturday is for football...unless it's on Setanta, in which case throw a dart at a clock for the kick off time. Do I get up at 4.30 am to check the markets or stand on my head to think like Bill Gross of Pimco? No. One, I'm asleep or driving sleepily down to Edinburgh to get an early flight wishing I was asleep, and two I just can't stand on my head (I would rather do my thinking at my desk with my feet up and nice coffee actually.

So, I've decided to distill all my research into successful behaviors and habits and share them with anyone reading:

1. Get up very early and go to work.
2. Focus on your role and deliver on the objectives set by your superior or shareholders.
3. Get home very late from work.
4. Sleep.
5. Repeat.

So go for it.