It has been said that you are not what you think or what you feel but you are your habits. Your habits determine your destiny. It is the things that you do over and over again that will determine your character and your future.
As successful businessmen, We build a system of habits over time that ensures a good outcome. We show up on time, we maintain communication with important contacts, we make sure that we do what we say to gain that good reputation. But all of these things are the result of habit. Repeatable actions that are done day in a day out.
What Are Your Habits?
Aristotle said that “excellence is not a singular act but a habit.” Being one of the philosophers of western civilization he knew a few things about making something happen. I came across a client not too long ago who had experienced a major cybersecurity breach and he asked me to come in and help them rebuild.
I made many suggestions, did a comprehensive cybersecurity audit, and offered him a set of policies, interventions, and trainings to get his entire company in line with a secure environment. There was some work to be done. The CEO’s comment to me was “isn’t there some kind of firewall or piece of software I can buy that can just fix this problem, something to make it go away?” But unfortunately, that is not the way it is done. We live in a magic pill kind of world now, where our problems are cured by this pill or that gadget. Cybersecurity is not done like this.
Cybersecurity Habits
So, you must ask yourself. What habits does your organization have within its cybersecurity posture that you maintain? What do your people do on a regular basis to achieve the excellence necessary to prevent the next attack? Are your employees trained on a regular basis? Do you perform regular and overlapping cybersecurity audits? Is your IT department actively looking for cybersecurity threats before they come about?
These are just a few of the things you need to be doing today. These habits come about by the basic blocking and tackling every day. Not some big budget item or some big “fix” that is going to save the day. Build those habits.