Habits of Successful People
Here are some of the habits that I’ve instilled recently in my life that have helped me tremendously in my personal and professional life":
Watch How You Speak to Yourself
We often times teach our children from a young age to speak positively and say things like “I can” and “I’m strong” to themselves but most adults struggle to maintain that positive inner dialogue. Not to mention, many children around the world don’t grow up to parents that teach them the benefits of positive self-talk and as adults, they either don’t know about it or are too busy to create a new habit as it can be very challenging. The way we talk to ourselves shapes our realities and has an effect of changing our current and future lives. This is why many people practice affirmations multiple times a day and that is because they’ve seen the results that it produces. So, try to be your own motivational speaker and when you feel down, pick yourself back up by simply changing your thought patterns and saying positive things to yourself.
Wake Up Early
The reasons why most successful people tend to wake up early is because when they do, almost everyone around them (if not all) are asleep. They have a few hours to get important things done without any distractions and disturbances. Imagine how much you can accomplish in even 2 hours everyday when you have those hours fully to yourself?
Practice Gratitude
"Happiness will never come to those who fail to appreciate what they already have." - Buddha. I love this quote and soon I will have it up on my wall in my bedroom to remember to appreciate everything that I have and am because things can always be worse. Learn to keep a gratitude journal and write down 3 things that you appreciate and are grateful for in your life everyday either right when you wake up or before going to bed. Take a moment to really feel those things and how they impact you; let the vibrations of those thoughts stick with you for as long as possible.
Meditate
Meditation is about practicing or training your mind to react less to your emotions and thoughts. Thoughts come and go, everyday, hundreds to thousands of them. Thoughts are the driving force of our actions usually. Take for example, you’re driving to work and suddenly remember how good a Carmel Frappuccino would taste right now. You remember all of the good experiences that you’ve had with drinking coffee and suddenly you get the urge to get one despite the risk of being late to work for a few minutes. As you can see, your thought brought a very strong urge to take action. The simplest and most effective form of meditation to aid in reactivity to thoughts is simply by sitting in a comfortable position in a quiet place and just observing the thoughts go by. If you catch yourself hanging on to a thought, simply let it go as soon as you realize it and keep focusing on your breathing or continue to observe the thoughts as they go by. I tend to do well for 10-15 minutes a day, then after 15 minutes my body doesn’t allow me to sit still any longer. Anyhow, start out small. I say 5 minutes is perfect for beginners!
Morning Routine
Creating a morning routine that you enjoy and love to wake up to can have amazing benefits and help you with a positive mindset all day. Here would be the perfect morning routine that I am striving for right now: Wake up at 4AM, drink a glass of water, meditate (20 mins), make coffee, write a to-do list for the day, get on my PC and write a blog post (2-3hrs), check my social media accounts and post on there and reply to messages/comments (1 hr). All of those should take not more than 4 hours total. After that is the time to take a shower and get ready for the day (usually around 8AM). You can develop your own routine and aside from professional/business tasks, include a verity of things that lift your mood and set the tone for the rest of your day.
Set Daily Goals and and To-Do Lists
I have yearly goals, weekly goals, and also daily goals (which are my favorite out of the 3). It has been a part of my morning routine for a month and I absolutely love it! I write my daily to-do lists in my calendar usually instead of typing them. Once I reach the goals, it gives such a big accomplishment and empowering feeling which is the reason why I continue to practice it. Mine includes personal and professional items like writing blog posts, doing my nails, laundry, girls night, appointments, cleaning the house, going to new places to review, calling/checking up on friends and family, birthdays/parties/weddings etc.. I use stickers to make it more fun!
Refresh Weekly, Monthly, and Yearly goals
Because the ‘future’ is unknown and unforeseen, our daily experiences and actions are constantly changing and are directly affecting our future. It’s good to revisit your long term goals and see if it still fits in your life or needs to be modified. One of my long term goals was to become good at day trading but I didn’t continue pursuing it because I found more reliable and comfortable ways of earning income. So now instead of 3 income sources in the future, I have 2. One more free space to add a hobby or a business plan in my life.
Learn to Say No
When you have multiple tasks to do each day and are overwhelmed with the amount of work that you do, you will not have enough time and energy to please everyone around you. Yes, it’s always good to help those that are in need when you have what it takes, but if it becomes too much, it’s necessary to learn to say no. It isn’t a question of whether this means to become selfish or not, it’s about prioritizing what’s most important in your life. Make sure to communicate with the people that are close to you and let them know that you will be busy and might not have the time to help them out as much. If you are struggling with saying no like I am, there are multiple books and blogs regarding this because of how important it is as some of us weren’t taught properly growing up.
Plan(s) for When You Lose Interest/Motivation
Do you have phases where you’re motivated to start a project then half-way through it you lose interest and don’t want anything to do with it? Or maybe you get really motivated to start up a business then go on a rollercoaster ride being motivated for 2 days then lose the motivation for 5 days and so on? These may be signs of depression but I look beyond it. I try to be present when I suddenly realize that I’ve lost motivation to work on a project and it’s almost always a reason that I can fix. For me, it’s usually because of a reaction to a thought that creates strong feelings and emotions and in turn they override the motivation that I have until I fix whatever it is that’s bothering me (usually it’s my own thoughts). Here are some things that have helped me when I lost interest or motivation working on projects: Having a very understanding and open-minded friend that can pull you out of difficult times, take a short nap, take a short break from the project and do something that you enjoy, call a friend, listen to music and motivational speakers on not giving up, uploading photos of myself on social media because it gives me confidence and a boost of energy due to the compliments, and basically would do anything in my power to get back on track.
Plan(s) for When You Lose Energy
What happens when you’re writing a blog and suddenly get the urge to take a nap? Or, you’re setting up your e-commerce website and feel that you need to take a break to relax because you’ve already spent 1.5 hours working on it? When you take that nap, do you get right back in it and start working on the blog? Or, do you postpone for another time when you get the motivation again? Time lost is time lost, unfortunately. I don’t currently have the self-discipline to combat this issue, yet. It is however a big problem for many of us that are overwhelmed with everyday tasks and work. Here are some thins that have helped me in the past to gain energy quickly when I need it: Drink a caffeinated beverage (skip if you’re sensitive to caffeine), drink a glass of water and keep hydrating myself all throughout the day everyday as it increases energy and productivity, do a quick 5min exercise to increase blood flow and gain energy, play with pets or kids if you have any around, listen to music through headphones, listen to a good motivational speaker for a few minutes. You may have other things that help you gain energy/motivation quickly, add those to the list and write them down on a piece of paper and set it by your workspace.
Your Health and Wellness are Top-Priority
Your health affects your quality of life. Many diseases are directly related to our diets and our lifestyle choices. What is the point of working hard everyday to have a future that you’re seeking when you will be in a such a shape that won’t allow you to fully enjoy it? Start to change yourself, your habits, and your lifestyle now! It’s never too late to do something for your own good. Drink more water throughout the day, incorporate intermittent fasting, add more fruits and veggies in your diet, exercise daily, play more, listen to music that makes you feel good, laugh more, set specific time daily for self-care and for YOU. You are the main character of your movie, look and feel your best at all times no matter what it takes.
Network and Socialize
Always find successful people that are pursuing similar goals in life. The like-minded achievers will keep you motivated and exchange ideas, learn from one another and help each other grow! Successful people don’t surround themselves with toxic people and don’t make room for them. Instead, they befriend individuals that are positive, motivating, inspiriting, courageous, creative, determined, optimistic, and passionate.
Be Aware of Those Around You
“Surround yourself with good people; surround yourself with positivity and people who are going to challenge you to make you better.” - Ali Krieger.
“Look at your 5 closest friends. Those 5 friends are who you are. If you don’t like who you are then you know what you have to do.” - Will Smith
“Surround yourself with people who have dreams, desires, and ambition; they’ll help you push for and realize your own.” - Anon
Do you want more of the “surround yourself with” quotes?
Do More Than Them
Elon Musk phrased this perfectly: “If other people are putting in 40 hour workweeks and you’re putting in 100 hour workweeks, then even if you’re doing the same thing, you know that you will achieve in four months what it takes them a year to achieve.” I am currently doing 2 things for passive incomes in the future and as much as I enjoy keeping up on them, I see them as a part-time job. I label them as a job because I spend many hours a day (sometimes more than 6hrs) to get to my long term goal. I work hard and yes I am harsh on myself but sometimes we need to push ourselves to achieve goals, whether personal or professional. So, instead of sleeping 8 hours a day, see if you can change it to 7 or only 6 hours. Instead of watching tv shows and movies, work on your goals.
Multiple Sources of Income
Most, if not all, successful people have multiple sources of income because that decreases their risk of losing it all (having all their eggs in one basket). Multiple incomes allow you to have financial security and freedom, help pay debts, making sure that you still have incomes if one of your businesses fails or you lose a job, you’re able to take more risks than a person with one source of income.
