Have you ever wondered how the Elon Musks, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates of the world became so successful?
While it is easy to point to the multi-billion-dollar empires they have built, it is harder to put a finger on what separates their stupendous levels of success to the rest of us.
Do they have a superhuman work ethic?
A high IQ?
An extra lobe in their brains?
It can be easy to become discouraged by high achievers – their success looks effortless.
In reality, it is rather more mundane. Achieving lasting success requires hard work, dedication, and cultivating a set of daily habits that contribute to your overall growth and development. Rather than their genetics or work ethic, these habits often separate the greats from the rest.
From setting clear goals and tracking progress to prioritizing time effectively and seeking out growth opportunities, these habits can help you take control of your life and reach your full potential.
To help you create a prosperous career, this article will explore fifteen amazing habits of successful people. Adopting these habits and incorporating them into your daily routine can set you up for success in your personal and professional life.
1. Set clear goals and tracking progress…
High-achieving individuals set specific goals to help give them a direction to aim themselves in. It make sense, if you want to be successful you have to clearly understand what it is you want to achieve.
Remember, it’s a good idea to make your goals SMARTT (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound).
For example, rather than saying I want to have more money, you might say: “I want to earn $150,000 from rental properties by the end of 2023”
You can then break the overarching goal into smaller bitesize targets – giving you manageable and achievable goals to reach.
Setting clear goals will give you a roadmap and a sense of purpose. You can also use them to track your progress regularly and change things as necessarily.
2. Prioritize time effectively…
Time is the your most valuable resource! You can’t make more of it, and successful people protect it like their lives depend on it.
Time management becomes a far more valuable skill when you have a specific idea of how much wasted time costs you (because you see it on the balance sheet).
Successful people tend to say no to things that don’t fit in with their daily routines. They also make the most of their free time by avoiding distractions and staying organized.
While this might mean you annoy friends, turn down dates and essentially kill off your social life, this lack of balance pays off with greater success.
You will have more time to dedicate to your mission, which can greatly impact over time.
3. Be consistent and persistent…
Giving up easily can’t be part of the equation of success. You are going to face failures and set-backs and you can’t let them discourage you but rather see them as opportunities to learn and grow further.
It’s important to understand that success requires consistency, and persistence and you must be willing to work all day, every day, for an extended period.
A great example of this is a top athlete who must maintain a consistent training schedule and stay persistent in their pursuit of improvement, even on days when they don’t feel their best.
You must do the work with zero excuses.
4. Seek out opportunities for personal and professional growth…
Following on from the previous habit, successful people are always searching for new ways to improve themselves and to grow personally and professionally.
They understand that learning opportunities are everywhere – whether through courses, workshops, or simply by asking for feedback from others.
Millionaire Mogul Grant Cardone says:
“I don’t always enjoy my work, I might enjoy 20% of what I do. I do stuff every day I don’t want to do. I didn’t enjoy taking the trash out this morning, but once I’d completed the activity, I felt better about myself, and I felt better about my kitchen.”
It also acts as armor from mistakes or misfortune. If you learn from every problem, then you can never lose – no matter how long it takes to succeed.
Related content: The mindset behind the mogul: real estate tycoon Grant Cardone on his 10x mentality.
5. Surround themselves with the right people…
You’ve probably heard that:
“You’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with”
A supportive network is vital for anyone, especially if you want to reach the upper echelons of success.
You need to surround yourself with positive, motivated, and uplifting people. When you feel like the whole world is against you when launching a product or competing in an event, you don’t need haters or negative people in your inner circle too.
You should also seek mentors who can offer guidance and support along your journey. These people can give you advice, share their experiences and help teach you skills you will need later on.
6. Practice self-care…
You can’t fill from an empty cup…and the same can be said for a successful life.
We live in an age of hustle culture, when it is fashionable to work all hours, burn yourself out and remain glued to your phone.
But you can’t give your best if you don’t care for yourself. You need to make time for self-care through exercise, meditation, or simply taking a few minutes to relax and recharge.
This is especially tempting if you are passionate about an idea and determined to be successful. However, working too hard is a false economy. It only weakens your immune system, dulls your brain and leaves you emotionally vulnerable.
Instead, by prioritizing self-care, you will stay energized and focused on your goals. Yes you will still have to work hard, but you need to ensure that you have the energy to direct towards your goals.
Make self-care a priority in your life. Set aside time for activities that nourish your mind, body, and spirit each day or week.
7. Maintain a positive attitude…
A positive attitude can make a huge difference to your results in life.
Successful individuals maintain an illogically positive outlook, even when facing huge challenges or setbacks that would crush a less confident person.
These people believe in themselves to an irrational degree and stay motivated and focused on their goals no matter what.
To instill this habit in yourself, practice gratitude daily.
It sounds cheesy but take a few minutes every day to consider what you are thankful for. This could be something as simple as a warm bed to sleep in or the meal you had for dinner.
By focusing on the positive aspects of your life rather than the downsides, you can quickly cultivate a more positive attitude.
8. Be resilient…
If you can’t endure failure, insult or rejection, you may limit your chances of success, and it’s likely that anyone who has achieved success have numerous failures under their belt.
But as Thomas Edison said:
“I’ve just found 10,000 ways that didn’t work”
Ultra-successful people don’t let setbacks or failures define them but rather see them as opportunities to improve themselves. They are resilient and able to adapt to change, which helps them overcome challenges and win big in the long term.
When faced with a setback, try to reframe your perspective.
Rather than seeing the situation as a failure, see it as an opportunity to demonstrate your strength, skill and courage. Everything is a gift if you look at it correctly, and the path to success is no different.
9. Read lots of books…
Books are a treasure trove of knowledge and information on various topics. It is no surprise, then, that successful people are voracious readers.
By reading books, high-achieving people can learn new skills, expand their understanding of the world, and gain fresh perspectives from which to tackle a problem.
Reading requires active engagement with the material, which can help improve communication and critical thinking skills. By reading, high-achieving people can better articulate their thoughts and ideas and are more likely to think critically about the information they consume.
Books can also be a great source of inspiration and motivation. Whether it’s a self-help book that offers practical advice or a biography of a successful person that provides insight into their journey, books can inspire us to set and achieve our own goals.
Furthermore, reading has been shown to have several stress-reducing benefits. You can relax and unwind by taking a few minutes to lose yourself in a book, which can help reduce stress and improve overall well-being.
10. Give back…
Giving back is a common theme among the world’s most successful people. This is an interesting juxtaposition considering their image as the ultra-wealthy upper class.
There are several reasons why giving back is so prevalent among successful people.
For instance, giving back helps others and brings a sense of fulfilment and purpose to your own life.
Furthermore, there is a commonly held belief among successful individuals and the self-development community in the law of reciprocity.
This essentially means that you get out what you put into an activity. If you are generous with your time and ‘pay forward’ with charity work or offering value to others, it will be repaid in the form of bountiful success.
Therefore, you should find ways to give back to your community or those in need.
This could be through volunteering your time, donating to a worthy cause, or simply helping out a friend or neighbor. You can positively impact the world by giving back and finding a sense of purpose and fulfilment in your own life.
11. Set aside time for planning and reflection…
You must reflect on the progress you have made, the experiences you have had and the mistakes you have made.
By reviewing your goals, tracking your progress, and adjusting where necessary, you can stay on track towards your goals and ensure you are making the most of your time.
Moreover, when you take time to reflect, you lift yourself out of the productivity bubble, which can put blinkers on your perspective.
When you consider why you committed certain mistakes, you can work on not repeating them.
12. Focus on their strengths…
The world’s most prosperous people understand that they are most effective (and profitable) when they focus on their strengths and delegate tasks outside their expertise.
Yes, you might be able to do everything in theory.
But what are you spending your time on that could be better spent elsewhere?
By understanding that their time is valuable, highly successful people focus on the tasks they do best and delegate the rest. This helps them make the most of their skills and achieve better results.
The underlying mindset of delegation is powerful. You need to be secure enough in your own ego to dish out smaller tasks to specialists.
It’s not about fulfilling every role, it about spending your time on the most important things.
13. Take calculated risks…
When you study business greats like Elon Musk or Steve Jobs, you realize that they have one habit in common in particular – the ability to take risks.
These people are willing to step outside their comfort zone and test their most ambitious ideas as long as they have a solid plan and the necessary skills to succeed. It doesn’t matter how many people warn them that their idea will fail or how poor the odds, they will see the execution through if they are convinced by their plan.
Again it all comes back to resilience, and having the courage to fail. Failure is just data acquisition, and will allow you to come back stronger if it doesn’t work out.
14. Seek feedback…
The only way to truly improve and evolve as a human being is to ask for constant feedback.
Unfortunately, feedback can be brutal and, at times, cruel. This is why so few people ever ask for feedback: it exposes their hidden flaws and considerably damages their ego.
However, truly successful people don’t let this get in the way of progress.
They ask for feedback from their colleagues, mentors, and even their customers to better understand their strengths and areas for improvement. This helps them identify areas for growth and make necessary changes to improve their performance.
And crucially, they act on this feedback and implement it into their future.
15. Have a growth mindset…
Successful people understand that their abilities are not fixed but rather can be developed through effort and practice. There is nothing more dangerous to the notion of success than comfort.
Grant Cardone says:
“Often, when people achieve their goals or get what they thought would make them happy, they actually become depressed. This is because there’s always going to be another thing, the next thing. It doesn’t have to be about money, it could be reaching an ideal body weight. There’s always got to be that next level of potential that keeps people interested.”
Highly successful people have a growth mindset and believe they can become far more well-rounded and valuable people over time.
This mindset prevents them from suffering imposter syndrome, confidence issues or allowing themselves to be defeated by a challenge.
Ready to 10x your life?
Of course, what success means is unique to you! And it’s up to you to decide what it is that you want to achieve to feel like you’ve “made it” and work towards that.
As Aristotle once said, “excellence is a series of habits, not an attribute you’re born with.”
By repeatedly practicing positive habits which genuinely make you a more rounded, effective, and profitable person, you are almost certain to succeed in the long term.
These habits will shield you from adversity, keep you on the right track even when you can’t see the wood for the trees, and help ground you when you do experience huge success.
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