Success does not come easy and the people who are successful have normally worked really hard to achieve the kind of heights that they have in life. If you pick up biographies of any successful people, you will see that they all had certain habits that they maintained throughout their lives and it was perhaps because of those habits that they were able to reach the pinnacle. For everyone dreaming to be a true success story, there are certain habits that are best adopted as soon as possible.
- Always have a consistent routine – Look at any successful person and chances are that they have the same routine throughout the day, or at least in the morning. They will wake up roughly the same time every day, have some form of exercise, have breakfast that is prepared fresh, read for a while or spend some time with the family, before heading out for the day. That sense of routine gives them grounding and the spirit to go on. Many even have the habit of meditation, prayer or maintaining a journal.
- Razor sharp focus – One of the differences between the average person and a successful person is that the latter knows how to zone in or focus on one particular thing. They are able to identify which is the one thing that is the most important and they concentrate all their energies on the completion of that one task. Factors such as how the completion of that task will affect the final goal and whether it will give you professional gains will help in the identification of this single most important task.
- Minutes matter more than the hour – Imagine if you keep a count of every minute of your day – you will realise that you have a lot more time on your hands. Simply put – you have 24 hours in a day, but you also have 1440 minutes, which means that the minutes tend to matter more than the hours. Truly successful people tend to plan their day by the minutes as opposed to hours, which is why they are far more effective work days. Get a handle on the minutes of your day and the chances of you getting a hold of your entire day will become better.
- Learn how to think in the future – Most of us think about the future, but very few of us can think in the future. When you are trying to plan something or take a decision, try to think about how it might play out in the future and be prepared in advance about the multiple scenarios. Chances are that you might see how you could sabotage things for yourself in advance and when the actual time comes, you could actually save yourself.
- Carry a notebook – You never know when you might have to not down something important, which is why you should always carry a small notebook and a pen with you, at all times. There will be plenty of times when you feel that you will be able to take mental notes, but the fact is that nothing can beat notes that have been jotted down. From phone numbers to appointments, you can keep a track of everything, if you have a small notebook with you.
- Say no – Being successful in life means that there will be several times when you will have to say no. you have to remember that you have only 1440 minutes in a day, and if you go around saying yes to everything and everyone, you will have little time left to get anything done. If your presence is not required for the team meeting, say no; if you feel that it would take too much time to physically travel to meet a client, say no and opt for a video call instead.
- Delegate – They say if you want to get something done right, do it yourself; but if you need to get more tasks done in the same amount of time, you need to delegate. You need to get a job done, but unless it is absolutely imperative that you yourself handle it, delegate it to someone you trust. It is not always necessary for you to micro manage things; learn the art of macro managing instead.
- Always have a consistent routine – Look at any successful person and chances are that they have the same routine throughout the day, or at least in the morning. They will wake up roughly the same time every day, have some form of exercise, have breakfast that is prepared fresh, read for a while or spend some time with the family, before heading out for the day. That sense of routine gives them grounding and the spirit to go on. Many even have the habit of meditation, prayer or maintaining a journal.
- Razor sharp focus – One of the differences between the average person and a successful person is that the latter knows how to zone in or focus on one particular thing. They are able to identify which is the one thing that is the most important and they concentrate all their energies on the completion of that one task. Factors such as how the completion of that task will affect the final goal and whether it will give you professional gains will help in the identification of this single most important task.
- Minutes matter more than the hour – Imagine if you keep a count of every minute of your day – you will realise that you have a lot more time on your hands. Simply put – you have 24 hours in a day, but you also have 1440 minutes, which means that the minutes tend to matter more than the hours. Truly successful people tend to plan their day by the minutes as opposed to hours, which is why they are far more effective work days. Get a handle on the minutes of your day and the chances of you getting a hold of your entire day will become better.
- Learn how to think in the future – Most of us think about the future, but very few of us can think in the future. When you are trying to plan something or take a decision, try to think about how it might play out in the future and be prepared in advance about the multiple scenarios. Chances are that you might see how you could sabotage things for yourself in advance and when the actual time comes, you could actually save yourself.
- Carry a notebook – You never know when you might have to not down something important, which is why you should always carry a small notebook and a pen with you, at all times. There will be plenty of times when you feel that you will be able to take mental notes, but the fact is that nothing can beat notes that have been jotted down. From phone numbers to appointments, you can keep a track of everything, if you have a small notebook with you.
- Say no – Being successful in life means that there will be several times when you will have to say no. you have to remember that you have only 1440 minutes in a day, and if you go around saying yes to everything and everyone, you will have little time left to get anything done. If your presence is not required for the team meeting, say no; if you feel that it would take too much time to physically travel to meet a client, say no and opt for a video call instead.
- Delegate – They say if you want to get something done right, do it yourself; but if you need to get more tasks done in the same amount of time, you need to delegate. You need to get a job done, but unless it is absolutely imperative that you yourself handle it, delegate it to someone you trust. It is not always necessary for you to micro manage things; learn the art of macro managing instead.