success habits
STAY UP ON YOUR READING
There is a reason every successful person has written a book themselves, and that is because they read a lot. We can get caught up thinking that emails, newsletters, scrolling through social media, and the news counts as reading. However the type of reading I’m referring to is good old fashioned books. Whether the book is on your phone or a hard copy, is up to you, but reading books on subjects from self development, to finance, to any topic that inspires and elevates you, is crucial to success.
HAVE A MORNING ROUTINE
The first habit of successful people starts at the beginning of the day. What do you do when you wake up? How we start our day sets the tone for each day, and therefore our lives. Everyone’s morning routine should be slightly individualized, as we are all different people, with different goals, challenges, and beliefs. For me, every morning I practice gratitude and visualization before leaving bed, grab a big drink of water, and head right to chanting. Then I practice yoga, go for a walk, and journal and plan out my day. My journal includes writing down my thoughts, as well as writing at least three to five things I am grateful for. I then clean up myself + my space and get ready for the day. At this point, I can’t imagine not doing this routine. It really helps keep me centered, grounded, and prepared for whatever is to come.
MEDITATE
I admit, I can’t seem to meditate every single day, even still. Well today, I technically did a guided meditation (in the tanning bed) but traditional meditation is taking time in complete silence and complete quiet. Almost every successful person recommends meditating for 20 minutes at least once a day because it is a key factor in transforming our biology. The amazing thing about meditation, is you can chose to enter a meditative state at any time once you achieve a baseline of quiet. If you are prone to anxiety, overthinking, depression, or eager to jump start the next phase of your life, check out the book “Becoming Supernatural” by Joe Dispenza. I am currently halfway through and it is extremely enlightening. Also check out our guided meditations on YouTube.
HAVE A PLAN FOR YOUR DAY
We touched on this in the morning routine section, but having a plan for you day deserves its own point. Do you have a journal or planner where you right down what needs to get done each day? How do you decide what comes first? Do you often overshoot what you can accomplish in one day? Learning how to allocate your time is one of the most important characteristics to develop on your journey. It is truly a process of self discovery. My recommendation is to get a notebook and write down your top 3-5 things you need to accomplish every morning, and execute every time.
HEALTH FIRST
All successful people know, “Without your health, you don’t have anything.” How important is your health to you. Our health is the one thing that we have massive control over. What you put into your body, how much you exercise, how must rest and sleep you get, these are all choices you have to make on a daily basis. Putting your health first makes everything else much easier.
CULTIVATE SELF BELIEF
Confidence is not only about thinking highly of yourself, but having the faith in yourself to accomplish goals, and self correct when mistakes are made. Cultivating self belief is like a piggy bank you have to constantly deposit into. It’s easy to look at our flaws and where we are lacking, but it is much harder to hype ourselves up to the point that that self belief is genuine. Technically, you can achieve success without self belief, but it is much easier, and your sights will be a lot higher if you have high self confidence. Check out this post on how to boost confidence everyday.
SET MONTHLY + YEARLY GOALS
Just like we talked about setting daily goals, it is important to also set monthly and yearly goals. Getting caught up in the day to day, can mean chasing a to do list. No one wants that. When we have a whole year or a month to look at we can set bigger goals and then splice them up throughout the days + weeks. Before setting your monthly + yearly goals make sure to take the time to self reflect if you are going down a path that you really want.
HAVE A SELF CARE ROUTINE
Even Gary Vee knows when it’s time to rest. Seriously, practicing adequate self care is crucial especially if you tend on the side of workaholism. Why is it so hard to stop working? It’s different for all of us, but, time and time again it has been shown that slow and steady wins the race. Self care means finding a way to enjoy your every day, being refreshed and rejuvenated, and checking in with yourself + your body.
FIND YOUR FLOW
Flow is a state coined by psychologists that refers the state where you are literally on a roll. This is often talked about by musicians, athletes, even doctors, who find such a rhythm in their work that they lose track of time because they are completely immersed in whatever they are doing. Being able to find this state makes work not feel like work at all because you are one with your craft. One of my favorite speakers on flow is Joseph Rodriguez. Check out his youtube channel here for some great information.
CREATE FREEDOM
Setting a routine is important, but so is creating freedom for yourself within that routine. If the most freedom you have is choosing between tv shows at the end of the night, then you probably don’t have a lot of freedom. We can implement freedom in many ways, from switching up our routine, or breaking out of our box in ways that will push us and develop our character. Freedom also means giving yourself times where you don’t have a schedule at all. Successful people know that new experiences create new neural pathways, stimulate growth, and increase inspiration.
HAVE A VISION
Even if your vision changes a million times, it is always better to have a vision of what your going for so you don’t get lost in the sauce. There are so many amazing career paths, and amazing options. What is it that you want? And why? Coming back to this intention daily will help all the more mundane tasks feel more meaningful.
PRACTICE GRATITUDE
This may be the third time I’ve mentioned gratitude in this post, but here to reiteration. Gratitude, gratitude, gratitude. Why does everyone talk about gratitude? I’ll give you an example, when today, I fell out of it. I get extremely anxious taking flights. I don’t know why but they’ve always put me in a panic and when I wrote down my grateful this morning I didn’t include my trip. It took about thirty minutes after getting to the airport to realize that I was totally in a mode of fear instead of in appreciation that I even have the ability to take this trip. I had to take a second and shift my focus from what could go wrong to everything that is beautiful right now. Gratitude is a constant practice, and the more we can do it, the better we feel and the more loving we can show up in the world.
SET AN INTENTION
Even Oprah sets an intention before every team meeting. Have you ever heard of intention setting? It’s such an easy way to segment your life into conscious + deliberate actions. I set an intention at the beginning of each day, and many successful people set an intention for everything they do. Imagine if you set an intention every time you went to the gym, before every workday, or before every time you hung out with a friend. It is sure that workout and that experience would be much more profound and valuable for everyone involved.
STAY FLUID
Successful people know the value of staying flexible. Sometimes things don’t go the way we thought they would. Hearts are broken, business plans fail, flights are missed, but the successful person knows how to see every situation as an opportunity. If things aren’t going your way, take a deep breathe, and learn to ride the wave.
KEEP DREAMING
The ability to keep dreaming despite the odds is what made the difference between Beyoncé and the not - Beyoncé’s. I said it! But seriously, on the road to success you have a choice- keep the mind of a dreamer or be enveloped by doubt and darkness. Don’t worry, I already know you will keep following the light at the end of the tunnel. Keep dreaming big, because you can truly do anything you set your mind to.
HAVE ROLE MODELS
Speaking of Beyoncé… having people to look up to is a beautiful way to remind ourselves that if they can do it so can we. Who do you look up to? Looking up to someone doesn’t necessarily mean we want to be exactly like them. Having a role model means that you can see outside examples of how much success one human is capable of, so you can stay inspired to chase your own big goals.
KNOW WHEN TO DISREGARD
On the journey to your goals, there may be naysayers, or people who just had a whole different vision for how your life should go. The thing is, other people’s plans for your life are not your problem. It’s important to be able to kindly redirect people when boundaries are overstepped. Your decisions for your life are yours and yours only. Take into account what other people are saying, listen to them, and know when to take it to heart, and when to disregard.
BUILD GOOD RELATIONSHIPS
Relationships with coworkers and friends is something that can be pretty crucial to building success in a lot of industries. The thing about working with others is we are all learning, growing, changing human beings. Building good relationships means practicing compassion, listening, being genuinely interested in others, and taking the time out to get to know people. Building good relationships is what brings the joy into your work. It’s no fun to do everything alone, anyways, and having solid friendships and connections in your given field can open more doors for you and your colleagues in the long run.
WORK ON YOUR COMMUNICATION SKILLS
If you are an introvert or have trouble talking to others, it’s important to find ways to communicate effectively. Even if you choose a career in which you stay behind your screen, writing is a form of communication. It’s important to be able to speak and write in a way in which people can understand what you’re saying and in which people feel like they are heard and understood.
KNOW YOUR STRENGTHS + WEAKNESSES
All successful people have taken the time to identify their natural strengths and weaknesses so that they can spend more time developing the skills that they need for their chosen vocation. Some people chose to only focus on their strengths and become masters at what they were born to do. Others decide to overcome odds and chase their passion even if they feel like weren’t born with the genetics to do so.
CONTINUOUS SELF AWARENESS
Self awareness is a continuous practice of self observation. Do you ever see yourself do something foolish, and think, oh my gosh, how did I just do that! Or notice certain patterns of behavior that you continually play out? Growing into the person you want to be means choosing which aspects of yourself you want to nurture and which parts you are ready to change. Success is a life-long journey of self discovery.
HAVE FAITH (OR A HIGHER PURPOSE)
Having faith, or a higher purpose, is the final key point in any successful persons life. Our desire for success and stability is different that our need for having purpose and a higher calling. When we have faith, in something, and believe we are here for a reason, it makes us think more deeply about things. What do you really care about? Who do you want to help with your work? What impact do you want to have? And who or what do you pray to? Whether you are a person of faith or not, having a higher purpose is a beautiful way to carry light and love into every endeavor.
