I wrote an article on how to stop bad habits. The aim was to help you enhance your creative thinking, and productivity, establish a work-life balance as well as achieve mental health.
However, once you have broken bad habits, there is a need for you to learn and imbibe the habits of successful people, which the rest of the world doesn’t have. This is crucial as it will propel you to superstardom and guide you on the road to success. But first, you must define what success is to you.
To some, it is making more money, getting promoted at work, or becoming more influential. While to others, success is learning as well as upskilling, making progress in a career and business.
As soon as you are clear on the definition of success, it is crucial to learn and practice the habits of successful people.
Here are 8 daily habits of successful people:
1. Read Extensively
One common habit most successful people possess can be found in the library. Have you found a leader who does not read? Every reader leads. Reading is one of the notable habits of successful people.
P.J Worsfold, the head of product division for FTSY or footsy, an AI-powered platform that matches people to shoes that properly fit them said he spends an hour after dinner digesting information about relevant industries, pop culture, and current events.
Reading is an avenue to sneak peek into the minds of great and successful individuals, visit locations that you may never reach physically, and improve yourself in every aspect of life.
2. Work Out
Bill Gates founded Microsoft and he is one of the wealthiest individuals on the planet. He has given charitable courses via the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
So what does Bill Gates do daily that the rest of the World is not doing?
He was known to work out on the treadmill back in 2008 after waking up. He combines that with watching videos from the Teaching Company series of Great courses according to a report by Business Insider.[1]
Every successful people knows that it takes a great body to hold a strong mind. Success requires mental fitness.
Tom Carley, in his book, Change Your Habits, Change Your Life, stated that 76 percent of the rich population exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes daily. Most of them attribute their success and happiness to physical fitness.
Mark Zuckerberg is a 35 years old billionaire with a worth of over $72 billion. He says,[2]
“I ensure I work out at least three times every week-first thing in the morning.”
3. Eliminate Fear
Fear is a great threat to success. You cannot achieve remarkable results without courage.
Do you know Warren Buffet used to be afraid of public speaking to the extent that he fell ill and even talked about it in an interview? He was anxious about delivering speeches in high school and during his university days. He revealed that he dropped out of a course on public speaking and avoided presenting by all means and at all costs.
So how did Warren overcome his fear of public speaking and won an award for completion of the course?
Here are Warren Buffet’s habits for gaining your confidence in public speaking.
- Take small steps to improve.
- Re-frame your nerve endings as a positive reaction to opportunities.
- Rehearse like it’s the real deal
He took a teaching position, having completed his public speaking course to maintain his posture or risk drifting backward.[3]
4. Never Give Up
Successful people understand that tough times expire. When you hear the names of successful people like Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, and Elon Musk, you may not believe they went through a hard time.
Musk was not only bullied at school but he was also fired from Paypal. Yet, he was not discouraged. His company, Tesla, recently became the most valuable company in America as it is now $2.1billlion richer according to Forbes.[4]
Harvard rejected Jack Ma for about ten times as his idea of escrow payment was not accepted. He was also rejected as a job candidate at KFC. Yet, he became one of the wealthiest personalities in China and the world.[5]
Here’s a takeaway from me:
“If you find yourself in a trying situation, you may change your goals, but you must not give up. Every success story comes with sacrifice. Never give up!”
5. Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish!
When Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak started what would be known as Apple today in his parents’ garage, nobody knew that the giant step of 1976 would become formidable and relevant in this century. A significant setback for Steve was when the board of directors forced him out of his company in 1985 as they did not believe in his Mackintosh idea.
He slept on the floor during his tough times, and he exchanged coke bottles for meal tickets at a local Hare Krishna temple. His focus was on his vision.
By 1985, he founded NEXT and Pixar Animation Studio 1989 with his co-workers and friends. By 1997, Apple was about to file for bankruptcy. Jobs has invited to the negotiation on purchasing NEXT and this led him to return as the CEO of Apple. The company regained profitability in less than a year. He shared his success habit at the Stanford University Convocation Speech in 2005- Stay Hungry, Stay Fool.[6]
6. Jot Down Notes
You could imagine the jam-packed schedule of Bill Gates. Notwithstanding, he keeps track of every idea and plan by jotting down notes. Another successful billionaire that shares the same habit is Richard Brandson. Richard is a heavy note-taker. Richard and Gates both spoke at a conference in London.
While Gates was making the closing remark, he pulled out some pieces of paper from his pocket. The notes were scribbled on some paper he had kept in his pocket, according to Richard Branson. Richard attributed the habits of successful people to the simple habit of jotting down notes.[7]
7. Plan Every Minute
Bill Gates is one of the posters for success when it comes to time management. Telegraph reported that he broke his schedule into five minutes intervals.
And guess what? Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX, does the same. Every minute is carefully planned. He does not believe in procrastination. He shared the same philosophy on time management with Warren Buffet:
“Time is the only asset that money can’t buy.”
You can buy all the assets in the world but you can’t purchase more time. Successful people have the habit of making every minute count.
So let’s talk about you! Do you leave the next thing for later? Do you do what comes by, or do you have your time scheduled?
Bill Gates and every successful people maximize their time.[8]
“Anything that wastes your time wastes your golden opportunity to become successful.”
8. Share
Sharing includes charitable giving or sharing of ideas. Giving is another common habit that most successful people have in common. They understand the significance of giving. They believe that:
“Life is not in duration, but a donation.”
Bill and Melinda Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Oprah Winfrey, and Serena Williams are some of the successful givers. Recently, Serena ended a three years title drought and donated her winnings of about $43,000 to the victims of the Australia fire.[9]
You don’t need too much money before you can donate, you can start with what you have. You can volunteer to teach orphans or provide help for communities recovering from a volcanic eruption in the Philippines.
An impact should be a result of success and not only wealth accumulation.
The Bottom Line
Habits, be good or bad, are what make or mar the success of any individual. If you want to become successful, you only need to break the bad habits and reinforce the habits of the successful people that I have shared so far so good.
It takes consistent effort and routine to succeed. It may require more skills and consistent practice, but success is inevitable.
