Habits You must Develop to Succeed

Successful people are simply those with successful habits Brian Tracy

We often run through life, envious of all the people who made it. Not being able to recognize exactly
why they are where they are in life. Were confused as to what trickery or black magic these people
have applied in their life that has enabled them to rise to the top of their industry. Unfortunately were
never able to distill this special ingredient or secret that has kept us in doubts for so long. Eventually
it can even drive us to the brink of insanity But Id say were searching for the wrong things.. How so?

Whats the one thing that made him so much money?
Whats the one thing that allowed him to have so many friends?
Whats the single source of his great health?

Were primarily focused on certain events whilst almost every (if not all) successful aspects we recognize
in a person is the sum of different processes. These processes are basically different habits that have
been built up over time which have compounded in the results theyre experiencing in their life. I call
this habit-stacking Habit-what?



What Is Habit Stacking?

Habit stacking is the process of incrementally (meaning gradually) implementing new, empowering
habits in your day-to-day life. These daily, high-leverage tasks will stack up over time which will in turn
improve what I call your success-level For illustrative purposes, heres fancy infographic I made;

Untitled Report (1)

The quantity and quality of every success habit performed, will define the altitude of your success-level.
Ive seen this pattern recurring in many different successful people Ive observed the past years. People
like Warren Buffet, Anthony Robbins, Elon Musk, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Owen Cook and many more.
The people who obviously have their stuff together The stacking of these habits creates an immense
amount of control over their life and therefore yields the compounding results they have acquired.

By analyzing and defining their different habits, Ive compiled a list of what I believe are the 10 most
potent habits to implement in your life.

Ten Essential Success Habits

(Speed) Learningold-books-436498_1280

Ive seen this habit recurring time and time again. The wealthiest people of the world are avid learners.
In an interview , Warren Buffet and Bill Gates were asked if they could have one superpower in the
world, what would it be? They both argued that being the worlds fastest reader would be HUGE Why is
it so effective?

Reading allows us to skip (partially) the process of trial and error by simulating the future in our mind,
based on the knowledge weve acquired from other peoples mistakes. Why make your own when you
can learn so much from others?

It allows us to stand on the shoulders of giants by acquiring information that enables us to avoid many
failures.

How to start? Start by reading 15 pages every day (non-fiction)

Visualization

Often in life we harbor dis-empowering thoughts in our head;

Im not good enough
Im not good with women
I dont deserve to be rich
Im not able to lose any weight

These are all perfect examples of limiting beliefs that become self-fulfilling prophecies and basically rob
ourselves of everything we want out of life. People are not limited to these perceptions and are actually
able to change these for the better (however, not many realize they can do this) How you perceive
yourself and your surroundings literally sets the boundaries of your individual accomplishment. It
basically defines what you can and cannot do. This is a social theorem defined by W.I Thomas and D.S.
Thomas;

People react not only to the situations they are in, but also, and often primarily, to the way they
perceive the situations and to the meaning they assign to these perceptions. Therefore, their behavior is
determined in part by their perception and the meaning they ascribe to the situations they are in, rather
than by the situations themselves. Once people convince themselves that a situation really has a certain
meaning, regardless of whether it actually does, they will take very real actions in consequence.

So what should I do? Improve your self-image and your image of the world and likewise will your
accomplishments grow to greater heights. The way I do this is by writing down how I want to perceive
myself and visualize in detail how I will act in certain situations. Repetition is key! Eventually it will
become real. This might sound like the black magic I referred to earlier, but it goes much deeper than
that. You could argue that this is yet another pseudo-scientific trick to justify positive thinking but I
personally believe (from several experiences and observations) that this trick works.

How to start? Read books like Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz, Think and Grow Rich by
Napoleon Hill and As A Man Thinketh by James Allen (FREE DOWNLOAD)

Exercise & Dietstrawberries-272812_1280

Our body is probably the single most important investment we can make in our life. And the only one
were 100% convinced off that were always going to need it. Yet I see so many people gulping down
fast-food, copious amounts of alcohol and neglecting any form of exercise. Everything you operate
needs maintenance from time to time. You can compare your body to driving a car. If you dont take
care of your car, guess whats going to happen? Buy a new one? Nope, game over buddy!

How to start? Make sure you get the recommended physical activity every day (if you can do more, do
so!). Do this first thing in the morning and just get it over with. The consequences are far more
detrimental.

Goal Setting (In Writing)

Writing down your goals has been proven time and time again that they can make a huge impact on
your life altogether! A study about goal setting at Harvard University in the book What They Dont
Teach You in the Harvard Business School by Mark McCormack discovered the following truth about
goal-setting and performance;

Only three percent of the graduates had written goals and plans; 13 percent had goals, but they were
not in writing; and a whopping 84 percent had no specific goals at all. Ten years later, the members of
the class were interviewed again, and the findings, while somewhat predictable, were nonetheless
astonishing. The 13 percent of the class who had goals were earning, on average, twice as much as the
84 percent who had no goals at all. And what about the three percent who had clear, written goals?
They were earning, on average, ten times as much as the other 97 percent put together.

The truth is simply this; without goals you dont have any direction in life and nothing really tangible to
work towards. Result? You get nowhere. Pretty obvious stuff, right?

How to start? Set some goals! Heres how I do it.

Planning & Prioritizationhook-76785_1280

Do the most important things first. This is such a simple concept talked about by many high-achievers.
Ive read about this in The One Thing by Gary Keller, The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People by
Stephen Covey and Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill What they all basically say is that you
should find your one, most important focus for every single day (aligned with the goals youve set out
for yourself) and consequently annihilate that goal in the morning until it is finished everything else is
a distraction. Simple, yet not easy.

How to start? Find your one, most important task for the day and execute accordingly. Also set a time
limit on these goals, so you dont get stuck in saying things like; Im done at x hour or my work gets
done when its done. Limitations create urgency. Urgency gets things done.

Money Management

Another big pillar in success is shifting from the consumer mentality into the investor mentality.See your
little dollars as seeds. By spending your hard-earned money in a smart way youll be able to grow your
investments into bigger pay-offs over time

Dont buy ridiculously overpriced smartphones
Dont amass great amounts of debt
Dont live above your means

Basic stuff like that makes a huge difference over time.

How to start? Read some great books on financial beliefs and money management like Rich Dad, Poor
Dad By Robert T. Kiyosaki, The Millionaire Fastlane by MJ Demarco and The Intelligent Investor by
Benjamin Graham.

Waking Up Early

clock-20013_1280Our time on earth is limited. With our average life expectancy of 78.6 years (as of
2014) we spent 25 yearsof that sleeping! Tai Lopez (who became a self-made millionaire in his 20s) says
that we only have 50 000 valuable hours to really dedicate to doing our greatest work. The rest of the
time is spend in disability, sickness, sleeping, old age, young age and so-forth.

Imagine that I give you a check of $50 000 in the beginning of your life, how scarcely would you spend
those dollars?

How to start? Start waking-up an hour earlier everyday! Thats 365 hours extra a year which equals
more than two weeks! What are you waiting for? Tick-tock.

Build On Strength

Were all born with our unique sets of strengths and talents yet we rarely develop those to our natural
capacities. We fall into the trap of believing the you can be anything you want fairy-tale that has been
fed to us by our surroundings. The truth (IMO) is this: We can only perform optimallyfrom strength.
Talent and investment serve as amplifiers for your achievement level. TALENT X INVESTMENT =
STRENGTH Investment can be self-generated whilst raw talent is incredibly difficult to add.

While it may be possible, with a considerable amount of work, to add talent where little exists, our
research suggests that this may not be the best use of your time Strengthsfinder 2.0 by Tom Rath

My take on strengths is the following; Build your life on what youre good at, but improve your
weaknesses to the degree that they dont hold you back.

How to start? A great way to get started and gain some priceless self-knowledge is by taking the
personality test at 16Personalities.com. I found the results disturbingly accurate yet amazingly insightful.

Networking & Social Skillsteam-386673_1280

Many successful people are not where they are solely because of their many skills and talents (which
they have) but because they made themselves known to others. Ever heard the statement; Its not
about what you know, its about who you know? In terms of success this certainly rings true. Mostly its
not you that rises trough the ranks by your own effort. People rise to success by others lifting them up.

Additionally, by surrounding yourself with these high-achievers your own performance level will be
increased. This is because the people we see regularly set the standard for what is appropriate and
therefore well adjust to that environment.

How to start? Read some books on basic social skills like How To Win Friends And Influence People by
Dale Carnegie and get some great resources on networking! One website Id definitely recommend is
SmartBusinessRevolution.com by John Concoran (he has a GREAT free ebook).

Character

And last but certainly not least important: Character! By setting for ourselves a certain standard for
acceptable behavior, were able to connect with other people on a genuine level. Things like; being
honest, keeping secrets, having integrity, not cheating, not stealing and so-forth. People automatically
want to connect with the ones who dont have hidden agendas and are pure of heart. Immorality breaks
relationships.

How to start? Write down for yourself a certain set of rules (a code of conduct) you will live by that will
lead to a successful life (whatever that means to you). Be sure to include the essentials like integrity,
honesty, responsibility and so-forth. Read these values when you get out of bed and live accordingly.

Essence

I know this can be a lot to take in and therefore I highly recommend building up each habit until it has
become a natural part of your day-to-day routine. (dont take on more than one at a time two at max)
New research shows that the formation of a new habit can take anywhere from 18 to 254 days (66 on
average). So consistency is key here. Start with small steps and slowly build them up. Notice also that
almost all the habits Ive mentioned above are short-term sacrifices that will result in long-term benefits.

By overcoming forms of instant gratification like cheating, watching tv, splurging money, binge-eating
and whatnot we set ourselves up for a great future. Delayed gratification is your ticket to success!
(Which doesnt mean youre not allowed to enjoy life within reason ;) ) Anyway, thats all I have to say
on success habits for today. I hope Ive been able to spike your curiosity to try out a new habit (or
improve the quality/quantity of an old one) So, that leaves me with just one more question;