The importance of habits
Hi, I'm Alex and today we will talk about HABITS. You have probably seen all over the internet titles like "how to get rich quick" or "get rich overnight", but let's be serious, how many of you actually believe that to be true?I don't!
Growing as a person, becoming successful or simply achieving your goals and chasing your dreams take time. Yes, everything is possible, as long as you are willing to put in the work! And do you know what all the successful and important people have in common? HABITS. So today we will talk about habits and how to use them to your advantage.
Why is it important to form habits?
Our brain uses a really big part of our energy to process different tasks but once a task becomes a habit our brains stores it in a “manual” and knows what to do by simply following the “code” written in our brains thus saving a lot of energy and effort. Also, by transforming a task into a habit we tend to learn how to do it better and faster and that makes us capable of doing the respective task at any moment in our day.
To steer yourself onto the path of great success, you first need to have a routine of small but profound habits.
What are some really effective habits ?
Well, there are tons of habits that can improve our day-to-day life but some of them out there are better than other, so I will try to put up a list with a few habits that I consider rather important.
1. Create a Morning Routine
Start by building a habitual morning routine to help you start each day in the best way possible. You should stick to this routine every day – including a weekend. Although allowing some slack and imperfect over the weekend is important, you should not diverge from the routine you created too much.
Instead of late nights and big sleep-ins, consider turning in early and doing a short workout in the morning. Followed up with a cold shower, this is one of the best daily habits to keep your body charged, fresh, and ready to take on any project that comes your way.
2. Plan Strategically
Every successful person there is got to where they are today by making planning one of their crucial daily habits. Without substantial, strategic, and thought out plans, you are bound to fail.
As you make your plans, ensure that they are perfectly aligned with your top goals. By so doing, you will be able to prioritize your plans according to what you need to accomplish to actualize your deepest dreams.
Most entrepreneurs actually plan out each day the night before. As a result, they can wake up with a plan and purpose for what they need to achieve during the next 8 to 12 hours. The plan also empowers them to get going with an agenda for the day – one that will be difficult to stall or hide from.
3. Focus on Revenue Generation
This daily habit will work out perfectly for you if your startup is in its early stages. Every day, focus on those activities that actually add to your bank balance. Therefore, if what you are doing will not pin for a profit, you need to stop.
If you have been completing tons of time wasting activities, create a new daily habit to refocus your energies and skills and to give you the clarity you need to become richer and financially stable.
4. Make Affirmations
Every morning, give yourself a short but impactful positive self-talk. Tell yourself that you’re already successful, sensible, attractive, innovative, intelligent, humble, inspiring, leading, loving, influential, confident, productive, and creative.
This strategy will give you the positive boost you need to get started on the right footing. It will also add that extra confidence that will see you going through anything that comes your way and emerging successful.
5. Find a Zone of Genius
Successful people can identify the gifts and strengths they are bringing to the table. They are also aware of those tasks will take them out of this zone of genius.
By identifying this zone, you will be able to master the strategies of team building, outsourcing, and delegation. After all, not everyone can do everything all the time. You need a support team of similar geniuses around to take up anything you are not talented in. Pay them well, and the returns on your investment will come back to you in multiples.
This daily habit will keep you in tune with your skills, abilities, and unique talents. You will also have enough time to activate these gifts for purposes of meeting the goals/objectives that should be done that day.
6. Learn Persistence and Consistency
By setting up consistent systems and rhythms and sticking to them, you will be able to move forward and grow any project you are working on. Persistence, especially in the face of great loss, adversity, and fear, will also help you stay on track instead of focusing on the problems or giving up.
7. Tackle the Hardest Projects First
For more productivity, you should learn how to work on the hardest projects first thing in the morning. According to Laura Vanderkam’s research, most successful people devote their mornings to their most important to-do project. Complete the urgent tasks in your life before they become urgent.
To be more productive and successful, this is a daily habit you need to cultivate. Make your to-do list the night before in order of priority, get good sleep, exercise, practice the morning ritual you set, take a proper breakfast, and fire up the day by working on the hardest project first.
8. Work Nights
Having time to yourself at night will give you the focus you need to catch up on your work as well as to get ready for the coming day. You will also free up sometime the coming day by accomplishing a couple of projects at night – which you can use to exercise and take breakfast with your loved ones ,read a book or even go for a walk.
9. Sharpening your mind
Make sure to spend at least 20 minutes a day working on your mind and your mindset. Having a good mindset determines how you progress in life and reading a book on a topic that you are interested in counts for a lot ,even if it is just 20 or 30 minutes a day. Two books that I highly suggest reading are The 7 habits of highly effective people written by Stephen Covey and The Alchemist written by Paulo Coelho.
This concludes my list of what I consider some really important habits of successful persons but once again I strongly suggest reading Stephen Covey’s book The 7 habits of highly effective people because it would bring a lot of value into your life and maybe change your view on it.
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