The ancient Greek philosopher and scientist, Aristotle once said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” And he is absolutely right. When it comes to achieving extraordinary results in life, it is all about habits because what you do day-in and day-out matters more than what you do once in a while. This is how the phrase “ordinary people extraordinary results” comes from.
Brian Tracy, the best-selling author says that successful people are simply those with successful habits. It is your habits that will determine the results you get in life. Therefore, if you want to be successful, start with adopting the right success habits.
If you are living in poverty, having no money to pay the bills, and your health is suffering, it is because of your habits. Change your habits, and you will change your life. Below are the top 10 success habits of remarkably successful people that you can develop and make them yours.
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Wake up extremely early
Do you know that one of the most obvious success habits that almost all extraordinary people practice is wake up early?
Apple is considered one of the most successful companies in the world, and the CEO, Tim Cook, says that he wakes up around 3.45am each day to get a head start on email. The Virgin Group founder and billionaire chairman, Richard Branson, once said in an interview that he wakes up around 5.45am each day to exercise.
As you can see, highly successful people choose to wake up and start their day early. They want to have more undisturbed and personal time such as exercising, working on their side projects, and getting a head start for the day.
Hence, choose to wake up at least an hour earlier. Move your body, workout, and then plan your day so that you can be more productive and get more things done.
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Develop Good Reading Habits and Read Every Day
Everyone knows that reading is important, but the majority did not read a book after they leave their colleges or universities. If you are able to learn just one new idea from a book, reading a book a month will give you 12 new ideas a year. And this will totally change your life forever.
Mark Cuban says that he reads for at least 3 hours a day, while Bill Gates, one of the richest men in the world, says that he reads about an hour as part of his bedtime routine.
And when reporters asked Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX, how he learned to build rockets, and he said, “I read books.” Successful people understand that the only way to learn something new fast is to read books.
When you read books, you are learning directly from other people and you are expanding your perspective.
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Exercise and workout
If you want to have more energy and maintain your health, you must exercise and workout. The human bodies are created to move, not to sit still for long hours. In today’s world, most people’s work involves sitting in the office and facing the computer screen for long hours. This is not an ideal lifestyle over the long-term.
And if you want to boost your productivity and have more energy to work and get more done, you need to exercise and workout.
The ex-President, Barrack Obama says that he sweats for 45 minutes a day, six days a week. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, says that he workout at least 3 times a week and he usually does it in the early morning. The same goes for Richard Branson, who says that his physical activities include swimming, yoga, running, tennis, surfing, and rock climbing.
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Have absolute clarity
If you want to be successful, you must adopt the habit of clarity. You must be absolutely clear about what you want in the future. When you study the success stories of remarkable people such as Steve Jobs and Elon Musk, you will discover that they are absolutely clear about their goals.
Highly successful people know what they want from the beginning. It is when you truly understand what you want, only then you are able to come up with a plan to get you there. Most people have vague goals and dreams. They are unsure of what they want in their lives, as a result, they become reactive and choose to act according to their surroundings.
Successful people, on the other hand, are extremely clear about their goals and dreams. They know what they want, and thus, they become proactive in bringing their dream life into their real life.
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Visualise Your Goals
Another success habit you must adopt is to visualize the success you want each day. Jim Carrey, one of the most successful Hollywood actors once said, “I would visualize things coming to me. It would just make me feel better. Visualization works if you work hard. That’s the thing. You can’t just visualize and go eat a sandwich.”
Oprah Winfrey is another celebrity and a successful titan who dedicated her success to visualization. In the sports industry, professional athletes often include visualization as part of their mental training.
In fact, there was a study done to a group of basketball players. The study discovered that the basketball players who visualize shooting in their minds improved equally as the players who actually went through the physical shooting training.
Visualization is a powerful tool that is available for anyone to use. So just imagine and envision the success you want every day.
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Working Hard at Work
One of the main differences between someone successful and someone who is not is their ability to work hard. Successful people do not just talk about their dreams, they take action and work on them. On the contrary, unsuccessful people will just talk about their dreams, but they are not doing anything about them.
Are you putting in an effort to achieve your goals and make your dreams a reality? Or do you just talk about the things that you want without any solid action? Please understand that success is about what you do, not what you say you will do.
Hence, practice the habit of taking action. Make sure that you are doing something and making progress each day.
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Have fun while you work
Another important success habit you must develop is passion. You must love what you do and make the work fun. Successful people love their work and this is why they are willing to endure and continue to work hard even when things are not working out.
Most people hate their jobs and they do not like what they do. This is why they are the happiest every Friday afternoon and they suffer the Monday blue. Extraordinary people who are extremely passionate about their work will never feel uninspired because they simply love what they do.
Richard Branson says it well, “If you find what you are truly passionate about, then finding your career will not be too far away.” So find out your passion and love what you do.
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Network with other successful people
The people you surround yourself with will determine your future. If you want to be successful, network with other successful people. Birds of the same feather flock together.
Jim Rohn said that you are the average of the five people you mix with most of the time. So take a minute and think about who you mix with most of the time. Are you making friends and spending most of your time with people who love to complain and blame? Or do you spend time networking with other successful people who support you to go higher?
When you network with positive people, their thoughts and energy will influence you. You will become positive and want to do better in life too. Of course, mixing with negative people will influence you otherwise.
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Plan and prioritize
If you fail to plan, you will plan to fail. Although that things may not go through according to your plan, having a plan is much better than having no plan at all.
Successful people are able to achieve remarkable results in their lives because they prioritize and work on important things. Rather than spending time working on things that do not really matter, they choose to work on things that will get them the results they want.
Therefore, from now on, choose to plan your day and prioritize your tasks. Every night before you sleep, write down what you need to get done the next day and then prioritize them.
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Giving back
Successful people believe in giving back. The Giving Pledge is a campaign created by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett with the aim of encouraging billionaires to donate part of their wealth to charity. So far, the pledges have totaled over $365 billion and many extraordinary people have joined the campaign, including Larry Ellison, Michael Bloomberg, Paul Allen, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and more.
When you give back, donate and help those who are in need, you are indirectly telling yourself that you are capable of doing much more and to make the world a better place. It is the gratefulness that builds your character and makes you more successful.
Perhaps, Winston Churchill said it best, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”