Have you seen the most successful people around the world? There is something different about them that makes them stand out as successful and it is time to explore their habits.
Success is not something that happens overnight, it takes years of perseverance and a mindset that help people achieve what they aspire to in life. Just like action speaks louder than words, it is also about making connections and finding opportunities at the right time and right place. It starts with building a daily healthy routine because if you are unable to maintain routine and composure in life, it is going to get harder to reach where you want to be.
Life is busy and stressful and you might find watching Netflix on a regular basis is more important for your escape. While it is not completely wrong, forming this habit will bring you no good in the long run. Life is not always that bad and it fairly depends on your actions. It is never too late to start and you can start any day but you have to commit to it. Here is a list of 35 good habits that can help people become successful in their life and we are talking about financial situation here.
- Back-to-Back Meetings in One Location
In our work life, we have to attend a lot of meetings. While it is mainly professional, sometimes you would have to meet people in your personal life as well. And it is not easy to make time to meet different people at different locations. If you want to attend those meetings without losing time and energy, try to arrange them all in one place so that you can use your time effectively. Time is the most precious thing in your life and this way, you can bring more efficiency.
- Try to Read Voraciously
In this digital age, people are impatient and they want to know about everything in microdoses. This age of short-form content obstructs people from reading voraciously. They are more likely to get knowledge from something that gets over within seconds. However, reading an article attentively can also bring some benefit to you. It improves your knowledge pertinence and retention. It is important to understand and stay knowledgeable about your niche industry to project a strong presence in your domain. According to Eric Frankel, founder and CEO of AdGreetz, “One needs to be able to converse with other executives intelligently about their business” who previously used to work at Warner Brothers.
- Constantly Update Your To-do List
It is not only about creating a to-do list but also sticking to it which makes it successful. It often gets jumbled with other tasks and loses priority which only causes more delay. You need to constantly triage your to-do list with your team as well as with yourself to make sure everyone is working on the same ground. It is the role of a leader to keep their teams aligned with the priority list.
- Time to Unsubscribe Mercilessly
Email marketing and newsletters are some of the biggest assets for companies to keep their clients engaged and in order to do that, a lot of subscription and registration is required. Besides, people who subscribe are more likely to follow up with more emails and if you subscribe to other companies’ newsletters, it is only common to get overwhelmed. It is time for you to declutter your messages by unsubscribing to the companies and organizations that are not that important to your business. You need to keep a clean record of emails that could prove useful to your business.
- Block Time on Calendar
It is quite easy to fall into daily distractions that make you go overboard in your daily routine. While it is okay to drift apart once in a while, you cannot let it happen for a time. Learn to block time on the calendar based on the tasks that need to be done. It is based on the priority of tasks. For example, if you are checking emails for now, block that task for the next hour and attend meetings, and then block all meetings for the next hour. Leaders, managers, CEOs, and everyone on the upper deck have a lot of decisions to make every day, and time blocking is the only thing that keeps it going.
- It is Never Too Late to Connect with Your Passion
Alex Muller, CEO of GPShopper, believes that “Not all startup CEO/founders are technologists, but each CEO has a passion” and it is absolutely true. Staying connected with passion can help a person stay engaged in what they do. Cultivating passion is the best way to unwind yourself and give yourself a motivational boost that can help you proceed with your daily work. Do the things that you enjoy doing and make sure to make time for it at least once a week or twice a month. It is also important for your mind to stay stress-free and pursuing a passion can help with that.
- Limit Your Time for Daily Email Reading
If you get caught up with daily emails, you are going to lose a lot of your precious work time that could be invested in new ideas and innovation rather than just reading emails. If you spend a lot of time behind emails, strategically there will be no progress because there will be always new emails stacking up every day. Try to utilize modern tools and online platforms to manage and synchronize emails based on priority responses. Many industry experts believe that leaders, who only want to sit behind the desk and reach emails, are mainly doing semi-procrastination.
- Spend at Least One Hour Outside
In this digital world where most business operations are taking place online, leaders spend days in offices and closed rooms where they spend from morning to night and never even get to see the sun. Such kind of lifestyle can make a person feel more stressed. Every human being is required to spend some time in the sun or the nature to rejuvenate and energize themselves. Even though we live in the digital world, we cannot power ourselves digitally like a robot. Take a walk with your dog, go camping or fishing with the people you love, or go to parks for exercise or meditation. These healthy habits can help you stay prepared healthy energized for daily work. If you are unable to take a one-hour break, you can take small breaks of 20 minutes thrice. The idea here is to spend at least one hour outside on a daily basis to not keep yourself deprived of organic energy.
- Tech for Personal Relationship Management (PRM)
According to the industry leaders, every CEO and manager should instill modern technology and incorporate advanced tools in the business process for Personal Relationship Management (PRM). As a leader, you would have to manage your relationship with a lot of people including the clients, board members, internal teams, partners, and many others. Having a PRM tool can greatly help to instill a seamless workflow.
- Find out Employee Objectives
If you take care of your employees they will be more than happy to serve you and give their 100%. Of course, every employee wants their salary and regular promotions but it is not what they only work for. Every company is bound to offer the earnings they deserve so why would the workforce do more than the rest? The answer is key employee objectives. If you discuss with your team, you will see the best members of the team have a range of goals, focus, and performance. Let them know their personal objectives and help them to achieve them.
- Focus on Several Things a Day
While most leaders are also the greatest multitaskers, there should be a limit to multi-work. It is recommended to focus on two or three things every day but if you try to push it more work; your confidence only would not be able to execute all tasks. The optimal point of multitasking is when you do only 2 to 3 activities simultaneously but not more than that. If you are trying to handle too many things alone, it is only going to get more chaotic.
- Dine with Your Family
Scott and Missy Tannen, founders of Boll & Branch, said, “We may be co-founders, but we are also mom and dad to three daughters.” They further emphasized family dinner by saying, “No matter how hectic running a fast-growing startup is, we make sure to shut off the cell phones and have a family dinner with our girls.” All the work you do to get more successful is to provide convenience and security for your family and if you do not even get to eat with your family; what is the point of working this much? Right! Make sure to make time for your family. A simple dinner with your family can offer you more comfort and satisfaction to sleep after a long day.
- Try to get Home in Time
The most successful people around the world are successful because they value their time. Just like they do not want to waste their time at the office, they do not want to waste their time at work when the work hours are over. Try to be religious about your time management needs and always be early at work. Only then you can leave the office in time without keeping anything pending.
- Daily Exercise is Highly Important
The connection between your body and mind is something that helps to maintain your well-being. When that balance is ruined, one side can affect the other one. When you are very stressed in your mind you can feel sick in your body with multiple other symptoms. Similarly, if you are not physically well, you will find yourself irritated at working and having a hard time focusing on your tracks. It is recommended to exercise daily to maintain a good system and well-being between your mind and the body. You can engage in any kind of cardio or light exercises that help to boost blood circulation, and keep you hungry and energized.
- Read Unsolved Customer Support Tickets in the Morning
Customers are the real king and without them, a company would not run. Your first priority in the morning should be reading at least 20 to 30 unsolved customer support tickets to understand what kind of problems your customers are facing. Offering them the best customer experience through your service is the best thing you can do to retain them. You need to understand your customer’s problems to offer the best customer service.
- Checking KPIs in the First Priority
KPI stands for Key Performance Indicators, and KPIs need to be studied to boost a company’s growth, sales, and performance. It is the responsibility of a CEO to monitor whether their company is progressing aligned with the prediction or not based on the KPI and other metrics. The numbers will show you where your company is currently and where it can reach in the coming days. You need to check the KPIs every day in the morning to know how your company is performing in the niche industry.
- Try to be Unpredictable
According to the CEO of global stock photo site Dreamstime.com, Serban Enache, “Successful people predict trends, but are original and innovative.” That is why it is important to have your own pattern and workflow that is not predictable or does not fall into a particular pattern that can misused by any other person. For example, if you stay in a good mood every day in the morning, your team will try to communicate in the morning and not the rest of the day. So, be predictable with a sense of surprise.
- Learn to Ask Why
Sometimes the pressure of deadlines is so much that we forget to ask why we are even doing this project. It is important to know the context of work that you are looking forward to getting done as it improves the process and helps the result get faster. It is critical to stay grounded and to keep an eye on every detail regarding the task that can enhance the process or the results. You can find a better way to execute the task when you go deeper into the context and reason for doing the task.
- Think, React, or Write
Humans are complex creatures with a brain that works faster than any computer. However, in order to make your brain cells work; you need to get enough time that is unscheduled and free. When you are at your office, you would already have a lot of tasks to do which offers only very time to think or contemplate big decisions. You require more unscheduled time to think, react, or write down ideas that could be implemented in business operations and teamwork. Only a critical thinker can become a great leader who always comes up with some idea or effective contingency plans.
- Emit Positive Aura
The CEO of BetterWorks, Kris Duggan believes that spreading a positive attitude at your workplace is also important to keep your teams motivated and less stressed perhaps. Even saying Hi or Good Morning in the morning creates a sense of unity and positivity that ripples across the organization at every scale. This way, you can make employees feel more valued and appreciated for their existence and contributions.
- Daily To-Do List
You must set a daily to-do list to make the most out of your every day. While you are following a daily routine, you need to adapt to your to-do list for every day’s work. You can make the list one day beforehand or the morning before you start your day.
- Communication with People
As a leader of your organization, you need to keep your eyes and ears open for every department and at every level. You might not realize but having random communications with employees and workers from diversified sectors can actually help you stay informed and keep your ear on the ground. A lot of people address this as ‘managing by wandering around,’ however it is more like keeping yourself informed by keeping your ears on the ground. Besides, having conversations with the people from your company can help to foster a healthy relationship that goes beyond hierarchy.
- Prepare Budgets Effectively
Budget is the most important thing for all kinds of industries and when it comes to your company, you would want to be extra cautious about your expenditures. You should prepare a budget based on initiative and expected outcomes rather than the functions. Try to think of how each penny contributes to your company and what kinds of returns of investment (ROI) you are getting. Try to make cost-effective choices rather than cheap choices.
- Get Coached by Leaders
The former CIO of Google and now CEO of ZestFinance, Douglas Merrill said, “Olympic athletes have coaches—so should CEOs.” It is very true that leaders do not become leaders overnight; they make their places from the seniors, coaches, and mentors. Getting coached by an industry leader or an earlier leader of the company can help ace in the field you are in.
- Keep an Eye on Competitors
You can actually learn a lot from your potential competitors who are working in the same niche industry. Studying their activities can help you understand where you are lacking or what new strategies you can incorporate to bring more prosperity to your business. Try to fix a time from your daily routine to focus on the latest updates by the competitors. There is no need to embark on the same strategy or idea almost immediately but if it aligns with the market trends, you should try it too. The best part is that your potential competitors are also doing the same with your company updates.
- Always Be on the Move
It is important to always be in the movie whether it is metaphorically or physically. Just like walking or running can offer you boots of energy and keep the blood flowing; you should be progressing with your business operations as well to keep the process flowing with seamless streamline. Walking and conversation can be done on the go and it saves time too.
- Stay Updated with Information on Your Niche Industry
The first thing you need to do before starting your day at the office is to know more about your industry. The world is growing through rapid transformation with technological advancement and the influence of modern innovations such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and many others. You need to know what kinds of industry trends are currently going on and what most companies are adapting to. You will be amazed to see how many dots you can connect just by reading industry news in the morning.
- Adaptable Perspective
Life is all about perception and perspectives and when you are able to change your perspective and adapt to any situation, it is going to bring more positive opportunities for your company. Always remember that you might be the leader but you still work with a team and that is how the whole team operates. Just because you want to give 70 hours a week for your company, does not mean that all the employees will want the same. And you do not have the right to impose such rules on them. Broaden your perspective and be open to changes. Still, small adjustments can offer fruitful results.
- Inbox Zero
An overloaded inbox is very overwhelming when you have to go through a lot of emails every day. The best possible way to deal with it would be to discard anything that is not immediately actionable. Based on the priority, you should do the tasks that require immediate action. Getting your inbox to zero is the best way to declutter all the information that you have to take in.
- Add “Top Three” To-Do List
The to-do lists for the leaders and CEOs are practically never-ending and it requires prioritizing tasks from the list to decide what you need to do first. Therefore, always add the top three to your lists by marking the tasks that are the most important at the moment. It can make your work days more manageable and easy to handle.
- Focus on Direct Reports
According to Michael MacDonald, CEO of Medifast, it is important to speed up on your direct reports that need to be done on a daily basis. While your day at the office starts later, you can call the direct reports to get updates in the morning. It will help you start your office with complete updates without missing out on any topic that needs to be focused on.
- Plan Your Work and Vice Versa
There is a famous quote by Evander Holyfield that reads, ‘Plan your work and work your plan’. It is not only about making an effective plan but the plan needs to be executed as well. Or else you would not be witnessing the results you have been looking for. Sit with your teams and see if the plans are valid and can be worked on. Listen to the workforce but also encourage them to innovation and input ideas that can work for the modern business situation.
- Short To-Do List
Keep your daily to-do list short and achievable without making it too tough to complete. You already know your limits and things can do at your best. Now, it is time to create a short to-do list based on your skills and requirements and their priority. Keeping it short actually helps to get rid of the tasks that do not require immediate action.
- Take Time to Reflect on Matters
John Yung, the CEO of Appcara said, “As a CEO, you can’t be afraid of the decisions you make. But it’s just as dangerous to have full confidence in your decisions.” This means you need to have an ample amount of confidence in the decisions you make but you should not be over-confident as well. Make sure to make time to reflect on the business activities and other requirements. You should contemplate the business decisions you make before and even after doing something to understand the gravity of the situation.
- Be Proactive and Consistent with Your Approach
The hard part is not doing it on the first day but doing it every day. It is not just intelligence but resilience is what makes people successful in their respective fields. Those who do not give up easily and reach far with their dedication and perseverance are the best attributes that leaders can have. Always be proactive with your initiatives and be consistent with your approaches to witness quick results.
The definition of success is subjective but it still depends on characteristics like punctuality, resilience, patience, critical thinking, communication, and many others. Follow the aforementioned tips to ace in your respective field.
