5 habits of highly successful people

Becoming successful is not something that happens overnight. A lot of hard work and preparation for that big break when it shows up is key. However, one thing you may not know is that highly successful people have certain habits that actually contribute to their success which may or may not directly be related to work.

Lots of surveys have been carried out on highly successful people such as self-made millionaires and they all seem to have similar habits on a day to day basis. Developing these habits over time is part of the reason why highly successful people find the right opportunities at the right moment.

Below, we outline 5 habits highly successful people have that catapult them to success:

1) Face their fears

We have been born with an inherent intuition to be afraid. Furthermore, from a very young age, we are told “not to do this and not to do that”. Both of these contribute to our protection as we grow up. However, once we are adults, this fear and cautiousness are the very things that prevent us from becoming the best versions of ourselves. Fear manifests in our daily lives e.g as a budding entrepreneur, one may be afraid of public speaking, one may be afraid to ask for help, one may be afraid to sell due to rejection. A highly successful person will know that fear can hold them back from becoming successful. Perhaps that big break can be obtained from asking for help. Highly successful people, even before they have become successful, will make it a habit to get out of their comfort zone and face the challenges, albeit one step at a time. Highly successful people realise that as they face challenges and overcome them, they will become more confident which in turn will contribute to their success going forward.

2) Read lots of books

Highly successful people read.. ALOT. When Elon Musk was younger, he would read upto 2 books a day. Highly successful people spend atleast 30 minutes everyday reading. Books, magazines, online blogs are all filled with information that could propel you to success and even provide you with an idea or opportunity. The key to reading is to read books that are a source of information eg in the industry that you are working in. You could read self-help books that prepare you for exciting opportunities that could lead to success. Autobiographies are also great to understand the challenges that highly successful people faced and how they overcame them. You could even a novel to enable your mind to relax. It is not possible to read all the books in the world but picking and choosing the books that are of interest to you and could help you develop as a person will be very beneficial in achieving success.

3) Meditation and Exercise

Highly successful people know that both their mind and body need a good break. Working hard takes you closer to success but overworking the mind and body can only lead to loss of productivity and compromising on health. Meditating for a few minutes a day opens your mind to new possibilities, provides solutions and even new ideas. Exercising relaxes the mind and body and provides a “feel-good” feeling enabling you to feel more motivated when you get back to work.

4) Surrounding themselves with positive and highly successful people

They say you are the average of the people you surround yourself with. Highly successful people know this and before they are even successful, they will have made it a point to surround themselves with people who are successful. Surrounding yourself with people who have already been there and done it is a great way to learn and create your own success. They are a wealth of knowledge and most likely have the contacts that will provide the opportunities that you are seeking. Also, surrounding yourself with positive people who support you is a great way to feel motivated and go after what you want. Most of the time, people fail because they don’t even try. Why don’t they try? Because the people around them, family, friends, colleagues have something negative/critical to say about their ideas. It is good to take on criticism to improve your product/service but most of time, people will have something negative to say as they can’t see themselves doing it.

5) Live every day as if it is your last

If you live with this one mantra every single day, you will get more done than you can even imagine. The key to being successful is being persistent and doing more this week than you did last week. However, the trap we fall into is that there will be time to do it later and hence we leave the more difficult challenges for another day – the very same challenges that will take us to the next level of success. If you live every day as if it is your last, you will make sure that you can get as much done as possible every single day. This also enables you to take it one day at a time. Every day when you wake up, you can think, “it’s a new day and I want to do as much as possible today.” Over time, this will build up and sooner or later, you will become successful. Highly successful people live this way and make it a point to do as much as possible everyday not just with work but also when it comes to doing the things they love e.g hobbies and spending time with family.

The 5 habits of highly successful people

Habits are meant to be developed and they take time to become habits – hence the name habits 🙂 Taking one step at a time everyday in implementing these will take you one step closer to success and tomorrow, you’ll be a better version of yourself than you are today.