When we look at some of the most successful people in the world, we’re awestruck by how much they’re able to accomplish and how fearless they seem. Oprah Winfrey, Barack Obama, Richard Branson—the gap between their lifestyle and ours can seem enormous. However, if we put the life of a successful person under a microscope, we’ll find that the keys to their success are strikingly simple: it all boils down to habit.
Entrepreneur Jim Rohn said that “Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” So, if habits are so important for success, which ones will make you the most successful?
Here are 10 daily habits of some of the most successful people:
1. Wake Up Early
A successful day is built on momentum. The more tasks you complete, the easier it is to do the next task. The best way to kick-start that momentum is to wake up early.
Waking up before everyone else feels empowering. It feels like you have a head-start on everyone else. If you consistently wake up early, say, at 5:00 AM, while the rest of the world wakes up at 8:00 AM, you’ll have plenty of quiet time to yourself so you can focus on tackling the most difficult tasks of the day. Soon, you’ll find yourself halfway through your daily work while everyone else is scrambling to eat breakfast and get started.
2. Set and Review Your Goals
Right after you wake up, take a few minutes to make a list of goals for the day, and to review any long-term goals that you have. Setting and reviewing goals will keep you focused on the finish line and motivated to keep working through boredom and distraction.
These goals can be anything from “finish the accounting report” to “vacuum and mop.” Write down anything and everything that you want to complete, and make sure to soak in the satisfaction of crossing an item off your list once it’s done.
3. Organize Your Tasks
As Benjamin Franklin said, “For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned.”
To be successful, making a list of tasks is only half the battle. If the tasks are too big, too vague, or too disordered, trying to accomplish them will only lead to frustration and anxiety. Take time to organize your tasks.
Make sure all your daily, monthly, and long-term tasks are broken down into manageable pieces. Also, make sure they’re in an order that makes sense. For example, having “write a book” as a daily goal isn’t helpful—there’s no way you’ll be able to complete it in a day. However, having individual goals like “write a plot outline” and “design the main character” are manageable and rewarding. Also, completing some goals will make it easier to complete others. Successful people make sure to order their tasks so that they can be as efficient as possible.
4. Remove Distractions
Successful people carefully design their daily environments so that they never face distractions.
Take a moment to think about all the ways that you get distracted throughout your day. Maybe your phone buzzes every five minutes with a notification. Maybe your family is loud while you’re trying to work in the living room. Maybe you have music or television playing in the background and find your mind wandering off.
Whatever your distractions are, make a list of them, then try to fix as many as possible. Silence your phone while you’re working. Move your home-office into your bedroom. Shut off the music and the television.
Removing distractions will keep you focused on your tasks, which will provide a surprising boost to your productivity.
5. Stay Connected with Important People
Success often stems from having a large, trustworthy network. Nobody can take on the world on their own, and nobody is perfect at everything. We all need connections with people that have different strengths to help us along the path to our dreams. Make sure you take time to improve your existing business connections and to forge new connections whenever you can.
However, “important people” doesn’t just mean business connections! Family and friends are often two of the biggest sources of happiness and motivation. Give your parents a call. Check in on your old roommates. Invite your siblings to dinner. Spend some quality time with your spouse or your kids.
Make sure you stay connected not only to those that help you in the business world, but to those who make up your personal world. Both these areas need to be fulfilled to reach success.
6. Read Often
Successful people are always learning, and one of the best ways to learn is to read.
Make a goal of reading for at least half an hour each day. Reading consistently will sharpen your mind and will allow you to learn new skills and information that can help you in many different areas of your life.
The books you read don’t necessarily need to be about your business or hobbies, either—go ahead and enjoy some Stephen King! Reading improves your communication skills, so no matter which book you choose, you’ll end up a more effective person, on the path to success.
7. Exercise Daily
Successful people not only keep their minds sharp, they keep their bodies sharp, too.
Consistent exercise improves your energy, motivation, mood, and resilience, so that you can take on any obstacle that the world throws your way. Like reading, make a goal to exercise for at least half an hour each day.
With exercise, the key is variety. Make sure you constantly change the way you exercise so that you’re always excited to get your body moving. You can go for a walk, ride your bike, play basketball, lift weights, have a dance party—the possibilities are endless. Just make sure to stay active as often as possible. It’s a lot easier to reach success when you feel great along the way.
8. Make Nutrition a Priority
Nutrition goes hand-in-hand with exercise.
Successful people make sure to eat a healthy, balanced diet that gives them the energy they need to seize the day and accomplish their goals.
Start each day with a light and healthy breakfast. Drink lots of water, eat fruits and veggies, stick to lean protein, and avoid foods with a lot of sugar or salt. Also, try not to eat too close to when you go to sleep. Eating too close to bedtime can make it difficult to fall asleep, making you more tired for the following day.
9. Get Enough Sleep
Despite what you might think, spending more time awake and working doesn’t mean you’ll be more successful. Most of the world’s leading CEOs—Bill Gates, Tim Cook, Jeff Bezos—get an average of 7 hours of sleep each night, and sometimes even that isn’t enough!
Being tired throughout the day can be a huge blow to your productivity. The time you “gain” from staying awake longer, you lose from constant yawning, dozing off, and burnout. To give yourself the best shot at success, make sure you’re getting enough sleep each night, and make sure the sleep is consistent. Try to go to bed and wake up at around the same time every day—this will help you feel rested, because your body will be used to the sleep pattern.
10. Embrace Failure
Life is full of learning opportunities. Unfortunately, most of those learning opportunities come from failure.
Many people are afraid of failure, but failure is one of the keys to success. Attack every task without being afraid to fail, and know that if you do, it’s okay! The important thing is that when you fail, be sure to identify why you failed and how you can avoid failing again next time.
If you truly make an effort to develop habits like daily exercise, waking up early, and embracing failure, success suddenly won’t seem so far away. The most successful people in the world aren’t machines—they’re human, just like us. That means that if they can do it, so can you. Stay motivated, organized, and connected. Keep yourself happy, healthy, and free of distraction. These are the stepping-stones of the path to success.
