Habits reflect our approach to life because about 40% of what we do every day are habits. And since, successful people’s habits are geared towards making the most of their time and energy while getting better every day at what they do, taking notes from their daily habits is like learning from a book that contains the writer’s wisdom collected over decades. So, I have collected over here the 10 most effective of successful people’s habits which can positively affect how we experience life.
10 Most effective successful people's habits
Success looks different for all of us because we all want different things from life. And so only those milestones bring us joy and satisfaction that are in tune with what we really want from life. Choose and pick from the list below the habits which you feel would make it easier to design the kind of life you admire.
1. Staying curious
The first habit is of staying curious, asking ‘what’s that’, ‘how does it work’.
Steve Jobs once took a course in college about calligraphy just because it was something he didn’t know much about and was curious about it. Years later, it sprouted the idea of different fonts on computer.
It started with the first Mac computer and now we take them for granted on any computer, smartphone, tablet we use.
The habit of asking what’s that, how does it work is a great way to create the library of information which our conscious or subconscious mind can draw from when coming up with solutions, creative ideas because that’s essentially connecting existing information in unusual ways… and the more diverse topics or things we know about, the bigger is our inventory of ideas to draw from.
2. Making better decisions
Now how can that be a habit? No one can make good decisions all the time!
Well, the trick is to have a technique in place that helps us make the best decision we can make. And so, no matter how effective or not the decision turns out to be, we can be confident of having done our best.
Like, legendary investor and philanthropist Warren Buffet who makes it a point to learn everything about the company, its management, future plans, public sentiment, and more before deciding to buy its shares. And he is called the Oracle of Omaha because he rarely misses the mark.
One great technique to use this idea in our life is to adapt the 6 Hats Technique, which essentially is about considering a decision from every angle – facts, gut feeling, alternatives, ways to go wrong, and opportunities before making a choice.
3. Working smart
Working smart is the habit of finding what ties in with our priority or what’s important and what can we find shortcuts for that won’t affect the outcome much – shortcuts that are time and effort savers.
But no matter what it means to us taking consistent action is the one thing that proves we are serious about it and takes us closer to that goal.
Now, working hard is a very good quality, no doubts about that… but it’s better to work smart if we want to stay consistent, motivated to push through to the end.
We start procrastinating stuff sometimes because either they are too boring or too tough and would probably take up a lot of time. That digs into our motivation to keep showing up.
An effective way getting into the working smart habit is to use Stephen Covey’s 4 quadrant matrix for time management.
4. Unplugging - one must-have successful people's habits
Ariana Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post is a full-on supporter of short relaxing breaks because they boost her productivity & decreases stress. She says,
“It just makes a difference to how the rest of your day goes.”
There are lots of studies that also support this idea and show we usually stay focused on something for around 20 to 30 minutes then our mind starts wandering. So, it’s a good idea to take a quick 5 minutes break or a 2-minute focused breathing break between tasks.
Now since, successful people’s habits are geared towards making the most of their time and energy, most of them prefer to schedule in some quiet time in their day.
What this habit essentially does is give us time to catch up with our changing expectations, likes, dislikes, priorities. Plus, see what’s working and what’s not, and so tweak our actions and plans to use our time, energy, and resources efficiently.
5. Respecting your boundaries
Managing time becomes easier when we commit to things mindfully, saying yes because it fits in with our priorities or wouldn’t overdraw on our time & energy.
One of the most successful investors and philanthropist Warren Buffet also said,
“The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say ‘no’ to almost everything.”
because they are clear on how much and on what they can spend their time on to keep working on the things they believe in.
And one of the most common successful people’s habits is respecting their boundaries – knowing clearly what they are and aren’t ready to accept, using that as a yardstick to make their commitments, and knowing clearly if and how much they are willing to stretch those boundaries. That’s super important to keep working on what we believe in and not stress out on things that don’t add value to our life.
For 5 more successful people’s habits, watch the video up top. Or, if you would like to learn the best ways to change habits and make the good ones last, go over here.
