Every successful person is known for one habit or the other that has had an immense impact on their lives and careers. Such habits, often times are the basis of their success. Incredibly, habits are powerful tools that shape our behaviours. The right habits can be your wildcard to achieve greatness and be successful in your chosen career. This article will tell you about habits that can transform your lives and make you a successful person.
Persistence
It is one thing to set goals, it is another thing to set out to achieve them. Some goals can be difficult to achieve. There are times the only thing that comes to our mind is to give up. Just stop! It’s fine to feel that way but what is not fine is to quit. The saying, “winners never quit, quitters never win” is apt here. The ability to persevere and be persistent is key to becoming successful. What stands you out from the crowd is your persistence when it matters most. Forming a habit of persistence is crucial to making a ground-breaking success in your career. As Herbert Kaufman puts it, the habit of persistence is the habit of victory.
Don’t blame others, be proactive.
When you blame others for your misfortunes, you take away the sense of responsibility and initiative. It is very easy to blame others for our misfortunes but I have learnt over the years that this is usually a wrong thing to do. Blaming others never solves the problem, rather it compounds it. In Steven Covey’s book, The habit of highly effective people, he emphasises the importance of being proactive. According to him, the proactive approach to a mistake is to acknowledge it instantly, correct and learn from it. Being proactive helps you recognise the need for change when necessary, gives you a sense of direction and helps you solve problems faster.
Focus on something, not everything.
Multitasking sounds very good as it makes you perform several tasks at the same time. But imagine this, when you have to finish a project and you to also respond to calls and reply emails at the same time. Recent research has proven that contrary to what multitaskers believe, it actually makes one less productive and less efficient. This is because one is easily distracted and loses focus on the important things. It is, therefore, advisable to form the habit of setting priorities instead of doing everything at once. When you focus on a single task at a time, you are more productive and more efficient.
Do not procrastinate
Everyone procrastinates. What varies is the degree to which each individual procrastinates. Ultra successful people always plan ahead to beat procrastination. One common trait you will find in many successful people is self-awareness. To beat procrastination, you must first recognise the reasons why you are procrastinating and come up with strategies to beat it such as breaking large tasks into smaller tasks. This way, you get things done in due time without being overwhelmed by the enormity of the task.
Make few and decisive decisions
Have you noticed that very successful people dress so simple? Zuckerberg with his grey shirts, Elon Musk with his Tees and Jeans. Steve Jobs was popular for his classic turtleneck and jeans. This does not imply that they lack fashion sense but they simply do not worry themselves about making many small choices such as choosing what to wear every time. Having to make many decisions can lead to decision fatigue which could inadvertently affect our productivity. You should not burden yourself with having to make many choices every day rather do something similar and simple, and conserve your mental energy for bigger decisions.
Manage your emotions
Managing your emotions is the key to success. Your level of success comes down to how well you can manage your emotions. Research has shown that ultra-successful people are usually composed and have control over their thoughts and actions. In his book, Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Coleman says that the ability to understand and manage emotions increases our chances of success.
Be grateful and appreciative
There is an African proverb that says that an expression of gratitude motivates the one who is working to do more. Successful people know that it takes more than themselves to achieve the success they have achieved. So, they take time regularly to praise and recognize the impacts of their colleagues, staffs, families and friends for their roles in their success. They also form the habit of appreciating what they have achieved.
These habits can make us very successful if we put them to use regularly.