Category: secret to success

17 Daily Habits Practiced by Highly Successful People

See Author Article Here

Your best days are likely the ones in which you take good care of yourself while being highly productive. To make it happen, though, you need to be intentional with how you use the minutes of your day. Here are more than a dozen habits highly successful people practice to push themselves to the next level.

1. Find your purpose, refer to it, and let it guide your path

“Knowing and following a personal, specific purpose empowers us to live with greater confidence. Having an active awareness of our purpose leads to deeper satisfaction as we readily know if a choice or task serves or takes from our purpose. Set aside time and explore your purpose. Write it down, refine it, share it, and refer to it often no matter how large or small. It doesn’t have to be monumental: ‘Make memories with my family,’ ‘Provide for those I love,’ ‘Create jobs,’ ‘Serve others,’ etc. Just be certain to make your purpose your daily mantra.”

–Doug Bloom, Philadelphia chair of Tiger 21, a peer membership organization with more than 650 high-net-worth wealth creators and preservers worldwide

2. Connect with someone

“Humans are inherently social. We’ve an innate desire to connect with one another–whether it be over a meal, traveling to other countries, or watching a movie together. Due to this, I make a daily effort to get out of the office (when feasible) to show up and meet interesting people as a means of identifying opportunities, striking partnerships, connecting, and learning new things. But I believe that how you show up is just as important as the act of showing up itself. You can’t expect every meet-and-greet to be as simple as driving down to your local coffee shop, so I’m adamant about immersing myself in their world as well: catching a plane, meeting them in their office, [or] driving to their home. I’ve been fortunate enough to start and invest in numerous successful businesses because I showed up to meet someone, many of whom I was meeting for the very first time. Ultimately, relationships are what drive businesses forward, and there is no better substitute when developing a relationship than to show up.”

–Adam Jiwan, founder, CEO and Chairman at Spring Labs, a blockchain startup that raised $14.75 million in 2018

3. Practice the SAVERS habit

“Currently, I use a process from The Miracle Morning book by Hal Elrod. It’s based on the acronym SAVERS: Silence (meditation), Affirmations, Visualization, Exercise, Reading, and Scribe (journal). Every morning I meditate for 10 minutes, then move into five minutes repeating my affirmations, spend five minutes doing visualization exercise (seeing your future and what you must do to attain it), read for 10 to 15 minutes, then finish with 10 minutes of journaling and preparing for my day. Being able to clear my head and focus on my goals and priorities has made my days more productive and less stressful.”

–Krista Morgan, cofounder and CEO of P2Binvestor Inc., an online lending platform which has raised more than $13 million in equity

4. Get updated on industry news first thing, then work out

“I am a creature of habit, committed to routines that keep me informed and energized. Every morning, I begin my day with a 30-minute review of my news feeds, favorite websites, and alerts. No work email yet, just an overview to get a sense of industry activity to share with my direct reports through Slack. Then I work out. As an avid mountain biker, I try to get a ride in multiple days a week (personal trainer and home gym the rest of the week), followed by a shower and breakfast. Once in the office, I exercise my Domo muscles (Domo is a business intelligence and data visualization tool). The data-driven platform gives me an early view into new issues or opportunities within my company. Together, these pre-work rituals allow me to dive into the normal course of business activities mentally and physically prepared with insights into both my industry and company that keep me ahead of the curve.”

–Drew Edwards, founder and CEO of Ingo Money, a provider of mobile-forward, turnkey instant deposit and payment services solutions that works with companies including Visa, PayPal, KeyBank, and Safelite

5. Clean up your inbox over the weekend

“Email can be a huge time suck. I’ve found that it’s best to prep my outbox over the weekend while I have some downtime. I block time on Sunday to start responding to emails and save them as drafts, so I can hit send first thing Monday morning. This helps me go into the week less stressed without dumping things on my team over the weekend. To limit time spent on email Monday through Friday, I check Apple Mail to read messages in batches every couple days. If something is urgent, my team knows that I’m big on texting.”

–Isaac Oates, founder and CEO of Justworks, an HR technology platform supporting more than 60,000 employees of entrepreneurs and companies in all 50 states

6. Endure short-term pain for long-term gain

“Almost all of life’s decisions, business and personal, come down to the same question, can you accept short-term pain for long-term gain? Losing weight, firing a producing employee that is problematic elsewhere, exiting markets that are profitable but aren’t your focus–all point to the same thing. Most people choose to focus on short-term gains and get long-term pain. People who want to win are willing to accept some level of professional pain to find opportunities that might elude everyone else.”

–Marty Puranik, CEO of Atlantic.Net, a cloud service provider serving 15,000 businesses in over 100 countries

7. Learn something new before the kids wake up

“Every morning, before my children wake up, and I get ready to leave for work, I will typically spend around thirty minutes reading the news. As I read, I make a point of researching any topic or context I’m unfamiliar with. There is something very energizing to me about starting the day with this mindset of curiosity–of learning something completely new or broadening my perspective on an issue or concept. It’s important to me, before I spend the day focused on my work and company, to expand my horizons, and tune in to what is going on in the world and the reality and interests of others. I find there is often an opportunity to apply these findings and discoveries in my work, even if at first they seem far-removed.”

–Jonathan Cherki, founder and CEO of ContentSquare, an A.I.-powered user experience analytics and optimization platform which raised $42 million in capital last year and works with companies including Walmart, GoPro, Avis, and L’Occitane

8. Live below your means

“The great part about the human spirt is our ability to adapt to our surroundings and environment. Whether you own a billion-dollar company or work the night shift at the local gas station, I firmly believe that your future is highly dependent on your habits, today and tomorrow. Something that I always do, and would encourage everyone else to do, is take that bonus, that compensatory raise, that record-earnings year for your company, and defer the use of those funds through savings or investment. By saving or investing those funds instead of digesting them into your bank account, it may be the difference between a want today versus a future need. I encourage people of all ages to maximize their retirement contributions from annual compensation increases before doing anything with after-tax dollars.”

–David Kilby, published author and president of FinFit, a financial wellness benefits company with more than 125,000 clients

9. Stop adding value

“It is seductively soothing to be doing tasks that add value. ‘Am I adding value?’ is so easy to answer because almost everything you do usually adds some value. It is much harder to answer the question ‘Is this the best use of my time?’ To wit, it’s easy to be busy improving the product but it’s a lot harder to look up and realize the product is good enough already and I should be focused on finding the right distribution partner.”

–Kon Leong, cofounder and CEO of ZL Technologies, an information management provider with clients spanning the Fortune 500, including half of the top 10 financial services companies

10. Read a chapter or a section out of a book, or an article

“Studies show the more you read, the greater your chance for success. When you have an insatiable desire to learn you grow personally and professional at a faster rate. You could take one thing from the chapter or the article and implement it, and that one thing could make a huge impact in your future.”

–Nicole Middendorf, author, wealth advisor and founder and CEO of Prosperwell Financial, a financial services company with over $160 million in assets

11. Start your day with clear focus and gratitude

“It’s too easy to jump into the day’s activities and lose sight of the big picture. Spend time each morning doing something that will help you grow as a person and as a leader. I start my day by reading the Bible and in meditation. Then, I listen to something positive, uplifting, and motivating while exercising and getting ready for the day. Each morning I post my top three annual goals to the top of my calendar, where I will see them daily. I also share with my team three things that I feel blessed for each day.”

–Robin Kocina, a Minnesota Women Business Owners Hall of Fame honoree and president/CFO of Media Relations Agency, a performance-based marketing agency

12. Make a to-do list

“This act of writing down what needs to get done helps me feel less anxious because the tasks seem less on paper than in my head. The list also allows me to see what is a priority or time-sensitive, and I can order what needs to be done accordingly. And crossing off an item, or deleting it, gives me this sense of satisfaction and accomplishment, even if it is just the task of dropping off a package at the post office.”

–Tracey Welson-Rossman, co-founder and CMO of custom software development firm Chariot Solutions and founder of TechGirlz, a nonprofit inspiring tens of thousands of middle-school girls to pursue technology careers

13. Take time every Sunday to write out the full list of what you want to accomplish for the week

“I consider how [these tasks] align with my bigger goals for month or quarter and once I’ve got a solid list, I draw a line on what must [be] accomplish[ed]. I try to keep that to just three things, and everything below the line can be pushed. Then I review my calendar to make sure my schedule has time carved out for me to be successful. The 30 minutes this takes on a Sunday helps me manage my time and hit the ground running on Monday.”

–Dave Evans, cofounder and CEO of virtual manufacturing platform Fictiv, which has raised $25 million in funding

14. Practice being humble

“I believe that cultivating humility is crucial to success for any professional as they advance their careers and assume greater leadership in their organizations. It is equally important for growth and development in our personal lives. I try to cultivate humility every day by being present and aware–whether I’m stuck in traffic, changing my son’s diaper, or apologizing for a mistake I’ve made. Embracing these humbling moments gives me motivation to keep learning, listening and improving as a husband, father, son, brother, friend, colleague, leader and human being.”

–Raul Vazquez, CEO of Oportun, named one of Time magazine’s 2018 “50 Genius Companies Inventing the Future” for its work providing over 2 million small dollar loans which have saved its customers more than $1.3 billion

15. Seek out tough feedback

“I make a point to connect over coffee daily (or weekly) with people on my team who aren’t my direct reports.  I always ask them to tell me something they don’t think I want to hear, whether it’s a challenge they’re facing, or something about the business that they’re concerned about. Not only does this give me an opportunity to see inside parts of the organization that I might not see every day, and a unique perspective and understanding of the complexity of their day-to-day, but also gives me a new way to think about where my help and leadership can make the most impact. It has repeatedly broken down barriers and opened up the lines of communications across our organization.”

–Jennifer Tescher, president and CEO of the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI), a nonprofit that brings together hundreds of financial institutions, employers, innovators and policy makers

16. Write out your to-do list early in the morning

“I watch the sunrise, have a cup of coffee, and write out the list of all meetings and tasks for the day. I do this every day with paper and pens and sometimes in different colors.”

–Dede Gotthelf, owner of the Southampton Inn which has received several Best of the Best awards from Hamptons publication Dan’s Papers

17. Keep a detailed calendar while looking back at this time last year

“I maintain a detailed calendar each day of the week and keep copies of my schedule for at least a year. Each week, I review the prior year’s calendar to see what projects I was working on and whom I was meeting with around the same time the year before. This process gives me a 360-degree perspective on how I progressed on those projects, what projects I need to complete or restart and reminds me to reconnect with specific people. Looking back at what I was doing the year before helps me stay on top of important projects and professional relationships.”

–William T. Sullivan, executive director of the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation (SWCRF) which has increased philanthropic revenue by 30 percent since 2017

52 Critical Questions To Ask Yourself To Ensure That You’re Living A Mindful & Meaningful Life

PsychCentral Article Here

Questions To Ask Yourself For Every Week Of The Year:

  1. What is standing between you and your biggest goal?
  2. What do you get distracted by that keeps you from effectively engaging and connecting with others?
  3. What or who could you pay more attention to in life?
  4. What thoughts or ideas do you attach to (your rules, script about people and things) that keep you from growing and making further progress?
  5. How often do you make excuses about things? About what in particular?
  6. Where do you want to be in five years from now? What may get in the way? What are you willing to do about it?
  7. What is one change you need to make in your life this year?
  8. What meaningful thing(s) did you learn about yourself this year?
  9. What was the best day of your life? Why? How can you replicate those meaningful moment(s)?
  10. If your life was a movie, what would the title be? What would you want it to be?
  11. What life lessons do you wish you knew 10 years ago? What got you to the place of learning those life lessons?
  12. What is the biggest dream in life? Did you achieve it? Hope to achieve it? What will help get you there?
  13. What is your biggest fear? Why? Are your actions guided by this fear? Does it get in the way of doing what I want to be doing? In what way?
  14. What are some personal characteristics or qualities that you’re not proud or fond of? What helped to create them (e.g., family genetics, family role modeling, experience, etc.)? What are those you need to accept and what are those you could work to change? Are you engaging in this process?
  15. Do you think that you’re enough and are worthy of love and affection? If not, what gets in the way of this?
  16. Do you quickly get defensive and have a hard time facing yourself or confronting your mistakes or imperfections? About what? Why do you think so? What is its impact?
  17. Do you quickly get defended or cut off to avoid uncomfortable/negative thoughts or emotions? Which emotions? Why do you think you do this? What is its impact?
  18. If you had one year to live, what would you try to achieve?
  19. If you have one month left to live, what would you try to achieve?
  20. What would you say about you at your funeral? What would others say about you? What would you want to be said?
  21. What is your ideal self? What does it mean to be your best self?
  22. Look at your life now. Are you living the life of your dreams? What’s getting in the way? What can you do to change it?
  23. What advice would you give to yourself 3 years ago?
  24. Is there anything you are avoiding/running away from? Why?
  25. Are you settling for less than what you are worth? In what arena of your life? Why?
  26. What bad habits do you want to break? What’s keeping you from breaking them? How will you go about working on them?
  27. What good habits do you want to cultivate?
  28. How can you make your life more meaningful, starting today?
  29. What qualities do you want to embody?
  30. Who is/are the most important person(s) to you in the world? Why are they most important?
  31. When was the last time you told yourself that you love and appreciate yourself? Do you feel comfortable doing so? Why?
  32. Do you treat yourself with the love and respect you truly deserve? What gets in the way?
  33. What is one thing you could start doing today to improve the quality of your life?
  34. Are you holding onto something you need to let go of? What?
  35. Is there someone who has hurt, angered, or rejected you that you need and want to forgive?
  36. What parts of your life doesn’t reflect who you are? How can you improve that?
  37. Do you find yourself feeling lonely at times? What’s making you feel this way?
  38. Where are you not being honest with yourself and why?
  39. Are you comfortable with being uncomfortable? How does this impact you?
  40. Do you enjoy your own company? If not, Why?
  41. What do you want to be remembered for?
  42. What are you most thankful for?
  43. When did you last push the boundaries of your comfort zone? Do you avoid doing this? When? Why?
  44. Who has had the greatest impact on your life? Why? In what way?
  45. Who do you want to get closer to? How will you pursue this relationship?
  46. What can you improve about the way you communicate to others? How would you go about doing this?
  47. What emotion do you often tap into and is most familiar to you (e.g., worry, anger, frustration, etc.)? If you were to look more in depth and beneath that feeling, what might you find (e.g., sadness, disappointment, etc.)? Are you willing to go there? Why or why not?
  48. What was the most challenging circumstance that you had to experience, that profoundly impacted and changed your life? In what way did it affect you? What did you learn from it?
  49. What is the one rule that you hope or wished for that everyone lived by in order to live a more meaningful life? What are you doing to change or reconstruct this rule in your life or in society in general?
  50. What regret do you have that you wish you can change? Have you learned from it going forward? What have you learned?
  51. Are there times like you feel like giving up? What leads you to that state? What helps you out of your rut?
  52. What’s your strengths and best qualities? What contributed to the formation of it? How could you continue fostering them?

How to Live an Extraordinary Life, Starting Right Where You Are

Tiny Buddha Article Here
By Leslie Ralph

“Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.” ~Rumi

“Isn’t this a miracle?” I asked myself in the milk aisle at Whole Foods.

It was a Wednesday night after work, and I was buying a few staples to get us through the week. It was a completely ordinary moment in a completely ordinary day, and it was miraculous.

Rewind a few years, same Whole Foods, same shopping list, and you’d find me absentmindedly wandering the aisles, lost in a head full of worries. I couldn’t tell you now what I was worried about then—the house, the kids, money, probably.

My body would be tense, with a hint of tears right behind my eyes.

“Isn’t this supposed to be a miracle?” I might have asked if I had the words to describe that feeling.

For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be one of those interesting people who did interesting things like paint murals or write books. I wanted to see every continent and learn as many languages as my brain could hold. I wanted to feel excited by my life.

As a child, I had no doubt that this is what growing up would be like.

But, for just as long as I can remember, I also lived under the assumption that I had something to prove. My intelligence, my worth, my place in this world.

Somehow, these two ideas became intertwined.

That part of me that felt so certain that her life would be extraordinary started to have doubts.

Could I really pull it off?

Had I really earned it?

Was I being completely delusional?

Over time, that vision of an extraordinary life felt like a silly childhood dream, and I stopped myself from following it. I worked hard and earned a good reputation, but that excitement, that fulfillment was always just out of my reach.

I would let it go saying, it’ll come later, but as I checked off the boxes of life’s to-do list—degree, job, marriage, kids—I wasn’t feeling anything like I thought I would.

The feeling that something was off fueled a restlessness that I mistook for motivation. I poured myself into school and then work, but not necessarily out of excitement. I think a part of me still believed that if you weren’t happy, you just weren’t working hard enough at it.

What confused me about it all was that my life was good. I had a beautiful, growing family, a stable job, and a safe, comfortable house. I mean, I was buying organic milk to pour on my cereal. That’s a privilege.

So, if nothing was “wrong,” why didn’t it feel right?

I’d scold myself for not being more grateful, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I didn’t feel the way I wanted.

Then, one ordinary day, while squeezing in another email during my lunch hour, a little thought snapped me out of it.

“You’re missing the point, Leslie.”

Time stopped just long enough for me to notice my racing heart.

Maybe you’ve had these epiphanies, where you’re amazed by your own wisdom and you feel so incredibly clear and awake. Maybe it was during a life-changing event, or maybe, like me, it was during an everyday moment, like buying toothpaste or feeding the cats.

The immediate effect wasn’t anything extreme. There was no out of body experience, no inexplicable knowledge of the universe. Just an ordinary little thought that led to another ordinary little thought.

What if living an extraordinary life isn’t about the details?

Every now and then, I’d pull out a list I made that day and add a thought or two to it.

The point is…

Overflowing.

Seeing more magic.

Doing what you love.

Being happy.

Being present.

Feeling bright, brave, and brilliant.

Waking up and appreciating the mountains.

My children knowing how much they are loved.

Gratefully receiving everything I have.

Letting myself unfold.

Alignment, not approval.

Trusting the wisdom of my own heart.

A hundred percent up to me.

And in a gradual, ordinary kind of way, I figured it out. That feeling I wanted wasn’t an outcome. It wasn’t something that would happen “when.” It wasn’t in the details at all. It’s your feelings, moment to moment, that make your life extraordinary.

There is no committee keeping score and waiting to grant permission to begin. There’s just us, the people we care about, our corner of the world, and those little moments. And we have a choice in what we do with them.

That feeling that something was wrong wasn’t about my reputation or my checklist. It was about my awareness of the miracles right in front of me and my willingness to take conscious, meaningful steps that felt extraordinary to take.

Since that day, my life has changed dramatically.

We live in the same house, we shop at the same store, I have the same job, but now, I’m also one of those people who is curious about everything. Who loses themselves in creative projects just because. Who creates art, writes poetry, and self-publishes books. I’ve become one of those people who sees even the most ordinary moment at Whole Foods on a Wednesday afternoon as extraordinary.

How did I do it? I simply let myself begin right where I was.

You may have a completely different version of extraordinary, and that’s what’s so perfect. How to live an extraordinary life entirely up to you—it’s your life, after all. The action itself isn’t as important as the intent behind it.

As long as your intent is to make something in your world just a little better, to learn something just a little deeper, to try something you’re just a little curious about, it’s foolproof. You could institute pizza Saturdays or travel the world, saving endangered species. Both are extraordinary.

If you’re not sure where to begin, here are a few things to try. They changed the world for me.

1. Be tenacious in your appreciation and optimism.

First, slow down and look around. Then, appreciate anything and everything you possibly can. Thank the sun, thank the water, thank the air you breathe. Look out for the funny thing that happened on your way to work, beautiful sunsets, and acts of human kindness. Even when everyone around you wants to complain about the boss, be the one who notices that it’s such a nice day.

When I talked about my day, I used to begin with something that went wrong. Then, I gave myself one tiny challenge: lead with gratitude. I made a point of starting conversations with something positive as often as I could, which meant I had to start looking for those positive things and remembering to bring them up. I discovered so much beauty around me with this one simple switch.

2. Define your extraordinary.

What do you want to see in this lifetime? What do you want to learn? How do you want to feel while you’re living your life?

I’d thought about these things before, of course, but they would quickly get taken over by something more serious. I didn’t want to waste time. My attitude changed when I decided that feeling curious, engaged, and alive was more important than being productive.

I began setting intentions for the week. I’d write down an idea that excited me, a feeling I wanted to nurture, and something I wanted to learn or create. Then, I gave myself small, meaningful challenges that fit with those intentions. Carrying a composition book with me quickly led to filling that composition book, and then another and another.

3. Make friends with your body.

Your body was made for living, so live in it. Use it in a life-affirming way. Don’t just feed it, nourish it. Let it move, let it sweat, let it pump its blood, laugh, cry, and feel. Stretch into it and savor its senses. Rest it when it’s tired, heal it when it’s hurting, love it even when you want to change it, and thank it. And when it has something to tell you, lean in and really listen.

I used to treat my body like it had no purpose. I didn’t nourish it, I overworked its muscles, and I constantly tried to remodel it.

It wasn’t until I started paying attention to how I feel now that I asked myself, is this how you would treat a child or an animal in your care?

My answer was an emphatic, NO.

4. Lose yourself in curiosity and creativity.

Follow the fun and let yourself overflow. Take on a ridiculous project just because it lights you up, even if it’s silly, you’re “too old,” or it’s “wasting time.” Let it be messy. Let it change directions. And let it fail spectacularly. The outcome isn’t as important as the process of it.

I practice this by painting with my children. They are experts at following curiosity and creativity. While I’m painstakingly sketching a dog or a flower, they’re creating imaginary animals in underwater kingdoms and then covering the entire thing in handprints when the inspiration strikes.

Every time, I shake my head with a smile—this is supposed to be fun, remember?

5. Be of service in a way that’s meaningful to you.

Share something. Create something. Teach something. Go where you are masterful and add value to the world in any way that’s accessible to you. Feed the hummingbirds, pick up litter, volunteer in your community. Big or small, it doesn’t matter; it’s the meaning behind it that makes all the difference.

I started by cultivating the kind of presence I wanted to have in my own life. I wanted to feel present at home, for one, so I reduced the expectations I put on myself. The house may be messier, but our weekend adventures at the park are nothing short of extraordinary.

If you’ve ever wanted to feel differently in your life, take one little, ordinary step. And then another. Let your feelings guide you. Your extraordinary life is waiting for you on the other side.

TedTalks For A Growth Mindset

“We all want to use our talents to create something meaningful with our lives. But how to get started? (And … what if you’re shy?) Writer Kare Anderson shares her own story of chronic shyness, and how she opened up her world by helping other people use their own talents and passions.”
“Is there something you’ve always meant to do, wanted to do, but just … haven’t? Matt Cutts suggests: Try it for 30 days. This short, lighthearted talk offers a neat way to think about setting and achieving goals.”
“Our leaders and institutions are failing us, but it’s not always because they’re bad or unethical, says venture capitalist John Doerr — often, it’s simply because they’re leading us toward the wrong objectives. In this practical talk, Doerr shows us how we can get back on track with “Objectives and Key Results,” or OKRs — a goal-setting system that’s been employed by the likes of Google, Intel and Bono to set and execute on audacious goals. Learn more about how setting the right goals can mean the difference between success and failure — and how we can use OKRs to hold our leaders and ourselves accountable.”
“In his typically candid style, Richard St. John reminds us that success is not a one-way street, but a constant journey. He uses the story of his business’ rise and fall to illustrate a valuable lesson — when we stop trying, we fail.”