Written By Ama Lawson
Success at anything takes time
Success for some could be building a sustainable business. For others, it means finding more time to spend with your loved ones. How about filling your spiritual need or finding a higher calling? (If you are like me, you find all three of these important–in varying degrees.) But here is the thing: No matter what your goals are, there is a key that will help you achieve them: creating habits.
Think about it: If you have ever been successful at anything, you know there is hard work behind the result. For instance, Azumah Nelson may be physically gifted, but he did not become the greatest and renowned boxer in the world without thousands of hours of practice. And that sweet old couple you know, still deeply in love after 50 years of marriage? You can bet there were countless “thank you,” “I’m sorry,” and “I love you” along the way–all backed up with action.
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Create habits: Habits are things you do without even having to think. And the less time we spend wasting our time, energy, and effort thinking about things that are useless to think about, the more time we have to think about and use our energy toward the things that matter. While success can be defined in many different ways, there are some habits that highly successful people share, no matter it is in business, marriage, health, or life in general. Being successful all starts with learning some habits and making them your own
Have Passion: If you want to be successful in life, you must possess a passion for what you do. You cannot expect to be successful if you do not have any passion for what you are doing. Passion comes from within so ask yourself, what are you most passionate about? When you find out what your passions are, make it a habit to try and live out your passions every single day.
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Surround Yourself with People Who Push You: If you want to run better, find a running partner who runs faster than you. If you want to work better, work with people who are high performers. Studies have shown that one of the biggest predictors of success in relationships. If you want to see what you will look like in two years, just look at the people you surround yourself with every day.
Ask the important questions: are they driven? Do they complain? Are they positive? Do they have a great attitude? Do they serve others? Are they honest? Are they high-energy? Surround yourself with people who will push you past your comfort zone and who inspire you to be better.
Do the Important Work First; We have the most energy and can accomplish the most in the morning. Yet many spend their mornings on unnecessary tasks. Successful people do the work that matters when their energy level is at its peak. By the time most have finished their morning routine of answering emails, returning phone calls, and responding to the needs of others, their energy level is too depleted to be effective at much else.
Because our energy levels are at their highest in the morning, that is when we should do the work that will have the greatest impact. Consider rearranging your schedule so that you put out the little fires for the afternoon or evening before and free yourself up to accomplish great things in the morning.
Tame the disrupters: Our brains are attuned to the beeps and buzzes of our cell phones, computers, and email. Some emails, phone calls, text messages, instant messages, and social media are designed to be disruptive. We have to be intentional about taming the disruptors. Schedule times throughout your day when you can tend to those messages. Then, turn them off when you are working on the important things that should not be interrupted.
Be Good at What You Do; whatever you decide you want to accomplish, make sure you dedicate yourself to it 100% and be damn good at whatever it is you set your mind to. Invest your time and energy every single day to develop your mind in what you want to be successful at.
To succeed at anything, remember to first develop a success mindset. Adopting a success mindset is the determining factor that makes the difference between success and failure, regardless of other circumstances.
Ama Lawson
C.E.O. Telchel Group
Email: [email protected]