We want more success in love, career and money. We want a path which we can follow that will lead to the ultimate success. That’s when it makes sense to develop the habits of highly effective people.
The truth is everyone has their own vision and the success road is different for each of us. Yes, there are some guidelines and systems we can follow. Ultimately, we need to tweak it little according to us and then apply it.
Will it guarantee the greater good?
NO…
It will lay the path for you, something which has been proven by many highly effective people. Today we will dissect the habits of successful people. Learn from it and do something awesome.
As with any information out there, it all sounds good and you will nod your head in agreement. But if you are not willing to give it the honest attitude to take action, then everything will be in vain.
Take the leap of faith and take action.
Habits of Highly Effective People
1. Rise early.
In the morning our mind doesn’t have hundreds of things going on. It is calm, focused and most creative. You can do more work from the early morning till breakfast than you can do afterwards.
Pat Flynn – an entrepreneur who has seen immense success in his online venture – admits he uses productivity tools. That includes an app which wakes him up early in the morning.
This had led him to complete more tasks and made him free to interact with his family. Who doesn’t want a little more time with their family?
Waking up early creates a tremendous mind shift and is one of the habits of highly effective people.
If you have been a night owl, it’s high time you try getting up early and doing your most important work immediately after that. It’s so effective that once you try it, it is hard to get back to being a night owl.
Being able to do more in less time with quality is the best thing that can happen to a person. No wonder it accelerates our journey towards success.
What about you? Are you the one who keeps your smartphone besides your bed and avoids sleeping because of notifications?
Crush this bad habit and start a better one towards greater success.
Read also: 25 Morning Routines of Successful People You Can Steal and Use for Inspiration
2. Exercising daily.
No doubt exercise is the key to a strong body. Combined with dieting, exercise uplifts you and makes you powerful in the course of time.
Highly effective people are busy with new ventures, public speaking engagements and brainstorming with team members. In addition, they have a family to look after.
It seems all natural and likely that most of the people would skip exercise. After all, there is only 24 hours in a day, right?
No.
Contrary to our belief, entrepreneurs make sure that they indulge in regular exercise. When your body and mind are fit, you can accomplish many things.
Highly successful people don’t see exercise as a time-waster like normal people do. They see it as something that provides a competitive edge, helps with work-life balance.
If you are not doing your daily exercise, it is time you start. You don’t have to do 100 reps of squats. Start with something small and stick with it. Forming a habit is very important. Everything else falls into place.
Something like:
- 5 Push ups
- 10 Sit ups
- 5 crunches
Over time, as you become comfortable doing these, you can go for higher reps. There are some side-effects like people noticing and complimenting you. I hope you are okay with that.
Related: 8 Benefits of Fitness Other Than Shaping Your Body
3. Outsourcing work.
We feel we are invincible and capable of doing things like Superman. When we start something, we feel the work is our baby and we won’t let anyone else touch it.
Soon after we realize we won’t be able to complete our task and the end result isn’t something we are proud of. Also, we get more tired in the process.
It should be worth it, right?
No.
And successful people know that they are not the best in every field. They are leaders and it’s in their best interest to share/outsource the work, if necessary.
This way you free some time to do work in which you have the skills and vision. Everything else can be handled by others. Sharing responsibilities will accelerate your success.
Outsourcing parts of your business makes it more powerful and is another one of the habits of highly effective people.
When things start to fall off and you find yourself juggling between many things to do, it’s a sign for you to begin outsourcing.
Some tasks to consider outsourcing:
- Maintaining records of clients.
- Managing emails – hire a virtual assistant.
- Complaint/feedback department.
You can either fail miserably trying to do everything, or be smart and succeed while doing the best you can do. What’s it going to be?
4. Avoiding team meetings.
This might come as a surprise to many of you. A team meeting is something you thought is an essential core-building exercise, right?
That’s not the case anymore. We live in the era where people want to work smarter not harder.
Team meetings that happen daily, are 1-hour long and with a specific purpose, go nowhere. Go back to last week and see how many meetings you attended.
Consider this, if you were absent for the meeting, would something impactful happen? Chances are, it won’t.
Most of the meetings happen to share the information or display revenue or work performance. Many of the employees don’t even pay attention. It doesn’t bother them.
An executive speaks and feels happy about it. Most of the times, the information shared in the room could have been shared via email and it wouldn’t matter to 80% of the attendees.
If you think meetings are necessary and a must-have for your growth, then Seth Godin has excellent advice on how to do it effectively. Go through it and cut down the unnecessary, time-wasting, everyday 1 hour long meetings.
5. Planning 2 weeks in advance.
Planning is the key to success. It builds a habit of doing things in a predetermined manner. It helps accelerate the process, instead of thinking what to do next.
Start by planning 2 days before what you would do over the weekend. And then stick with it, doesn’t matter what happens, you stick to the plan and execute it. By doing this you will develop a sense of planning and executing it 100 percent.
Do this with every venture, be it an event, meeting or your finance. Planning is the key, do it and if you think you can do better, then make some changes.
If you think you will fail, let it be. Let this failure guide you, help you learn and grow and make future plans more rigid and solid.
Rely on trial and error, then repeat – this is the success mantra which will take you to heights you never imagined, success you never experienced and goals which you only dreamed of.
Related: How to Create a Personal Development Plan
6. Networking with people.
If there is one thing which will skyrocket your business, career or relationship, it’s networking.
It doesn’t mean just talking to or stalking people. It means providing value to influential and highly successful people and then asking for advice. Once they start with little help, showcase what you can do and where you are stuck, they will guide you.
Sometimes their advice as a mentor is much more valuable than your current salary. It can impact your business and turn it around, it can take your relationship to another level.
You may have the best skills and know the most important principles of the game, but it won’t matter if you are stuck with a less influential person negotiating the salary.
How to network with people?
The basic idea is to talk politely and provide value along the way to any person you come across, as you never know who might help you.
The advanced version, if you want to improve networking skills over time, is to find influential people in your industry and their contact preferences. Add value by doing analysis or using their products and sharing the success. Ultimately, down the road, ask them for casual advice.
If you do everything well, you will get yourself a mentor in the long-term. This goes a long way in life. A great mentor can help you turn your whole life around. Get one now.
7. Avoiding decision fatigue.
When we spend our time making decisions that can be automated, we get “decision fatigue”.
James Clear explains how we can use systems and shift our routine to avoid decision fatigue or to combat it. You can devote your day time to the most important things and carry on with your other tasks.
If you end up making decisions too often and get overwhelmed, stop. Take some sleep, eat something and then…only then make the decision which matters the most – in your life, career or otherwise.
Everyone experiences decision fatigue. How you plan your day and tackle it makes all the difference and helps successful people become who they are today.
You will get more work done this way and get better at decision making, which has a huge impact on every other area of your life. Even if you think you always make bad decision, this little habit can change this.
These habits are what made great people who they are, those who left a mark in the world and are crushing success.
Take these practices and incorporate them in your life. Each will help you achieve more and be more.
What will you start with today to develop the habits of highly effective people?
About The Author
This is a guest post by Rohan Bhardwaj, a Physics graduate. He loves to observe, learn and teach. Check out his blog.
