Successful people tend to follow a life that makes it easier to succeed. This can mean many, many things, all of which are easy to accomplish by anyone, even you. So, we put together a list of things we do and see others around us do to stay on the move!
1. Love what you do. Smile
While this may seem simple, we make every day the way we want it to be. If we wake up with a negative attitude and hating our lives, likely our days will not go in a positive way. Find something that you love and go after it. If you are in a career that is not your favorite, find what you love about it and embrace it and focus on leveraging the current opportunity for a future one. Smile and laugh every day. The late Jimmy Valvano says, “To me there are three things everyone should do every day. Number one is laugh. Number two is think — spend some time time in thought. Number three, you should have your emotions move you to tears. If you laugh, think and cry, that’s a heck of a day.”
2. Wake up early
While everyone else in the world is sleeping, wake up and get a head start. It’s that simple, the more time you have to accomplish something the better. Wake up, even if its 30 minutes earlier than normal.
3. Relax every day. Go to sleep
The one thing many folks don’t talk about it rest. We drink coffee or Red Bull to give us wings, are we actually productive enough when we are on sugar highs? The doctor ordered eight hours a night. While I am not a doctor, I definitely recommend finding the right number for you and making it a priority to hit every night. Rumor has it singer Mariah Carey sleeps 14 hours before performances.
4. Don’t make a huge to-do list
A lot of people I run into have a to-do list longer than a manual for a german sports car. It’s way to hard to accomplish all of that work. Instead, create a small list of priorities and turn them into wins. I wrote about this in detail here.
5. Be a human. Stop and thank people.
Work hard, play hard. At the end of the day, you are working for something. Financial peace, more time with loved ones or friends. Maybe it’s something else. Instead of waiting for the when I achieve X, I will do Y. Start doing the Y now. I’m not saying go buy a huge house or live outside of your means. What I am saying is be human. Work hard, play hard. Spend time with others. Work out, get out of your house. Just do something other than work.
Also, never forget the people who have helped you get to where you are. Stop and say Thank You. If you are reading this and have helped me, Hatch or something in my life. Thank You!
6. Surround yourself with people who will help you grow
There is no better place to surround yourself than other people that you admire, respect and are successful. It is likely by surrounding yourself around others who have been successful that it will rub off onto you and make your hungrier. The tips and tricks you can learn from others is a tool that many use. Why learn from scratch when you don’t have to?
7. Criticism and critiques are okay. Hate and negativity are not. Remove the cancer.
In business, not everyone will love what you are doing. You may have fans, you may also have haters. All too often it seems that the haters comment a lot more than the fans. When I first started Hatch, many folks told me to keep enemies close. I never understood that, why would I want someone who is negatively affecting my business to be around me, my customers or my business. I say remove the cancer. Remove the hate. It is great to get feedback on how to improve a process or business in general it is another thing to berate someone just to hate. Again, remove the cancer. Surround yourself around positive influences.
8. Do what you said you are going to do. Every time
This one is quite simple. Over deliver every time. Don’t say you are going to do something and then not. If you say you are going to email someone tonight, email them tonight. Do not let someone lose trust in you because you did not do what you said you would.
9. Use tools.
The cook needs tools to cook and whatever your craft is, you need tools too. Find the best tools to make your job easier. Outsourcing is a tool. If you aren’t good at something, have someone who is help you. You aren’t an accountant, so don’t do your bookeeping, employee taxes and financial reports. Hire someone.
10. When you don’t know. Ask.
Google made the assumption that people wanted to learn and guess what? They do! If you don’t know something, ask someone. Use sites to help you like Reddit and Quora. You can also leverage your social Klout and ask your followers.
11. Spend money.
If you want to make money you have to spend money. For the tools that you need, for growth, exposure and many more. Don’t sit on a growth opportunity, spend some money. Scared Money doesn’t Make Money! Think of them as investments into your future, you spend X now that will help you achieve Y in the long run.
Did we miss anything? We’d love to know what you do to be more successful. Comment below on what helps you or send us an email.
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