On your way to success - 5 Habits of Successful People

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By now you must have started formulating the reply to this question. This is one of the most wonderful questions I have been asked… What is success? Is it money? But then the big mafias and the dons have all the money but would you call them successful? Then is it fame? If only fame was the measurement of success, Ms Internet Sensation (The Big Mouth – Oh Jesus) would perhaps be really successful. And that brings me back to the question at hand, what is success?

The fact is each one of us has different definitions of success. For one of my trainees in an English speaking class, Success is when my signature turns to an autograph. It is a nice thought. Success is when someone looks up to you. Success is when you walk into the room and people are happy to have you there. Success is when your son draws you as his idol. Success is when your daughter gives her first elocution speech and gets an applaud and yet her eyes seek yours amidst the crowd. Success is when you hand over your first paycheck to your mother. All of this is success in its own tiny little but immensely significant way.

Socially success is when you are heard across your social group. It is when what you say and do matters to the people you live with. It means that you are able to influence someone for the betterment of the world around you. Success is when you are able to make the world a little better place to live in! And I have been lucky to have come across some wonderful influencers around me. They have contributed to my success in many ways. Sometimes it was a cousin – because of whom I started writing out of jealousy… She is a successful writer because unknown to her she inspired me. And another time it was my Manager who pushed me to my limits to prove my worth before he gave me a promotion. In whichever phase of my life or in whatever face, I have been blessed with successful people who paved my path towards personal excellence. 

Having followed many whom I consider successful and having observed them closely, there are 5 habits that are common among them…

Sleep well and wake up early

As trivial as it sounds, this is one of the most effective habits that help you towards success. It has been proven that the people who get a sound sleep of at least 6 to 8 hours are more productive than people who sleep less. When you sleep in a calm and composed state you are giving your mind a chance to relax. And 6 to 8 hours of rest gives your mind and the internal organs enough time to set their affairs straight. This ensures a more energized and active system. This helps in staying fresh for longer time.

After a sound night sleep, it is a good idea to wake up early. When you wake up at maybe 6.00 am to 7.00am you have enough time to yourself before you get into the routine rut of running around. Mornings are generally pleasant with cool atmosphere, fresh air and if you are lucky, chirping of birds around you. Mornings are also packed energy of a fresh mind and well rested body. Hence morning is the best time to organize your thoughts, plan for the day ahead, work on yourself, exercise, catch up on stuff, watch news, give time to your family and pay attention to your space that you call home.

Engage in yourself

The time you give to yourself is perhaps the best investment because the returns are multi-fold. Your mind harbors immense power that keeps you going. And like every power source, it needs maintenance. Sometimes you have to stop and ask yourself “How are you doing today?” Along with your mind, your body also needs attention. It needs fine tuning so that it is prepared to face the tiring tasks for the rest of the day. How do we achieve this?

A comfortable walk, jog if you wish to, some stretches and some squats. Internet is buzzing with 4 minute to 30 minute work outs… there are 21 day walk or plank challenges… not necessarily for weight loss, but in order to pay attention to your own self, find the ones that suit you and try those. These workouts should feel comfortable, not stressful. Remember the episode of the 90s sitcom Friends where Phoebe runs. Run for yourself! Stretch for your muscles and hold the planks for your stamina. Whether you lose weight or make the cuts on your muscles or not, but I promise you that you will feel good. Exercising keeps you fit and also happy (Something to do with the Happy Hormone) It relieves stress and helps you think. What more can one wish for?

“Pen Down” your thoughts and review them

Have you ever done lines to remember something? I had the biggest struggle with “Regularly” “Immediately” and “Environment” and my Mom made me write the spellings at least a hundred times. I used to hate that and often cheated writing the letters one below the other. That another story! The point, in question, is that writing down helps you visualize and remember things better – Research says! 

So  when you say, I remember everything, you are discounting the fact that you are stressing your mind with loads of unnecessary information that it will keep processing and storing. If you transfer your To Do lists, Shopping Lists, goals and targets for the day or even week, people to call, messages to give, orders to place, people to meet, points to talk about and so much more to a paper, you send a signal to your brain that you have stored the information elsewhere. The brain then can prepare to store the more urgent and important things. Hence, your thoughts are downloaded into a book or app or your journal and your mind is not burdened with anything and everything.

Furthermore, you also get an opportunity to revisit these thoughts at your own leisure and review them. It helps you identify and keep the really important ones and forget about the ones that are unnecessary. It helps you to analyze your own thought process and shed light on the seemingly grey areas. More often than not, these “penned” thoughts help you find your own voice. It helps you get acquainted with yourself. It helps you with Your SWOT Analysis. In my case it makes me go “Woah, what was I thinking?” or occasionally “Wow, I didn’t know I was that good.

Develop a Mindset

Success is not an outcome of just hard work and luck. Although both these aspects are key ingredients to the sweet taste of Success, one cannot rely on these alone. You need to have a strong mindset behind every step you take towards your goal. You need to have a resilient approach and even sturdier belief system. Remember not to mistranslate this as arrogance in any way. I am talking about the belief in You... I am professing a thought process that reflects a persistent value system and yet a hospitable behavior. You gain such a mindset by Knowledge and experience. Knowledge that comes from various sources… things that you learn at school, from elders, friends, idols, success stories and failure stories and Experience that comes, more often than not, from your own life… Experience that comes from every mistake you make or every right decision you take. It is the wisdom of what works and what doesn’t. All of this – belief, approach, knowledge, experience or whatever you want to call it – all of it contributes towards your mindset. And your mindset helps you make the choices. It helps you decide the path you take and also alter it if you realize that it does not lead you to your destination. It also helps you rejoice, in the right way, the completion of your journey. It helps you stay focused and be happy as you achieve your pre decided goals.

Read

I know it sounds old school. But most successful people are well read. I am not saying read the newspaper end to end including the advertisements. However, read more than comic strips and astrology. Pick up a magazine or a book and give it a try. There is always a great deal of stories to share and topics to talk about that you may find. And who doesn’t like to talk to someone who has something to share! 

One of the best ways to become a good communicator is to have some stories to share – not gossips, but stories that hold some information or knowledge. Read because books can take you to the world which you cannot reach. They will fetch you news from other eras and countries and people from far far away. They may also get you acquainted to the real heroes through their life stories. They will bestow upon you the gift of Language – application of grammar, vocabulary and so much more. 

Sometimes books will help you connect to yourself and also express to others what you feel. It is a rich treasure. I agree that not everyone can be a reader… but most of us can be listeners… in today’s day and age, there are so many free resources… audio books, youtube videos about the books, speeches, synopsis and so much more… when the written word is so widely available why not tame it by a simple habit?

I know it is easier said than done. But even if we try to implement one or more of these habits, we stand a chance to be a better version of ourselves every day. After all what is success if not this?

Lessons Learnt : 

Success it that happiness you get when you achieve what you have decided for yourself. It depends on no one… It is yours forever. So don’t stop when you feel exhausted, stop when you know you have done it. Because your success is like an iceberg. What people see is only the tip, what is beneath is a whole inverse mountain od persistence, failure, sacrifice, disappointment, good habits, hard work, dedication and so much more.