I’ve received some great guest posts lately. Here is one from Janet Miller, a personal trainer, executive coach and co-founder of Jen Reviews. Check it out…
Everyone knows that habits can literally make or break a person. Bad habits can take root and wind up creating a great deal of despair and regret in lost time and opportunities. Good habits, on the other hand, can play a role in success and an overall feeling of well-being.
Successful people have one very important thing in common, something that you too can harness and use in your own life. Successful people have good habits. We have done the research for you and found out what ten of those most successful habits are.
- Listen More, Speak Less: More often than not, the best conversationalists listen far more than they speak. In doing so, they are better able to respond by being aware of exactly what the speaker is thinking and feeling. This is a habit put in place for success through dynamic communication, which is a key element in success.
- Start The Day Off Right: While not everyone’s morning routine is the same, there are some things you might want to consider as a good starting place for your very own day. Steve Jobs is quoted as saying, “For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today’? And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.” Other successful people might choose to exercise or start with a good, filling breakfast. Whatever you decide to make your first order of business, stick to it and do it well. Make it a motto.
- Live Healthy: One thing that successful people understand is how important their health is in relation to their success. They know that if they don’t make the right choices in eating right and exercising to maintain health, that it will cause issues that will most assuredly put a stop, at least momentarily, to their success. They find a way, regardless of their busy, hectic schedules, to eat superfoods and snacks and work such that they get in some form of exercise. Along with diet and exercise, they also know that rest is just as important, and strive for an adequate amount each night. If you want to know more about superfoods and the benefits it can have on your body then visit Patriot Greens.
- Surround Yourself With Smart People: Putting this habit into place is one that is bound to pay off in your own life. When you surround yourself with smart people, instead of trying to be the one everyone else views as that person, you are opening up many doors in your life that might otherwise remain shut. It can open your eyes to new ideas you hadn’t other wise thought of, teach you that going with the flow may not always be the best decision, and can boost your own critical thinking skills. When you are limited to your own personal ideas and capabilities, you may never know the true potential that can arise from having smart people around you.
- Practice Self Control: In order to reach a good level of success in life these days, a person has to excel in a particular niche. In order to reach a level of command of that niche, there has to be a good amount of time devoted to studying and/or practicing that particular skill. This is where self-control comes into play. Sometimes, you have to be willing to forgo that instant gratification or pleasure in order to excel and succeed in something that will later make way for time to do all those things you’ve waited on in the mean time.
- Practice Persistence: Much life self-control, successful people have a level of persistence that isn’t commonplace among most people today. Persistence carries on in the face of rejection, no matter who it is from or how long it goes on. Usually, when a person is told by someone close to them that their ideas aren’t great, they can easily push past that. However, when someone in authority says it, it is harder to get past that. Believing in yourself enough to push through sometimes insurmountable circumstances can lead to levels of success others only ever dream about. It has been proven through history, repeatedly, for some of the most successful people out there.
- Be Open Minded: Being open-minded does not mean that you are willing to be blown about by any wind of change that passes your way. Quite the contrary, and in collaboration with other successful-minded traits – being open minded simply means that you are willing to accept change that may be of benefit to you and your cause. In being open minded, you will find that it is no longer goal number one to be right all the time, you will be less likely be selfish or judgmental, you probably won’t mind if someone disagrees with all your views and you won’t find it as troublesome to socialize with those outside your personal clique.
- Know How To Handle Criticism: Successful people handle criticism a little differently than most and one of the first things to do is to evaluate where the criticism is coming from. That will shed a lot of light on how to handle it. If it’s a subordinate or coworker, the motive is often jealousy in an attempt to highlight their own work, which they may feel is better. Criticism from a client, however, is a different sort all together, and is to be handled on a different scale. In any case, make sure your first reaction is not a defense mechanism and try to problem solve to figure things out.
- Have A Charismatic Personality: Successful people are some of the most charismatic people you will ever meet. Unlike the other traits mentioned here, charisma is the least teachable habit. Some are just born with it and have a knack for knowing when to use it. They have a personality that is easy to connect with, they can empathize incredibly well and they make great listeners.
- Learn From Mistakes: We all make mistakes. Some people, the less successful ones, rarely admit them and more often than not, even attempt to cover them up. When successful people make a mistake, they use it as a learning experience, sometimes to the point that they even look at making more mistakes as more opportunity for learning and advancing. Viewing decisions as experiments is a good way to not set our bar so high that failure will knock us off balance, but rather allow us to learn a better way.
Incorporate these habits into your daily life and you’ll be on the road to the success you want and deserve.
Your career mentor,
Bud
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