Success is an elusive concept: numerous paths may lead to it, yet there is no single formula for achieving it. However, adopting the right habits and mindset may help to improve results and lay the foundation for a successful career and life.
Fortunately, some of the world’s wealthiest and most influential people have shared the habits that they believe have contributed to their success. Here are five of their habits that anyone can easily incorporate into their own lives:
- Read daily.
What do billionaires Warren Buffett, Mark Cuban, and Elon Musk have in common? They have all credited reading for hours each day as a habit that has accelerated their success. High achievers never stop learning, and reading offers a key to unlimited knowledge. According to Tom Corley, an accountant and financial planner who surveyed 233 wealthy people to learn more about their habits, a staggering 88 percent said that they read for 30 minutes or more each day. The individuals in Corley’s study tended to approach reading as a means of education and self-improvement rather than entertainment, preferring biographies, self-help, and history books.
- Make time to nurture your physical and mental well-being.
It is a common misconception that highly successful people exhaust themselves and devote all of their time to the pursuit of their dreams. On the contrary, Corley’s study found that 76 percent of wealthy people devote 30 minutes or more each day to aerobic exercise, like running or bicycling, and 89 percent reported that they sleep at least seven hours per night. These individuals recognize that proper sleep and regular exercise have numerous benefits that lead to better results, such as improved cognitive function and creativity.
In addition to taking these important steps for their physical health, successful people make time to care for their mental well-being. For example, extremely wealthy people like Oprah Winfrey and Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, have claimed that they meditate every day. Others engage in reflective activities like journaling as a way to clear their minds, work through stressful situations, and discover solutions.
- Develop multiple sources of income.
According to Corley, 65 percent of people studied had created at least three streams of income earlier in their careers—for many, before they earned their first million dollars. In addition to boosting net worth, multiple income sources help provide stability during economic downturns. With numerous opportunities available to suit different needs, goals, and levels of involvement, owning a franchise offers an excellent way to add another source of income.
- Plan out your day the night before.
Successful people do not allow the endless distractions of daily life to deter them from achieving their goals. In order to maintain intense focus on a day-to-day basis, many successful people swear by taking a few minutes each night to plan out what they would like to accomplish—and the tasks they must complete in order to do so—the next day. While some distractions are inevitable, having a clear plan in mind as your day begins will help you stay motivated.
- Learn to say “no.”
As an aspiring entrepreneur or new business owner pursuing rapid growth, it can be tempting to accept every opportunity presented to you. However, successful people understand that their time and resources are limited. Therefore, they are comfortable turning down opportunities that will not move them significantly closer to their goals in order to save time for more valuable undertakings.
Sometimes, it is also important to say “no” to yourself. Many ambitious people risk becoming overwhelmed by the constant whirlwind of their own ideas and new dreams to pursue. However, devoting energy to secondary goals may detract from accomplishing the goals that are most important to you. Warren Buffett captured the need to say “no” to yourself when he famously advised his private pilot to write down his top 25 life goals, circle the five that were most important, and ignore the others completely until he had achieved those five critical goals.
For many entrepreneurs, franchising offers a path to success. In addition to serving as an excellent way to develop an additional stream of income, owning a franchise provides entrepreneurs the ability to “be their own boss” while benefitting from an established brand and proven business model. If boosting success in your career and personal life is one of your goals, contact Franchise Logic today at 303.805.5078 to schedule a free consultation and begin learning about the franchise opportunities available to you!
(Sources: https://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/29/7-habits-of-highly-successful-people-from-a-man-who-spent-5-years-studying-them.html, http://www.businessinsider.com/habits-of-highly-successful-people-2016-12, https://www.success.com/blog/5-daily-habits-of-highly-successful-people).