Photo Credit: CGInternational
Habits. Daily routine. These are things we wrestle with. Fortunately the more we wrestle and stay on them, the more successful we are, and (hurrah!), the more our lives are positively affected. Ben Slater has posted a very doable routine in his piece 5 Simple Daily Habits That Lead to Ultimate Success. They are:
- Wake up early. Slater is not talking waking up early enough to just get to work on time. He’s talking 5ish. To wake up that early requires going to bed early…not just napping on the couch (guilty), but habitually, getting to bed early to get up early. This is determined by how much sleep you need…whether you’re a morning person or night person, that amount of time is pretty much set. “Sleeping in” – that weekend luxury – can derive negative gains. Is it worth it? Just asking the question he raises.
Photo Credit: The Female Network - Exercise regularly. OK, so nothing new, right? This is not about staying in shape, physique-wise. That could be a benefit of exercise, but the goal is to sweat! We know the great benefits to regular exercise, many of which are mental. Feeling happier is one. It’s making exercise a habit that’s key here – for all its physical, mental, emotional, and even vocational benefits.
Photo Credit: Beamery - Focus, don’t multitask. I have actually prided myself for years on the ability to multitask. No more. It’s possible it wreaked havoc on my memory and probably on the quality of my work and relationships. Slater talks about the importance of a daily routine of planning, execution, review and starting a plan for the next day. “Work out the 3-5 things that you need to accomplish over the course of the day and focus on them first.” Focus is key. I’m learning.
Photo Credit: Massolutions
- Learn from mistakes. When our day doesn’t go quite how we hoped, we too often default to blaming (too many meetings, interruptions, demanding bosses, time-wasters and trust-busters). We make mistakes in our decision-making and assessments; what’s important is that we deal with them humbly and proactively. Refuse to blame others. Learn from the mistake and move on. Sidebar: If it’s someone else’s mistake or poor judgment or questionable character, then learn from their mistakes as well. Don’t get muddled up, fuming about another, when your own life is at stake. You have it in you to control that.
Photo Credit: UltrapreneurSayings - Make personal investments. What habits have you put in place to continue to grow and develop? Habits, not just hopes or goals set somewhere in the distant future. Slater observes: “The world’s most successful people are always prepared to invest time and resources in their own personal development. If you stripped someone like Bill Gates of his assets and dumped him on the street I’d be willing to bet he’d be ok – he’s constantly invested in himself and built up huge reserves of human capital, major companies would be falling over themselves to offer him a job.” This is where weekly goals come in, and maybe a mentor…someone you trust who will help you stay accountable to your goals. Don’t miss this valuable habit…I definitely need more discipline in this area.
Photo Credit: SalesTrainingSolutions
I’ve written a lot in Monday Morning Moments about habit formation (see links below). There are so many great resources online about this important professional life skill. Slater’s article on these 5 simple daily habits reminded me again of how possible it is to know success/effectiveness if we do the work of putting these habits into our daily routine. I’m on it…once again. [Like with New Year’s Resolutions, we may not be successful over the long-haul with every one, but we move closer to goal every time we push in that direction.]
What are habits you have seen make a difference in your personal and professional day-to-day life? What habits would you like to make part of your daily routine? Please share in Comments.
15 Critical Habits of Mentally Strong People – Travis Bradberry
Habits of Successful People Who Always Reach Their Goals – SlideShare
Creating a Lasting Early Morning Routine – The Two Most Overlooked Aspects – Joel Gascoigne
Defend Your Research: The Early Bird really Does Get the Worm – Christoph Randler
Focus on Multi-Finishing Instead of MultiTasking – Dave Mastovich
Monday Morning Moment – Notes on Chris Bailey’s Life of Productivity – DebMillsWriter
Monday Morning Moment – Screen Time – Give It a Rest – DebMillsWriter
The only thing I can not relate to is getting up in the dark… my mind is a blur… daylight starts my biological clock up and only then are my thoughts coherent .. I always get 10 hrs of sleep a night straight thru… so I think it is a circadian rhythm thing.
Thanks for commenting, Linda. You can sleep 10 hours straight through the night?! Once it’s light, when you wake, you must be a powerhouse! Dave struggles with Daylight Savings Time. Hard to get to bed early enough in the summer to get up as early as he’d like in the morning. I am definitely a morning person and could never work nights. When I was a child, my dad, for a season, was a milkman (remember them?). In the summer, sometimes I would ride with him while he made his deliveries. As long as I had some sleep, it was exhilarating to me to get up in the dark and go to work with him LONG before most of the world was awake (or it seemed). Anyway…getting up before dawn is still special for me, unless I went to bed too late. 9:30pm may be a new bedtime normal for me…if I’m to wake early.