KCW Hacks
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15 Small Things You Can Do Every Day To Become Highly Successful
- Have you ever wondered what the secret to success is? For most people, it’s not one specific thing. Rather, it’s the result of many daily habits that are repeated over and over. Here are 15 small things you can do every day to ensure that you’re being intentional with your time and spending it on your priorities. Incorporate these tips into your daily routine and watch your success soar!
1. Define your priorities.
What are your main three priorities in your life? What three things do you do with the majority of your time? Do your priorities match up with where you’re spending your time? If so, awesome. If not, you’ll need to work extra hard to be intentional about spending more time on your priorities, and getting rid of the junk that prevents you from doing what’s important to you. Really think about how you want to spend your life – you will likely only feel successful if you spend your time on what matters most to you.
2. Set a schedule for the following day.
Time is our most precious resource, and it’s irreplaceable. If you really want to be successful, you’ll need to plan how you’re spending your time.
One way to do this is to take time each evening to write out a schedule for the next day. Writing out your schedule helps for three main reasons: It helps you maximize every hour you are awake; it helps you set aside time to focus on your priorities every day; and it helps you discover if you waste a lot of time. I recently read that the average American spends 5 hours a day watching TV. Setting a schedule will help you avoid the trap of time-suckers like TV.
3. Eat the frog.
“Eat a live frog first thing every morning, and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” – Mark Twain
If you’re like most people, there is a task every day you procrastinate because it scares or overwhelms you. This task is your frog, and according to Mark Twain, you should eat it right away in the morning.The problem with procrastinating eating your frog is that it’s hard to concentrate on getting other things done; you’re too busy thinking about the frog you need to eat later. Also, putting it off makes it seem even more overwhelming because you have time to imagine every possible thing that could go wrong with the task.
Eating the frog early in the day gives you a sense of accomplishment, and it’s great to start the day feeling successful. Finishing your dreaded task immediately can give you the momentum you need to get other tasks done throughout your day. Plus, they’ll all seem easy compared to the frog you started with.
4. Be honest with the person in the mirror.
Now that we’ve talked about eating the frog, I want to encourage you to be honest with yourself. Just because there’s a frog to eat at the beginning of your day doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to get up way earlier than you normally do to start eating it.
Some people do their best work before sunrise, and others are incredibly productive late in the evening. If you love starting your day at 5 a.m., wonderful – go ahead and eat your frog in the early hours of the morning. If you prefer to sleep in, that’s fine too – go ahead and eat your frog early in YOUR day.
Successful people are honest with themselves. They know that setting a goal of working out every morning at 4:30 a.m. isn’t the best idea if they’ve never been a morning person. They set their goals based on their most productive times.
5. Give yourself deadlines.
Take advantage of a major productivity hack: Parkinson’s Law. Parkinson’s Law states that work will expand to fill the time available for its completion. If you have less time to complete a task, you’ll likely increase your effort. Think about how clean you can make your house when someone calls and says they’ll stop by in 20 minutes, and how intensely you can focus when you have a an assignment due the next morning. Your effort significantly increases when time is limited.
Giving yourself deadlines to accomplish tasks can help you achieve your goals. As you set your daily schedule, it can help to use Parkinson’s Law to your advantage. One way to do this is by using time blocks. Give yourself 55 minutes to accomplish a goal, and then take a planned 5 minute break. Knowing you have limited time will help maximize your productivity during the 55 minute work session. Also, the mini mental breaks from your hard work every hour can re-energize you.
6. Minimize distractions.
Get rid of as many distractions as possible while you work. If the internet distracts you, set your computer so it’s locked from certain sites during set times of the day. Shut off your phone. Your messages will be there when you’re done with your to-do list.
7. Pause.
Plan time every day to take care of yourself. Set aside time in your schedule for you to give yourself the gift of exercise, quiet time, or ideally both.
8. Plan backward.
One way to move forward toward your big goals is to plan backward when setting goals.
For example, say you want to lose 26 pounds. After you set an initial long-term goal of losing 26 pounds by one year from now, start planning backward and breaking the goal down into doable chunks. If you want to lose 26 pounds in one year, you’ll need to lose 0.5 pounds (1750 calories) each week. This is 250 calories per day. Many people have 3 meals and 2 snacks per day, which means you can decrease your intake by 50 calories every time you eat. That’s a totally doable goal! You’ve now taken a large, overwhelming aspiration and you broke it into very small, achievable daily goals.
Planning backward to move forward works for all kinds of big goals. I have a financial goal I want to meet this year, and I know exactly how many dollars and cents I need to earn each day to hit my mark.
9. Write it down.
Research shows that just by writing your goals down, your chance of achieving them increases significantly! Write down your goals, post them somewhere easily visible, refer to them frequently, and you have a much higher chance of success.
10. Find an accountability partner.
Accountability partners are great; they encourage and support us as we work toward achieving our goals. Maybe you’ve always wanted to write a book, exercise regularly, or start a home-based business. Tell someone who will help keep you accountable and check in with you weekly to review your progress. It works great to have an accountability partner who has some similar goals.
11. Compare yourself to others only to fuel your determination.
You really want to feel good about your life? Quit comparing yourself to everyone else if it makes you feel bad. Being envious of others can quickly decrease your happiness and make you feel unsuccessful.
That being said, comparing can be helpful if you’re doing it out of admiration instead of jealousy. If your friend is constantly getting promoted at work, study his habits at the office. Does he always arrive early and stay late, and offer to take on extra projects? Emulating his work ethic may help you get the raise you desire. Is your coworker the picture of perfect health? Comparing your habits to hers may make you realize she takes a walk every day over the lunch hour while you munch on snacks at your desk. Join her for a walk if you aspire to improve your fitness.
‘When we compare in a healthy way (they have that, I’d like it, how can I learn from them to get it?), it can fuel our determination to become more successful.
12. Seek out a mentor.
If there’s a specific area in your life you are passionate about, choose a successful mentor to help you grow in that area. You may find that you have different mentors for different areas in your life – I know I do. Consider hiring a coach; the right coach can make a world of difference in your life by giving you the inspiration and tools needed to reach high levels of success.
13. Delegate.
“If you want to do a few small things right, do them yourself. If you want to do great things and make a big impact, learn to delegate.” – John C. Maxwell
As difficult as it can be, it’s important to give up some control and delegate certain tasks. After all, there are only 24 hours in the day, and if you really want to focus on your priorities and become wildly successful, you’ll need to trust others to take care of the things that are less important to you.
A few years ago, I wrote out my weekly tasks, and realized there were 56 tasks that I completed each week. No wonder I felt overwhelmed at times! I began evaluating the importance of each of those tasks and decided to delegate the tasks that weren’t imperative for me to perform, yet still needed to get done. Now I have more time to focus on my priorities. When we delegate some tasks to others, we are able to focus on what’s important to us – a key to becoming successful.
14. Choose your company wisely.
Aside from having one specific accountability partner, choose your entire tribe with care.
According to businessman Jim Rohn, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”
Are you hanging out with people who are encouraging, positive, and supportive? Or, do you spend most of your time with people who are toxic? Choose to spend your time with people who inspire you to be your best.
15. Read.
Want to be highly successful? Read. Read frequently. Reading invigorates us and opens our minds. Read material that inspires you and lights your fire. Delve into self-development. Absorb as much information as you possibly can. There’s always more to learn.
Do these things every day and you will quickly be on the path to wild success
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10 Lists to Keep If You Want to Be Successful
- http://www.lifehack.org/283462/10-lists-keep-you-want-successful
- The human mind is truly incredible, and we should all strive towards creating a tenacious memory we can rely on. Many lucrative professions or hobbies require such a trait—actors, musicians, artists and entertainers in general do countless drills, just so the required information can be embedded in the memory with certainty. Clearly numerous doors that lead to a successful future are unlocked if one has a great memory. Although beneficial, it is not an essential ingredient within the success formula—what you lack in memory can always be compensated with diligence.
Keeping track of crucial elements in your life through list-making is still an unrivaled tactic for counterbalancing feeble recollection. By utilizing constant reminders, we can have significantly greater organization, we won’t be under the impression we have forgotten something, and we will have a clear insight into which task has a stamp of immediacy attached to it. Here are ten suggested lists that warrant implementation, in order to track achievements and nurture ambition.
1. List of Goals
“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”
—Zig Ziglar
Goals and ambition is what drives us and motivates us, but we need to ask ourselves what is it that we want in order to feel truly accomplished. Your list of goals should consists of all the items that you deem are necessary to truly respect yourself. It can be financial stability, a place you can call your own, starting your family, being independent, etc. People have different criteria when it comes to goals, and this list in particular is ever-growing; it changes as you mature, but it always feels great when you cross something out of it. Without such a list, you lose direction of where your life is heading, and we all need some inner guidance to focus on—a good reason to get up in the morning.
2. List of Tasks
“Happiness does not come from doing easy work but from the afterglow of satisfaction that comes after the achievement of a difficult task that demanded our best.”
—Theodore Isaac Rubin
Tasks are actually milestones on the road to goal completion, and these lists have a tendency to become quite copious. New tasks emerge on a daily basis, regardless of whether you are an employee, a student, or a freelancer. Despite the fact that they are arduous, we always have some sense of achievement once the task is complete, or when a certain problem is solved. By avoiding to make such lists and lists of our daily tasks, they’ll simply pile up and eventually become a hindrance.
In the event you have larger tasks that need more than a day, a week or a month before they can be completed, then break those tasks into smaller daily assignments, and put them on the list as well. As long as you monitor larger tasks while completing minor daily milestones, you will have a greater grip on progression and continuous source of motivation. List and sticky notes are actually quite potent tools for increase in productivity, especially while we are working from home.
Lastly, it is worth mentioning that you should also have a list of personal tasks, or tasks you do for the sake of self-fulfillment. These are related to your personal goals, and governing passions—writing a book, painting, crafting etc. These tasks will define you and offer a much greater sense of achievement, so give it your all to create something you can be proud of.
3. List of Contacts
“Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit.”
—Aristotle
It would be delusional to assume you can make it all on your own; however, at the same time, a flawed partnership can result in disastrous outcome as well. It is extremely difficult to find compatible allies and contacts, since friends and family—in other words, people close to you—may not be the best choice for a business partner. If you want to enter into a partnership with someone, make sure the person shares the same vision. Tread lightly and try to ascertain your potential partner’s level of reliability.
Throughout life, we come across skillful, capable and talented people, whose competence might be needed in the future, depending on your line of work of course. Do not be hesitant to offer a helping hand when they are in need, since you can gain a valuable contact. The point being: make a special list of all important contacts, like reliable programmers, handymen, lawyers, etc. Remember not to only reach out when you are in need. You need to maintain a healthy and natural relationship and be there for those people if they require your assistance. Truth be told, it can be arduous to forge strong friendship bonds, but having important acquaintances and becoming an important acquaintance is very much possible.
Without such a list, you are leaving yourself vulnerable to possible future complications; moreover, make sure this list is well-kept since once you lose a contact like this one, it can be somewhat troublesome to recover such data. Just be sure you have recovery data tools at your disposal tomitigate the damage if something were to happen to your phone.
4. List of Expenses
“A wise person should have money in their head, but not in their heart.”
—Jonathan Swift
This may be a quite mundane piece of advice, yet it is very often neglected. As we all know, there are two types of expenses: those that are necessary, (bills, taxes, food) and those expenditures used for indulging some personal cravings. There is a degree of restraint that the majority of us lack in order to approach the matter with a satisfying level of prudence. To say it bluntly, we treat our wants like our needs, and necessities and primary obligations are pushed in the background. Of course, this may sound a bit exaggerated, but the truth is the pressure of a consumer’s culture eventually becomes overwhelming, resulting in a purchase we shouldn’t be able to afford at the time. This kind of behavior can be avoided by utilizing lists, and turning them into an omnipresent reminder of what is truly important.
By making lists of all the monthly expenses we are obligated to pay, we’ll have a clear overview with how much resources are there at our disposal. On the other hand, without this list filled with meticulous calculations, we are prone to believing that we have more freedom to engage in a shopping spree, ultimately causing our bills to pile up; thus, we end up a step closer to a financial suicide. Handling finances properly, or the fact that we prioritize the costs of living, is a responsibility that signifies maturity. Success is commonly measured by the amount of wealth and without adequate spending tactics, you prevent its accumulation.
5. List of Useful Tools
“If you’re the type of person who has to fulfill your dreams, you’ve got to be resourceful to make sure you can do it.”
—Vin Diesel
Today’s society vastly depends on the use of technology—we exchange information, conduct calculations, measure time, etc. This level of reliability also suggests liability. If something were to happen to our cell phone or personal computer, it would be a sizable setback that could harm our capabilities severely. As mentioned, losing contacts can truly be troublesome. It is even worse however, to have your life’s work lost and compromised.
Useful tools are not only limited to recovering damage; they also encompass tools that make your job easier. With efficiency and a greater level of competence, you are a step closer toward success. Using the right apps and tools can make up for our lack of skills in a particular area, or simply help us manage our work in a more timely manner. Keeping a list of useful tools will come in handy whenever you are faced with more common problems, like finding a good restaurant for a business dinner, driving through unfamiliar terrain, task management, learning, and there are eventools capable of helping you recover stolen property.
Even though the list is not as crucial as the ones mentioned so far, it is undeniable that having it can save you a lot of time if the need for it ever arises. The Internet is a vast sea of both useful and useless tools, and by filtering out those that are irrelevant, you won’t have to conduct countless searches when you are in need of adequate tools for problem solving.
6. List of Self Improvements
“The minute that you’re not learning I believe you’re dead.”
—Jack Nicholson
Reasonable to assume this one is unavoidable, and it always deserves to be mentioned. It is safe to assume we are all aware of our shortcomings; if not all of them at least some of them. Think about yourself, make a list of all the things you would like to improve or change, then consider how to implement those changes. Despite the fact that those who are close to you do not pressure you into changing or improving, you should always make constant endeavours to do so, for your own sake.
The list of improvements should consist of physical changes, changes spiritual in nature, abandoning bad habits etc. No one expects you to change entirely in a short time period, but making a decision to change one thing on a yearly basis is a viable resolution, quite easy to execute. The list is there simply to remind you which improvement to prioritize, and build up your confidence after each completion. Refusing to change can either result in lack of confidence and depression, or becoming an overconfident and self-absorbed person that no one will tolerate for long; both of these traits are contradictory to your quest for a successful future.
7. List of Creative Ideas
“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”
—Waldo Emerson
Throughout history, people who made the most significant impact on the world were those with a revolutionary way of thinking, those who dared to challenge the established order and alter the status quo. For an idea to be classified as creative, it needs to be new, it needs to make sense, and it needs to have some sort of use. For example, creating something to help the disabled communicate online, or simply type—that way, people who have lost their limbs could blog or become creative writers, and show the world a piece of their mind. Thus a keyboard in a form of braces could enable them to type using their tongue; however I am not an engineer, so I do not know whether something like this is possible.
Whenever a new idea comes to your mind write it down, then browse the web to see if you indeed have stumbled upon something ground-breaking. Once your list has grown, then you need to start pondering on the subject to see whether it holds closer scrutiny. Ask for a second opinion and see what you would need to realize your idea. In a majority of cases, this is how successful people are created. Rest assured that it is very possible that people won’t be impressed with your creativity as much as you are, but do not allow yourself to be discouraged—after all, perseverance has a crucial role in a career as well. Monitoring your thoughts incites productive thinking and hones your focus; it keeps our mind occupied. Letting your good ideas slide is only a wasted potential that will put your progress in a halt.
8. List of Future Plans
“The future is uncertain but the end is always near.”
―Jim Morrison
We have all heard statements like “Tomorrow is a mystery,” “Live for today,” and “You can’t affect the future.” Personally, I heavily disagree with such a point of view. Although I do agree that, in particular circumstances, making plans for the future is doing Sisyphus work, not planning it at all seems utterly mortifying. I also believe that everyone makes some sort of plan; the problem is this fear of uncertainty that thwarts our will to act.
To make your resolve more adamant, compile a list of your future plans, see what you need in order to make them come true. This one is very similar to the first list—the one with goals; the difference is, it does not have to involve your personal future. Rather, it is list of upcoming important events, important changes in law, or upcoming trends, useful software, etc. It will keep you well-informed and prepared, since staying updated and relevant are essential virtues for lucrative businessmen.
9. List of Contingency Plans
“You pray for rain, you gotta deal with the mud too. That’s a part of it.”
—Denzel Washington
Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, meaning there is nothing you can do without consequences. Every attempt to be more successful usually has a set of barriers attached to it, or risks. Even though risks are inevitable, being prepared for the aftermath is always a good and necessary thing. When you plan your business incentives, or when you plan to invest in something, make sure you compose a thorough pros and cons list, as well as a list of possible negative scenarios. In the event that positive aspects outweigh the negative ones, you can be more encouraged to proceed further.
Make an effort to be constantly prepared for the backlash of major initiatives, and contain the possible damage. The lack of contingency implies recklessness, and it was adamantly made clear how this approach contradicts advancement. Make leaps of faith only when you have no other options to explore.
10. Bucket List
“The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and for deeds left undone.”
—Harriet Beecher Stowe
Finally, learn to live for the sake of experiencing what life has to offer. It is invigorating, to say the least, and it keeps your regrets at minimum. One of the reasons why we want to be successful is to actually fulfil our dreams or complete our bucket list, to look back on our life during old age with a warm smile rather than a frown. Feel free to put even the impossible things on your bucket list, and find the next best thing using your creativity. Whenever you reach a rough patch in your life, take a look at you bucket list and see what is the most plausible thing to do in order to restore your will power and keep going.
Set a goal for yourself
“Failure is unavoidable in our lives. But if I can learn something from it every time, the chance of success will only increase.”
katalyst cog west 