6 Little Life Habits Practiced by Successful Individuals
"Successful people make decisions quickly (as soon as all the facts are available) and firmly. Unsuccessful people make decisions slowly, and they change them often." - Napoleon Hill
Dr. Sarah Mitchell, an accomplished organizational psychologist with a passion for understanding the forces behind personal progress, offers us a valuable insight that true success isn't merely about acquiring knowledge; it's about consistently applying that knowledge.
Successful individuals understand the power of routine and discipline, incorporating small yet impactful habits into their daily lives. As Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist and professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania said, the learning process isn’t finished when we acquire knowledge.
Here are the 6 little life habits successful people practice every day:
1) Set a mistake budget for trial and error.
Set a goal for the minimum number of mistakes you want to make per day or per week. When you expect to stumble, you think about it less — and improve more. Instead of just striving to learn, aim to feel uncomfortable. Growing outside your comfort zone feels awkward and unfamiliar at first.
2) Ask for advice, not feedback.
Feedback is backward-looking, which evaluates your current actions while advice is forward-looking that will guide you to your future actions. Ask a simple question: “What’s one thing I can do better next time?”
Not all information is worth absorbing so it should be filtered out. Turn your cheerleaders into coaches who have relevant expertise, know you well and want what’s best for you.
3) Strive for progress over perfection.
Focus on continuous improvement and growth, rather than fixating on flawless, unattainable perfection. At the end of the day, ask yourself: Did you make yourself a little better today?
4) Find fun in your daily grind.
Every repetitive hard work is always an opportunity to learn and grow more. Create joy and fulfillment from even the small things. Like savoring the aroma of your morning coffee, appreciating the warmth of sunlight during your commute, opportunities to collaborate, and celebrating small achievements.
5) Open doors for other people.
Don’t gatekeep, such as excluding others or hoarding knowledge. Instead, actively invite diverse perspectives, share information generously, and support other people. There’s a two-way process of learning, you can share your knowledge with others while letting yourself learn something from them which can lead to better skill improvement. You can do this in groups, with each member teaching a distinct skill or slice of information.
6) Look back to help you move forward.
When you’re struggling to appreciate your progress, consider how your past self would view your current achievements. Think about how far you've come. If you knew five years ago what you’d accomplish now, how proud would you have been?
Success is not an overnight achievement, but a result of consistent, positive habits practiced daily. Incorporating these little habits into our lives can help every individual to pave the way toward achievement. Anyone can emulate the path to success followed by those who have achieved greatness.
