Success often seems like a great mystery. Some people are destined for it while others aren’t, the thinking goes.
But that’s probably not the case. While luck and genetics may play a role, there are learnable behaviors that make success more likely.
Over on Quora, there’s a thread dedicated to sharing the most important habits of highly accomplished individuals. 7 intriguing ones below we have rounded up below just for you.
You’ll notice that none of these habits require major life overhauls. Instead, it’s about making small tweaks to your daily routines that could potentially result in huge payoffs.
BELT have therefore come up with 7 tested habits that will aid your journey to becoming successful and owing your dreams.
- Ability to value solitude
A very important part of successful people is that they enjoy having some ‘me-time’ every day.
According to Morin, the psychotherapist, mentally strong people don’t fear alone time instead, they see it as a chance to reflect and replenish their energy. She however recommends taking a few minutes every day to be alone with your thoughts to to process what’s happening around you.
- Successful people are highly conscientious
Kyriacos Antonio once said that successful people are typically highly conscientious in nature.
That means that they’re organized, responsible, and hardworking, and are able to control their impulses.
Evidence abound that conscientiousness is the only major personality trait that consistently predicts success, in terms of factors like income and job satisfaction. That’s partly because conscientious people are better at setting and achieving goals, especially in the face of obstacles.
- Successful people are persistent
Theories from a neuroscientist and a psychologist, once said that your first thought is hardly ever your best one. Successful people know that, so they keep coming up with ideas until they finally hit the jackpot.
However, Smitaa highlights persistence as a top habit of successful people which is inevitable to being success driven.
- Self-Control a virtue
It’s very paramount to know that Successful people “understand the importance of discipline and self-control.”
But at least one expert once said it’s more about avoiding temptation. Productive expert James Clear in his book “Atomic Habits” writes that “‘disciplined” people are better at structuring their lives in a way that does not require heroic willpower and self-control. In other words, they spend less time in tempting situations.”
- Reading as a habit
Wawar Ahmad pointed out that many of the world’s most successful people, including Bill Gates, are avid readers.
Investing legend Warren Buffett reportedly spends about 80% of his day reading. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg pledged to read a book every two weeks in 2015. Tech billionaire Elon Musk has said that he learned how to build rockets by reading books.
Ahmed’s advice for becoming a bookworm? “Just read what you are interested in” and start with a few pages a day.
- Successful people manage their emotions effectively
Successful people “are emotional people like others,” But the difference between them and others is that they manage their emotions smartly.”
As psychotherapist Amy Morin said, mentally strong people are acutely aware of how their emotions influence their thoughts and behaviors, and they monitor the fluctuations in their emotions throughout the day.
- Successful people attach vaulting meditation
Indeed, research has found that meditation has a number of mental and physical health benefits, from improving memory to increasing compassion to boosting the immune system.
Practicing meditation daily is a key to becoming successful, of course success starts from the mind first.
