I ran across this article headline last night breezing through a few sites and decided to try thinking for myself for once. Taking a page out of @jeffhlimire's book, I'm trying out a #blindpost. I'm looking at the title and writing what I think belongs before actually reading the article. So, what do I think are eight habits of remarkably successful people?

Working hard

It may seem like a "duh" type of answer but I believe it's a trait very much overlooked. Some people are viewed as successful because of their natural talents. While that may be true in some cases, the story that's left untold are the hours of work that typically go into cultivating what talents they have. You don't hear about the years of struggle someone went through to get to where they are. Without work, natural talents only take you so far. Out-hustling the competition is a key way to win.

Read

It's hard to find time to read for a lot of us but it's important. This doesn't mean just reading business books but could also include expanding your thought process more by reading a fun fiction book or a book on a subject you are very unfamiliar with. The best way to expand your knowledge base and potentially inspire creativity is to expose yourself to new subjects and ideas. Reading is a key way to do that. Levar Burton would be proud.

Exercise

A healthy body helps make for a sharper mind in my opinion. I've recently started running a bit more and can tell that my ADD at work is tapering off. It's easier to stay focused and concentrate on what's important. Exercise is a great stress reducer and provides another layer of discipline to your routine that could carry over into other aspects of your life. Committing to an early workout routine (to me) helps me commit to other projects with more heart. Speaking of early workouts....

Wake Up Early

While I don't think this is a universal truth, it seems that the most successful people that I know of are early risers. I've written about early morning success before. Still, I would love to sleep in late than pull myself out of bed before dawn. As much as that first ten minutes awake hurts, the rest of my day seems to be much more productive and successful when I do wake up and workout or read or take the time to eat a full, sit-down breakfast before starting the day. One trick I've learned is to tell yourself that you are a morning person every day. This has helped...a little.

Avoid Excuses

When we fail, it's easy to point the finger elsewhere. Not always at other people but more so at our circumstances or environment at the time of failure. I believe the most successful people don't make excuses for messing up. I also believe they don't find excuses to not succeed. They just put in the work and effort to accomplish whatever goal they've set before them. That leads me to my next step:

Set Goals

It's really hard to achieve something if you don't know what you're trying to achieve. Not only just setting a goal of what you want to accomplish but establishing the steps and/or milestones to get there are equally as important. When I ran cross-country, I had very specific time standards I wanted to reach every year. My most successful seasons were those where I not only had goals outlined but had very specific steps to take throughout the year to achieve those goals (i.e. what workouts I wanted to do, time trial goals etc). In order to reach your destination, you have to know where you're going.

Stay Organized

This doesn't mean color-coding every file folder you have or having a super buttoned-up tagging system in your Evernote folders. I'm speaking more in terms of generally staying on top of things. I think successful people rarely lose track of what's going on in their lives. Tasks don't sneak up on them. This could be accomplished in the form of having a buttoned up organization system or having an assistant/team to help. Sometimes, success and staying on top of things is just being aware of realizing what your limits are and knowing when to say no.

Try Something New

Ever been in a creative rut? Maybe it's because we've dug ourselves into that rut by doing the same thing day-in and day-out. Trying something new could look like a lot of things. It could be switching up your daily routine slightly. You could try a new way of working that you had blown off in the past. It could be learning a new skill like cooking, a sport or underwater basket weaving. Successful people probably don't get too set in their ways. They have a broad enough mental scope from trying new things so when change comes, it's not near as overwhelming. It's easier to adapt when you choose to adapt to new things for fun.

What would you add to the list?

Original article here:

 

8 Things Remarkably Successful People Do