Success leaves clues.

Having assisted families and business leaders on their success journeys for 20 years there are trends that I have noticed about successful people. The following items aren’t revolutionary by any means but are intended as a reminder to each of us. We all get busy with life and it can control us; as opposed to us being intentional about creating the successful life which we desire. I want to encourage you to not only gloss over these 7 Habits but take each of them and create a plan to implement some or all of them into your routine.

 

Successful People……

 

Plan Their Day In Advance

Last minute Lucy is rarely a nickname which is associated with a truly successful person. Most successful people plan their day in advance. Planning your day in advance allows you to have margin or time where you can think through the tasks, meetings or projects which are ahead of you. This allows you to be more insightful and impacting during each segment of your day. Items that a successful person will typically plan in advance:

 

• Financial Transactions – Their Spending Plan for the Day
• Their Quiet Time – Possibly a time for prayer or even self-examination
• Their Diet – Planning ahead allows you to eat healthier as opposed to caving in to extreme hunger and making poor dietary decisions
• Their Exercise – Successful people make time to exercise.
• Their Meetings – Planning ahead for meetings ensures that you will be at your best. It lends to creativity and additional solutions or ideas.
• Family Time – Remember love is a verb; so be intentional and plan activities and dates with those who are important in your life.
• Rest – Successful People get ample amounts of rest. Sleep allows your brain and body to recharge keeping you at your best.

Read Books

Successful people are lifelong learners. Reading and acquiring new viewpoints and ideas from others is critical. If you choose to “go it alone” you will likely run into The End of Your Creativity. I frequently run across leaders of organizations who spend little time learning new ideas from others. They try to train and inspire their team with the same knowledge base that they had when they left college. Allow others to impact you through books and other personal growth environments.

Make Health a Priority

One of the best habits that will impact your longevity on this earth is paying attention to your health. So naturally if you are on this planet for a long time you will have more opportunities to succeed. The Founder of Chic-fil-a, the late Truett Cathy, lived a long and meaningful life. One of the interesting facets of his story is that at his age 65 there were only 2 Chic-fil-a locations. His longevity allowed him to see over 1800 Chic-fil-a locations.

 

Tweet This: Time is your friend but you must take care of your body to enjoy it.

 

 

Focus on Things They Can Control

Successful people rarely get caught up in pointless conversations which they have little impact. Successful people focus on areas which they can control, thus their control often times leads to creating the output which they desire. I see too many people who are overly concerned about the weather, taxes, the economy, the president, celebrities etc. The successful people in the world focus on their response to taxes, the economy and stay out of the fray about other frivolous matters. Follow this link to an infographic about Focus and Control.

Empower Others

Successful people rarely try to do everything themselves however, they empower others to act and make decisions. Allowing others to be empowered and gain recognition creates a stronger organization and more loyalty from your team. Providing your team with the ability to make decisions allows great leaders to focus solely on what they do best.

The great Zig Ziglar said, “If you help enough people get what they want, you can have anything you want.”

 

Zig knew the power of building a great organization through others flourishing.

 

Measure Their Financial Progress

One must know if they are making progress on their goals and objectives. Successful people know this all too well. Personally I like to see people measure their Net Worth. As a reminder your Net Worth is

 

Everything You Own – What You Owe = What is Left Over or Net Worth

 

A simplistic view but this one doesn’t have to be overly complicated. Successful people measure what is important to them and it is usually automated or they have team members that deliver the information to them on a consistent basis.

Have Faith

Successful people have faith in something larger than themselves. They recognize their place on earth and that there was someone who came ahead of them as the creator. Faith also allows a successful person to make decisions and feel confident that plans will work out for the ultimate good. Faith also encourages people to live a generous life which leverages their success for others to benefit. I do recognize that Faith isn’t a habit, therefore I would suggest this more in line with the “clues” that I mentioned in the opening paragraph.

 

 

There isn’t just one path to success. The 7 Habits mentioned above are merely the clues that I have recognized over the years. Take these ideas and implement them, accompany them with real accountability and now you have a recipe for living a life that others will notice and benefit from.  That is a worthy goal in itself!

 

Let me know on facebook, twitter or LinkedIn your thoughts, ideas and personal story. I can’t wait to hear from you!