7 Tips from Successful People (Part One)

Successful people all share certain habits in their daily routine, and these habits contribute to their success, so you should adopt them as well.

As you read in this article about tips to help you succeed, think about what you can apply during your daily routine or make as part of your mindset.

7 Tips from successful people

1. Plan your day the night before

One of the habits that successful people practice is planning their day the night before. This habit is recommended for many successful people because it has contributed significantly to their success.

This advice is great as it enhances your productivity in terms of your professional and personal lives. You can apply it to everything, from completing your normal daily work to planning the work day and achieving your long-term goals. It is one of the habits of successful people to start working during the day based on your to-do list because every minute you spend on planning saves you 10 minutes on implementation.

1.1. Review your goals

Your daily to-do list should align with your long-term and short-term goals. There is no doubt that you will achieve your goals as long as you persevere and work daily. However, if you do not work towards achieving them, they are not going as far as good ideas, and you may or may not take action on them. This is one of the main reasons that prevents people from achieving their goals. Although they may initially have the motivation to work when setting the goal for the first time, they quickly drop the routine when they lose enthusiasm or face inevitable obstacles.

However, successful people are the ones who always set goals and persevere until they achieve them. Thus, setting goals is the first step toward developing a successful routine. If you have not done so yet, think about what you want to achieve in your life on a professional and personal level and set smart goals. Write down these goals and put them in a place you see daily, whether by writing them in a diary, on a blackboard, through a goal-setting app, or in a document on your computer.

1.2. Make a to-do list

Bring a piece of paper and write down the tasks for the next day after you set your goals in mind. If you can write down your daily goals in the evening, then make sure this is the first thing you do in the morning. You will have a plan once you have a list of goals. Writing a to-do list helps you have clear ideas and vision and forces you to think at a higher level. Your productivity will improve by 25% when you start working on your to-do list.

1.3. Prioritize your to-do list

Now that you have a to-do list, it is time to organize your daily routine by arranging your tasks in order of importance. You can apply the Pareto principle. For example, if you have ten items on your daily to-do list, two of them will be more important than the rest. The most important tasks are the ones that bring you closer to achieving your goals, and you can write the following question below the list: “If I have to travel outside my city for a month, what are the most urgent tasks I must accomplish before I travel?” and then answer it.

This approach aims to make it easier to complete tasks by beginning with the most urgent ones. After you identify the most significant tasks, ensure you start your day working on them before you begin with other tasks. Sticking to this habit of setting priorities directly related to your goals will have an influence on your success.

2. Organize your morning routine

The way you start your morning affects your entire day. The morning routine that successful people follow varies from person to person. What you should focus on is organizing a morning routine that's right for you.

For example, if you snooze your alarm several times or if you are the kind of person who wakes up at the last minute and rushes so as not to be late for work, try to change this habit by waking up an hour or two earlier. You will notice a big difference in your daily routine.

2.1. Wake up early

Early waking up allows you to get an active start. The saying goes, “Early birds catch worms.” The morning hours are the most productive during the day.

There are many benefits to waking up early, such as having more time for yourself, exercising, eating a nutritious breakfast, and avoiding traffic jams if you want to go to work early.

Waking up before five is one of the habits of the most successful people, such as Apple CEO Tim Cook, former President of the United States of America Benjamin Franklin, famous American lawyer Michelle Obama, and famous media outlet Oprah Winfrey.

2.2. Practice meditation

Make time to meditate in the morning because this helps you gain clarity in your thoughts during the day. Meditation also helps you relax and feel calm. When your mind is relaxed, you will be able to think more clearly and make better decisions than if you were in a constant state of anxiety and tension. Meditation facilitates creative thinking.

You can practice meditation at any time of the day, but it's best to make it a morning activity to stay focused throughout the day, accomplish tasks that require creativity, and set yourself up for success.

2.3. Energize your body

Even though you might think that a cup of coffee and some toast are sufficient in the morning, why not make breakfast a regular part of your day and invest some time in eating a balanced meal?

A nutritious breakfast will help your body gain energy, boost your focus and problem-solving ability, and improve your memory.

Breakfast doesn't have to be big to be good; fruit juice is full of vitamins, minerals, and protein, and some cereals with a glass of milk will improve digestion and keep your heart muscle and bones strong and vital.

Be sure to add a glass of water to your morning routine. Drinking water helps deliver oxygen to your cells and significantly enhances brain function and energy levels.

Since exercise is essential for safety, wellness, and self-care, many successful people include it in their daily routine.

2.4. Fill your mind with constructive ideas:

Successful entrepreneurs are accustomed to reading, and influential people in society such as Jeff Bullus, Daniel Scocco, and Bill Gates are avid readers, devoting time within their daily or morning routine to reading books.

Nourish your mind with inspiring content such as motivational phrases, quotes, and articles that provide you with enthusiasm. The positive content you read in the morning will have a positive impact on the rest of your day.

2.5. Make time for the family

People generally relate your love for them to what you offer during the time you spend with them. In other words, it doesn't matter how much time you spend with your family, as long as it is helpful. After all, you work all day for your family.

Make it a morning habit to spend time with your family members, and you may do this by exercising with them, having breakfast together, discussing a topic, or having a conversation.

3. Commit to positive values

Successful people share a basic set of values that include setting priorities for self-care, planning and taking responsibility, and maintaining an optimistic mindset. Although most of us think that success is achieving wealth and social status, the most successful people define success differently. They see success as achieving values such as happiness, health, and satisfaction.

Successful people value freedom, peace of mind, balance, friendships, strong relationships, and personal satisfaction, so when you dedicate your time and invest your energy and focus to achieve and maintain these values, you will most likely be able to achieve real success in life.

3.1. Practice gratitude

Successful people are appreciative and do not wait for success by chance; they make plans, work according to them, and feel really grateful for any opportunity for success, as they do when facing challenges.

You can develop the quality of gratitude by practicing it regularly, such as by listing three things for which you are thankful each day. Studies show that those who keep a gratitude journal have lower rates of anxiety and depression and feel more satisfied and happier.

Positive thinking is closely related to gratitude, so it will naturally be reinforced when you focus on the positive aspects of life rather than the negative ones and remember your blessings rather than your problems. As a result, your attitudes, words, and deeds become more positive the more thankful you are.

3.2. Share your experiences and knowledge

Sharing experiences with others is also among the habits of successful people. They do not keep their wisdom and knowledge to themselves; they provide mentoring, advice, and guidance to others and support them in achieving their dreams and goals.

The most successful people realize that competition is not the right way to make gains in life. Rather, anyone in the world can achieve a high level of success without harming the happiness of others. There are enough opportunities in the world for everyone to succeed, so focus on benefiting others with your talents and giving them your time, experience, knowledge, and lessons learned from life.

4. Develop your time management skills

On a typical day, you have a lot going on, but there isn't enough time in the week to accomplish everything you want to. For this reason, it's critical to learn time management skills to allocate your time effectively and secure your success.

4.1. Know and focus on your priorities

Your priorities determine your goals; in other words, your life's ambitions should be established according to your top priorities, such as becoming a well-known author, building a successful business, creating a happy family, dominating a sporting event, or reaching financial independence.

Once you have set your priorities, it is necessary to stay focused on them. That means not allowing distractions, tasks, events, or other endeavors to divert your focus from your priorities. Sometimes, this will require you to refuse to do something good in order to do something better. It also means ignoring negative thoughts that can distract you from your endeavors.

4.2. Complete the most important task first

Start your day by working on the most urgent tasks and focusing on them until you accomplish them. You can often break large projects into several small tasks, prioritize them on a list, and then start working on the most urgent.

Breaking a big task into small tasks and working on them one by one is one of the best ways to manage time. You can increase your productivity by 50% by planning tasks and starting the most critical ones until you complete them all.

4.3. Avoid combining several tasks at the same time

You must distinguish between investing time effectively and being busy in vain, and while you may think that you will save more time if you work on more than one task at the same time, combining several tasks reduces your productivity. You cannot totally focus on more than one task, so the quality of the results in this case will be low. Furthermore, when you multitask, you are more likely to get jealous, which increases the likelihood of errors and exhaustion.

So, avoid  multitasking by directing your complete focus on the task you are doing. That applies to communicating with others, whether co-workers, friends, or family members; that is, be fully focused and show your interest in the person you are talking to.

Similarly, focus entirely on the task you are currently working on, and you will find that you can accomplish the tasks on your list more quickly and effectively.

4.4. Eliminate distractions

Get rid of unnecessary distractions in your daily routine and in life in general. We may be distracted in many ways, starting with negative thoughts, wasting time browsing social media, chatting with our colleagues in the office during work, in addition to attending unnecessary meetings, and even not taking care of our health properly. This is a form of distraction because it reduces your energy.

Take some time to think back on your daily activities to identify potential distractions that are keeping you from achieving the type and level of success you want, have the self-control to make the required changes to get rid of these distractions, and develop effective habits.

In conclusion

These are four tips followed by the most successful people, which contributed significantly to their achievements. These tips do not require any exceptional abilities or incur any costs.

You can apply them regardless of your field of work, situation, or age, and they will undoubtedly lead to astonishing results. We will talk more in the second and final part.