Tiny Habits Can Yield Huge Results
Success Is Built On Daily Positive Actions
Let’s talk about success.
More specifically, let’s talk about what it takes on a day-to-day basis to become successful.
When you break it down, success is built on daily positive actions. As long as you do something every single day to move you in the right direction and work on building those success habits, you’ll get there.
And it will happen sooner rather than later as those daily actions start to build on each other and generate momentum.
It’s easy to get discouraged when you look at the big picture.
If your definition of success is very different from your current situation, it can quickly become overwhelming.
Let’s look at a few examples. Let’s say your idea of financial success is to have no consumer debt, own a home, and nice saving in the bank.
If your current situation is that you’re drowning in credit card debt, renting a little apartment and living pay check to pay check, your end goal can seem pretty far out of reach.
Here’s another one.
Let’s say your idea of success when it comes to your personal life is to be happy and healthy. That may include slimming down to a point where you’re no longer obese or overweight, reverse your type two diabetes, and getting your blood pressure under control without pills.
You want to feel healthy and live an active lifestyle. Again, this goal may seem so far out of reach of your current situation, that it seems pointless to even try.
You get discouraged and slip back into the habits and lifestyle that have gotten you to this point.
While it is good to have a big goal and define what success means to you, it isn’t a helpful tool when it comes to initiating change and creating better habits. It’s much more beneficial to work on small daily action items that you control.
That’s the key. Let’s call them “daily positive actions.” While there’s nothing you can do today to wipe out your credit card debt, you can pack your lunch and skip the trip to Starbucks in the morning.
You can take 20 minutes to go through your monthly bills and replace your cable bill with a Netflix subscription or cut off that landline phone you never use. You can pack a healthy lunch and go for a 30-minute walk during your lunch break. Focus on those small changes on a daily basis that will add up over time and help you succeed.
A great tool to make sure you are taking those daily actions is a notebook or journal. In the morning, set yourself three simple tasks that you want to accomplish. At night, reflect on what you’ve gotten done.
Start with the three tasks you set yourself in the morning. Did you get them done? If not, what held you back? Think about the rest of your day. What else have you accomplished that counts as a positive daily action?
The simple act of writing this down holds you accountable and also keeps you aware of these positive actions.
It enforces the positive habits and keeps you motivated even when the ultimate success goals seem a long way off. Try it.
How Much Success You Have Depends On How Solid Your Foundation Is
In the first section of this short report, we talked about the importance of daily positive actions. Now, let’s talk about how to determine what those actions should be.
The definition of success is very different for every one of us. Our goals are different, our current situation and circumstances are different.
That means that the specific daily actions needed should be different for each of us and that we need to figure out what they should be on our own.
That is easier said than done sometimes and has a significant impact on how successful you’ll be in your endeavor to achieve success.
But, what will help you more than anything else is to have a solid foundation for success. Don’t let that concept scare you.
It’s not overly complicated. Your goal is to build a strong foundation with a set of basic success skills. In the next chapter, I’ll share what some of those specific skills are.
For now, I want you to realize that building this solid foundation is important.
Think of it like building a house. If you start with a strong foundation, your chances of building a home that will stand the test of time are good.
If you decide to build on sand on the other hand, no matter how sturdy your house is or what reinforcements you have in your frame and roof, the chances are good that the sand will shift and your house will collapse.
Your first step on your road to lasting success in any area of your life is to build that foundation of basic success skills then. Start to read up on it.
Start to practice the habits and skills I’m about to share with you. Work on building that foundation and keep coming back to it.
The more time and energy you invest in this first step, the higher your chances of success down the road.
Of course, this isn’t something you can accomplish in a few short days. It’s skills that you build on and strengthen over time. Start with the ones I’m about to share. Then keep an eye out for opportunities to practice those skills and to expand on them.
Read about success fundamentals. Study the habits and actions of successful people. Keep strengthening your foundation and setting yourself up for success.
Here Are The Habits You Want To Work On
Here’s a quick rundown of the success habits you want to cultivate to build and strengthen your foundation for success.
Work on them one at a time or as time and circumstance permits. Write them down on a piece of paper and stick them on the wall above your computer, so you’re reminded to practice them.
Read up on articles, blog posts, and books related to each skill. Find some good podcasts to listen to or see what’s available in video content if you prefer.
Most importantly, make it a point to use those skills and practice them in your everyday life.
Here is a short list of some of the basic success skills you want to start to master:
Goal Setting – Without a set goal, you don’t know where you’re going and what your daily positive action should be. Get in the habit of not only setting it but also writing it down.
Decision Making – This will help you decide which action to focus on today and what to leave for another day. Start with small decisions and then work your way up.
Organization – This skill helps you save time and become more efficient. You won’t waste time looking for things or doing stuff in the wrong order. It also helps you with your decision making.
Time Management – This combines the skills of organization and decision making. Time management is really about prioritizing what you should be working on right now. Try a daily planner to improve your skills in this area.
Effective Communication – This is about being able to share information with your team and clients in a clear and professional manner. That not only avoids confusion, it also shows your expertise and creates trust.
Networking – We don’t work in a vacuum. We have to meet the right people, be they collaborators, someone we can recommend, or customers. Being able to network well helps us get in touch with the right people quickly.
Positivity – Your attitude is key. Things won’t always be easy, but if you can keep your focus on the positive, you can push through and make progress. Don’t let setbacks get you down. Look at them as learning opportunities.
Discipline – Knowing what to do isn’t enough. Having the persistence to get the work done is just as important. Practice is vital. The more you practice, the more you’ll improve your discipline.
Patience – It’s a virtue. Things won’t always move as quickly as you’d like and you have to be patient with the people around you. Patience with yourself will also help you develop all other success skills.
Focus – This is the ability to concentrate on one task at a time, cutting out all distractions. That will allow you to see it through to its completion and start to make some real progress.
Reading through this list of skills you’ve probably noticed that they all work together and complement each other.
That means that no matter what skill you work on at any given time, you’ll improve on all of them and your overall foundation of success. And that’s a very good thing!