Stuck Reaching Your Goals? What are the 5 Best Success Habits 2023?
Estimates are that only 3% of the population set goals for themselves. So if you have set yours you are already way ahead of the rest.
Yet for many of us, it only takes about two weeks for the initial excitement and adrenalin burst to wear off.
We soon come to realize what hard work and determination we are going to have to muster to stay the course.
So what can we do to prevent our waning enthusiasm?
In this post, I will discuss 5 success habits that we can work on that will both help push us through the hard and self-doubting times and keep us enthusiastic and committed.
Also, we will have a higher likelihood of reaching our goals.
Success Habit #1- Train Your Attitude
Yes, this seems obvious at first but what many of us don’t realize is, it’s a full-time commitment that encompasses thoughts, feelings, and actions.
Learning to be in charge of your attitude ALL the time.
Why? Because things will almost always go wrong, be more difficult, or take longer than planned.
After all, if it was that easy everyone would be achieving goals without much effort.
I am excited to share this clip with you, especially if you have never heard of Earl Nightingale before. Even with his dry tone, the message is inspiring and thought-provoking.
Action item – Listen to this as often as possible and more often if you feel like giving up!
Success Habit #2-Stick to your Decisions
It can be argued that your current life is the sum total of all your decisions.
Think about that for a moment.
The situation you find yourself in right now is because of your past decisions – although we make decisions mostly subconsciously.
This applies to all areas of your life: You choose to stay/go; eat/don’t eat; study/don’t study; stay married/divorce; spend/don’t spend; stay at a job/leave a job; be productive/procrastinate; get angry/stay calm etc.
Learning to make effective decisions (or a series of decisions) is crucial for your success.
Indecision causes your mind to become confused and more prone to harboring conflict and turmoil.
Ifs, buts, could and should muddy your mind relentlessly.
Instead, when you are clear on your decision you free up mental bandwidth to focus on the task at hand.
Learning what to say no or yes to, could be the difference between achieving a goal or quitting.
Action item – Think about how much of what you are doing/being/having in your life is your choice. Or is it what others or the media/society have told you what you should have, be, or do?
Decision-making segues ways nicely into probably the most difficult of the success habits you need to master…
Success Habit #3 – Stop relying on Motivation – Work on Discipline
Most of us have learned to rely on motivation before we even want to try and achieve something in life.
We need New Year’s resolutions to make those wanted changes. We wait for Mondays to start our diets. We prefer to wait for a situation to be X before we do Y – well to paraphrase Dr. Phil “How’s that working out for you?”
Research suggests that when we rely on motivation or its sister willpower, and their best friend procrastination it allows us to make excuses for ourselves.
It’s our easy way out: “why even bother when I’m not feeling inspired or I’ll make up for it tomorrow “. I confess I have found myself saying these same things on many occasions.
Successful people do not wait for the motivation to do anything. Instead, they rely on their self-discipline – which by the way, none of us are born with.
Self-discipline is a skill you learn and practice until it becomes a habit – motivated or not! It’s doing what you said you were going to do no matter what.
No one can teach it to you – it’s about learning to make contracts with yourself that are non-negotiable.
It is not easy and does not happen overnight. But like any other skill you are trying to develop, the more you practice it the easier it becomes.
And it offers the greatest of all the rewards.
Action item – Commit to start with one small action every day. Increase the number of actions weekly.
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Success Habit #4 – Learn to live in the moment
Studies tell us that successful people are generally happy by nature first – this is what fuels them. They are not happy because they became successful!
So think about those goals you have set. Are you happy working towards them? Can you see the benefits of what it is that you are trying to achieve? Or are your goals merely fantasies or wish lists?
You have to be happy with where you are at right now and enjoy the process of striving for more or different.
Why?
Because the “right now” – it’s all we have.
When you are not enjoying the process there is a high probability you will either quit or not enjoy the end result either.
For example, children forced into careers they did not choose for themselves rarely find happiness in their occupations.
Action item – If you are forcing yourself, complainingly and begrudgingly to work on your goals perhaps it would be wise to revisit the reason you chose that particular goal.
Related Article:
Top 10 Benefits of Self-Discipline
Success Habit #5 -Embrace Continued Learning
We all know (perhaps even envy) people who are always working on something new or bettering themselves in some way.
Examples include Richard Branson, Warren Buffet, and Elon Musk.
If you enjoy science we can understand why this is so: Newton’s first law of motion partially states “…an object in motion stays in motion… ”
Habitual achievers look at goals differently. They know it’s an integral part of life. It is not a one-time thing to suffer through and then it’s done and they can rest on their laurels.
They enjoy the ever-evolving process. And if their first attempt does not pan out they adjust and move on – they don’t give up.
Action item – Ask yourself if you are willing to keep learning until you master your goal. Even when it’s taking longer and proving more difficult than you thought.
Success Habits Conclusion
Each of these 5 best success habits could be mini-goals in and of themselves.
As a fellow traveler on the road to self-mastery, I commend you for not only wanting to learn more but to do more.
To sum up, the success habits are: Habitually checking your attitude, proactively making decisions, instilling self-discipline, focusing on the now, and committing to becoming a lifelong learner.
2023 can be the year you finally turn your life around and reach your goals!
PS Ready to take your Success to the next level?
Research shows that having an accountability partner and/or a mentor increases the odds of reaching your full potential. This is who I highly recommend.
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Stuck Reaching Your Goals- What are the 5 Best Success Habits 2023?
A great post!??
Thank You – glad it is useful