Fifteen years of watching people taught me that the difference between winners and losers isn’t some grand strategy.
It’s tiny habits repeated until they become automatic.
While most people look for the big breakthrough or the perfect system, the person quietly doing the ‘boring’ stuff every single day is lapping them.
Here are the habits I learned that separate the top 3% from everyone else:
Spend more time with the things that are worth it.
Sounds super obvious, right?
Barely anyone does this. If you have a dream to be a book author, there’s only one thing you need to make sure you do to materialise it. Spend more time writing.
It’s that simple.
Become a master of one thing at a time.
If you were to ask me how I was so productive, it’s because I got real good at putting my full attention on any one task.
This simple shift in approach will separate you from the multi-tasking masses.
Be a priority craftsman.
Jake says he’s always busy and he’s proud of it.
But is he progressing on his mission? Does he even have a mission? Having a mission in life directs what matters. Everyone’s mission is different.
What matters are your priorities.
Get really good at filtering through your top priorities and taking action on them daily, and you are literally living with purpose.
Be relentlessly biased to action.
Unsuccessful people tend to overvalue planning.
They often do this out of fear of the consequences.
Not you. To taste success, you must be willing to take more action than anyone around you.
Burn this fire so bright they can see you from the next mountain range.
Focus on improving the lives of those who matter to you.
First, this requires that you figure out who matters to you most. You can’t please everyone.
And to be free in life, you must be needed. Who do you need needing you? Now go and make their lives better.
This is the kind of karma you are looking for.
Do nothing when you are angry.
Don’t fuss; don’t fight; don’t react; don’t argue, and for God’s sake, do not hit send on that comment.
You invite unnecessary drama into your life - and this can quickly derail you.
Slow down.
Most of us have heard of the famous Navy Seals mantra: slow down to speed up.
You can’t enjoy fast results if you’re rushing. You miss things that way and stumble when you’re needed.
Slow down, and you’ll find the wheels turning ever faster.
Read something new every day.
It may seem like reading is a waste of time. We have Google and Chat GPT.
Why bother?
The more you read, the more snippets of information stick in the mind and contribute to a vast tapestry of creative connections that fuel your creative genius. It’s accumulative.
One minute of jumping jacks.
You know how you get that pleasant buzz after a walk or exercise that makes the brain flow quicker?
You can extend that magic by doing short bursts of exercise to top you up as needed.
Before a Zoom call.
Before you sit down to write.
Or whenever you feel a little flat.
Add some techno beats, and you’re golden.
Reach out to one person every day.
Connecting with one person may sound easy, but most avoid it or don’t think of its power.
It takes courage to make the first move, but when you do this three hundred times a year (without expectation), you have an army that will follow you to battle.
Treat success as a moral obligation, not an option.
If you see success as something you might achieve ‘if things go well,’ you’ve already lost.
Winners don’t wait for permission or the perfect conditions. They decide that building the life they want is a non-negotiable commitment to themselves and the people who depend on them.
Define what success means to you, then burn the boats behind you.
Resist less.
Most of our perceived failures are created right where we stand.
We disagree with reality, resist it and tighten up.
When we do, we block our creative flow and shut down progress.
Do more of what has already been validated.
Most of us jump into the next project with little thought and then wonder why it doesn’t turn out like we hoped. Stop trying to reinvent the wheel.
Take what’s been shown to work and be successful and make it yours.
Focus on your needs.
Depending on the phase we are in life, our needs will vary.
This often requires deep awareness and reflection because we can often confuse needs for wants. When you need money, do what it takes to top up your bank account. But later in life, you might realise the greater need is leaving a legacy.
Ask, ‘what must I do?’
When we focus on needs rather than wants, we can’t help but be fuelled by a genuine and sustaining energy.
Say NO more than most.
Saying no often is your one-way ticket to a bigger yes.
While everyone else succumbs to burning FOMO, you say no, and no again. Why?
Because NO creates a boundary that protects your one big yes.
That’s the YES that will shock the world.
If you’d like to take your mastery of your mind to the next level, you might like my Untethered Mind course.
It guides you through a series of insights about the mind that will greatly increase your emotional intelligence in a matter of hours.
How?
Because the root of this intelligence is the ability to nurture a calm and aware mind. That’s what this course helps with.
Learn more here and get access today.
And join us as a paying subscriber here for access to more bonuses and to support my writing:
Very Profound