At the turn of the new year, one of the things that I decided I would focus on are my habits. My habits, routines, and thinking about the small, incremental pieces, that will lead up to me accomplishing my bigger goals.
I often get trapped in this cycle of having these big lofty goals, and doing short sprints to get me closer to those goals, but then life takes over and I get discouraged after feeling like I’ve made no progress. My hope is that by focusing on the smaller steps that that will help me remain motivated and not so overwhelmed.
Many experts list the following as key daily habits of successful people:
Wake up early
Exercise
Emphasis on the importance of a morning routine
And these people also (often) have a team working for them.
This whole discussion on key habits of successful people is really fascinating to me…but also another rabbit hole that I get sucked into. Even looking at this list can be daunting. I mean, waking up early?! My kids wake up by 5:30am, so what insane hour should I be getting up at? I also don’t have a team of people working for me.
And sure, similar to eating healthy, it seems more common sense-like to know that these habits are what you SHOULD be doing. But is it sustainable for me? Nope. Ultimately, while these common key habits of successful people is nice, I need to do what works best for me.
One thing that I’ve been getting better at is sitting down regularly (for the past month or so) to plan, journal, and reflect. It hasn’t happened in a daily routine-like manner that I’d prefer. But somehow it’s happening.
I often think back to when I was studying for the bar exam and the discipline it takes to study for the bar exam. As traumatic as that experience was, I also recall being highly productive during that time.
One practice that I did while studying for the bar, that I have been working on bringing back into my daily routine, is sitting down at the end of the day to evaluate how the day went, and carry over things that didn’t get accomplished for the next day.
What are your habits for success?