According
to Elbert Hubbard, ‘Cultivate only the habits that you are willing should master you’.
For one to move fast and far in life habits are very important; I mean, in order to be successful in life, you need positive habits. One cannot bank on the prospects
of nature, destiny or fate to achieve in life. Truly, destiny or fate has
chosen a particular path for us, most times successful future, however,
achieving this future or seeing it happen is solely our responsibility. We
will quickly study 13 important habits
to have that will help on the journey of life, aid our trip and make our fate
come to pass and as fast as possible;
#1 Dream big
According
to Willis Reed, ‘Go for the moon. If you don't get it, you'll still be
heading for a star.’ In life, it is only big people
that dream big and small people dream small. The size of your dream will tell the size of your intellect and
aspirations. Your type of dream will tell the type of person you are.
Always dream big; you can’t all the time
get all what you aim for, however, you can never get what you did not aim for.
Place big and spectacular things on your mind, try your best to achieve them, if you didn’t become the best, you will
become the second best.
#2 Plan ahead
As put by Alvin Toffler, ‘A
corporation without a strategy is like an airplane weaving through stormy
skies, hurled up and down, slammed by the wind, lost in the thunderheads. If
lightning or crushing winds don't destroy it, it will simply run out of gas.’
It is only a mad man with no dreams that will have no plans on what he wants to
achieve. It is quite rare if any or nearly impossible to achieve anything you
never planned for. Your plans separate you from the people below you. Ability to lay out steps and strategies makes achievements and dreams possible to achieve; it makes goals possible to attain and it make battles possible to win. Your plans will cover your
weakness and will always guide you on the next steps to take. Grow the habit of
setting out plans for the day before you leave your bed. At the end of the day,
the only things you will count are your achievement.
#3 Get up early
An anonymous proverb says, ‘Early
to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.’ And another says, ‘The early bird catches the worm’. If you are fond of waking late
or getting out of bed at every convenient time you think you are satisfied with
your sleep, then you have few minutes left for poverty to hit on you. Goal-getters don’t make bed their friends.
You have little to achieve when your
back is on the ground, you have a lot to achieve when your body is straight up.
Sleep is sweet but poisonous. ‘A
little sleep, a little slumber, so poverty comes’ – Holy Bible. If you know
you really have a lot to achieve, then cultivate the habit of getting out of
bed as early as possible to plan for the day. Your day must always start ahead of those you want to beat in life.
See also:
#4 Stay focused
An African proverb once says, ‘He
who paddles two canoes, sinks’ and a Chinese proverb says, ‘The deer hunter
does not look at the hare’.
Every man who wants to achieve has got reasons to let go of a lot of things and
focus on what he wants to achieve. Consistency
is the key to life success and business. Check this article, Consistency: Why still water runs deeper,
it will widen your scope. If you are not consistent or focused on a particular
thing you are chasing, immediately you got distracted and changed attention,
you would not get it at the time you should get it again. Try to know what you want and what you are chasing, sacrifice a lot to
get what you want, never for once give up or look back, always see reasons why
you should continue chasing, and that is the only reason you will ever achieve
it.
#5 Watch less TV
‘Mental reflection is so much more interesting than T.V., it's a shame
more people don't switch over to it. They probably think that what they hear is
unimportant but it never is’ - Robert
M. Pirsig. How long do you have to watch people that have made it before you
think of your own life. How many more years, how much time do you still have
to wait to watch people that are paid to appear on television before you start
using your sense. Have you ever asked yourself how much you have gained
from the long hours you have spent watching the television.
All the soap
operas, skits, films, episodes you have watched, do you even care to know that
people you are watching are paid to feature, yet this never bothered you that
they have never paid you for watching the TV; all you ever gained was the time you
have wasted. Well, it is never late to make amendments, reduce the number of
hours you use watching the TV and start watching your own life.
This has already been fully
covered in the articles 6 Lessons from Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki,
10 tricks of successful investment and many more, please check them up.
Always remember, ‘You only get result from where you put your strength in’.
It is what you sow you will reap. When you sow in yourself, it is normal to
reap the fruits of your labour. Your time, money, strength, comfort are
things you can use to invest in yourself. You have to sacrifice a lot of
things to get a lot of things. Please check the article ‘Eating my Prime Seed’ and see the reasons why you have to invest in yourself. The best
time you can invest in yourself is now when you still have the strength to. Readbooks, journals, articles, attend seminars, reach out, network with like-minds,do things that are productive and spend little or no time on frivolities. With
time, the dividends of spending and investing in yourself will start to pay
off.
‘You stop living the moment you stop reading’. Already, there
is an article on 6 importance of reading books and we also have a motivational library where you can get books and also download audios for your
use and development. One of the characteristics of successful people is that
they read a lot. They are voracious readers. They read across all
disciplines with more intensity in what they have interest in. Therefore,
also grow the habit of reading, you will never remain the same and you will
never be on the same level with your mates. One of the ingredients you need
on making it fast in life is Reading.
See also:
#8 Avoid time wasters
There are friends and there are
friends. There are relationships and there are relationships. If you want to
go far in life, time wasters should be your enemies. The worst time-wasters
are people with no dreams or similar dreams and ideas like yours. Always
expend small energy on such type of people. If you want to be successful,
always evaluate your life, friendship and relationship. If your friendship
or relationship is not productive, or you are not learning or gaining anything
or the prospects do not look like what you wish for your future, please excuse
yourself. Your relationship should be like a puzzle where your partner
completes you. If your partner actually drains you, then find your way out. Let
go of friendship that are not worth it; you don’t need extra burden to what you
have already.
#9 Write down your goals
We all have one thing we want or
wish to become. Whatever is on your mind to be, always put them down in a
jotter or write them in your mind. This will be the one to push you to
achieve all what you want. Always have goals and always ready to produce them
when there is the need. This shows a sense of direction and seriousness.
It is only a fool that will make
50$ and spend $48. Whatever you are spending should be a function of what
you are saving rather than what you are earning. Please check 6 Lessons from Rich Dad Poor Dad and also check 10 tricks of successful investment
for more insight into this. A book I recommend for this purpose is Richest
man in Babylon. It will guide you on how to save and invest. You will also
learn the dangers of not managing money properly as it should. A large chunk
of your money or income should always go into savings and investments, the
remaining part can then go for your daily spending. Please grow this habit if
you want to learn how to manage wealth.
When you refused to learn from the lives of those that have
passed the stage you are, then you are bound to do the mistakes they did, and
you will lose time. An anonymous quote says, ‘There are three
important ways by which we learn, one by reading which is the noblest, the
second by imitation which is the easiest and the third by experience, which is
the bitterest’. One thing you should always avoid in life is to learn from
your own mistakes. Though experience is the best way to learn, however, it
is the most time-wasting, the most expensive and the bitterest way to learn.
Rather, learn from people, ask questions, read up life stories and pick the
lessons; this is very important in the journey of life. You can check the
article 9 Successful business men you can learn from.
See also:
#12 Take action even it is scary
Not all actions and decisions are
favorable, however, how do you know if it will be favorable or it will work
when you never tried it. Always reach out for what you want, take risks if
that is the only way to get things done; never leave things undone. Always know,
if you do a thing and it works, it is a success, if it doesn’t, it becomes
experience and you have learnt one thing. The best way to know how thing is
done is to know how it cannot be done.
Therefore, always reach out as much
as possible for the things you want. There are some decisions that look stupid
at first, but until you take them before you know if they are actually good or
not. Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, took the risk of
dropping out, it was quite risky and stupid, but that is the only way they
would have known if Apple, Facebook, Microsoft would work or not. Take calculated
risks, follow promises with actions and see yourself doing great things.
I saw 'Something' (A must read)
Finally on the habits
you have to grow to prosper, you must have a reason for every of your action. Never
let anything be out of the question ‘Why’.
Always have a good and strong reasons
why you do the things you do. At a
point in your life, all will be turbulent, you will be lost, you will look back
and think you took a wrong decision, now, the ‘Why’ will appear and remind you
how you started and why you started. It will be the one to bail you out and
let you not regret your decision. Always
make sure there is a reason behind your relationship, your friendship, your
family, your business and the likes, this will help you never to give up on
yourself and forge on in the journey of life.‘Powerful indeed is the empire of habit’ - Publilius Syrus
We hope this article
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1 Comments
Well-done bros. We are working on all. Able baba oju e ola. Thanks for reminding me again and again
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