I like to share about habits often in my content because so much of our lives and results boil down to the habitual actions we take. Artistotle said “You are what you repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.” And John C Maxwell writes “You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” Clearly, the wise understand that habits are essential indicators and predictors of success.
But, which habits, specifically?
This is a question I’ve asked myself for nearly a decade, and have spent significant time researching. I’ve poured over the routines of the world’s elite, the most productive and successful members of society. I’ve dug into the neurology of our brains to understand how habits affect us and which activities impact our brains the most. Some of what I found was surprising, but much of it made perfect sense. Here is some of what I’ve learned adapted into 5 Habits that Predict Success!
Habit #1: Feed Your Brain, Literally.
The first habit that is an excellent predictor of success is how you eat. Specifically, if you eat the right foods that quite literally feed your brain; healthy fats!
I’m sure you’ve heard about the concept from evolutionary science of “the missing link.” The historical and scientific link that explains how humans evolved to become the dominant species on the planet. How we went from clueless, ape-like humanoids to upright standing intellectuals. Scientists have been searching for this missing link for decades, looking for a hypothetical intermediate form of the human that bridges the gap and explains the progression of man kind to its current state. While no transitional fossils of this being have ever surfaced, some scientists now believe they understand the key factor that caused the rapid progression of human advancement; the abundance of fat in the early human diet.
You see, our brains are made of a substance very closely related to fat, and eating fats does wonders for our brains. So much so that eating a lot of fat may very well have evolved us from humanoid animals to modern man. So, eating a diet with a good amount of healthy fats is crucial to keep our brains operating at their fullest capacity. I’m not a doctor or nutritionist so I am not qualified to tell you exactly how much fat is right for you and your dietary needs, but I will say, this information is a significant reason why I have adopted a Ketogenic diet. I have personally experienced the benefits of a diet rich in fats and I believe it has helped me increase my clarity and focus. And if you do not eat animal products- good news- you can still get great healthy fats from nuts, seeds, avocados and oils, so there are options for all of us to feed our brains what it enjoys most!
Habit #2: Give Your Vision a Practical Plan
One of the key determining factors of success is absolutely having a vision for what you are going after. Without a clear vision, little can be accomplished. But, the vision itself is not what makes it all work- it’s the planning that does it!
The habit of planning, taking your vision for what you want to create and breaking it into a step-by-step manageable plan, has got to be one of the more challenging habits to establish. Part of the difficulty lies in clearly defining what you want, and another part of the difficulty lies in understanding how to get there. For some visions or goals, there is a clear path for accomplishment, especially when the vision is for something tangible that we can see, or touch. However, when your vision is for something more abstract, the biggest challenge is assigning tangible outcomes to the intangible vision. If you can give your vision a tangible, practical result, you can create a step-by-step plan to achieve it. And if you take the time each day to understand and evaluate your plan before you take action, you will always move closer and closer to the outcome you desire.
Habit #3: Be a Constant Learner
This is a habit that can actually end up taking one of many forms, as there are plenty of different ways to keep yourself learning. You could read, watch videos, travel, attend lectures, take a class, or practice a skillset. Essentially, anything that you can do to expose yourself to new ideas and information will literally help your brain to continue to grow and form new neural connections. The more neural connections you have in your brain, the more you will be able to solve problems, think creatively, and advance yourself.
I also believe that having the general mindset of being a constant learner is wonderful to embody because taking the view that you don’t know it all and that there is always more for you to learn really has the power to remove mental blocks and ego issues when executing on your ideas. This reminds me of a story from when I was in college that is a great example of this sort of situation.
If you don’t know, in college I double majored in Art History and Political Science. So, for that Art History major, I needed to take a few art classes. I’m no fine artist, nor was it my intention to be, so I took the class I thought would be the easiest and most affordable in terms of art supplies, which was drawing. Now, when I came into this drawing class, there were a few other students like me who were taking the class to fulfill a requirement, but mostly the class was filled with art students. Now, much to my surprise, I ended up being probably one the best artists in that class and here is why. Whenever we had an assignment, the normal process was that we worked on our drawings in class, usually with a model present, and then one class might be devoted to critiquing our works-in-progress. Because I knew I was no artist, I would always take the general advice of my classmates and teacher to improve my work during a critique, and because I did, my grade always ended up rather high, like a B+ or A. Many of the actual art students, however, would end up defending their work during a critique and likely didn’t change anything according to the class consensus and would end up with a lower grade than me, even when I thought their work was perhaps technically stronger. Why was this? Well, I realized that because I knew I was no artist, and was just there to learn and fulfill a grade, I took the mindset of a beginner, knowing that each class I would try my best, but would likely need to learn more to improve and get a good grade. But the students who were in their ego about being a good artist, and who thought they were already more advanced than the level of a Drawing 1 class, they rarely listened to feedback during a critique, and they didn’t seem to make much progress. They thought they were right, they thought they knew better, and they shockingly received lower grades than me, the actual beginner.
I tell you this to help illustrate the point that having a mindset of a beginner, or at least avoiding the mindset of “already knowing it all” can often help you make progress and get better results. When we stay in our ego, believing we already know better than others, we close our minds to possibility and future advancement. So, keep yourself in that mindset of wanting to learn more and don’t be afraid of new information and ideas. New information can only threaten a defensive ego, but for those willing to see and learn more it can open many doors to your creativity and success!
Habit #4: Invest in Yourself
Investing in yourself is yet another habit that can take on any number of forms. It could mean taking that class to develop that valuable skill you need, it could mean upgrading that very old and slow computer that makes your work frustrating and time consuming, or it could mean taking that vacation because you are exhausted and could use a change in scenery.
There are so many ways you can invest in yourself and in your future, and although sometimes making investments can seem risky, when you take the time to decide what would make the difference in your life and invest strategically, you can make life so much easier and your success much less resistant. Just make sure you have the money to invest- you never want to use money you don’t have, and if there is an upgrade or investment to your life that is important enough but out of budget, consider how you could either save up for the expense or if absolutely necessary, take out a loan in some cases. Although, I do believe it’s important to think creatively about how you can invest in yourself. Sometimes you might think you need the big, expensive upgrade that is outside of your budget but perhaps in the meantime you can make a smaller investment that will yield an incremental improvement until the time comes for you to invest more. For example, perhaps you could read a book or two to learn a skill instead of investing thousands of dollars into a course or degree program. Or you could test out a temporary Virtual Assistant to get some work done for your business before you take the major step and responsibility of hiring an employee. We always want to make sure we are making our investment in proportion to need and budget, because incremental upgrades and improvements can add up over time to yield great results as well.
Habit #5: Be Proactive, Not Reactive
Last but not least, is the habit of being proactive, not reactive. What do I mean by this, because, this isn’t a concrete habit that you can check a box on?
How often do you take action on a task at the last minute because something has triggered you to get it done, as opposed to you properly planning out a task and getting it done before the need arises? When we are working reactively, we are working from behind, from a place of overwhelm or anxiety. We have forgotten about something and now we must rush to complete it, or we are taking action on something in response to an outside person or trigger that is now taking our focus away from our task at hand. How much of your work falls into this category? I think for many of us, this might be our state a good portion of the day. Acting out of a reaction, instead of acting out of a calm, well planned and well intentioned space. Here are some examples:
PROACTIVE
• Meal planning & prepping for the week ahead
• Keeping a budget and saving for unexpected expenses
• Planning out and working on a project with a nice buffer of time for completion
• Reaching out to a colleague to check on something you requested
• Mocking up a few ideas before a team meeting on a project
• Purchasing and sending a card to a friend so that it arrives on or before their birthday
REACTIVE
• Ordering takeout at dinner time
• Charging an unexpected expense to a credit card
• Waiting for an approaching due date to rush to complete a project
• Waiting for your colleague to send you requested information on their timeline
• Spitballing ideas during a team meeting you weren’t prepared for
• Texting your friend Happy Birthday on the day
Now, something you might notice about these examples is that individually, there is really nothing wrong with the reactive action. For many of us, like I mentioned before, this is the state we live in everyday, and so the reactive state does get us by, but it never gets us ahead. It never helps us bring more ease in our lives. It never helps us to show up as the best version of ourselves. So often in life our success comes down to showing up prepared to take advantage of opportunities and even small opportunities can lead to great things. Let’s take the proactive example of mocking up some ideas before a team meeting. The proactive employee in this example might not have been asked to do this, but they did their homework on the meeting before showing up and because of this, when the time comes to share, they bring better ideas to the table. Because of this, their superior might be impressed enough to give them the lead on the project and then, down the road, may consider their proactive nature as an excellent reason to consider them for a promotion. Is this guaranteed? Of course not, but is it the case that the early bird gets the worm? You better believe it!
That’s what being proactive vs reactive is all about. Being the early bird who gets their first. Being the employee who has cleared their plate and can accept new opportunities that cross their desk. Being the friend or family member who demonstrates to others how much they care, even in little ways. The habit of being proactive is about acting before action is called for, and for those who can develop this habit successfully in different areas of their life, you can expect success to flow more swiftly towards you.
I hope you have enjoyed this post, if you have I would love to hear about it in the comments below. I would also love to know which of these habits you are most eager to execute on and perhaps some additional ways you plan to put them into practice. As I said, many of these habits are not single items you can check a box on, but are pattens of action that help bring you closer to the success you desire. So, I’d love to hear how you put them to work in your own life!
xoxo,