Rather than being overwhelmed by drastic steps, focus on small changes that are so simple you can implement them immediately!
Entire libraries are overflowing with self-help books about how to be the next Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos. In reality, you don’t need to flip your life upside down to see a difference.
Today, we’re bringing you how to be successful and happy without making radical changes to your life!
The Power of Habit
by Charles Duhigg
⏱ 17 minutes reading time
🎧 Audio version available
Wake Up Half an Hour Earlier
Is half an hour really enough to make that much of a difference? The answer is a resounding “yes!” Most successful people swear that waking up early pushes them to be more efficient.
While you don’t have to rise at dawn like Apple CEO Tim Cook, getting up half an hour early will make a difference. You can use this extra time to do whatever you want.
Whether you put in some exercise, make a healthy breakfast, read, meditate, spend time with your family, or work on something you are passionate about, you can accomplish something.
If nothing else, those extra 30 minutes will save you from rushing every morning, forgetting your keys, and foregoing breakfast to get to work on time.
Clean Up Immediately
These are just baby steps, remember? Feeling overwhelmed by chores can weigh you down more than anything else. How long does it really take to wash your dishes immediately? Make your bed? It won’t be over five minutes.
However, if you ignore these chores, these seemingly small tasks turn into a mountain. Before you know it, you’ll have a messy house and a sink full of smelly dishes that are going to take way longer. Save yourself the headache and make more time for more productive tasks by immediately acting.
Those who make their beds every morning and clean up after themselves tend to be not only happier but also more successful since the immediate act makes them feel accomplished. Without all that clutter, both in their home and mind, they gain a sense of control.
Forget About Being a Perfectionist
Wasn’t it Tolstoy who said, “If you look for perfection, you’ll never be content”?
Guarantee your own happiness by forgetting about perfection. Once you realize that there is no such thing as perfect, life suddenly becomes more manageable. When you understand that making mistakes is a part of life, you’ll feel at peace.
Challenging your perfectionist mindset may be the action you need to take to be more successful because you stop fearing failure and start taking chances. Then, you learn from your mistakes after acknowledging them.
Don’t Overcommit
The opposite of making drastic changes is committing less to things. The next step on your road to being content is to avoid overcommitting.
When it comes to self-help advice, most people recommend setting plenty of goals. At first, the excitement drives you, but to avoid giving up on these goals, it’s easier to commit to a limited amount. Once you follow through successfully, then you can move on to more ambitious goals. For now, start small and work your way up.
Think of it this way! Should you commit to running a marathon if you haven’t exercised first? If you have to start with five to ten pushups a day or even just taking a calm walk down your street after dinner, then so be it!
Acknowledge Your Losses and Move On
This is more of a mental hurdle that you must climb over to reach success.
No one reaches the astronomical heights of success without failure. It might appear to be the opposite, but that’s because these failures aren’t very public. Therefore, we believe successful people woke up one day, chose success, and went and got it.
What makes the difference between successful people and others is that they are people who never gave up. They do two very important things, and that is to never let failure get to their hearts and never let success get to their heads.
Acknowledging your losses and failures allows you to gain the wisdom to act better when presented with new opportunities.
Let Go of Old Grudges
Your life and that burden you carry around every day can be drastically lessened by the mere act of letting go of old grudges and forgiving those who have hurt you in the past.
Accept that these people, the ones who have brought negativity into your life, cannot undo their actions. They can only be forgiven, not forgotten. Turn that grudge into a lesson and then move on.
Next, take that lesson and make sure that the people who surround you support you and encourage you become the best version of yourself.
Stop Comparing Yourself to Others
The key to achieving happiness and success? Stop comparing your life and accomplishments to others. There is this idea that other people have better and easier lives than yours, and thinking this way is a quick route to being unhappy.
What you think is their reality are just surface-level observations. And you’re comparing your reality to what their surface looks like. The next time you envy someone’s success, remember that this person has likely struggled with more hardships than you can imagine.
Losing sleep over what other people have and you don’t is pointless. You can find relief by accepting that there is always going to be someone who seemingly has things better with a higher-paying job, a faster car, a bigger house, et cetera.
What should you do? Start defining success on your own terms. That person who has a higher paying job may be wasting away their lives in the office, while you have a flexible schedule.
Reprogram Your Mindset
Your success is linked to your mindset, and your happiness is directly related to your thoughts. A lot of negativity surrounds us. We can overcome these grim feelings that often overtake us. You can reprogram your mind to stay positive.
That doesn’t mean living in denial or ignoring every negative thought, but empowering yourself and taking charge.
Take charge by surrounding yourself with people who constantly lift your spirits. Take charge by creating positive affirmations for yourself and applauding the progress you make. Take charge by being grateful and writing everything you’re thankful for instead of stressing over what you don’t have.
In fact, keeping a gratitude journal is incredibly empowering. When you often speak about what you’re grateful for, your energy increases, and so does your enthusiasm, alertness, determination, and even quality and duration of sleep.
Tackle That One Thing You’ve Been Ignoring
Just one thing that you need to do. That’s all. The next step towards achieving that dream life is tackling what you have been putting off forever.
Whether it’s a report you’ve been delaying for a week, a phone call to your insurance company, cleaning up your office—just like the dishes we mentioned earlier—you’re lifting a heavy weight that’s keeping you from being productive.
You’ll be surprised at how much more productive you are and how better you feel once that looming weight is off.
Explore the Edge of Your Comfort Zone
People advise you to take an ambitious leap out of your comfort zone, when the key is finding success at the edge of it.
Without a doubt, we need change to be happy. That’s just human nature. While there is no need to skydive or do anything drastic, do something new—even if it’s just once a week.
Overcome a Bad Habit
Just like that one task you’ve been putting off, it takes defeating one bad habit to make a difference. Everyone has bad habits that hold us down. Regardless of how big or small it is, try changing just one of them.
This is a gateway towards skyrocketing your confidence levels and seeing how resilient your willpower is. If you can change one bad habit, then what’s stopping you from tackling the others?
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