These 5 Habits Will Change Your Life For Good

Success is a mindset. Before you take on any project or embark on any kind of learning or training, you need to have the right mindset.

1. Listen and Take Notes

What do you expect to get out of the training?

In my younger days whenever I attended a course I used to wonder why trainers always asked this question.

My thinking back then was — well, you’re the trainer, you designed the course so you tell me.

How ignorant I was! What I didn’t know was that your expectations dictate what you get out of any interaction. This applies to anything from casual conversations to formal training sessions. When you have no expectations guess what happens?

Nothing.

Energy flows where attention goes. If you want to learn, you need to pay attention. When you learn something new something interesting happens in your brain. New connections are created.

When you participate in training and you take written notes you are more likely to remember what you learnt. Writing slows you down, helping the brain process and retain information for longer. According to research, writing by hand is even better than typing!

2. Read

If you want to hide something, hide it in a book.

Someone once said — If you want to hide something, hide it in a book. I am referring to knowledge here of course, but people have been known to hide actual cash too!

Treasures of knowledge are hidden in books. If you want to mine that gold you need to read a lot. Successful people love reading. Read and read again. This cements the information you have acquired. Highlight points that speak to you, ask questions, do further research on the topic. You will become a powerhouse of knowledge and the go-to expert in your chosen field.

Remember — readers are leaders.

3. Take action

Perfect practice makes perfect.

It has been said that knowledge is power. What is even more powerful is applied knowledge. When you learn something new, develop the habit of putting it into practice immediately.

There is something powerful about taking action while the information is still fresh in your mind.

Don’t stop at putting the newly acquired knowledge into practice but take it a step further by putting effort into it. They weren’t lying when they taught us in school that practice makes perfect. The more you do something, the better you get at it. But there’s something even better - perfect practice makes perfect! There’s no point in putting in a poor performance because it will not yield good results. It would be like planting good seeds on thorny ground. The thorns will choke that seed and it will never grow to yield fruit.

4. Be Consistent

80% of success is showing up.

Woody Allen once said that 80% of success in life is showing up. When you decide to take action, be all in. Show up everyday and give it all you have. Sometimes you can only give 1%, other times you can give more. All that matters is that you show up. And don’t just be consistent for a day or a week. See your journey as a marathon. You’ve got to be willing to play the long game. Some days may be harder than others but don’t give up.

Don’t beat yourself up for slowing down or stopping to breathe. Just pace yourself. When you find your rhythm stay with it. Don’t allow yourself to be distracted by anyone going at a faster pace. You don’t know what stage of the journey they are at or even how far they are going.

5. Follow up

Learn, practice, review, adjust, repeat.

Review progress on actions taken. Make changes where necessary. Adjust and tweak to suit your situation, conditions, status, circumstances. This is important but unfortunately not everyone does it. The most common excuse given is lack of time. Everyone gets the same 24 hours in a day yet some people achieve more than others even when the odds are against them. Twenty-four hours. No more, no less. It is most likely the only “wage" where there is no pay gap. If you find yourself short of time you may need to revise your priorities. Lack of follow up is probably worse than a no-show because you not only let yourself down, you let other people down.

So:

1. Listen and take notes
2. Read
3. Take action
4. Be consistent
5. Follow up

Here’s to your success!