7 Daily Habits of Successful People in 2023

Humans often overlook the hard work that people of renown put in consistently for years. This might come from a place of insecurity and fear. It could also be from what seems to be some insurmountable goal. So how do daily habits help in this regard?

How do some people achieve great success and make it seem easy? The truth is that it's not easy, but it can be much simpler.

Rather than looking at your goals as a single large target, successful people often take a more adept, systematic approach. Anything worth achieving can be broken down into a system of processes to get you closer towards that goal. Simply put, what are the things you should be doing every day to put you one step closer to achieving what you want?

I'm going to be showing a set of daily habits that are often shared amongst those we tend to call successful. Hopefully by putting this into practice and cementing it as part of your daily routine, you can achieve a similar path to success.

1. Practice Mindfulness in The Morning

The incredible thing about a new day is the endless possibilities. In order to tackle the new day you need to put yourself in the proper mental state.

The first daily routine is practicing mindfulness.

What is Mindfulness?

Kabat-Zinn, an American professor emeritus of medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School says, “Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgementally”.

People tend to spend some time on an activity that they can be fully engaged in. Rather than worrying about the day ahead, you can focus solely on the task at hand.

Some examples of these types of activities are:

• Meditation
• Exercise
• Yoga
• Pratice Gratitude

Why is Practicing Mindfulness an Important Daily Habit?

You can't expect yourself to be create your best work without the proper head space. The things that we think, what we tell ourselves every single day, is the most influential thing that we can control with practice. It's all about the mindset, and practicing mindfulness is the first piece in the mindset puzzle.

2. Go on a Walk Outside Right After Waking Up

Leave the phone and go outside. There is something incredible about getting some sunlight first thing in the morning. It help stabilize your circadian rhythm allowing for better sleep the following day.

Ryan Holiday, of the Daily Stoic Podcast, speaks of the benefits to going on a walk first thing in the morning. He mentions that he can see the differences in himself and his children on the days that he isn't able to go on these walks in the morning.

Why is Going on a Walk In the Morning an Important Habit For Successful People?

In today information age, I'm sure many of you start the day on your phones. Checking email, texts, social media, etc. It's so much nicer to start the day off on your own schedule. Why start the day being bombarded by notifications and all of the fires and inconsistencies that you'll find on your phone?

A morning walk is another great way to practice mindfulness in the morning. It's so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of modern day living that many of us forget to disconnect. The morning walk provides that disconnect, where you can be fully engaged in the activity. It also gives you some time to think and plan for the day ahead.

3. Write Your Thoughts Down In A Journal

The human mind is fallable.

David Allen's book Getting Things Done often talks about getting things out of your head onto a physical (or digital) medium. This is important as it clears up your mind for the day ahead.

The GTD method for optimizing your day to day life is very involved and the promise of incredible productivity gains is certainly enticing. I've found that the entire methodology is hard to implement in practice and it can be much more useful to grab snippets of what works to include in your own daily practice.

What Are The Benefits of Daily Early Morning Journaling?

The reason why successful people create a habit of daily journaling is because it provides a clear benefit.

These can range from:

• Clears your mind for the day ahead
• Get's you into the habit of writing down your thoughts rather than trying to remember everything
• Can provide a great outlet for stress & creativity

I'd give it a try and see if you see any benefits of your own.

4. Create A Plan For Your Day

Successful people make a habit of planning for the day ahead. This allows for a more directed approach to the day.

Without a plan, most fumble around spending countless hours jumping between tasks, distracted. A well thought out daily plan can limit wasted time and help you deliver more results in a shorter amount of time.

When Should You Plan For The Day?

There are plenty of options.

• Weekly Planning: With this option you generally bulk plan for the entire week up front. Generally this will be a bit more "high-level" since you are viewing your tasks in a week long timeframe rather than a single day.
• Nightly/Morning Planning: Plan things either the night before or in the early mornings. The benefits of this approach is you can take a much more granular approach to the tasks of the day.
• Ad-hoc Todo List Planning: Rather than having a set schedule you are trying to reach for the day, you have some backlog of work items that you can pull from and work through. With this approach, you aren't getting bogged down in trying to finish everything on your plate and is pretty flexible.

What Kind of Tools do are Helpful For Day Planning?

Ultimately it's up to you to determine exactly how your daily process flows. Starting out you can be simple or dive straight into a full software tool:

• A simple pen and paper
• A whiteboard
• Todoist
• Jira
• Kanban board

5. Dedicate 2-4 Focus Hours Towards Your Craft Daily

Consistency is key. The quote, "Rome wasn't built in a day" is thrown around quite a bit. While it's true that keeping consistent and continuously working towards something is great, what is even more impactful is focused work.

Focused work is not only more impactful, but also pushes you towards mastery of your craft.

What Do I Mean by Focused Work?

Simply cut all distractions and get into the habit of spending time completely focused on your one task. Humans are not good at multitasking. You are not good at multitasking.

2-4 hours can be a long period of time to focus. I'd recommend the pomodoro approach. Take some breaks between sessions and get that time in.

You would be amazed at how easily you can outperform the competition by simply following this one single habit.

6. Spend Some Time Every Day Learning

Successful people make a habit of learning every single day. It is foolish to let your ego block your path to success. What a truly humbling experience it is to accept that you are bad at something. Accepting that you'll never be good at everything should be your secret weapon. When you don't let your ego get in the way of learning, you can find those talented individuals who are better than you are. Why waste time toiling when you can learn from the best?

Why is Daily Learning an Important Habit?

This should come as no surprise but to truly become great you need to be someone who continuously improves themselves. Successful people aren't born successful. Being successful is a choice that you need to willingly make every single day.

Learning is truly the foundation for being great. Whether that learning comes through experience or teaching, having a growth mindset is imperative on your road to success.

7. Develop Discipline in the Evening

How can one expect to succeed in the following day when the previous wasn't ended appropriately?

Successful evening habits include:

• limiting screen time before bed
• getting to sleep early
• planning for the next day

Without the discipline to get to bed early, how can you ever expect to become a "morning person"? These daily habits all build off of each other, and it's important to recognize that successful days, successful wins, they all flow together.

Summary

When you look at all of these habits it's not surprising that creating the proper mental state is the key to success. The great news is that means these lessons are applicable to all disciplines. From a college athlete aiming to join the pro scene, a tenured educator working on a book, to military officers looking to climb the ranks. These lessons are more about shaping you as a person into someone successful.

Success means different things to different people. I know it seems cliche but it's absolutely true. To you success could be some monetary goal, or potentially some high ranking official position. Others could be on the complete oppositve of the spectrum and don't value monetary achievement as success but would rather focus on family, or bettering themselves in some skill. As long as you clearly define your goals and put these habits into practice, you will be surprised what you can achieve.