Are you an early bird? Most people have heard the phrase “the early bird gets the worm,” but they may actually be getting much more than that.

Early birds are more likely to be proactive, happy and healthy – check out 10 things that early birds do that make them more likely to be successful.

1. They Can Accomplish Tasks As Soon As They Start Their Day

It doesn’t take long for our days to get started; family, friends, career obligations, emails, and tidying mean that there are things to start doing as soon as you wake up. Early birds get a head start on this first thing, accomplishing most of their tasks in the morning.

This is good in another way, too – as early birds accomplish tasks when they wake up, they are more likely to have a relaxed evening.

2. They May Be Wired To Be An Early Riser

Researchers have discovered that around 10% of us are born early birds. This means many early birds are actually wired this way, and forcing themselves to sleep in will reduce how proactive they are. So embrace your early bird status to achieve success!

3. They May Be More Intelligent

A 2008 study from Texas University discovered that the students who identified as being early birds actually scored a full point higher on their GPAs than the students who identified as night owls.

4. They Are Most Focused In The Morning

Many people feel more focused first thing in the morning, and early birds really get to embrace this as they get up when most people are asleep, creating far fewer distractions.

The most efficient way to work is in two to four hour block sessions – and by 11 many early birds have already completed their first block.

5. They Are Following The Habits Of Extremely Successful People

It appears greeting the day early is one of the keys to success. Many successful entrepreneurs are early birds themselves; CEO of Apple Tim Cook is up for 4:30 a.m. and Richard Branson is up for 5.45 a.m. This may be because getting starting early gives you a head start on the day.

6. They Get A Good Night’s Sleep

A good night’s sleep is essential to a productive day, and early birds often have more opportunities to sleep.

Many people struggle to fall to sleep straight away, and many wake up during the night. If this happens, you may need an extra half an hour in the morning – and as early birds rise so early, they have the opportunity to get a little extra sleep if they need it.

7. They Are More Proactive

In a 2008 study at Harvard, Christop Randler discovered that morning people are more proactive.

The early birds were more likely than the night owls to agree with proactive statements like “I spend time identifying long-range goals for myself.”

A proactive attitude naturally leads to higher productivity, which means early birds are more likely to be successful later on.

8. They Have Time For Breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but many people do not make time for a proper breakfast, or even a rushed one. Early risers have more free time in their mornings than other people, so they have fewer excuses to skip breakfast.

A survey from the Harvard School of Public Health discovered a possible link between not eating breakfast and a higher risk of coronary heart disease, so having a good breakfast can benefit you in many different ways.

9. They May Be Happier

A study at the University of Toronto has actually shown that morning people are likely to be both happier and healthier than night owls. The health part is partially logical; as early birds are up earlier they have more opportunity to eat a good breakfast and exercise.

The happiness is the more interesting part; morning people report higher levels of happiness, which could be due to how proactive they are.

10. They Have Great Personality Traits

Studies have shown that early birds are more likely to show some traits than night owls. Night owls are more likely to exhibit creativity and pessimism, while early birds are more likely to exhibit optimism, conscientiousness and satisfaction.

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Successful people keep lists so that they do not forget certain things or simply to track their progress. Most of the time, such lists have a way of contributing positively to their success, since they offer balance and direction. Also a list helps you to be organized and focused. I keep a list in my phone and my tablet so that I always have it handy. Wherever you keep your lists, here are some things you should keep written down to help you attain success.

1. Creative ideas

Ideas can be very volatile. They are important to your success, as one idea could change the direction and course of your whole life. This is why it is essential to have a list of ideas written down. These ideas should be the ones you want to act upon or that excite you just as you receive their spark. Many successful minds have a way of carrying a journal or notebook at all times. This way, when an idea pops up, they write it down so they won’t forget them for future use.

2. Books to be read

Every successful person reads. Reading books boost your chances for success, as they are one item that could challenge you intellectually and inspire smart decisions. Whether it is a non-fiction or a fictional work, always have a list of the books that will satisfy your career or success interests. Sometimes such books are recommended by others, while other times we simply stumble upon them.

3. Thoughts to share with others

Just like creative ideas that could trigger your success, it is important to write something that could inspire and educate others. Success is not just about you, but also offering others a hand in achieving their own success. You could be offering thoughts or knowledge in the form of blog posts, an article in a famous magazine, or a book. This could also propel your career and make you an authority in your field.

4. The interesting people you have met

I once met an important and knowledgeable person at a conference. Even after a very interesting discussion, I did not take down his contact information. This is something I still regret, because who knows what and when I would have needed his expert advice again? It is always important to keep a list of interesting people you have met and how you can once again reach out to them. Their knowledge and expertise could add to the talent pool of a business you are building or working for.

5. Media persons

From TV hosts to journalists, media persons can be pivotal to offering you the recognition you need to be successful. Reaching out and keeping a list of such persons can be rewarding and offer the needed boost in publicity you need. Don’t be shy to connect with a media person or to engage them on social media. Make sure you are noticed by them.

6. Progress journal

Success requires that you keep track of your progress. Many successful persons like Oprah, Eminem, and J.K Rowling have a journal which they use in tracking their progress. Progress may not mean initial and momentary success, but rather a holistic view of what you define as success. With such a journal, you can identify your areas of strength and flaws and see how you can navigate your terrain for the future.

7. To do lists

This is a list of things that you intend to accomplishing in the future. For some, it is a “bucket list,” yet this helps you identify what is important and what is not. It also helps you ascertain what direction you want to take. Each item on this list should help to make you a more fulfilled person.

8. Things to see list

Many may not consider this essential, but just as books engage and develop the mind, certain movies, documentaries, and TV shows have a way of making a considerable impact on our success. Try checking out reviews and listening or reading critics to know what shows would align with your goals.

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Many people have talents and want to do great things with them, yet this requires some sense of responsibility and continuous advancement. The benefit of making continuous efforts could be the distinguishing factor between you and competition. It all starts with believing in what you can attain and avoiding these warning signs of stunted growth.

1. You start playing safe

People who grow with their talents tend to explore and take more risks. Risks are the bedrocks of progress. Without taking risks with your talents you could get stuck. Yes, sometimes your talent has to push you out of your comfort zone and engage you with more challenges. However, when you have started settling for what you are known for rather than developing into unknown territories, it means your growth has been halted somewhere.

2. You take more than you give

At the end of the day, no one can fully appreciate you enough for whatever talents you possess. Taking more than giving means that you are not offering more than what you are either paid for or assigned to do. Having a set skill or talent offers you the opportunity to give more of yourself to the world. Talented people tend to work harder and prove to the world that they deserve more than what they are being paid for or what duty they have been assigned to do. To improve your talent, you need to start finding a way to make better contributions rather than making more demands.

3. You see more roadblocks than opportunities

How do you view a new challenge? Do you see it as exciting or do you see as mountainous? Those who want to improve their talent are not afraid of obstacles or challenges. They do not see the negatives in a situation but rather they see the positives. Identify the opportunities you are presented with by changing your attitude to meet with challenges. By doing this you will be able to transform grief into greatness.

4. You resent making mistakes

Mistakes play a vital role in success. Many talented people make mistakes but are quick to learn from them and correct them. Correcting your attitude and devoting yourself to more education on your trade will distinguish you. Understanding that mistakes add to the learning curve rather than halting it could be beneficial to becoming the best you can be.

5. You prefer the easier way out

Because we live in a quick fix-society where you can lose ninety pounds with the swallowing of a pill, many people start looking for an easy way out. Unfortunately that is not the pattern nature has set for each of us. To building your talent and maintain a sustainable growth within it, you have to cherish difficulties. There is no easy way out of the doors of ignorance or mediocrity. Most times what could count even more than raw talent could be the determination and grit you have shown to build up your skills. Growing with your talent means earning every milestone you reach.

6. You are spending more time on other activities that don’t promote your skills

Your skills should be promoted by the attention you offer to it. What activities are you investing your time in? Are they related to helping develop your skills and talents? Focus and attention are crucial to making the best out of your talents because we all have constraints such as limited time and energy. This is why it is important to spend time with people and activities that continue to stir up the passion for your talent. To achieve growth with your talents, it will be better to devote your resources effectively to its consequential growth.

By taking notes of these warning signs and taking action against them, you can start developing your talents and making substantive progress at it.

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Gone are the days when your influence was established by the official titles you assumed or the following you had by virtue of your talent. In today’s world, your influence is assessed by how many people you follow on Twitter and how many people follow you.

If you follow a few people but a lot of people follow you, it automatically establishes your authority and helps you gain even more followers.

Since social networks are an important part of both the personal and professional fronts of one’s life, there are an enormous number of services that help you become a known figure to extend your reach beyond your immediate connections. I have learned a lot from a service called Tweet Full, which was developed to teach you how to gain more followers.

The Hypothesis

Things don’t work without reason. I have invested a lot of time trying to understand what people want on social media and thus I came up with the hypothesis that people want attention and if you give them attention, you will get equal or more back.

So I thought over and over again to come up with a perfect way to give attention to someone in hopes that I get some back. For Twitter, the easiest way to give you attention is to find someone who says things that you like and then “favorite” their tweets that sound interesting to you.

When you favorite someone’s tweets, they will immediately get a notification and/or email from Twitter that you favorited their tweet. They will obviously become curious to know who you are, and very likely click on your profile to know more about the person who appreciates what they do.

The Execution

Hypothesis are for chumps if they cannot be executed. Moreover, the execution must be simple enough for a common man (like myself) to follow. I am not a chump. I do have an execution plan to follow my hypothesis. The plan is dead easy to follow as well, involving how to favorite or retweet the tweets in your area of interest.

There are two ways to do this. The first one is manual but free, and the second costs you a buck for 30 days but is plenty effective and time saving.

1. The first thing to do is to identify the keywords you want to have in your tweets. Let us, for this example, say your keyword is “Fitness” and “Health.”

2. Then, you need to go to Twitter Advanced Search and put in these keywords. Once you have set up your search, hit the button to get results.

On the results page, you will see a list of tweets. The ones that look good and are from people that seem to be authoritative, so favorite or retweet those based on your preferences. It is usually a good idea to favorite the tweets that are not very positive and retweet those that have a strong positive vibe.

You can repeat the above steps as many times as you want in a day. In order to trade time for dollars, I chose Tweet Full, the Auto Twitter Favorite Tool that does this for me automatically.

I have looked at a lot of Twitter Auto Favorite services and chose Tweet Full because it is so far the most advanced program. It not only takes care of the search functionality, but comes with added intelligence. Moreover, you can repeat this process every 10 minutes to get maximum benefit.

Here is how to use Tweet Full to run your Twitter marketing automatically:

1. Sign up for Tweet Full by visiting their website.

2. Create a promotion and enter your keywords. Separate your Twitter keywords with commas. You can also add exact match phrases and even keywords you want to avoid.

3. Set a threshold for sentiment. For instance, if you only want to favorite tweets that say something in an extremely positive way (a fitness freak in this example), then you could set this sentiment score to be 80-100% positive. If you are a fitness coach, you can find people saying negative things about their belly.

4. You can also set the influence that people already have by giving Klout Score. Your Klout Score is a measure of Twitter influence. A value of 30 is a good minimum and a value of 40 is decent.

5. If you want people to have certain keywords in their profiles, you could set that in your promotion too.

6. Finally, select the frequency, and you are done.

This will activate Tweet Full automatic favorites and you will see the results in as soon as 10 minutes. If you do not want your favorite count to go big, you could, after a few hours, also set your Tweet Full promotion to automatically un-favorite tweets that it favorited.

The Cherry On Top

Since people are going to visit your profile, you want to make sure your profile is so good that it keeps them coming back. Here are the tips to woo your Twitter profile visitors:

1. Have a stunning picture as your profile pic.

2. Have a good looking cover (header) picture.

3. Remember that a background picture is nice, but not really mandatory.

4. Have a decent theme color to make sure it aligns with your website if you are a professional or a business owner.

5. Most importantly, have a great persuasive Twitter bio with a link to your website.

6. Finally, have a pinned tweet that has a Call to Action in it.

If you are struggling with content to post on your social media accounts, I would recommend tools like Folwd that will help find you the perfect content to share with your audience, and at the right time.

If you try my suggestions above on a brand new account, you will start seeing traction within roughly two months. If you already have a decently populated Twitter account, this will take you far in becoming an authority in no time.

While tools are not mandatory, they help you get more out of Twitter without spending much time. But if your time is not as expensive as the tools, you can do the same thing yourself. It is simply trading time for dollars.

Comment below to let me know what you think of this hack. Also, if you start your Twitter account when you start using these tips, post your starting follower count and come back after a month to let me know how it worked out for you!

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“The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born – that there is a genetic factor to leadership. That’s nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born.” – Warren Bennis

Great leaders share many common traits with you and I. For one thing they are human! They have made mistakes, failed, they have overcome disappointment, heartache, tragedy and grief. No great leader has ever been able to escape the roller coaster ride of life.

Becoming a great leader is a work in progress. There are a number of events that occur in the life of a leader where they were required to act on specific personal qualities or traits that enabled them to lead people to achieve successful outcomes. I believe that everybody has within them the potential to be a great leader.

Nelson Mandela is an example of a person who had a personal philosophy and mindset that enabled him to become a great leader. He didn’t think he was any one special however when placed in a situation where he would be tested and isolated from life, his personal philosophy became the mantra from which he became a great leader.

You may not know it but you hold within you the beliefs, attitudes and traits that are of leadership quality. Here are 13 signs that you have within you the mindset of a leader. If you “unleashed” your leadership mindset, there is no doubt that you would become the “great leader” you were born to be.

1. You Are A Realist and An Optimist

You accept that life is unique and it is what it is. You like to deal with the reality of life however because you are an optimist you have hope for the future and a positive outlook on life.

You believe that there will always be a way to sort out any situation you may face in life. Your optimistic view of life is contagious and a source of positive energy for those around you.

These are great qualities to have as a leader, as leaders need to be positive and hopeful and at the same time accepting what will be, will be.

2. You Love To Learn

You are always open to learning new things, in fact you actively search for new knowledge and information that can enhance your abilities to be a better person. You also love to learn from others and you will actively search out and connect with people who you can watch and learn from.

Your love of learning is definitely a leadership quality. A good  leader never stops learning. They never turn down the opportunity to learn new things. Like you, leaders are open to the fact that the opportunity to learn can come at any time. It could come from a university lecturer, the person who makes their coffee or sells them a newspaper. Your love of learning sets you on the pathway to being a great leader.

3. You Are A Good Listener

“We have two ears and one mouth, using them in proportion is not a bad idea!” – Richard Branson

You know when you are a good listener because people come to you to ask your advice or to share their problems. They know that when they talk to you, you make them feel that they have been heard and valued.

You don’t like to do a lot of talking when you are listening to a person because that distracts you from getting to the core of the issue or problem that is being discussed.

The conversations you have with these people are not about you and you understand that. You may know the answer about how this person could solve the problem, however your focus is guiding and advising the person as to how they can come to their own solution or plan of action.

Richard Branson believes that a person who is a great listener has the ability to be a great leader. It is a key requirement according to Branson and you have it.

4. You Always See Potential In Others

You love people and you connect easily with all types of people. You also operate intuitively and will recognise very quickly the potential abilities of people you meet.

You see the potential for personal leadership in others and will encourage and support those people to take up any opportunity to unleash their potential.

5. You Are A Kind Person

You have empathy for people and you can very quickly tune in to how they are feeling. You do not believe that by showing kindness that you are being weak. In fact you see it as a strength because by being empathetic and kind to others means that you are living your values and that to you is very important.

Being kind to others is an integral part of your life philosophy and this is what makes you a great leader.

6. You Are Resourceful

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams

You have this amazing ability to use what ever you are given to make the best of a situation.People look to you as the person who can take them out of a crises because you always seem to find a way.

You are prepared to ask for favours, work hard, stay focused, be honest and ask for help. You have an ability to see and prepare for the future because you embrace the concept of change.

To you change is a constant part of life and you just go with it. This is a key quality for a leader to have, because to be resourceful, you have to be motivated to act quickly – procrastination is like a swear word to you.

7. You Are A Good Communicator

You know who you are and what you stand for. You can clearly articulate to others your thoughts and opinions. Speaking your truth is important to you however you are also very aware of how others receive your message.

You are quite strategic in how you deliver what can be received as “unwelcome news”. Your intention is always to communicate even if it is a difficult message with heart felt intent and you strive to ensure that those receiving the message feel and clearly understand your intent and what you are saying to them.

There is no confusion, misunderstanding or unclear expectations when you are communicating with others because you work hard to ensure that all parties are on the same page.

8. You Create And Maintain Great Relationships

You enjoy being around people and you surround yourself with people who challenge, inspire, teach, support and encourage you. You are a great networker because you love connecting to people.

Family and friends are very important to you and you work hard to have flourishing relationships with all your family and friends.

People see you as someone who is reliable, honest and trustworthy – you keep your word and you are not into the drama of life. That’s just not your style. You avoid relationships with people who lead lives that are full of drama and negativity – their energy drags you down.

You love the positive energy that your relationships give you as it is this energy that fires you up, inspires and motivates you. This is such an important quality for a leader to have and you have it! Congratulations.

9. You Like To Have Fun And Celebrate

“If you aren’t having fun, you are doing it wrong. If you feel like getting up in the morning to work on your business is a chore, then it’s time to try some thing else. If you are having a good time, there is a far greater chance a positive, innovative atmosphere will be nurtured and your business will flourish. A smile and a joke can go a long way, so be quick to see the lighter side of life.” – Richard Branson

This is how Richard Branson lives his life and you follow a similar life philosophy. Enjoying what you do in your life both professionally and personally is important to you and you just love to have fun. You also love to celebrate your successes and other people’s successes.

Your optimism and outlook on life is a source of positive energy and its contagious. People really enjoy being around you because you inspire and motivate them with your energy, enthusiasm and love of life.

People always feel good when they engage and connect with you. A wonderful quality that sets you up to be an incredible leader.

10. You Are Self Aware And Confident

You know who you are, what you are good at and what you are not so good at. You accept that you are accountable for your own actions and behaviours.

You are not into the blame game and will admit you are wrong or have made a mistake with no hesitation. You spend a lot of time getting to know you so that you can be a better person.

You are really comfortable working with others who are more skilled than you because it means the job will get done – probably to a better standard than if you had tried to complete the task alone.

You know your strengths and your weakness and you’re not afraid to share with people these aspects about you. You know when you can help and when you need help and as a result you appear to others as a confident, articulate and empathetic person.

11. You Are Prepared To Take A Stand For What You Believe

“Do what you feel in your heart to be right – for you’ll be criticized anyway.”  – Eleanor Roosevelt

You know who you are and what you believe in and you make sure that those around you know also. You are not afraid to speak your mind. You also believe it is important to do what you believe is right.

You are committed to your values and you live your life according to those values. You respect diversity and difference however you do not tolerate injustice, intolerance and the abuse of others.

People feel inspired by your commitment and passion and will seek you out to connect and engage with you. This is a key quality of a great and courageous leader. It takes courage to stand up and speak out for those who are too afraid to.

12. You Tend Not To Panic In Difficult Situations

“Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.” – Publilius Syrus

This quotes illustrates when good leaders shine – which is effectively leading in challenging and tough times. By staying calm in times of crises you demonstrate a key leadership quality. When you are able to stay calm in a crises situation you maintain the ability to reason, to be effective, to have empathy and to connect to how you feel.

An individual who panics can not act or respond with consideration. They can only react and respond in the heat of the moment. You do not operate this way because you know that irrational and reactive behaviour does not produce effective and reasonable solutions.

13.  You Are A Solution Based Thinker Who Likes To Think Outside of the Square

You are future orientated in your thinking and that means that you like to look outside of the square to search for solutions. Forget the problem you say, lets look at what solutions are out there for us to consider on how we can solve the problem.

You have an ability to see and prepare for the future because you embrace the concept of change. To you change is a constant part of life and you prepare for it and you just go with it.

You enjoy the challenge of thinking outside of the square because it requires you to be creative and innovative and thats when you feel the most energised and inspired.

People feel your passion and energy – it is contagious and people love you for it! When you are in this space you are operating as the great leader you were born to be.

“I think leadership comes from integrity – that you do whatever you ask others to do. I think there are non-obvious ways to lead. Just by providing a good example as a parent, a friend, a neighbour makes it possible for other people to see better ways to do things. Leadership does not need to be a dramatic, fist in the air and trumpets blaring, activity.” – Scott Berkun

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Four years ago, I went through one of the most difficult times of my life. I’d recently given birth to my third child. I was breastfeeding up to 6 times in a night. My husband was working night shifts. I was also trying to get my writing career off the ground. I would often feed my daughter and type with the other hand. I had broken sleep for months on end and still took my other two children to school on time. I made many sacrifices to follow my dreams. And every single one of them have paid off in the end. If I hadn’t made those sacrifices, my writing career wouldn’t be where it is today.

In order to achieve what we really want in life, we have to make sacrifices. Here are 8 things successful people sacrifice for their success.

1. Time

I am often asked how I juggle being a mother of three young kids, with work and study. I often jokingly respond with, “Lots of coffee.” But in reality, it’s how I make use of time. Truth is, there are so many things to do in a day – it’s not about having enough time, it’s about making use of your time. We all have the same 24 hours and we all have the opportunity to use our time wisely. When we sacrifice time, we’re prioritising a certain task over another one. That task and all the others we accomplish – are the key to our success.

I write to-do lists every day and I stick to them. I set my own deadlines. I try my best not to procrastinate. But if I do, I don’t beat myself up about it. Negative self-talk and thinking, “I wish I had more time” simply takes away the time you still have! You can think, “I only have 20 minutes to do my work.” or you can think more positively, “I have 20 minutes to do my work. If I use this time wisely, I’ll be 20 minutes closer to finishing the task.” If we don’t make better use of our time and achieve our small goals, then we’ll never achieve the bigger ones that are most important to us.

2. Stability

My family has always been on one main source of income. Although my writing pays, it doesn’t provide us with the stability of a second income that we require. In order to follow my dreams, we are sacrificing stability and leaving ourselves with unpredictability. There are weeks in which we earn more money than others. There are weeks in which I have no articles to write and others in which I have two to write several every day.

It’s not the most ideal way to live your life, but it’s a sacrifice I have to make to move my career forward. Successful people have to deal with instability, financial or otherwise, and their life can feel like a rollercoaster. But the good news is, roller coasters go down but they also come back up. If we don’t risk instability, we’re giving up the chance to make our lives better.

3. Personal life

I have been happily married for almost 7 years, but we’ve had our challenges. There are times where I have sacrificed time with my husband to finish an article on time. There are times where I postpone a playdate with another mother to a more convenient time. When we are determined to succeed, we have to make changes in our personal lives – in our friendships and our relationships. It’s not about neglecting your loved ones – it’s about working around your personal life.

Each one of us has their responsibilities and sometimes we simply have to compromise with other people. If we don’t learn to say ‘no’ or give up a night out with friends to study/work, we are the ones who suffer. These are the moments in our life when we have to think of our needs, be sensitive to our loved ones’ feelings and hope that they’ll understand that we need to do what’s best for us.

4. Sleep

There are nights in which I plan to take a break from writing and I fall asleep on the couch. As much as I’d love to be in bed cuddling with my husband, I know that things will not be like this forever. When I’ve had a much needed nap, I wake up feeling very refreshed. It’s late at night, everybody is asleep and I’m feeling energised. Some nights I really push myself but I always try my best to sleep 6 hours a night. And if I can’t, I make up for it another night.

Sometimes, no matter how productive you are during the day, you need those extra hours at night. Without those extra periods of peace and quiet, you may not be able to get everything done. For those wanting to achieve success, the rewarding feeling they get when they’ve accomplished their task always makes the reduced amount of sleep worth it.

5. Health

The reality is, when we’re determined to achieve our goals, we might start to neglect our bodies and our minds. We start to eat less healthy, do less exercise or maybe reduce it to none at all, we might even put our emotional and mental health at risk. It may not be the most ideal thing to do, but those determined to be successful know that it’s only a temporary solution.

We may not be able to put our full attention into our physical, mental and emotional health but we have to be aware of when our body is being overworked. Successful people may start to neglect parts of their life in order to improve other parts of their life. But this can only last for a while. Sooner or later you have to live a healthier life or you’ll regret it in the future.

6. Quiet times

My life is pretty jam packed at the moment. I’m often rushing around trying to fit everything in. My husband and I want to move to a bigger house. We want to give our kids more room to play in, more room to entertain their friends, a more comfortable house for them to grow up in. So this is why my life is so busy at the moment.

I work from home to support my husband’s income. I study from home so when our kids are at school full-time next year, I can have the qualifications to look for a job. I always keep in mind that I need to cherish the moment, but I know that I need to plan for the future as well. Successful people know that the busyness will not last forever.

7. Sanity

There are days when I’m feeling more stressed, tired and overworked than on others. There are days when I question whether what I’m doing is really worth it. But I know it is. Working hard towards our big goals in life was never meant to be easy. These goals and aspirations for the future are meant to test us, challenge us, and help us to realise how badly we really want them.

Maybe your family and friends call you crazy for working so hard. But you need to do what’s right for you. Don’t forget to take breaks, to relax when you really need to, to take time out for yourself. But know that in those temporary crazy moments, you are a step closer to having what you truly want.

8. Immediate desires

There are so many things that each of us wants right now. Things that might encourage us to procrastinate when we really shouldn’t. We might want to do something simple like check our Facebook feed. We might want to do something more significant like buy a new car. But the question is – what is most important to us? We have to make the choice between our immediate desires and the needs that will propel our dreams forward.

Fact is, it’s not wrong of us to have these immediate desires, these temptations to choose the ‘easier’ option’. It’s normal to feel that way. However, when we sacrifice what we want right now, we are saving our time and energy for something more important. Something that will bring us one step closer to our real goals. Something we truly want, not just something we want right now.

Maybe we don’t want to sacrifice our time, stability, personal life, sleep, health, stillness and sanity. Maybe it just feels too difficult. But I’ll tell you right now, I’ve sacrificed every one of these things at one point or another. I wouldn’t have gone from writing on a personal blog to working as a freelance writer/journalist, if I had chosen the easier option. I wouldn’t have grown as a person if I hadn’t made those sacrifices either.

If you want to be successful and achieve what you really want in life, you’ll have to make sacrifices. But when you reach the end of that mountain, you’ll be so very glad that you never gave up the journey.

Featured photo credit: Close up of handsome young businessman via shutterstock.com

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Although they share common characteristics, highly successful people are uncommon.

They walk the roads you walk on, stand under the same sun, but view the world from a lens that sets them apart from the common man.

In the following lines, I will lend you that lens.

The 6 points you will see may look nothing like what you would expect, but their charm rests on their ability to look like one thing while being another. And there, I just gave you one characteristic to wet your beak:

Highly successful people see the good in every situation.

But what else do they share?

In no order,

1. They Never Try

They never try because trying isn’t doing. Instead, they do what they set to achieve. How?

• By being crystal clear about their goals.
• By sacrificing anything that would steal resources (ex: time) away from those goals.
• By celebrating every small win along the way.

2. They Leverage Everything

To leverage is to use a small input to reap a maximum reward. Simply.

Highly successful people have the unique ability of making use of every bit of their human experience. They sell their winning strategies in books, market their experience on TV shows, use their vulnerabilities to connect with strangers and leverage their friendships to access closed circles. Look at your life and assets carefully, there are many things you could leverage.

3. They Give More Than They Take

There is a connection between the number of people you serve and the amount of returns you can make. That is why billionaires tend to be those whose companies serve the largest number of people. Does Amazon ring a bell? Find a universal pain point, focus on addressing it and in due time the returns will come. Nature rewards givers.

4. They Conquer Hearts

The most valuable resources and opportunities are hidden behind relationship walls.

Whether they are introverts or extraverts, highly successful people find a way to connect with the people they meet. They understand that if our aspirations or backgrounds do not unite us, then our flaws will. So they use whatever common ground is available at the moment to reach for your heart.

For example,

• They will greet you in your native language,
• Call you by name as much as they can,
• and mirror your body language if they have no clue what sports you are talking about.

And if none of those work, they will show themselves vulnerable with  stories about themselves. Works like a charm.

5. They Give Up

Only a fool repeats the same action and expects different results. Successful people get that.

As a result they do not lay their time on the altar of regrets, or stay in love with ideas and methods that do not work. They fall in love with the end goal, not the path, and stick to what works.

What doesn’t work, they discard. Quick. And try something else.

6. They Are A-Students

Richard Branson included. Although many highly successful people are school dropouts, one thing they never drop out of is the school of life.

For example,

• They are fantastic students of their mistakes. That is why most keep a personal journal.
• They are great students of others’ successes, which is why they read more books than the average man.
• They are students of what makes people tick. Case in point, there is something you bought this week that you didn’t really need.
• They are brilliant students of people’s problems. Proof? Their products (solutions) sell.

If you commit to being an astute student of life, you would have made a great leap on your journey to success.

I believe that you will, so I wish you the very best in this endeavor.

Featured photo credit: Robert Herjavec via robertherjavec.com

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