We all want to experience happiness, good health, and enjoy unstoppable success. While going from rough waters to smooth sailing overnight isn’t always possible, there are a number of decisions we can make that will bring us a lot closer to the personal and professional life we ache to live.
Today, I am sharing three easy ways to set the tone for success in the coming year.
1 | Build a work tribe.
Motivational speaker, Jim Rhon, famously said that, due to the law of averages, we become like the five people we spend the most time with. Even if you’re not about to morph into your slightly immature best friend, it is important to connect with people who understand your passion, share your professional interests, and can offer valuable feedback.
Whether it’s joining a monthly breakfast meeting with other founders, reaching out to colleagues to have brainstorming sessions, or hosting your own panel or meet-up, there are a number of ways you can build a carefully-curated tribe of people who share your values and vision. The more you put yourself out there, the more opportunities you will have to collaborate, get creative, learn, and add value.
2 | Commit only to your top five priorities.
I want to create and achieve a lot in my life; most entrepreneurs do. As fun as it may be to dream and jump from one project to another, the process to completion (and success) is much slower when you’re shutting off of the gas and running out of the car every few hours (or even days).
Billionaire, Warren Buffet, has an excellent strategy for prioritization that goes like this: Write down 25 business goals and circle the five that you most want to achieve. Then avoid the uncircled tasks until your first five are completed.
3 | Rethink your routine.
Though the word “routine” often gets a bad rap (read boring or monotonous), the truth is good routines can help you (and the people around you) feel more structured, confident, and in control.
When I quit my full-time job to work from home as a consultant, I found myself in a strange position of having a lot of time and space to do what I wanted, and not enough time and space to do what I needed. After a couple of stressful moments (freakouts), I quickly realized that I would need to change a lot of my routine in order to be successful and stay healthy.
I started a habit journal and monitored my movements for two weeks. I looked at the patterns that were helping me to achieve my goals and the habits that were hurting my progress. Finding ways to group tasks, delegate, and “save time” became a game. If you aren’t as fulfilled or successful as you feel you could be, look for ways you can support yourself by swapping an old habit for a new one and logging the progress.
This article was originally written by Brenda Della Casa for Inc.com.
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