Success: It all starts from the little things…

Holidays have passed. Celebration is over. Euphoria is gone.

The harsh reality of life quickly sets in and you’ll then find yourself fall back into the same old habits and mindset.

Are you still keeping your New Year’s resolutions?

You might be wondering, “Why do I ask?”

While New Year might seem like a good time to recharge, reflect and set BIG goals, only 8% of people actually achieve their New Year’s resolutions.

A survey shows that most people forget their New Year promises by the first two weeks of the new year.

25% of those who are setting 2019 goals will stop working towards them just after the first week of the year!

Almost everybody would have forgotten them by midyear.

Related reading:

Why most New Year’s resolutions fail

Because most people go about setting their New Year goals all wrong.

We make a long list of goals like the following:

Make 2x, 3x or 10x more money than the previous year
Publish more books
Eat more healthy food
Quit smoking
Learn a new foreign language
Learn a new skill
Travel to new places
Exercise more
Spend more time with your loved ones

Whether you agree or not, setting too many goals will create unrealistic expectations.

We may start treating it like a sprint rather than a marathon.

Relying on our emotion to keep us motivated. And we tend to give up too early before we can actually feel or see the improvement.

I was once a fan of New Year’s resolutions just like everyone. Creating BHAG goals and breaking them within a couple of weeks.

Throughout the years, I discovered that making a tiny effort to improve a little every day in your daily routine is the secret to big success.

I didn’t start by shooting for the moon at the beginning of the year.

I AIMED to be a little better at what I do each day. And a little less impatient with progress.

Most call it Self-improvement. I call it the Maverick Pledge.

Regardless of what you want to achieve in life, you don’t have to get yourself busying, hustling and grinding every single minute of every day.

The truth is most of your results are going to come from a small amount of what you do.

How to Achieve More in Less Time

Here are my 7 small habits that help me achieve bigger results.

Start finding a few crucial habits that create the most change and work on it with one brick a day mindset.

Let’s make 2019 a great year together!

1. Sleep 8-9 hours a night

Many people think that if you want to be successful, then you have to give up sleep. I don’t find this to be true (at least in my case).

Getting a good night’s sleep is so essential for your overall well-being.

It helps me to stay awake, focused and productive all day.

According to the Sleep Research Society, adults need at least 7 hours sleep every day to promote optimal health and well-being.

When you sleep, your brain stays remarkably active to do some works for you- releasing hormones that help:

Process and store information
Make creative connections and associations
Retain memory
Clear out toxins
Learn and remember how to perform physical tasks

If you’re a light sleeper, like myself, I would recommend using sleep master sleep mask to block out light and soft foam earplugs to cut out noise.

Now I no longer have to struggle to resume sleep again!

Remember you can’t make up loss of sleep. Sleep better, not less.

2. Drink a glass of water every morning

After a long night’s sleep, the very first thing once I wake up is hydrating my body with a glass of water.

Drinking a glass of water on an empty stomach is very good for your health. It helps in cleansing your colon, flushing out harmful toxins from your body, improving your metabolism and immune system.

Interestingly, this “drinking water” morning ritual is deeply rooted in Japanese culture, the country that has the highest life expectancy. Most Japanese women drink water first thing in the morning before brushing teeth to stay healthier.

3. Read for 30 minutes every day

I read a lot. I prefer reading print books though nowadays I just use the Kindle app on my phone.

Every day, I spend 10 minutes in the morning and another 20 minutes before bed to feed my mind with some quality material.

Currently, I’m reading Bruce Lee Striking Thoughts and The Book of Life.

30minutes isn’t a lot of time.

You can make use of the time you’re normally wasting on waiting to read a good book: waiting in line for coffee, commuting on a train, waiting for someone etc.

It’s a cliche but reading is essential to expand your mind, get new ideas, keep your brain fresh, learn from others experience, challenge your ways of thinking, connect the dots and think more critically.

After all, reading is food for the brain. Oprah Winfrey, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Phil Knight and many of the World’s top performers credit much of their successes to constantly reading.

What are you feeding your mind?

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Let’s start feeding with the right sustenance every day.

4. Meditate

I can’t stress this enough. Meditation is one of the best ways to calm your mind and give you immense peace of mind.

Every morning, I meditate for about half an hour to clear my mind and get in touch with my inner self.

According to Tim Ferris, 80% of all the guests he interviewed in his book “Tools of Titan” have some form of daily meditation or mindfulness practice.

Many people think that meditation is boring. It’s so hard to just sit quietly with our own thoughts.

But it’s so much easier than you thought.

If you’re new to meditation, you can start small by spending a few minutes every day and sit in dhyana to attain inner peace.

If you find it hard to sit still and concentrate for even a few minutes, start with taking one mindful breath a day.

If you can breathe, you can learn to meditate!

You can also listen to a song that makes you feel good, focus on your breath, the inhale and exhale while it’s playing.

A regular practice of meditation or mindful breathing will help you clear your mind, reduce attachment to your thoughts, make better decisions in life and business.

5. Reflect on the day

You can’t always be in “doing-doing-doing” mode.

It’s important to spend the last 5 minutes of your workday to sit back and reflect on your day.

This is the time when you can zoom out, step back from your myopic vision, and see the bigger picture.

You may also want to jot down in a journal, things that went well in the day and things that you want to focus on tomorrow.

The point of making reflection a quick daily practice is not to solve your problems, but rather simply to give you a broader perspective and get all your problems, thoughts, ideas out of your head (by journaling).

Without reflection, it’s very easy to lose touch with where you are and where you’re headed next.

6. Exercise daily

Everyone knows that exercise regularly is good for mind and body.

The great thing about exercise is that it’s never too late to start.

I used to be 95lbs with no confidence, constantly struggling with painful cystic acne and irregular menstrual cycle.

Now I’m 105Ibs, fitter with more confidence than ever before.

After one year of regular exercise, here are few proven health benefits:

Maintaining a healthy weight
Getting back my clear skin
Having regular periods

I take a 60-minute jog or hike 2-3 times a week. For the other days, I will make sure I do something for my body, either it’s a 5-minute plank, push-ups or stretching.

The key is to choose a sport or activity that you enjoy doing on a daily basis.

7. Experiment and Practice

To get better at anything you have to keep practicing, experimenting and improving 1% every day.

I have this tiny habit of writing 500 words a day which eventually helps me to quit my job and work from home full-time.

In one day, this 500words is nothing. But in one year, that’s equivalent of 10-15 short stories or nonfiction books.

“First, it is essential that you begin with one skill that you can master, and that serves as a foundation for acquiring others. You must avoid at all cost the idea that you can manage learning several skills at a time.”

— Robert Greene, Mastery

Steps to make a positive change at a time:

Set priorities
Pick a skill/craft/goal that creates the most change
Create one habit at a time (that will help you stay focused on your goal)
Start with the tiniest step – Eg, Learn a new word a day, write one sentence etc.
Set a time for it and do it every day
Find reward or pleasure in the doing of that habit
Be consistent
Review, reflect and adjust regularly

No matter what’s your goal, all the above mentioned daily habits can apply to almost everyone in any circumstance.

Conclusion

What are your 2019 goals?

Remember to achieve something big in life, you need to start small, think big and stay consistent.

In short, success is the sum of tiny efforts, repeated day in and day out.

Start small, aim high and act now!

I live and breath making an income online.

I’ll be sharing more of ideas and guides soon. Stay tuned.

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