I just conducted a one-second search for ‘habits of successful people’ and here’s what Google informed me:
“About 1,850,000,000 results.”
Now I just to need to read about and adopt all of these habits, right? Then I’ll be successful?
The short answer: No. Which is good news since most of us likely won’t live to be a bazillion years old.
The even better news? Your own personalized answers are actually close at hand. You may just need to start asking some different questions.
Defining Success
Not only does a ‘one size fits all’ approach rarely work in life, a list attempting to share what successful people do misses the mark in one important, all-permeating way:
We each define ‘success’ differently.
For one person, success might mean a certain dollar amount in the bank.
For someone else, it might be falling asleep each night knowing they made a difference in someone’s life.
Someone else might define success in terms of health or courage or a job done well.
Consider what success means to you, personally. The next section offers some practical, purposeful ways to do just this.
You, At Your Best
When I coach my clients to set goals, we begin with their values. The fact of the matter is, if you’re striving for something from a ‘success list’ that doesn’t align with your values, you likely won’t feel successful even if you do reach the metric.
You might begin by asking yourself a few questions, such as:
What are my core values?
What does success mean to me? What does it look like or feel like?
At my 99th birthday party, what do I most want people to be celebrating about me?
You can also look to your own personal history for clues. Find a quiet space, pull out a journal, and jot down a few times in your past when you operated at your very best. For each ‘peak experience,’ ask yourself a few additional questions, like:
Why does this moment stand out for me?
What habits or factors contributed to this successful moment?
What’s happening in various life areas – mind, body, spirit, etc. – when I am at my very best?
List your responses and look for patterns.
I recently gave ASPIRE Success Club members a similar exercise, which I posed this way:
If you were to write an article titled, “The Most Important Habits For A Purposeful, Successful __[insert your name]__,” what would your list include?
Give these exercises a try, and add your own along the way. You’ll soon have your own customized list of values-based, purposeful success habits – which I believe you’ll find much more useful than a generic list based on someone else’s version of success!
Christi Hegstad, PhD, PCC, is the Practical + Purposeful Coach for Achievers! Join our email community for coaching tips, book recommendations, tools, resources, and more!