Inherit 7 Habits of Insanely Successful People

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Everyone wants to know, what makes successful people who they are. I’ve spent the better part of my last 20 years reading various books, scouring the internet for articles and listening to many podcasts from successful people in every field.  If you are looking into this topic, you will find a plethora of helpful information about successful people. What you may not discover a lot of is how to incorporate the habits of successful people into your own life.  If you are ready to take massive action towards the life of your dreams, you are going to love this article.

Inherit 7 Habits of Insanely Successful People

Habit #1 – Never Listen to the Naysayers

Thank You John Lee Dumas

When John Lee Dumas was throwing around the idea of a daily entrepreneur podcast, everyone told him, “It can’t be done”. Those who were in the podcasting world know how hard it was to run a lucrative podcast. Today John runs one of the most successful podcasts, Entrepreneur On Fire. Not only does he put a new podcast out 7 days a week, he now also has several other flagship products including Podcasters’ Paradise, Webinar On Fire and Quotes On Fire. If John had listened to all those telling him that, “It can’t be done”, he would not have made the 2013 Best of iTunes list, he would not have an loyal following of thousands of listeners (Fire Nation) and he would not have a business making over $433K per month (see February 2015 Income Report).

How to Inherit this Habit:

Don’t let fears or what others say hold you back. If you have a dream, go get it! The only thing between you and your dream is time and effort. Start by taking action today and don’t look back regardless of what others tell you. The fact is that action will create insights. Not every entrepreneur’s first business idea will lead to massive success, however somewhere along the line they will have their “AH-HA moment”, as Dumas calls it. Be sure to read the article series on this topic: Attain the Unattainable – Take a Quantum Leap.

Habit #2 – Work Extremely Hard

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Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX and co founder of Paypal and Tesla Motors, is perhaps one of the most admired, successful people today. In his commencement speech at USC he shared his opinion, on how to become immensely successful in life. His advice:

 “Work extremely hard,  every waking hour.” Elon Musk

Working 80-100 hours per week on average, Musk practices what he preaches. He refuses to settle for anything less than extraordinaire. You will find that many successful people believe in this same practice.

How to Inherit this Habit:

If you are not ready to work 80+ hours a week, then you have not yet found your passion. If you have already discovered what it is that drives you, focus on that very thing. Get in the habit of waking up early and creating a daily routine. By creating a daily routine, you set your mind on a mission of what you need to get accomplished on that particular date. Incorporate exercise into your routine. This is not just about looking good in the mirror, it’s proven to help with stress levels, self-esteem and brain health, just to name a few, see (7 Mind-Blowing Benefits of Exercise). Create an action items list for the day; don’t let the list overwhelm you, let it inspire you. Working extremely hard gets exhausting, remember to take a timeout from work to spend time with your family and allow for some personal time, this will help you avoid burnout in the long run.

Habit #3 – Embrace Failure

The thought of failure is a very unpleasant feeling to most. If you fear failure you will end up staying in your comfort zone. The most successful people have learned the value of failure and live their lives outside their comfort zone. One of billionaire Mark Cuban’s inspirational quotes that he lives by is:

 “Every NO gets me closer to a YES” – Mark Cuban

The fact is that if you are not in the game, you can’t fail, but you also can’t make any progress. Failure is a byproduct of action and action leads to success. The chances are, you will fall flat on your face many times before you gain any measurable level of achievement. The insanely successful people of the world understand this and do not let it stop them from moving forward.

How to Inherit this Habit:

Hit the ground running, as fast as you possibly can. Know that failure is on it’s way, and when it comes, pick yourself back up and keep at it. Make a game out of failure. Document the number of no’s it takes to get a yes. Continually do this and you will come up with the average number of losses it requires to get a win. Now, when you hear, “No”, you will get excited, because you will be one step closer to victory. Remember the magic happens outside of your comfort zone.

Habit #4 – Write Down Clear Goals

Don’t overlook the power of goals. The most successful people thrive on a goal setting regiment. Anthony Robins has inspired over 50 million people in 100 plus countries in the past 30 years of his teachings. One of his most covered subjects is the topic of success and he commonly teaches the importance of setting goals.

“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” – Anthony Robins

In the article, Goals – One Step to Rise Above the Competition, I reference a study started in 1979 where recent graduates of Harvard’s Master of Business Administration program were surveyed. They found that 84% had not set specific goals, 13% had goals but never had written them down and the remaining 3% had clearly spelled out goals that they had written down with a plan of action on how to accomplish. Ten years later the same group of  Harvard graduates were surveyed. They discovered that the 13% who had set goals were making 2x as much as the 84% who had not set goals at all, and the 3% who had written down clear specific goals and a plan of action to accomplish them were making 10x more than the other 97% combined!

How to Inherit this Habit:

I feel like you already know the answer to this one, write down your goals. If you need help getting started writing your goals, you can check out Tony Robins Massive Action Plan or his Rapid Planning Method. Here are 9 tips to get you started on writing goals from my article 9 Do’s and Do’s of Setting Goals:

• Write Your Goals Down
• Be Specific
• Set Achievable Goals
• Make Your Goals Measurable
• Put A Time Limit On Your Goals 
• Create Steps Of Action
• Constantly Revisit Your List Of Goals
• Let Your Goals Be Known
• Never Give Up!

Habit #5 – Think Outside the Box

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The most innovative successful people did not get where they are today without breaking through barriers of the unknown. If someone told you 20 years ago they had a business idea where people could rent a room from a complete stranger over the internet, you would have probably told them they were crazy. Who would have ever thought this would be an amazing business idea? The creative minds of Nathan, Brian and Joe are founders of Airbnb. Today over 25 million guests have booked a room though Airbnb and they were named Inc’s 2014 Company of The Year.

In Shane Snow’s book Smartcuts: How Hackers, Innovators and Icons Accelerate Success, Snow presents this hypothetical situation about thinking outside the box. “Pretend you are driving a car in the middle of a thunderstorm and you happen upon three people on the side of the road. One of them is a frail old woman, who looks on the verge of collapse. Another is a friend who once saved your life. The other is the romantic interest of your dreams, and this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet them. You have only one other seat in the car. Who do you pick up? There’s a good reason to choose any of the three. The old woman needs help. The friend deserves your payback. And clearly, a happy future with the man or woman of your dreams will have an enormous long-term impact on your life. So, who should you pick?“

Think about it for a second or two, who would you pick? This is definitely a hard choice to make for anyone who thinks inside the box, after all, you only have one seat.

Snow goes on to answer this conundrum by thinking outside the box: “The old woman, of course. Then, give the car keys to your friend, and stay behind with the romantic interest to wait for the bus!”

How to Inherit this Habit:

“Be the change you wish to see in the World” – Gandhi

At some time in your life you have had or will have an idea that seems irrational at first thought. If you start to judge and pick apart that idea and ask your acquaintances, you will surely come up with a list of reasons why your idea won’t work. Instead of negatively judging your idea, present yourself with productive questions about the idea. How can I make this idea into a reality? Who is the target customer for this idea and how would they benefit from it? What sort of team will I need to bring this idea to life? The concept here is to not shut down your idea because of fear, instead think positive, work to better the idea and take action to make it happen.

Habit #6 – Hangout with Successful People

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with” – Jim Rohn

The most successful people surround themselves with like-minded individuals. They realize that they don’t have all the answers in life, so they team up with other super successful people and tap into their minds. This goes along with the people they choose to hire. The Uber successful do not make it to the top without the help of some amazing employees. If you took a look into the inner circle of the person you admire the most, you would find a handful of other ultra successful people just like themselves.

How to Inherit this Habit:

First off, take a look at your current inner circle. Who are the five people you spend the most time with, excluding your immediate family you see often. What does this group look like? Are they positive? Do they add value to your life? Would they support you on the journey to reach your dreams? If you didn’t answer “Yes” to the above questions, it’s time to find more like-minded people to share your ideas with. mastermind groups are a great resource for this. Here is a short article on How to Find a Mastermind Group. Maybe you have some old friends who have become super successful since you lost touch with them, reach out to your network and you will be surprised who you will find. Another great idea would be to start a mastermind group of your own, the members will respect you and support you in your endeavors because you created such a great tool for everyone’s path to success.

Habit #7 – Focus

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The first time Warren Buffet ever met Bill Gates was at a dinner party hosted by Gates’ mother. Gates’ mother proposed this question over dinner, “What do you believe is the single most important factor to your success in life?” Without hesitation Bill Gates and Warren Buffet replied at the same time, “Focus”. The most successful people today have targeted their focus on what they wanted the most. They do not let obstacles or failures disrupt their focus on the finish line. While the sharks of the world remain focused on their objectives, they don’t obsess on any single idea, they are open to change. In other words, they are not so stubborn or too attached to their ego, to let a business drain their resources and bank account.

How to Inherit this Habit:

Focus comes down to you and your ability to let go of all the fears and doubts you may have about yourself. It’s about unlocking the power of your mind, see What is Holding You Back? – The Power of Thought. Go back to your list of goals you wrote down. Of these goals ask yourself, “Which one goal will massively change my life in the next 90 days if I accomplish it”? Start with that goal, take action, and don’t let anything stop you from achieving it.
As you can see there is a common theme to all the habits of the insanely successful people of the world, they take action. Don’t just think about doing these things, start doing them, today.

 “A year from now you’ll wish you had started today” – Karen Lamb

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