We all know that having good habits is one of the key markers of success. Whether it’s Jeff Bezos, George Soros, or Warren Buffet, every successful billionaire has great habits.
Great habits utilize the slight edge effect to supercharge your success. They improve your life by a seemingly insignificant 1% each day, but compounded over a year, that’s a 37x increase.
With this in mind, let’s talk about some of the highest ROI habits out there today. There’s a lot of habits you can use in your life to supercharge your success, but these specific habits have the least time investment and the most return.
Habit 1. Meditation
It’s no secret that doing some meditation each morning can help clear your brain before you go out into the world to tackle your work. In fact, most research has shown that meditation has a whole host of benefits, ranging from decreased risk of heart disease to better focus.
If you do decide to meditate, I personally recommend starting out small. Russel Simmons, a popular advocate for meditation, recommends starting with just 5-10 minutes each morning and each night. This will create space within your life.
From here, you can decide what you wish to do. Some high achievers prefer to meditate for over an hour each day, but you only need to start with 5-10 minutes to reap the rewards.
Habit 2. Reading
As Tai Lopez, the famous internet marketer once said: “You should read a book a day.” He couldn’t be more right on with this recommendation.
Books are how human beings transmute information to one another. Without them, we would never have surpassed the bronze age. Books are the key to wisdom and knowledge.
It’s not just reading, however – it’s what you read. Unfortunately, most people waste time indulging in cheesy romance novels and poorly written fiction books. While these may be fun to read at times, they aren’t going to supercharge your life by any means.
Simply reading 5-10 minutes a day of a good book, however, can absolutely change your life… especially if you keep a journal and actively apply the advice that these books give you.
A great place to start is with biographies of incredibly successful historical figures, such as Alexander The Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, or Julius Caesar.
- Working Out
Science shows that your body needs to exercise in order to function at high capacity – so is it any wonder why so many entrepreneurs and billionaires exercise each and every day?
Some are known for their morning walks, and others are known for hitting the gym during lunch, but the fact remains that every high achiever understands the importance of exercise.
Studies have shown that there is a direct correlation with exercise and brain blood flow. In other words, your brain literally works better when you exercise regularly.
In fact, at a recent study conducted at the University of Copenhagen, researchers postulated why this might be:
“During exercise regional cerebral blood ¯ow (rCBF), as blood velocity in major cerebral arteries and also blood ¯ow in the internal carotid artery increase, suggesting an increase in blood ¯ow to a large part of the brain. Such an increase in CBF is independent of the concomitant increase in blood pressure but is modi®ed by the alteration in arterial carbon dioxide tension (PaCO2). Also, the increase in middle cerebral artery mean blood velocity (MCA Vmean) reported with exercise appears to depend on the ability to increase cardiac output (CO), as demonstrated in response to beta-1 blockade and in patients with cardiac insufficiency or atrial.”
The fact is that exercising daily is a great habit for success, and if you let your health slack, your success will soon begin to suffer, as well. There’s many ways to start exercising, from 4-week plans to lifelong plans, but what matters is that you start right now.
- Goal Setting
Another critical habit of high achievers is that they always have the end goal in mind. Most people have very vague goals and consequently, never achieve them.
Why is this? Well, if you can’t even see the target you’re aiming for, you’ll never hit it! This is why I recommend people set SMART goals:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Timely
Every single goal you set should have each of these characteristics. First off, it must be specific, otherwise you won’t know what you’re aiming for.
Instead of “make more money” you should aim for a specific amount, such as $15,000/month, $75,000/month, or $50,000,000/month.
Instead of “lose some weight,” you should aim to “lose 15 pounds,” to “lose 5 pounds,” or to even “lose 150 pounds.” Learn the difference between laziness and procrastination.
Goals should also be measurable. They should be quantifiable. They must be achievable, otherwise they’re dreams (not goals), and they must be relevant! Without relevance, it will be hard to motivate yourself to accomplish the goal.
Lastly, they should be timely. Without a set date, it isn’t a goal – it’s just a desire. So, in summary, a legitimate goal would look something like this:
“I want to lose 15 pounds of fat by March 15th, 2020. I’m going to achieve this by lifting weights 3x each week, and jogging for 45 minutes every day after lunch.”
With such a specific plan, specific goal, and specific date, how could you ever fail? It would be pretty damn difficult. This is why we set SMART goals – they’re destined to be hit.
Summary
In conclusion, having great habits is one of the most important things anyone could ever do. Not only do they set your life up for success, but they give you a holistic, rich, and fulfilling life overall.
It’s no good to be financially successful, but for your health to be in ruins. It’s no good to be physically jacked, but to have terrible relationships with your family.
The goal of life is to be happy, and to have a well-rounded, healthy lifestyle. This includes your health, wealth, love, and happiness. All four keys are super important to living the good life.
Habits are a great way to start moving towards these markers, and while you may not see the results of these habits overnight, if you put in the work, they will come – I promise.
A professional writer with over a decade of incessant writing skills. Her topics of interest and expertise range from health, nutrition and psychology.
