12 Shocking Habits of Successful People

Today,  we are going to learn about 12 shocking habits of successful people. 

1. Opportunity Costs 

Successful people carefully pick and choose their priorities. They have a lot of responsibilities on their plates, but they only have so much time and energy to invest.  For this reason, successful people weigh the costs and benefits of each of their responsibilities.  Specifically, successful people analyze the opportunity costs of their jobs and commitments.  An opportunity cost is a price you pay for investing time and effort into one activity instead of another. For example, if you spend 8 hours every day at a job you dislike,  you’re sacrificing time you could have spent pursuing a more constructive goal. To be a successful person, you must be willing to sacrifice short-term comforts and responsibilities to better invest in long-term goals. In other words, be willing to fail at some things to excel at others. 

2. Underestimating Success 

Success is not an easy thing to achieve, and it doesn’t come naturally, even to the most successful individuals. In fact, most successful people habitually underestimate their potential.  Why? Because underestimating your potential forces you to work twice as hard and twice as long to achieve the same result. For example, let’s say you’re starting a company,  and you’re selling a product you think everyone in the world will buy. If you’re confident your product will sell itself, there’s a good chance you will not work as hard to achieve it.  On the other hand, if you underestimate how much people want your product, you will invest more time and effort into your work, if only to improve your chances of finding success. Successful people assume that their road is not going to be easy. They accept that they will need to surpass all expectations to achieve anything at all. And that is why these successful people are standing on top. 

3. Practicing Indifference 

One emotion is more valuable to your long-term success than almost any other. That emotion…  is indifference. Successful people practice indifference daily. The world is full of people who want to distract you, undermine you, and pull you away from your goals. You will run into petty conflicts. You will make mistakes and face the consequences of your actions. In all of these situations,  indifference will be your greatest asset. While it’s important to listen to others and consider the consequences of your actions,  every successful person needs thick skin.  Otherwise, the petty conflicts in your life will weigh you down and hold you back. 

4. Forgetting Perfection 

Perfection is a waste of time and energy. If you expect to create a 100% perfect product,  you, like many people, will waste weeks,  months, or even years making tiny changes that will not affect your long-term success. Successful people almost always settle for 95%.  They don’t bother pursuing perfection because it’s something they will never achieve. Instead, they create a product that is 95% of the way there.  They accept whatever imperfections are left over,  and they push forward. Because the final 5% is not going to affect the outcome of your work.  It’s only going to slow you down and destroy your momentum. So, make a habit of stopping at 95%. There may be more work you can do. There may be flaws you wish you could fix. But, chances are, your product is good enough just the way it is. 

5. Breaking Routines 

Habits and routines form the backbone of any successful lifestyle. But successful people don’t live by the same structures for their entire lives. In fact, successful people regularly change their routines, because they aren’t afraid to break things down and make them better. Oftentimes, we stick to the same patterns because we’re afraid of falling back into old habits. But the purpose of any habit or routine is to help you grow. So, once you master those activities,  you need to upgrade your habits and routines.  That way, your lifestyle expands and matures as quickly as you do. 

6. Productivity 

Peaks On average, most successful people wake up early in the morning. But you don’t have to wake up at 5 or 6 AM to be successful. Instead,  you need to target your productivity peaks, the times of day when you are the most productive. For many people, their productivity spikes first thing in the morning,  which is why so many successful individuals value their morning rituals.  But many other people succeed with alternative schedules,  people who get their work done in the afternoons or even late at night. So, don’t worry too much about what time you’re waking up. Successful people don’t base their routines on arbitrary or general recommendations. Instead, they think carefully about their style of work. They reflect on their schedules and keep track of their progress.  That way, you can adjust your routine and cultivate a more productive lifestyle. 

7. Zero Expectations 

Success is never going to be fair. Most of the time, you will not get what you think you deserve.  You will not earn the recognition you want, and you will not get the attention you seek. But by recognizing the unfairness in your life, you, like many successful people, can achieve great things. Successful people work hard without expecting a  single thing in return. They never take a passive role in their success because they know that expectations are a waste of their time and energy. If you want to be a successful individual, keep your expectations as low as you can. Do everything but expect nothing. Because the world isn’t fair,  and there’s nothing you can do to change it. 

8. Denying Obligations 

How often do you say the word “no” in your life? Successful people turn down opportunities daily, because most activities are not worth doing. You may feel obliged to someone else.  You may feel guilty about turning someone away. But, if you’re not willing to say no,  your obligations will take over your life and derail your achievements. That’s why successful people always protect their time and their priorities. They often use phrases like, “Sorry, I just don’t have time,” or “Thank you but I’m not interested,” because those phrases stop others from interfering with their success. No matter what obligations come your way,  you always have the power of choice. Get used to saying no because that’s how successful people keep their priorities in check. 

9. Valuable Sacrifices 

Making the right sacrifices can be the difference between success and failure. Many people with big goals and lofty dreams never pursue their dreams because they aren’t willing to let go of their day-to-day comforts. You cannot prioritize your lifelong ambitions because you are unwilling to compromise the here and now. But this is something successful people do very differently. They keep their eyes on the future, and they use their goals to gauge what is necessary and unnecessary in their lives.  Then, they start trimming their lives down. They move away from those things that do not benefit the greater scope of their lives and, instead,  invest their time and energy into activities that bring their lives real, long-term value. Because a successful life doesn’t have to be a  complicated one. Find what matters to you and let everything fall by the wayside. 

10. Repeating Mistakes 

Not everyone learns from their mistakes, even the most successful people. You’d be surprised how many intelligent, hyper-successful individuals fail at the same thing repeatedly, sometimes for years at a time. But making the same mistakes is a necessary cause of experience on your path toward success. In an ideal world, you could make sense of your mistakes and change your habits in a way that instantly facilitates growth and improvement.  But most of the time, it’s not that easy. Here’s what usually happens instead. After experiencing failure, you may think you know what you did wrong. You change your habits, and you try again, but your second attempt fails, just like your first. So, you go back to the drawing board.  You come up with new solutions, but, chances are,  you will fail over and over again. Like any successful person, you need to experience those consistent failures, or else you will never find long-term success. Every time you fail, you gain a little more courage, a  little more confidence, and a little more insight.  You realize new things, make new connections,  and gain new perspectives. Eventually,  if you keep trying, you will find success, but until then, failing is the best thing you can do. 

11. Efficient Procrastination 

Successful people procrastinate just like everyone else, but they procrastinate in such a way that their bad habits do not interfere with their productivity. If there is a task a  successful person wants to avoid, they don’t fill their time with distractors or wasteful media. Instead, they replace that unwanted task with something equally productive. That way, you are getting just as much done. You’re still checking items off your to-do list and making progress toward your goals. As long as you exchange one productive thing for another, procrastination doesn’t have to interfere with your success. 

12. Constant Delegation 

Successful people accomplish more than the average person because they don’t do a majority of their work. Instead, they are master delegators,  who deal out tasks and responsibilities to a team of subordinates and specialists. In this way, successful people build large networks of reliable,  accomplished individuals who handle their day-to-day tasks.  This delegation frees up successful individuals to focus on the big picture.  They can usher in large-scale changes and oversee gigantic projects because they can rely on other people to bring their ambitions to life. Ultimately, a successful person is just one person. They can only do so much on their own.  But with a team of passionate people behind them,  anyone can change the world. T