How Successful People Do Things Differently

Have you ever been curious about the strategies implemented by successful people?

Did you ever wonder how some people simply perform at a level so much higher than their peers?

If your answer to these questions is an alarming YES please continue reading!

The science behind success is not necessarily because of who people are, but rather what people decide to do. Some people have a lot of goals, yet they are only halfway reaching them or creating a list too long to accomplish in any given day.

As said by Heidi Grant Halvorson, “Success isn’t about winning the DNA lottery; it’s about reaching your goals.” 

What’s really necessary is an accountability partner, a calendar, a notebook, and of course a writing pen! 

Once you have what I just mentioned its time to write down some specific rules in order to start gaining more clarity on your desired area of success in your personal or professional life.

After reading the book, 9 Things Successful People Do Differently by Heidi Grant Halvorson, I happened to gain a sense of greater insight.

Indeed I learned that there are nine things that are to be mentioned to gain better clarity on what will effectively make you considerably more successful. Here is the list below:

1. Get Specific – Whatever your goal happens to be such as having 8% body fat, squatting 215 lbs down to a seated bench level twelve times, or sleeping nine hours each night you need to be more specific. Whatever you are wanting to do it is important to spell out on paper exactly what it is that you want to accomplish. 
2. Seize The Moment To Act On Your Goals – The necessity of action is about deciding when and where you’re going to commit to advancing on a task. When you decide to become laser like focused on tasks and you eliminate unimportant time on inbox emails, social media news feeds, and text messages; you will notice an increase in productiveness when bypassing distractions. It helps to engage in if-then planning. Example, “If it is 6pm, I will return any missed phone calls during work.” Another example, “If it is 7am I will be in the gym for my regular workout before work.” 
3. Know Exactly How Far You Have Left To Go – When aiming at achieving a goal you have to have regular monitoring of your progress. If you cannot adjust your behavior after a certain amount of time while working towards a goal, you need to develop a new wise strategy. It helps to have feedback. When you have an accountability partner it will help you considerably to have a better sense of whether you are making measurable progress. Decide how often you want to monitor your goals. Figure out where the information needed to assess will come from, which should be your accountability partner providing you with the expertise. Write down and create reminders for yourself, you’ll be doing yourself a favor. 
4. Be A Realistic Optimist – When you set goals its important to have positive thinking about achieving your desired outcome. It takes time, effort, planning, and persistence. There are a number of self-improvement books and self-help books out there that make success seem like it is something that can be easily obtained, however this is simply unrealistic. It takes confidence in your abilities, employing the right strategies, and persistently overcoming obstacles. The road to success is difficult because it forces you to take action on a continuous basis and persist in the face of adversity. Be realistic, yet at the same time remember and reflect upon your past success where you visualized success and made things happen. 
5. Focus On Getting Better; Rather Than Being Good – Some people think that they are stuck with their current abilities and they can never get better, this is simply not true. The good news is that any person with ambition and a desire to improve can enhance their intelligence, physical attributes, and personality. Focus less on proving yourself to others and develop and acquire more new skills. Embrace the fact that you can change and will develop a greater potential. Life is a journey and you have to tackle challenges that arise. Give yourself permission to make mistakes and learn from them. Make it a priority in your life to constantly get better. Don’t compare yourself to other people, but rather compare your current performance to your past performances and track your progress. 
6. Have Grit – If you have extraordinary gifts in any area it would help you considerably more if you developed more grit. This is essentially the ability to persistently commit to long-term goals. The key to success is thousands and thousands of hours spent mastering skills and knowledge. It’s about not giving up and turning away when you get discouraged or bored. In fact, it takes grit in order to get better and better. If you combine grit with lessons learned from poor planning and poor strategies it will lead you a long way. 
7. Build Your Willpower Muscle – This muscle known as willpower is much like other muscles in the body. If you do not use it enough on a regular basis it will go to waste. Self-control and resisting temptation are a big part of everyday decisions and the choices on whether or not to take action. When you overcome urges and develop new habits it takes a lot of willpower to enforce. You can reward yourself in positive ways when you implement your willpower muscle. In order to grow your willpower start by adding challenges such as making your bed first thing in the morning, sitting up with proper posture, and doing twenty push-ups and pull-ups in the evening time. 
8. Don’t Tempt Fate – Don’t overwork yourself by setting too many challenging goals. Some people are overly confident and set themselves up for failure. Don’t make reaching a goal harder than it really is. Do yourself a favor and make an if-then plan. Think about the times where you are most vulnerable to temptation and do your best to avoid those situations. Tackle one problem at a time.
9. Focus On What You Will Do, Not What You Won’t Do – Do you really want to land a new job, lose twenty pounds, and find the love of your life? First decide what you really want with full detailed clarity. Start to replace old negative behaviors with new positive behaviors. If your goal is to stop doing something, decide to replace it with something positive instead. Once you have instilled a good behavior keep moving forward with it. 

I hope you have learned something positive from this post that you can take away in order to build your success. If you want a more detailed list of these rules in order to elevate your abilities and talents be sure to purchase the book Nine Things Successful People Do Differently. 

Works Cited

Halvorson, G. Heidi. 9 Things Successful People Do Differently. Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation, 2012. Print.