15 New Habits You Need In Your Life If You Want To Succeed In 2015

culled from:under30ceo.com

5 Classic Books You Should Read to Develop your Entrepreneur Mindset Before The End of This Year!Last night, I walked into my bedroom and turned on the light switch. No light. Just out of curiosity, I continued flipping the switch, on and off, but still the light didn’t come on. The light would never come on because the light bulb was dead. And until I changed the bulb, there would be no light. Period! No matter the amount of time and effort I dedicated to turning the switch on and off, nothing would change until I changed the old bulb and replaced it with a new one.



Albert Einstein, a great scientist, once said: “[Madness] is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” My experience that night with the switch gave me the inspiration for this article.



From year to year, we cross over with our old habits and somehow still expect our lives to change. The sad truth is, no matter how hard we work, it will be impossible to achieve success if we don’t change the old light bulbs in our lives. As we approach the new year 2015, it’s important that we reflect on all your habits and change the ones that worked against you in 2014. If you don’t do this, 2015 may just end up looking like 2014, with little improvement, if any.



I have put together a collection of 15 habits that successful people around the world have in common. How many of them do you have? Adopting these habits may mean the difference between success and failure in 2015. Here are the new habits you need to adopt to increase your chances of success in the coming year…



1.    Goals. You should have them
Setting clear goals is one of the strongest habits of successful people. It’s not just successful people who set goals, successful companies do too. Goals are very important because they help us to measure, achieve and appreciate success.



A goal makes you excited to wake up in the morning and gets your creative juices flowing. It keeps you focused on the most important things in your life and helps you to make the right choices. Without goals, your life will be directionless; you will become a spectator, instead of the champion you are supposed to be.



What are your goals for 2015? By this time next year, how would you know that you’ve achieved something worthwhile in your life? A goal is not a goal until you WRITE IT DOWN! Write down the things you want to achieve with your finances, business, health, education, relationships and other areas of your life. These goals must be clear, specific and measurable.



Most importantly, you should put your written goals in a place where you can see them often. Don’t just write and lock them up somewhere. Your goals must be on your mind everyday!



2.    Adopt a positive mindset
1.1 15 Habits for 2015 2Life can be hard in this part of the world. Everywhere you look, there are challenges. But you shouldn’t let it get to you. Your outlook on life can have beneficial effects on your mind. A positive mind is fertile ground for creativity, innovation and bright ideas. A positive mindset affects your behaviour, helps you to set the right goals and make the right choices. It’s no surprise that all successful entrepreneurs have a positive mindset.



Your mind is the most important part of your existence. When you have a negative outlook on life, you start to adopt negative behaviours and attitudes, which turn into habits that ultimately ruin your life. A positive mindset also works the same way. The good thing is that YOU get to choose which mindset to adopt. You have to decide how you want to see the world around you.



You cannot control the things that will happen to you in the new year. But you can control the way you react to them. Unfortunate things may happen in your life, but it’s always up to you to decide how you respond to them. A positive mindset, like a negative one, costs nothing. But it’s up to you to decide which one will define your life.



3.    Take action
Even if you had the best idea in the world, nothing would change unless you take action. Action is the only thing that separates dreamers from doers. Having knowledge is not enough, you must act on that knowledge if you want any real success. Many people spend their time talking, wishing, dreaming and planning; but only a few take real action.



People don’t take action for various reasons. One of the biggest reasons is procrastination. We keep waiting for the ‘perfect’ time. Unfortunately, there is nothing like a perfect time. Most times, the real reason why we procrastinate is because we are afraid. Taking action means we could fail. And most people don’t want to fail. This way of thinking is wrong. I’ll talk more about failure in a later point.



Successful people always take action. Sometimes they may fail, but it doesn’t stop them from taking action. Because they know that they can only win or succeed by taking action. Not by waiting, hoping and dreaming. The new year 2015 should be an action year for you. Make it count!



4.    Learn to Focus
The world is full of noise and distractions. The only way to survive and get things done is to focus. FOCUS - Follow One Course Until Success. When you have something to do, focus all your resources, energy and time on that task and finish it. Don’t do anything else until you finish. If not, you’re likely to have half-finished projects all over the place.



When you have several things to do, the first thing you should do is prioritise. The next step is to focus on your tasks one by one. Make sure you finish one thing before starting with the next. This is an effective way to accomplish more with the limited time you have.



5.    Value your time and spend it wisely
1.1 15 Habits for 2015 3Many people don’t value their time. Maybe it’s because we get it for free. Time is arguably the most valuable resource on earth; but it’s taken for granted the most.



Think about it for a moment. If you lose money, you can make it back. If you lose material things like a car, house or jewelry, you can always replace these things. Sadly, when time is lost, it can never be regained. Lost time is gone and lost forever. No   matter what you do, yesterday will never come back.



So, if time is so precious, why do we often waste it? You will know how much a person values her time by how she spends it. You must understand that time is a currency; how you spend and invest it will determine how much you’ll get in return. If you spend it on idle gossip and other unproductive activities, you’ll surely reap regrets and failure. But if you spend your time in learning and developing yourself, the investment always pays off.



Time is usually wasted when you don’t have any plans for it. That’s why goals are important. Everyday, you need to set targets and goals for yourself. If not, other senseless things will steal your time away. Don’t let this continue in the new year. Spend your time wisely!



6.    Choose your friends; don’t let them choose you.
When you spend a lot of time with a person or a group of people, you’ll definitely be influenced by their behaviour, habits, tastes and choices. Most importantly, you’ll start to think the way they think. This is not a new theory. Ever heard of the following proverbs?

‘Birds of a feather flock together’
‘Show me your friends and I’ll tell you who you are’



According to Jim Rohn, a famous author and businessman, ‘You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.’ And this statement is almost always true. Look around you for a moment. Who are the five people you spend the most time with? Do they share similar goals with you? Are they passionate about entrepreneurship and business like you? Are they the right kind of influence for the future you want to have?



It’s better to be alone than to submit yourself to negative influence. If you have the wrong kind of friends, leave that circle before they change you! Thanks to the internet, you’re no longer limited to the friends in your environment. Join groups and discussion forums online that share your passion. Attend events, conferences and seminars where people like you will show up. Make new connections. Make new friends who have big dreams like you.



7.    Stop complaints and blames
Everywhere you look in Africa, there are problems, challenges and difficulties. Broken infrastructure, falling standards in education, inadequate electricity supply etc. The natural instinct for most people is to complain and blame the government and other institutions for these problems. If you’re one of these people, you have to change this habit.



Successful entrepreneurs don’t complain and blame other people. Instead, they think of solutions. The thing is, complaints and blame are usually accompanied by negative energy and pessimism. It’s difficult to be creative when you’re blaming other people. Rather than blame and complain, what can you do to solve that problem?



8.    Learn, learn, learn. Everyday!
If you don’t learn often, you cannot become a successful person. The human mind is like a muscle, and like all muscles in the body, your mind expands and develops if you exercise it regularly. Are you learning new things everyday? If not, it’s a bad and harmful habit you need to change.



Make learning a conscious habit. If you see a new word you don’t understand, look it up in the dictionary. If you come across a financial or economic term or theory you haven’t heard of before, Google it! Successful people have a curiosity habit; they always want to know more about the world they live in. If there is a skill or knowledge they need, but don’t have, they learn it. Over time, the knowledge and skills you accumulate everyday add up. If you learn the meaning of a new word everyday or read a new book every month in 2015, do you know how much improvement you’ll achieve? A lot!



We are lucky to live in a time when knowledge is no longer locked up in a library somewhere. Use the power of the internet to change your life! Be curious about knowing more. The more you know, the more you’ll start to make sense of the world around you. The more you know, the more you can do. That’s why they say: “Knowledge is Power”



Set a target for yourself to learn something new every day, no matter how small or insignificant you think it is. Set a target to read one article each day on blogs, newspapers or magazines that publish good stuff in topics and subjects that interest you. Each month, take one course or lesson that teaches you something new. There are lots of free courses online. You will find my top ten recommended sites for online courses at the following link: Free Online Courses - Top 10 Places on the Internet Where Africans Can Learn Anything for FREE.



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You don’t have time to learn? I hear this excuse a lot. Create time! Read on your way to work/school. Read when you’re in the toilet. Read just before you sleep. If you’re willing to learn, you’ll always find the time. It’s up to you if you choose to watch TV or learn something new. But trust me, there’s always time!



9.    Appreciate the value of taking small steps
Most people think success is a single major event that will happen in their life. So they keep waiting for the big day to come. Most times, that big day never comes. Why? Because success doesn’t just happen overnight; it’s not one huge step you take. Success is a series of consistent changes that happen over time. The two key phrases I need you to take note of are ‘consistent changes’ and ‘over time.’



Taking small steps towards success is many times better than waiting for the big bang. Small steps mean that you can start with what you have instead of waiting for the perfect time. There will never be a perfect time to do anything. Just start with what you have and do what you can. Your goal in the new year should be to make progress, not perfection.



Don’t wait until you have all the capital you need. Don’t wait until you have all the knowledge and learn everything there is to know. Stop waiting for the perfect time. Start making small steps with the resources you have.



10.    Failure is your friend. You should start seeing it differently
Failure is a subject I like to talk about because it’s one of those things that hold many people back from reaching their dreams. The truth is, successful people react to failure in a totally different way than the rest of us. Because they know that the more they fail, the more they increase their chances of success. If you’re afraid of failure, it’s a habit you’ll have to change. Failure should inspire, and not discourage you. Failure is temporary. Failure is not personal.



I won’t spend a lot of time on failure in this article because I’ve written a masterpiece on it already. 7 Interesting Things You Should Know About Failure has become a popular article that reveals a lot about the qualities of failure many people don’t know about. I would advise you to read that article. You’ll definitely learn a lot from it!



11.    Dream more. Use the power of your imagination!
Entrepreneurs are dreamers. That’s why we create products, services, businesses and solutions that didn’t exist before. Everything that exists in the world today was first created in the mind of a person. Houses, cars, computers and businesses exist today because somebody had the vision, dream and imagination to create them. You and I, and human beings in general, are blessed with the power of imagination. No other creatures on earth have this power. We can create anything we want with the power of our imagination. So, why don’t we use it very often?



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Can you imagine solutions to the everyday problems people face around you? How do you think these problems can be solved? Make a list. It doesn’t matter how stupid, crazy or impractical they look or sound, just write them down. If you continue doing this, you’ll start to see the world from a totally different perspective, and impossible things will start to look more possible to you.



100 years ago when the first aircraft was created, everyone thought it was a joke. The critics said: human beings could ‘never’ fly. How could something so heavy float and fly in thin air? Nobody could see the possibility. But today, thousands of people fly in airplanes as if it were nothing. Don’t forget, somebody first imagined that it could happen, and then it happened.



Stretch the power of your imagination. “Anything your mind can conceive and believe, you can achieve.” Napoleon Hill



12.    Fight herd mentality. Don’t be afraid to stand out
One of the biggest problems we have in Africa is that most people don’t want to think for themselves. We prefer to stick with old traditions because we don’t want to change the status quo. Most people just prefer to fit in. Why fit in when you can stand out?



You’re a leader. You need to start thinking like one. There’s nothing wrong with being different. That’s how change happens in the world. It’s impossible to change anything if you’re unable to think differently.



13.    Learn to say ‘No!’
Many people waste their time, effort and money on unnecessary things and activities just because they want to please other people. Are you one of them? When you always go out of your way to impress and please other people, the life you’re living is definitely not your own. You are not in charge of your life; other people are.



Don’t be afraid to say ‘No.’ Most times, we let other people eat into our time and waste it just because we lack the guts to politely say ‘No.’ You cannot please everybody and you need to understand that. Remember what I said earlier about time? It’s the most precious resource you have. Don’t allow other people take it away from you. You have to defend it will all your might. What’s the point of pleasing others when you could end up sad and unfulfilled in the end?



14.    Practice Kaizen
Kaizen is a Japanese philosophy that was introduced in the 1940s. It is a system that encourages continuous improvements in the way a company does business. Hugely successful businesses like Toyota and Canon have been practicing Kaizen for decades.



I don’t want to bore you with the technical aspects of the Kaizen philosophy, so I’ll share with you how you can apply this interesting system in your life. On a daily or weekly basis, reflect on the things you did right and wrong. Look closely at your successes and failures. What improvements can you make to increase your successes and reduce your failures? These improvements don’t have to be major improvements. The smaller and simpler they are, the better. When these ‘small’ improvements are continuously applied over time, they can lead to major positive changes and successes in your life.



So, even after you’ve adopted all the new habits in this article into your life, you don’t have to wait for another full year to pass before you make new changes. Kaizen helps you to make small daily improvements that will significantly add up at the end of 2015.



15.     Develop your financial intelligence
1.1 15 Habits for 2015 6You can tell a lot about a person’s character by the way they treat money. Unfortunately, many of us are not wise about how we treat our money. When you have money in your hands or in your bank account, there are three main things you can do with it. You can spend it, keep it, or invest it.



Most people spend their money on flashy, unimportant and totally unnecessary stuff. The sad truth is, once you spend money on these things, you can’t get it back. Keeping (saving) money is good. It’s a great but slow way to create wealth for yourself over time. It requires a lot of discipline and as long as you’re getting some good interest on the saved amount, you’re good. If not, inflation could wipe out the value of your savings in the long run.



The best way to treat money is to invest it. Rather than spend it or allow it to sit idly in a savings account, investing your money means that your money will work hard for you and multiply. Starting a business or investing in real estate are just a few of the ways you can invest your money and make it work hard for you. Your job in the new year is to find creative ways you can apply your money and make it work for you.



The natural human impulse is to spend money when we have it. You have to resist this temptation in the new year if you plan to succeed.



2015 Will Be A Breakthrough Year For You If You Want It To Be
Everything you need to succeed in the new year is in your hands. There are no hidden secrets or formulas. Your habits are the single strongest factor that would determine whether you’ll succeed or fail to achieve your goals in life in 2015. If you have the right habits, like the ones listed in this article, you’ll definitely meet with success.