7 Habits of Successful People

Habits are the foundation to your life.

With time each habit builds up and you reap the results — this counts for both good and bad habits.

That is why I believe that paying close attention to your habits is a major contributor to achieving success in life.

Here are the 7 habits which you can adopt in order to improve upon your life and achieve your goals:

Number 1: Cup of Water Next to Alarm

One of the main struggles, even to this day, with my daily routine is managing to wake up at 5 AM.

I used to try a lot of different things like putting my alarm in another room, doing multiple alarms and many other methods.

One day I decided to drink a glass of water as soon as I woke up and to my surprise I felt less of an urge to get back to my bed and sleep in.

Drinking water is the first thing you should do once you wake up. The water freshens you up and you instantly feel less sluggish.

Ideally the water is cold in order to give your body more of a shock so it wakes up faster.

Number 2: Wake Up 1 Hour Earlier

Yes, many people say that 5 AM is the ideal time to wake up to be ‘successful’.

But in reality even waking up just one hour earlier than your usual wake up time will have a huge impact on your life.

That’s 365 hours extra in your year.

This habit first became important to me when I started trying out different side hustles. My first plan was to work on my side hustle after I finished studying for medical school.

There was one issue with this. I was tired at this point and had no motivation to keep on going.

The result?

I would end up procrastinating.

When I started working on a side hustle early in the morning, my mind was still fresh so I was motivated enough to get work done.

Even this newsletter is being written at 6 a.m. before I study — I just showered after coming back from a jog so I’m full of energy.

Instructions:

1. Find out at what time you naturally wake up

2. Reverse by 5 minutes everyday to allow your body to adjust to your new wake up time slowly.

3. Repeat until you manage to start waking up 1 hour earlier.

Number 3: 2x Listening Speed

This habit is my favourite one.

I consume content (podcasts, audiobooks etc.) twice as fast as most of the population.

Eventually you’ll become so fast that you’ll start contemplating whether or not you should watch TV shows and movies in 2x listening speed.

Imagine — you have a 10 hour audiobook — you can finish it in 5 hours and have an extra 5 hours to read another one.

Double the information, same amount of time.

I do this while I’m cleaning the dishes or eating. It has now become a substitute to YouTube and TikTok.

Instructions:

1. Start by increasing from x1 to x1.2 to x1.5 until you get to x2 speed — once you start to get used to one speed turn it up a notch.

Some people even manage to go up to x3 speed — but I’m not there yet either so relax.

Number 4: Pomodoro Method

A game-changer.

I was first introduced to this method in my first year of med school because I did not have the motivation to study.

Splitting up my studying into periods of 25 minutes helped me maintain more focus — and I also had the 30 minute break to look forward to.

I started out with the 25 / 5 split (25 minutes studying, 5 minutes break) but realised that for me 5 minutes was too short of a break so I changed it to the 50 / 10 split in order to have a 10 minute break.

Ideal breaks are those which re-charge you:

• Meditation

• Exercise

• Nutrition

• Naps

Number 5: Treat Time as a Currency

This habit is the one which has had the most impact on my life.

When I started getting busier my bran was too overwhelmed so I decided to write everything down and categorise accordingly.

Over time I developed this into a scheduling system and started using Google Calendar to schedule everything.

This allowed me to have a clear idea of all the tasks I needed to complete, quantified into hours.

That’s when I realised that we should treat time as if it was money.

You have a limited amount of time.

Identify how much time you have.

Budget the time — same as you would do with money.

An important thing to keep in mind is to use Parkinson’s Law.

Instructions:

1. Write down the number of hours in a week — 168 hours

2. List down all non-flexible tasks and how much time they would take you to complete. Write the amount of hours these will take during the week:

   • Sleep — minimum 7 hours [so 7 hrs x 6 nights = 42 hrs per week]

   • Day Job — average: 40 hours a week

3. Repeat this but for tasks with flexible times

   • Gym

   • Reading

   • Lunch

   • Side Hustle

Number 6: Only One Leisure Activity Per Week

Before you get triggered and lecture me about the importance of work life balance, hear me out.

Follow this rule just for your 20s and dedicate this time towards building your foundation.

The parties won’t go anywhere, you can still enjoy them after you become successful.

From your 30s onwards you can focus more on fun once your empire has been established.

Avoid alcohol and late nights out — yes I sound like a grandpa but these will result in you waking up groggy and late, reducing the amount of time and energy for you to focus on your goals.

This rule also helps you focus on more quality activities and eliminate the ones which have the least quality such as going to clubs and drinking.

Instructions:

1. When someone asks you to go out, ask yourself ‘’Is this a hell yes or a no?’’ — if the activity does not excite you enough for you to say ‘’hell yes’’ to the opportunity then you should probably skip it.

Number 7: 30 Minutes Exercise Everyday

I’m not going to waste too much time on this because we’re all aware of the benefits of exercise — so I’m just going to give you a little more insight into how this habit has helped me and how you can apply it into your daily life.

I truly realised the benefit of exercise when I compared my exam results in the first semester (when I stopped exercising to spend a whole day just studying) versus second semester (I continued going to the gym even during exam season).

My exam results were much better in my second semester.

More blood flow to the brain = healthier brain = more efficient studying = better results.

I also felt much better physically and mentally.

Because I felt less sluggish I became more productive.

Another thing to note is that some of my best ideas come when I am at the gym or during a long jog.

Pick a sport you like and start practicing it everyday for at least 30 minutes — some examples:

• Jogging

• Gym

• Swimming

• Soccer

• Cycling

• Calisthenics

These 7 habits have made my life much more worth living and helped me progress physically, mentally and financially.

Apply them and you’ll undoubtedly experience similar results.