There is so much to this old adage: Life is a lifelong learning journey. When in school, we receive our education from structured curriculum systems, delivered by teaching professionals dedicated to our learning. Once we graduate from school and join the workforce, however, we assume responsibility for our own learning. Now, we have the autonomy to guide ourselves and set our own goals.
After completing their formal education, many individuals choose to discontinue their learning journey. Yet, as the master of your own destiny, the path you carve during your career years is solely within your control. Hands down, neglecting continuous self-improvement is unlikely to lead you toward a prosperous and fulfilling life.
Acquiring knowledge for your particular job duties is one thing. In comparison, cultivating a habit that makes learning effortless and seamless is a much smarter approach.
In this article, we are going to follow the steps of some of the successful people from different professions and find some common habits they demonstrate.
Starting Your Morning Early
Think back to your school days. Typically, schools begin around 9 am, and this sets the wake-up time for most students if not all. Some mornings, those "just five more minutes" turned into much longer stretches. It meant we had to skip breakfast and race to school before the bell.
Does this scenario ring a bell for you? Being an adult means being in control of your life, orchestrating your daily schedule to make each day both pleasant and productive. If your mornings are consistently hectic and rushed, it's time to seriously consider restructuring your daily routine. When you win the morning, you win the day. Join the early risers crew: Apple CEO Tim Cook, Disney CEO Robert Iger, Unilever CEO Paul Polman, and Former PepsiCo CEO Steve Reinemund will be your comrades.
To maximize your daily productivity, consider waking up early (or earlier) in the morning. Allocating three hours before work can be beneficial for many people. Rising early grants you precious solitude: You can relish the peacefulness of dawn before the world stirs. Use this time to engage in activities that can jumpstart a productive day. Depending on your situation, it provides an opportunity to incorporate uninterrupted self-care practices, like exercising or meditating or to accomplish tasks from your to-do list before others wake up.
Conditioning yourself to rise early isn’t easy. Try the following tactics:
Starting your early morning routine tomorrow begins tonight. Practice good sleep hygiene for quality. In your bedroom, focus on optimizing sleep by avoiding bright lights, which can inhibit the production of melatonin, a hormone essential for sleep. To learn more about sleep hygiene, visit this link.
Use heavy curtains or an eye mask to block out light and prevent interruptions to your sleep.
Consider upgrading your alarm. Some alarms include sleep trackers that detect your lightest sleep cycle near your preferred wake-up time and gently wake you with vibrations. Aromatherapy alarms release energizing scents in the morning and can improve sleep quality with a bedtime function. Wake-up lights mimic sunlight to naturally awaken you.
Regular physical activity can enhance nighttime sleep.
Although alcohol can help with falling asleep initially, its impact diminishes over time and can lead to disrupted sleep later in the night. It's recommended to moderate alcohol intake and refrain from consuming it later in the evening.
Mindfulness & Meditation
In today's fast-paced world filled with constant stimuli and demands, the practice of mindfulness meditation has emerged as a powerful tool. There are numerous benefits of mindful meditation. Individuals can develop greater emotional resilience. strengthens the brain's ability to concentrate and sustain attention. By training the mind to focus on the present moment, individuals experience improved cognitive function, better memory retention, and increased mental clarity.
Meditation is often associated with Buddhism or Chinese practices like Tai Chi. However, you don't need to be Buddhist or practice Tai Chi to benefit from meditation. Mindful meditation in essence involves letting go of distractions that cause wandering thoughts and focusing on the present moment.
Mindful meditation offers numerous proven benefits. Enhancing mindfulness supports attitudes that contribute to a fulfilling life. Being mindful helps you appreciate life's pleasures as they happen, fully engage in activities, and build resilience to cope with challenges. In addition, scientists have found that mindfulness techniques also enhance physical health by reducing stress, treating heart disease, lowering blood pressure, alleviating chronic pain, improving sleep, and easing gastrointestinal issues.
For additional information, visit Link.
Reading
Among numerous means to gain knowledge and insight including social media, YouTube, podcasts, newspapers, magazines, etc., books are the top choice among successful people. While newspapers and magazines offer timely information, they can be limited and potentially fragmented. Books, on the contrary, contain time-tested knowledge. Authors often conduct extensive research to develop and support their arguments, making books highly valuable. Moreover, unlike transient spoken communication, books provide profound insights backed by thorough research and well-articulated arguments.
It is widely known that Warren Buffett: The renowned investor and billionaire is known for his voracious reading habits, often spending several hours a day reading books and newspapers. Tim Cook (CEO of Apple), Indra Nooyi (Former CEO of PepsiCo), are Richard Branson (Founder of the Virgin Group) all avid readers and strongly believe in the value of learning through reading.
It must be noted that when it comes to learning through reading, 'what to read' is as important as 'how to read' and/or 'how much to read'.
In the book Tools of Titans, the author Tim Ferris shared some essential insights he gained through interviews with numerous world-class business professionals, icons, and performers. Ferris found that many interviewees gave rave reviews to particular books including Sapiens, Poor Charlie's Almanack, Influence, and Man's Search for Meaning.
When selecting books to expand your knowledge and promote personal growth, avoid those considered 'time-killers' focused solely on entertainment. Beginners should begin with topics directly related to their field and gradually diversify their reading to enhance their understanding. Including good novels in your reading list is recommended: Researchers have found a positive correlation between reading literary fiction and developing empathy.
Here are some sites that can help you choose your next books:
Lesson from Toddlers: Failures are Temporary
It never works on the first try.
When toddlers try to walk for the first time, without exceptions, they all fail. In fact, they fail A LOT. For numerous times, whenever they try to balance out while standing on two feet and take a step, they fall. And falling hurts. They might cry for a while.
Nonetheless, toddlers do not stop their journey. They intuitively know that they WANT and NEED to walk. Despite several failed attempts, toddlers do not stop: They strongly believe that if they keep trying, they will succeed eventually. And in the end, they begin walking.
Often, adults can be more impatient than toddlers. When we experience failures, we easily succumb to fear and doubt the potential for success in our efforts. After all, it is our mindset that determines whether we remain discouraged or persist in our endeavours.
There is no single successful person who has achieved success on their first try. Making your dream come true is a journey that takes a long time. It is only feasible for those who turn their failures into stepping stones.
Robert Rodriguez, a multi-talented filmmaker known for directing, screenwriting, producing, and cinematography, as well as founding El Rey Network, believes that true strengths come from weaknesses. When he was shooting the movie 'From Dusk Till Dawn', a serious accident occurred on set when a special effects technician accidentally caused an explosion that engulfed the set in flames. While the staff panicked and thought the shoot was over, Rodriguez remained resolute. He quickly adapted the shooting schedule and made necessary adjustments so that he could keep shooting.
Rodriguez said, "Sometimes I hear new filmmakers talk down about their film, and 'Oh, nothing worked and it was a disappointment.' They don't realize yet that that's the job. The job is that nothing is going to work at all. So you go: "How can I turn it into a positive and get something much better than if I had all the time and money in the world?"
In the book Grit, American academic, and psychologist Angela Duckworth argues that grit is a key predictor of success and achievement in various fields, surpassing talent and intelligence alone. Drawing from her own research in psychology, as well as studies of high achievers in different domains such as sports, business, and academia, Duckworth found those people had a growth mindset in common. Their passion and perseverance combined to form grit with which they were able to work consistently towards it despite setbacks and obstacles.
From our earliest days as toddlers, we encountered many failures. The reason we can stand, walk, and run today is because we persisted through countless setbacks. Take this lesson to heart. Don't allow the fear of failure to consume you. Instead, embody your resilient toddler self and persevere. Through consistent effort and deliberate practice in honing skills and expertise, one day, we will ultimately reach our desired destination.
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