36 Habits of Successful People – A Peak Inside Success

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Habits of Successful People

What makes successful people tick? What do they do differently than unsuccessful people? How do they think and act? What are the habits of successful people? Well my friends, that is what I want to share with you today. The list below is of 30 habits of successful people. Study the list like your life depended on it, with your blood, sweat and tears. Because if emulated, can bring massive success and happiness into your lives, and damn quick! Enjoy

The 30 Success Habits

No Goals

Zig Ziglar opened up about a study done when he was speaking about “How To Get What You Want.” He said that the study was conducted with all the college graduates on the subject of goals and how many of the students in fact kept them. It was revealed that only 3 percent of students kept written down definite predetermined goals at the time of their graduation. Flash forward 20 years, the surveyed the same students and found out that the group of 3% of students who had written out their goals had achieved MORE than the 97% of students who hadn’t. If this study doesn’t convince you that writing down your goals can drastically alter your, I simply don’t know what will.

Have a definite purpose in your approach. Write down goals that are definite. Also create a strong burning reason or reasons that you want to achieve that particular goal. If your WHY is big enough, you can endure almost any how!

Take 100 Percent Responsibility For Your Life

There is a great video about Will Smith talking about fault and responsibility. Will is my favorite actor so naturally I have to include him in this, also because he is insanely successful! He goes into the fact of how it may not be your fault that something terrible has happened to you. But its your full responsibility to make the most of the happening, by growing and becoming from it.

Will is advising the viewers that you do not have to be a victim. Victims are powerless in whatever areas of their life they are choosing to be a victim in. Unfortunately this habit tends to bleed into other areas of life. That is how powerfully toxic it is. He talks about how one is not admitting they are at fault, it is the opposite. Taking responsibility gives you the power you didn’t have when you were feeling powerless by choosing to be a victim. He says it is an “act of emotional self defense”.

Daren Hardy also concurred with this opinion with Will Smith, indirectly of course. But he talked about how he was at his first seminar and learned that from speaker that if he took full ownership and responsibility for everything that happened in this life, he held the power.

Think of a scenario where you may feel that you are the victim. Switch gears for me, and just for fun, take full responsibility for in in the here and now. How do you feel? Lets us know in the comment section below!

Ditch the Need To Be Popular

“You got enemies? Good. That means you stood up for something.”  – Winston Churchill


The more we blend in, the more we give up our chances to ever be successful. When we are too worried about what people think about us, we don’t take action big enough to create a successful existence, not just financially but in every area of our lives.

Think about the people that are the most successful in this life. Is there at least one of them who is hater free? NO WAY! Every legend or mega star has just as much haters as they do fans, if not more!

In order to be successful we must give up our need for approval from everyone. Today make a decision to live life outside the box of safety and step into uncharted waters that are going to feel unsafe but bring you to the grandest shores!

Massive WHY

Leaders and successful people are literally fueled by their powerful motivation behind why they want to attain their desired goal! There is literally no way you will ever get through rough times on your path to your goal if you do not have a big enough reason why you want to get the goal.

You have to dig layers deep for the big reason why you want to succeed. Start with the superficial stuff, like being rich and powerful, etc. Then reach even deeper.. You want to trigger an emotional response and when you hit it you will know. It will make clear sense of the reason you want something as soon as you dig deep enough.

It will be weird and it will feel like a complete waste of time at first, but keep digging and I promise you will find a powerful enough WHY! Go 5 levels deep, just give me that, and let me know how it goes!

Wake Your Butt Up Early IF It Works For You

Look I know there are so many people who tell you that if you wan’t to be successful, you have to wake up early, RISE AND GRIND! Huffington Post reiterates the highly used numbers of people that wake up early and that success that comes from it, the numbers are:

“90% of executives wake up before 6 AM on weekdays, and nearly 50% of self made millionaires wake up at least three hours before their workday actually begins.” 

BUT the article questions that reality by showing a range of times that some of the most successful people on the planet actually get up. This list ranges from the outlier, Apple CEO Tim Cook waking up at 3:45 to get what he needs to get done before going to work. To the middle of the road, Gary V who wakes up at 6AM to Aaron Levie who is the CEO of Box, wakes up at 10AM every day.

These numbers show that it doesn’t matter WHEN you wake up. All that matters is that you wake up at a time that is going to allow you to attack the day on your own terms.

Although the article does say that most world leaders are up by 7AM and that the waking up early can allow you to get a better start on the day than late risers. Allowing you to set the tone for the day.

The takeaway I got from this is that you need to wake up not TOO late and at a time that allows you to mentally and literally attack your day with full force. Get enough rest and maximize you day with productivity.

Kiss Your Pride Goodbye

Pride goes before the fall, this is a biblical lesson that is pure truth. When we know everything, we don’t learn shit. First off, every single one of us knows absolutely nothing, we are just recycling informations, ideas and facts that someone else said or figured out long before us.

So accepting this fact first will allow you to realize that we are here to learn. Learning only comes when we check our pride at the door. When we do this, we can retain a whole lot more information than thinking we know the answers.

Not only will people be more receptive to your presence in the workplace and in life, you will also not look like an arrogant idiot!

This also includes be open and receptive to people who are “below” you, like employees or even kids.

You don’t know and can’t do everything. Realize you are awesome at only a couple of things and then delegate everything else out to people who are way better at things you can’t do well.

Crunch Numbers

Successful people are constantly testing . They track their business and lives like hawks tracking prey. They know that in order to create sustainable success, you need to constantly be adapting to your environment. You can’t get lazy or your competitor will do better at measuring the fine details and adapting to them while your left in the dust.

They find out what is working, what isn’t and what is working best. They exploit the best and move on from what’s not.

Embrace Perfectionism

If you read the autobiographies of some of the greatest people in history and how they treat their life and craft, you will find that they are absolute perfectionists. They take massive pride in their jobs in a way where they won’t settle for mediocre. Steve Jobs is a prime example of an absolute perfectionist. This is one of the main aspects that will make the man live on through history for a long, long time.

Demand it from yourself and from the people around you. Friends and employees if you have them. Even if you fall short of perfection, you will be a whole lot further along then those in your life and field and who are cutting corners. People who do this to get ahead will eventually have there laziness catch up to them. People aren’t dumb, especially clients. They will see right through you. People admire perfectionists and want to work with them, plus they will refer people to you!


People who are incredibly on top of their game need the mental energy to do what they do. I have read so many stories of successful people who are religious about their daily naps and meditation

.The mind needs to be nourished past what you can get when you sleep at night. Integrating a way to recharge yourself is absolutely vital. Maybe it is working or yoga. Whatever still the mind of the thoughts of the day will create a deep rest for your mind. Doing this will allow you to have the mental energy to put in longer hours and still do so with efficiency and vitality.

Turn Your Car Into A University

“The more you learn, the more you earn.” – Warren Buffer

Some of the most successful motivational speakers have said that they have reached their level of intelligence and success because they used their commute time to listen to positive audio.

Brian Tracy talked about how within the average person drives 500-1000 hours per year with commuting and other purposes. This he says, is equivalent to 1-2 semesters of college learning. You can literally become the best educated in your field in a couple of years. And do so while doing something you do every day listening to crap on the radio. Swap the negative static for some audio that betters you in your field and/or positive motivational tapes.

Wake Up With Positivity

Read and/or listening to positivity will set the mood for your entire day. Creating this good habit of digesting positivity upon waking up will allow you to think and feel more positive a lot better than waking up to the news or your email. Refrain from looking at your email for the first 30 minutes you wake up and swap that 30 with positive material.

You mind is incredibly susceptible to the information in consumes upon awakening. Don’t fill it with crap, fill it with verbal gold!


A great post by Business Insider goes into the subject of how successful people are readers. Going into some impressive numbers that include:

Bill Gates reads 50 books a year

Warren Buffet reads 5 to 6 hours a day

Elon Musk read 2 books a day growing up

David Rubenstien the billionaire entrepreneur reads 6 books a week

Co-Founder of Home Depot Aurthur Blank readers 2 hours a day

Again these are of course outliers, but it is always consistent when reading about successful people that they are readers.

Exercise That Bod!

The above article aslo talks about looking at learning and reading as exercise for the mind. If we don’t exercise our pshysical body we will ultimately experience things like bone and muscle loss, bad posture and a host of problems with our organs.

It is similar with the mind, it will begin to deteriorate and definitely won’t grow to it’s full capacity if you aren’t exercising it. It says that the long term effects of not exercising your mind are just as insidious of not exercising your physical body.

So go read something good everyday and grow your mind to it’s full potential!

Build Positive Relationships

“Your Network is Your Net Worth”

We have all heard the term that we become the average of the 5 closest people we hang out with. This holds true with success and money as well. You gotta hang out with people who are on the level you want to be on.

Yeah but how the hell do you get into successful circles?

Seek them out through events like Toastmasters or local community gatherings. Go out of your way to bring them value so you can learn from them. Volunteer time to work for them for free for an hour of their time.

Also, you can hang out with guys like Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar, Oprah and Les Brown everyday by turning on Youtube or buying their audios and videos! Now that is good company!

Listening to them speak for an hour is the same 60 minutes as hanging out with a buddy for an hour, but way more time efficient and will help your net worth a lot more. Better yet, hang out with that buddy and listen to the tape together then you’ll be better yourself and your network all at once!

Knock Small Things Out First

You can get the day rolling very nicely if you simply wake up and get a task done. Focus on something small, like making your bed or writing out a thank you note to someone you need to send one out to. Doing this primes the brain for more wins throughout the day. It gives you an almost instantaneous feeling of accomplishment giving you the motivation to accomplish more and more.

Journal/Brain Dump

The most successful and world renowned people keep journals with them as well as do journaling often. It allows us to empty out our loud chattering brains by getting it own paper. It can give us a gook at our thoughts instead of having them run us on autopilot.

We can analyze our self sabotaging thoughts and counteract them with positive ones. As well as role playing scenarios that we now see have been keeping us from reaching our full potential in any area of our lives!

Did you know that Bruce Lee kept a journal? Along with names like Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, Tony Robbins, Oprah Winfrey, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Mark Twain and Kurt Kobain.

A lot of rappers and songwriters have made fortunes off of turning their journals into poems and rap bars.

A brilliant article was written on this subject about writing your way to success by incorporating different questions to help get the most out of your journal entries. Those questions being:

  1. What am I do well
  2. What can I do better
  3. How Can I Improve
  4. What Can I Do Better

Asking these questions, especially in the area of your goals will allow you take honestly look at them and course correct where need be as well as pat yourself on the back for a job well done. Balance that is needed when seeking your goals and in life in general.

They Invest In A For Sure Thing

Both Grant Cardone as well as Warren Buffet have talked heavily about this. For Grant Cardone real estate has been his for sure thing. For Warren Buffet it was stocks, which is only a for sure thing for Warren Buffet!

But when the invest, they know they are going to get a return and that the business or asset is going to be around for a LONG time. This will allow you to have something that is going to appreciate and make money for you in your sleep.

If it isn’t a for sure thing, take your money and run.

Be Willing To Live “Poor”

A lot of people who have accumulated their first million dollars were lived life in frugality. Again going back to Grant Cardone, he said he would wear shirts until they wore out and buy cheap shoes that he would run into the ground.

These people are visionaries for their FUTURE not the NOW. They don’t want to be ballers and purchase a Mercedes Benz and go into debt to try to prove to society that they are well off.

They do the exact opposite, they first accumulate wealth for the reason of security. Then as they have more to invest, they now have the option of buying the fancy. Usually they don’t though.

Rich people are frugal. Of course their are the anomalies and outliers that are shown to you on TV and in publications who spend lavishly. But these people are not normal. People who accumulate long term wealth live frugally knowing that they need to in order to accumulate the money the need to retire on nicely and take care of their family.

Communication Mastery

In order to sell yourself or your ideas and visions, you need to know how to communicate and do so at high level. When Warren Buffet was asked

“If you can’t communicate and get your point across to others, you are giving up your ideas.”

He said that he could barely hold a good conversation in his younger years, so at 19 he choose to go to a course on communication put on by the one and only Dale Carnegie who is the author of How To Win Friends and Influence People. One of the best selling personal development books of all time.

Forbes had an article on Richard Branson who talks about communication and had this to say about it:


Make Fear Your Friend

There is an awesome book on this subject called Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway by Susan Jeffers. It talks about how undereath every single fear we have is one true fear, and that is that we won’t be able to handle it. Like for example asking a girl out and getting rejected or what if I lose my dream job to a younger employee, etc. The message being that there is always going to be fear, if you feel the fear and do what your afraid of and not let it stop you then you win.

Jimmy Iovine, CEO of Interscope records and mult-billionaire has an awesome quote on fear that hits home on our point here:

“Fear, fears a powerful thing. I mean it has a lot of firepower. If you can figure out a way to wrestle that fear to push you from behind rather than stand in front of you, that is a powerful thing.”

Don’t Waste Time

Successful people make excellent use of their time. They essentially procrastinate effectively and efficiently. If they get tired of doing one thing they move onto another to switch it up and give their mind different stimuli.

They stick to a schedule and don’t deviate from it, checking off all their tasks that they have laid out for themselves and not stopping until all of them have been crossed out.

Act Even When You Don’t Feel Like It

“I feel good sometimes I don’t” – Drake

Successful people in any field don’t become successful by luck. They create success by acting when they feel good and acting on things when they feel like garbage. If you only went to the gym when you felt like it, what kind of results do you think you would get?

The same applies to going after your dreams. You gotta give it all you got or throw in the towel because you will end up with, at best, mediocre results if you half ass things.

They often go by the motto “The harder you work, the luckier you get.”

Stretch Their Comfort Zones

Successful people know that comfort zones are the biggest deterrent of success. They are always pushing the limit on things. When we are comfortable, we get lazy. This is just the truth. When we get lazy, we stop growing and stop striving for a better and more successful life.

Like Abraham Maslow says

“In any given point we have two options, step forward into growth, or step back into safety.”

A Sense of Humor

Cultivating a great sense of humor is key to not only a successful life but a memorable one. For you and the people around you. Having a good sense of humor can get your both through dark times as well as laugh off things that others would let ruin their day.

Learn to laugh more at life, not taking things more serious than you need to.

Joke telling and wit also create for great story telling which leads to our next point!

Great Story Tellers

Humans process thoughts in pictures. If you can be the one to paint that picture for people through the likes of storytelling, you can go a long way in this life.

People love stories. It keeps their attention long enough for you to make your point and make an impression. Learning to be a great story teller can ignite feelings in people that are reminiscent of childhood, where we had story time!

It can also take people to a place in their mind of joy and adventure.

Being a great story teller will allow you to become successful in any endeavor in life.

They WORK at Work

Successful people are incredibly good at making great use of their time. They aren’t at the office to talk about how their weekend was or who the latest draft pick is.

They are there to get things done. To utilize focus at work so they can be productive and not have come back the next day trying to catch up. This is how you get ahead of your peers and stand out. Most importantly, it is how you get ahead. People simply don’t want to work, they would rather talk!

If you have this problem with your colleagues, keep telling them you have to get back to work. ultimately they’ll leave you alone. This will also allow you to be satisfied with the knowing that you worked hard. Enabling you to go home and be present with your family instead of regretting now get done what you needed to do at work.

Do Things Right Way

The habit of getting things done as soon as possible is key to keeping your mind quiet throughout the day. If you have a bill, pay it off the moment you think about it. If you have to make a phone call, do it now.

The habit of putting things off creates unneeded stress. Often time we don’t even know where this stress is coming from after we suppress it enough times.

Don’t let tasks get past your nose. Getting them done and never worry about them again.

Put Passion First

It is possible to get rich doing something you don’t absolutely love. But the likelihood of you doing is way lower than you going after your passion.

I truly believe that a successful person is someone who lives out their passion daily. This is because it gives you a lot more energy in your daily existence. Makes you feel more confidence because you are highly aware of your competence. Also people will feel your passion and want to be a part of it, a lot of times in the form of paying you well for it.

When a person follows their passions, money seems to just take care of itself and they naturally attract enough, if not a lot more.

Learn From Their Mistakes

Successful people know that life is painful but and often doesn’t go as plan but if we learn from those mistakes and grow from them, we are making the best of our lives. Some of the biggest pain periods in many successful peoples lives have led them to go onto do great things and make a lot of money.

Their perspective is completely different. They feel that life is happening FOR them not TO them.

Limit Social Media Distractions

Social media often times runs our lives. We wake up and immediately check out Instagram. When we are bored we scroll through our Facebook feed. When we are on a date with our loved one, we are distracted by whats going on in other peoples lives.

Successful people love their social media accounts just as much as anyone else, but they block out time to look at them.

These time blocks are set by the individual. They only allow themselves certain times of day to look at their social media accounts. Usually once in the morning and once at night.

The same with email. They check it once, knock out the important emails and forget about it

Doing so allows them to not get sucked into the madness going on in the world. They know it is a distraction that ultimately can become a big waste of time if they let it run their schedule.

Lesson learned here… Lets disconnect my friends!

They See Solutions Not Problems

Some of the greatest inventions of all time have come from someone seeing a solution to someones problems. In fact almost every invention is created to make our lives easier.

Successful people are problems solvers, not problem creators.

Like Winston Churchill said

“The pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, the optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.”

Great Listeners

Successful people are awesome listeners. They have an intriguing feeling about them when they are listening to you. Listening with quiet intent with both a desire to HEAR you and a desire to learn.

Good listeners are able to listen to their clients to help them get what they really want and need. This translates to happy customers that then translates to referrals lastly translating to a happy bank account!


People who are sincere have a presence felt to them that can’t be touched by those who are half assing their way through conversations. People who are sincere show the ultimate form of compassion, a well as you know and trust the person.

Trust is huge when it comes to success in life. If people can’t trust you, they aren’t going to want to work with you. Facts.

Never Satisfied

Rich and successful people find joy in the journey. They don’t see a means to an end. They find the game to be a lot more fun then making a certain amount and slacking off.

They are also in the game to win the game, not just to do pretty good. You have to come into things ready and willing to become the best and be the best. A mindset around anything less will just result in you getting lost in the crowd of wannabes.

Seek Positivity 

Successful people are never negativity Nancy’s. They not only think more positive than the average individual, they also bring a high level of optimism to their business and personal life. One of this biggest reasons that they are successful is because people love to be around positive people.

Generally positive people are uplifting as well. This combination goes a long way in life and can allow you to reach your highest potential.

Use Adversity As A Launching Pad

Successful people hit a wall and keep hitting it until they blow right through it. They see rejection as being one step closer to that yes. They see the failed business as a learning opportunity for how to crush it the next time around.

Obstacles are just that. They don’t give up for good when they hit a roadblock.

You dust yourself off and get rack back on track, leaving it in the past after squeezing all the learning and growing experiences you can out of it.

Les Brown quoted that 8 out of 10 millionaires have been bankrupt at one time or another in their lives. Keep going and crush those goals friends.


There it is my friends. I know it was a lot so, if you made it this far, I want to thank you for taking the time to digest this much material! Let me know what you think about the list and if you have any tips to add that can make us all more successful! I’d love to hear from you in the comment section below!



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