Our habits are at the center of who we are and what we do. They are derived from repetitious behavior over time as our minds etch them into patterns called neural pathways. These neural pathways help to govern our lives and make everyday tasks simpler; however, these tasks are done subconsciously and we don’t all have habits that serve us. In fact, most of our habits aren’t success habits; most of our habits are bad habits. These bad habits are what set us back. They’re the late-night snacking on not-so-healthy foods, or the over-watching of television, over-surfing of the Internet, smoking cigarettes when we know we should be quitting, and just about anything else that is a disservice to us. You know what your bad habits are! And, you know what your good habits are. The problem is that most peoples’ bad habits outweigh their good habits, and it’s a huge challenge to break bad habits and develop good habits. Nonetheless, we must all work at developing success oriented habits!
We all want to be successful in life at something! We have visions, goals and dreams we want to accomplish and often set in motion plans to achieve them. However, while some of us push tirelessly toward them every day and don’t relent until we accomplish what we set out to, that “some of us” is a very low number. According to a University of Scranton research, the number of people who accomplish their new year resolution goals is actually just 8%. Only 8 out of 100 people who set a goal on New Year’s actually accomplish it. Surprising? Not at all! We have all been there before when we’ve set goals, got excited about them, then when that excitement wore off, so did our drive to pursue those goals. The difference though, is in the passion we have for the dreams we have, and the habits we set in motion to ensure we achieve them.
So what are some of the habits we can adopt to ensure we accomplish our goals?
Here are 10 Success Habits The Empowered Woman Employ
Success Habit 1. The Empowered Woman Set Goals Daily
The first success habit the empowered woman employ is to set her goals every single day. And, she does not only set them and forget them, she follows through. Otherwise, it does not work! She understands that working the plan is just as important as making the plan. So, set your goals every single day and look at your progress. Even if you set long-term goals, you have to review them every day. Break them down into smaller goals and milestones that you can accomplish daily. Goal setting is an important skill to have! And not passive goal setting where it’s vaguely in your mind, it must be active goal setting where it’s written down on paper and visible, instead of being tucked away. They have to be visceral! When your goals are real and on paper, something changes – it becomes real. You have a target!
The empowered women recognizes that the habit of goal setting is a must-have success habit because everything in life revolves around goals. If you set your goals properly, and you know what you want, when you want it by, and why you want it, then your life takes on an entirely different meaning. You have some sense of purpose; you’re not just aimlessly going about your day, but you are intentional and purposeful.
Success Habit 2. The Empowered Woman Manages Her Time Efficiently
The second success habit the empowered woman employ is to manage her time efficiently. Time management is essential to succeeding in any area of our lives. We all know just how much time we waste on a daily basis doing things that we probably shouldn’t be doing. We excessively surf the web, chat on social media, text message with our friends, watch television, go out too often, and the list goes on and on. At the end of the day, the things that are vital to the achievement of our big goal are not touched on at all.
The empowered woman knows that in order to manage her time efficiently, she has to get organized. This literally only takes a few minutes each day. The first thing you’ll need to do is adhere to the #1 success habit and that is to set goals daily. When you break your day down into what you need to do, you can categorize the importance of those things. Based on the Eisenhower Principle of time management, everything can be categorized on a scale of urgent and important. So, on this scale as Stephen R. Covey in his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People explained, there are four quadrants based upon the urgency and importance of any task. Tasks can either be Quadrant 1) urgent and important, Quadrant 2) not urgent but important, Quadrant 3) urgent but not important, or Quadrant 4) not urgent and not important. The place to spend most of your time is in Quadrant 2, which is the area that enhance your life and propel you towards achieving your long-term goals.
Success Habit 3. The Empowered Woman Measures and Tracks Everything
The third success habit the empowered woman employ is to measure and track everything; from her goals, to her time, to her finances, to her weight, and everything in between. She knows that the only way to make changes where change is necessary, is to measure her progress – whether she is advancing or declining, whether she is moving along at the pace she intended, what areas need change, and what can be done to accelerate her progress. Tracking means you are intentional about what you’re doing. When you track your time, your time goes only where you want it to. When you track your finances, your money goes only where you want it to. When you track your weight, you maintain only the weight you want to keep. Everything you track, you are able to do something about it to ensure it works for you and not against you.
This success habit doesn’t take that much time. There is some initial setup, say in building a spreadsheet that can help you track things like your weight, your expenses, and so on. But, the daily input of the numbers doesn’t take that long. Getting into the habit of doing this is the hard part, but once you have pushed through with discipline, it will become easier and your new auto habit. So, commit to spending 15-minutes each day tracking everything. You can do it in the beginning of the day for the prior day or at the end of the day for that same day. If you promise yourself you will only spend 15 minutes doing something, your brain realizes that it’s not a huge hurdle for it to make. In fact, none of the 10 success habits the empowered woman employ, will take you huge commitments of time. What it will take is actually engaging in them on a consistent basis – day after day.
Success Habit 4. The Empowered Woman Budget and Spend Wisely
The fourth success habit the empowered woman employ is to budget and spend wisely. She recognizes that money is one of the most important tools in this world and that if you aren’t born into a family with unlimited resources AND have access to it, you will need to carefully monitor your finances and continuously seek out ways to increase it. She is prudent in her monetary affairs, and takes every step necessary to not only maximize her earning potential, but also to ensure every dollar goes only where she wants it to. As humans, especially us women, we can be excessively impulsive with our spending. We don’t spend wisely and tend to base our decision-making process to purchase something on the subconscious inner directive of our mind. We’re not sure why we bought something, we just knew we had to have it. When you don’t budget and conduct your financial affairs accordingly, the ego has a way of shrouding your mindset and controlling your behavior with excuses as to why you should spend on whatever you want. It is a product of misinformation and an all-out manipulation by the subconscious mind. You simply had to have that “thing” because it was on sale and it might never go on sale again, blah, blah, blah.
So, budgeting and spending wisely is a success habit that the empowered woman employ and most of us know we need to implement. If you can take 15 minutes every day to track your spending and check your budget to ensure you are on par, then your ego will have less control as you would be in the know and more prone to be mindful of your spending – what you can and cannot afford, what is included and not included in your budget. You can use an app such as Mint.com to track your spending. This won’t be easy at first. Like any of the other success habits mentioned here, it’s going to take some effort. But all you have to do is commit yourself to the process, and use 10 to 15 minutes every day to check your progress. If you can do that, then you can build on the momentum, and after a while it will become the new habit you formed. Just get started!
Success Habit 5. The Empowered Woman Pays Herself First
The fifth success habit the empowered woman employ is to pay herself first. One of the most important financial habits for success is paying yourself first. When you pay yourself first, you’re ensuring that YOU are taken care of before anything else. You are making sure that you have savings and are covered in the event anything unforeseen and unplanned – life’s curves get thrown at you, you are prepared. You also want to ensure you are saving for your future when you will not be able to work as you can now when you are younger and more vibrant. Deciding on a sum and putting aside that portion in your saving and investment account, is the surefire way to secure yourself and your well-being. We here at MBB recommend deducting and saving at least 15% of your income from each paycheck, as soon as it is cashed. If you have a successful business, you can choose to set aside more. The more, the better! You can choose to have your bank deduct and transfer that amount from your checking to your savings or investment account automatically each pay period, which will ensure your portion gets set aside.
If your future means something to you then this is a success habit you must implement. We all want and wish the best for ourselves but we don’t know what the future holds. We don’t know what will happen in the next minute let alone a year or two, and so this makes it vitally important to save and continuously increase our net worth. Saving is a habit that invokes so much more than just putting money on autopilot, when you pay yourself first, this success habit actually activates a part of the mind that tells you you are getting somewhere – you are secure. So change your mindset! Make that shift and start paying yourself first. You will not be able to make significant progress in life without these kinds of success habits that will empower you and allow you to build a foundation for growth in the future.
Success Habit 6. The Empowered Woman Exercise Every Day
The sixth success habit the empowered woman employ is to exercise every day. Exercise does not have to be an enormous mental hurdle. In fact, there are a variety of ways to exercise and you can commit to doing the most basic which is a few stretches followed by a brisk 15 minute walk – everyday. You can walk around the block in your neighborhood, or choose to use a treadmill. The most important thing is that you do some form of exercise, and once you get started and continue to for a while, it will become the new good habit you have formed. Once you commit to 15 minutes each day and follow through the first few days, your mind will cease trying to talk you out of it. Your subconscious won’t be able to help you reason your way out of why you don’t want to exercise any day.
This success habit is important to your health, your vitality, and your overall well-being. Learn to embrace it! If you have a hard time getting started in the morning, then place your running shoes and clothes next to your bed. When you open your eyes in the morning, lace up, get dressed, and hit the ground running (or walking). Don’t think about it! Just do it!
Success Habit 7. The Empowered Woman Get Ample Amount of Sleep
The seventh success habit the empowered woman employ is to get ample amount of sleep. The empowered woman knows that in order for her to operate at her best and maintain her overall health, she must get the amount of sleep her body, mind, and spirit require, and as such, she takes time out to ascertain her sleep number so she can get the amount of sleep her body needs in order to function optimally. One of the best habits that seem to allude most people is to get ample amount of sleep. We are all alike but different in a lot of ways, and our sleep number or number of hours required for us to function at our best, varies from person to person. This is why it is important for each of us to check ourselves and know what our individual sleep number is. When you awake in the mornings you should not be groggy or tired, you should feel well rested, replenished, and rejuvenated. If you do not, then it means you need more rest. You have not used your sleep number!
Success Habit 8. The Empowered Woman Takes Daily Action
The eighth success habit the empowered woman employ is taking daily action. The empowered woman knows that becoming complacent and slacking off – even for a day, can become habit forming and thus detrimental to her success. Many people have attested to this phenomenon that refusing to remain consistent even in short instances, will pave the way for all out complacency. We have all been there at some point in our life when we say, “oh, I’ll do it tomorrow” or “It’s not terrible if I take a day off, I’ll do it tomorrow” and then tomorrow became the following day, and the following day became the following day, and on and on it goes all the way to not getting done at all. Procrastination is not in the empowered woman’s handbook! And it shouldn’t be in yours! When you can habitually take action towards your goals and dreams, you get closer and closer with each passing day. Even if the progress is minimal, as long as it’s constant, you will get to your goal.
Success Habit 9. The Empowered Woman Makes Healthy Choices
The ninth success habit the empowered woman employ is making healthy choices. Making healthy choices can be difficult, especially when we’re pressed for time. We may grab the nearest burger from the fast food joint closest to us because we are pressed for time and at times tired too. We may choose to skip our exercise regime because we are working at something and need to meet a deadline. We may choose to stay up all night just so we can watch that movie marathon we’ve been itching to watch for days. And the list goes on and on. The empowered woman knows the importance of always being in good shape – mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and financially and so she deliberately make choices that will allow her to remain in great shape at all times.
In order to help in making the right choices, you must get organized and set things in motion to facilitate making healthy choices. For example, you can plan your meals for your week on the weekend and even prep or partially prep some of them. You can try to not leave things for last minute where you have to sacrifice your fitness regimen. And you can choose to watch your marathon at a more appropriate time by DVRing it and watching it at a time more convenient that’s not cutting in to your sleep time. Have an apple ready on hand if you get hungry to snack rather than a candy bar because your body will thank you. Our body spends more than 50% of its energy digesting foods that are rich in carbs, fats, and sugars. As such, we should focus on natural fats and sugars through things like avocados, fruits, vegetables, and naturally-sourced foods. This is a major success habit that literally takes little to no time if you plan ahead. All you have to do is decide that you’ll make better decisions on a daily basis about what you eat, when you sleep, and what you will and will not allow to interfere with your healthy habits.
Success Habit 10. The Empowered Woman Practice Gratitude Everyday
The 10th and final success habit the empowered woman employ is practicing gratitude everyday. This does not take much time to implement! And, the empowered woman is very much aware of the positives that come from being grateful and showing gratitude. She maintains a gratitude journal and writes what she is grateful for every, single, day. We can all find something to be thankful for everyday. Clean water. Nutritious foods. The ability to use our mental faculties. The ability to live, breathe, and move about freely without any form of mechanical aid. Getting back home safely after a long day out. Our family being happy, healthy, and by our side. And so many more things we can give thanks for daily. It doesn’t have to be big! It could even be that the rain started falling just as you walk through the door and are home safely with your family. All you need to do is spend 5 or 10 minutes each day writing out what you have to be grateful for and why. If you say that you have nothing to be grateful for then you’re not thinking hard enough. The problem that many of us have in life is that we only tend to look at the BIG things and compare ourselves to the Joneses (and the Kardashians) when we fall short. At the end of your day, just tune in in a quiet place, and think about your day and those little things that you appreciate that made your day worthwhile. You will see you have so much to be grateful for! Remember, gratitude opens the door so that success can enter in.
In a nutshell, the empowered woman invests in herself – physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and financially. She knows that if she takes care of herself – mind, body, spirit, they will in turn take care of her. She knows that what she puts in is what she’ll get out, and does everything in her power to learn, grow, and thrive.
With love, gratitude, and empowered attitude,
The Pareto Principle Helps Us to Leverage Our Time
We are not only featuring this book because it has helped all of us here at MBB – from CEO to management to staff improve our lives, but we are sharing and crediting this book because we have used its teaching to help hundreds of women around the globe empower themselves.
