The 10 Best Habits That Drive Success

I want to talk about the ten best success habits to adopt, right now. These success habits are so positive that they’re guaranteed to help you achieve greater fulfillment and success.

The 10 Best Success Habits

Success Habit #1 – Patience

The first success habit to cultivate is patience. Do you find that you’re in a rush, a lot of the time? If so, I’m sure you’ve noticed the many negative consequences of this.

Aside from not being able to enjoy your life in the here and now, being impatient makes you more prone to errors and accidents. It also creates frustration, when you aren’t getting the results you want exactly when you want them.

You create a lot of unhappiness for yourself by being impatient. Why not slow down, learn to enjoy the present moment and develop more reasonable, realistic expectations of how much time things take. You’ll be happier, less anxious and more competent if you do this.

 

Success Habit #2 – Moral Courage

The second good success habit to develop right now is moral courage. By this, I mean the ability to do the right thing, even when it’s not so easy to do so.

There’s been a lot of news coverage lately about bullying in the schools, where the staff and administration knew what was happening but did nothing to stop it. A lot of bad outcomes resulted.

Moral courage is such an important value that we need to remember. When more of us are willing to stand up for what’s right and to speak out against what’s wrong, many innocent people will be spared great suffering. Doing the right thing will enable you to sleep at night with a clear conscience, and with pride in yourself for having ably risen to the occasion.

 

Success Habit #3 – Deferred Gratification

Deferred gratification is another trait to cultivate right now. By this I mean the ability to wait for things to pay off. If you’re able to invest your time and energy wisely into projects that will bring you fulfillment in the future, you stand a much better chance of achieving enduring happiness than someone who opts for the quick and easy route to success.

 

Success Habit #4 – Perseverance

The fourth good success habit on the list is perseverance. It can be a challenge to stick with your goals, especially if they’re slow to achieve or difficult to bring to fruition. If you persevere, as opposed to giving in to the temptation to quit or to turn to something easier, you’ll eventually be rewarded with greater success and a more meaningful existence.

 

Success Habit #5 – Self-acceptance

Self-acceptance is number five on the list of the best success habits to adopt right now. It can be easy to be overly self-critical or perfectionist, but there’s no advantage to this. In fact, cultivating an attitude of positive self-regard will support you in your goals.

Self-acceptance is not letting yourself off the hook; rather it’s having more understanding toward yourself. Accepting yourself as you are, right now, without cruel self-criticism, will energize you to do better in life. It will enable you to put your best foot forward in every situation, and fulfill your greatest potential. A more accepting attitude toward yourself will also allow you to let in love, care and support from others.

 

Success Habit #6 – Eliminate Negativity

The sixth success habit to cultivate, right now, is to eliminate your negative self-talk and engage in more positive self-talk. The more you practice being affirming and supportive toward yourself, the better you’ll do and the happier you’ll be. Positive self-talk will bring out the best in you, whereas critical self-talk can be discouraging, even potentially disabling.

When you eradicate the destructive messages of the “inner critic” and talk to yourself with the same kindness, patience and encouragement that you offer to others, there’s no way you can’t succeed.

 

Success Habit #7 – Practice Kindness

Kindness is number seven on the list of the best success habits to adopt right now. This is different from being an overly-nice people-pleaser. Being kind means being loving but honest with others; it means being generous but setting limits on how much you do for others and what you’ll tolerate from them.

As I said in a previous post, true kindness is an empowered stance that has nothing to do with accepting disrespect. Kindness is generosity arising from an over-flowing of self love. When you love and accept yourself, it’s easier to love and accept others for who they are, but this doesn’t mean accepting their bad behavior.

 

Success Habit #8 – Healthy Attitude

Number eight on the list is having a healthy attitude. This means letting go of arrogance, pessimism, victim-consciousness or the expectation that others should solve your problems.

A healthy attitude involves being confident yet humble, taking responsibility for yourself and your life, being willing to do what it takes to achieve your goals, not blaming anyone else for your problems, not expecting others to rescue you and not feeling sorry for yourself when you experience difficulties.

A healthy attitude is recognizing that you’re the only one who can make yourself happy and solve your problems; it’s seeing that doing these things for yourself will bring you a better life.

 

Success Habit #9 – No Drama

The ninth good success habit to cultivate right now is an aversion to drama. When you opt for a calm, peaceful existence, choosing mainly to associate with people who are polite, respectful, loving and reasonable, life is much easier and more enjoyable.

There will always be those individuals in your personal and professional life who love nothing more than to create trouble. They pit people against each-other and then sit back and enjoy the ensuing chaos. You can choose not to associate with these trouble-makers, and immediately start creating a less stressful life.

 

Success Habit #10 – Ruthless Compassion

Ruthless Compassion is tenth on the list of the best success habits to cultivate right now. This attitude of clarity and loving-kindness can really pay off at work and in your personal life.

Facing the truth about yourself without harsh self-criticism will enable you to grow and change, so that you can become your best self.

Facing the truth about the other people in your life will empower you to improve your good relationships and to let go of the destructive ones you’ve been engaging in.

With ruthless compassion, you’ll stop enabling the bad behavior of others and stop protecting hurtful people from the consequences of their dysfunctional choices. You’ll be able to conserve your energy and focus it instead on pursuing meaningful goals.

By cultivating some or all of these good habits, you can be sure that you’ll be that much closer to attaining happiness and success in life, and with a whole lot less stress.

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About the Author

Marcia Sirota MD FRCP(C) is a board-certified psychiatrist, that does not ascribe to any one theoretical school. Rather, she has integrated her education and life experiences into a unique approach to the practice of psychotherapy. She considers herself a realist with a healthy measure of optimism. Sign up here for her free monthly wellness newsletter. Listen here to her latest podcast. marciasirotamd.com