Success Is Not Event-Driven. It’s Habit-Driven

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“Wealth is largely the result of habit.” – John Jacob Astor

It’s the little things in life that you do that lay the foundation for long-term success.

The media loves to promote stories of the needles in the haystack – individuals who become overnight successes. But for 99.9% of the successful people out there, success is not event-driven. It’s habit-driven.

Success, for the vast majority, is about doing the little things every day that help build momentum in your life. This momentum keeps you moving forward, growing in knowledge and skill.

When you forge daily habits that are all directed towards some lifelong dream or long-term goal, success is inevitable.

The successful do the little things, every day, that make success possible. So, what are some of those little things?

• Saying NO often – Make a habit of saying NO to things which do not align with your dreams and goals.
• Saying YES infrequently – Make a habit of saying YES only to those things which are directly tied to your dreams and goals.
• Learn every day – Make a habit of learning something new every day. Growth comes from acquiring new knowledge and developing new skills.
• Improve/Grow every day – Make a habit of maintaining your knowledge and perfecting your skills every day.
• Save money – Make a habit of saving money. Money gives you options. It empowers you. Opportunities can only be taken advantage of when you have the financial resources to take advantage of those opportunities.
• Focus on the fundamentals – Make a habit of mastering the basics. Learn the fundamentals before you dive into anything. Ignoring the basics is how most lose money and fail in life.
• Associate with like-minded individuals – Make a habit of surrounding yourself with individuals who feel, think and behave the way the ideal future you would feel, think and behave. Our environment, our social circle, influences how we feel, think and behave. Make sure you have the right people inside your social circle and eliminate from your social circle the wrong people.
• Devote time to greatness – Make a habit of devoting blocks of time to your dreams and your goals. Isolate time every day to things that will help build a foundation for success and avoid doing things which take time away from those activities. To become truly great at anything you must dedicate time and energy to it.
• Be patient – Make a habit of being patient. Great things take time to bloom. The best investments take time. Success takes time. Survive until you thrive. Do the things every day that will help move you forward and be patient. Those things will eventually begin paying dividends.

Tom Corley

Tom Corley is an accountant, financial planner, public speaker, and author of the books “Effort-Less Wealth: Smart Money Habits At Every Stage of Your Life” and “RichKids: How to Raise Our Children to Be Happy and Successful in Life“.  Corley’s work has appeared on CNN, USA Today, The Huffington Post, SUCCESS Magazine, and many other media outlets and podcasts in the U.S. and 27 other countries. Tom is a frequent contributor to Business Insider and CNBC.