Breaking a habit can be quite difficult at times, but it is possible. Some habits can be broken more easily than others. But with persistence and the unquenchable willingness to do everything necessary to accomplish success, you can get rid of one negative habit after another. In some situations a bad habit can be removed within 18 days. Others might take two or more months to be finally broken.
In the end, all that matters is your willingness to accomplish greatness in your life. When you’re fired by your vision of success, there’s no obstacle that can stop you. Not even the bad habits that restrain you.
What separates the highly successful from most ordinary people is their immense willpower. It helps them to tackle their tasks, even when they don’t feel like it. And it also enables them to rigorously identify and break unbeneficial habits. Additionally, the successful are more than willing to give up whatever prevents them from reaching out for their dreams.
In order to live to your fullest potential, discipline and the strict observation of your behavior is essential. After all, success does not happen by accident. It’s the result of the accumulation of all your efforts.
Time and time again, successful people will tell you that if you want something bad enough, you’ll eventually accomplish it. But this burning desire within you will also enable you to have the necessary strength to give up unproductive habits, no matter how entertaining they are. Here are the 12 habits successful people had to give up in order to be successful.
12 Bad Habits to Give up to Reach Success
Habits the successful have given up to reach success:
1. They don’t make excuses
Not everyone will reach the highest levels of success. You might be wondering what it is that makes all the difference:
Excuses.
Successful people don’t default to making excuses. They don’t allow excuses to discourage them from pursuing their goals. Instead, they accept the situation as it is and make things happen despite the circumstances they find themselves in.
I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.
Jimmy Dean
2. They aren’t seeking absolute perfection
Astonishingly, many successful people are far from being perfectionists. They may be striving for greatness, but they have also realized that perfectionism might not lead them there. In fact, excessive perfectionism can turn out to be a time wasting success killer that costs you more money than it brings in.
Perfectionism could be keeping you from effectively accomplishing your goals. After all, reaching absolute perfection is nearly impossible in most circumstances. It can be beneficial to strive for perfection, but at the same time it can also drastically keep you from making any progress. It goes without saying that trying to perfect something could prevent you from reaping the benefits of your work.
3. They don’t try to please others
Just think about the incredibly stupid things we do just to please others. Seeking other people’s approval is not limited to our private lives. It can also greatly affect what we do with our life.
The unquestionable key to failure lies in the attempt to please everybody. It simply isn’t possible, so why bother about it?
Successful people have realized that they simply won’t be able to please everyone, no matter what they do. They also understand that it is time and resource wasting. Instead of hoping to evade criticism, they actively seek to understand other people’s opinion about what they do. But, other people’s opinion will not lead them astray when they truly believe in what they do.
4. They don’t seek to remain in their comfort zone
Living within the confines of one’s comfort zone is very joyful. There’s nothing that frightens you and they are absolutely no risks you need to take. Everything feels familiar and you’re in total control. The downside of remaining in your comfort zone, however, is that it will prohibit your growth. There’s no development to be found within one’s comfort zone.
Successful people challenge themselves to stretch outside their comfort zone. They actively seek new experiences that help them to expand their horizons. Even if this means that they are confronted with the unknown or that they have to take risks. Whatever helps them to expand their consciousness motivates them to leave the pleasant comfort that living in the comfort zone promises.
5. They don’t feel entitled to anything
Far too many people grow up having a certain sense of entitlement. They believe that the world owes them all sorts of things. Consequently, this is how they approach life. It makes them less willing to work hard on the accomplishment of their goals. They are less productive and often lack the inner fire required to accomplish greatness. What is worse, these people’s high hopes are crushed by reality time and time again.
The highly successful understand that success isn’t an entitlement. Everyone is entitled to pursue success, but success itself isn’t something that happens by accident.
They understand that nobody on this planet owes them anything. As a result, they rid themselves of the impression that they deserve to succeed because they worked hard. They also do not accept bad luck as an excuse.
Success isn’t an entitlement. It’s earned.
6. They don’t spend much time watching TV
If there’s something that successful people have in common, it’s how productively they make use of their time. To put it bluntly, successful people don’t waste their time. They simply don’t do it. So when it comes to television it’s only natural that successful people won’t spend much time watching it.
Thomas Corley, author of “Rich Habits: The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals,” did interesting research that supports this claim. He asked both rich people (annual income of $160,000+) and poor people (annual income of less than $35,000) about the time they spend watching TV. Interestingly enough, 67% of the group of rich people said that they watch TV one hour or less each day. Amongst the group of the poor, only 23% stated that they watch one hour or less. Even more interesting, only 6% of the rich group stated that they watch reality TV shows.
For the successful it doesn’t always take boundless discipline to stop watching TV. But it’s simply not a priority for these people. They have other things on their mind that engage them far more than watching a screen for hours.
7. They haven’t stopped learning
One negative habit that can severely influence your life is to develop the impression that one no longer needs to learn anything. As soon as we are no longer willing to learn, we start settling for what we already know. We leave no longer room for development, growth and expansion. And while it’s pretty normal to leave school or university thinking that one has finished one’s education, learning is a continuous process.