What sets successful entrepreneurs apart from the ones who can’t seem to succeed? This question has been a topic of debate among academics, economists and psychologists for centuries now. Do they possess some mystical, innate qualities and powers that normal people are unable to tap into, or is it possible for any one of us to create just as much success?

One of the best (and often overlooked) ways of understanding entrepreneurs’ ability to achieve success is by examining (and emulating) their daily habits and routines!  

5 Negotiable Habits Of Successful Entrepreneurs

So what sort of habits does the quintessential successful entrepreneur have? Don’t underestimate the habits listed below – they’re only deceptively simple but are those habits that actually make the biggest impact on your everyday life!

1. You snooze you lose! 

According to Fast Company business magazine, nine of the world’s top business business leaders choose to get an early start to the day, with most of them waking up no later than 6 a.m! Snoozing or sleeping in often results in a lazy mood and a less productive day. Wake up a little earlier so you have time for you rituals and routines, before you start work! If you start your day, doing things for other people instead of yourself, you are sending yourself a very clear message, one that you contradicts a success-oriented mindset.

Read my 4 hacks on getting out of bed every morning! 

2.  Get those muscles moving! 

Scott Cullather, inVNT’s CEO, (along with many other successful people) starts his day with a 6 a.m. RUN. He claims that this not only supports his physical endurance throughout the day, but that it also stimulates his mental processes and creative thinking – both of these claims have recently been supported by numerous studies.  Exercising should be like brushing your teeth; something you do daily without negotiation. When you become stronger, your mind becomes stronger too. Exercise not only improves your body but your mentality too! Starting your day with exercise is top of the list of best habits to adopt for success.

3. Creating daily intentions 

To-do lists often have a very bad reputation for not working, and I am not a fan as such,  but they can be an integral part of setting and achieving your goals. What results do you want to create in your business today? What outcomes do you want? The questions we ask ourselves lead to the things we choose to do, it’s something very overlooked but essential for productivity.

Asking yourself every morning “What do I want to achieve today? instead of  ‘What do I need to do today?’, will bring you very different results in your business.

4. Be strategic with your time  

In order to make sure they have enough energy for high-impact decisions, many entrepreneurs carefully prioritise their time and eliminate or delegate minor decisions from their schedule. They don’t try to do everything and they always plan ahead! This can be as simple as taking 30 minutes a week to create a weekly plan in order to save yourself 30 minutes every single morning thinking about what you want to do; it will allow you to focus your most productive morning hours on more mentally demanding tasks. Drive productivity with powerful decisions!

5. Managing your mindset

Not everyone wakes up every morning feeling super motivated and ready for any challenges that the day may bring. How well you cope with challenges, changes and uncertainty depends on your mindset and eventually determines how successful your business ventures will be. Payal Kadakia, founder of the successful startup “ClassPass”, has stated that her past entrepreneurial failures taught her that being flexible and enthusiastically taking on changes and challenges was the key to her success.


The Significance Of A Morning Routine

Do you notice a recurring trend in some of the above habits? Many of them have to do with setting up a morning routine. According to Drew Canole, founder of FitLife.Tv, “How you start your day is how you start your life.” Have you ever noticed how some mornings lead to stressful days in which you don’t get much done, and others make for productive days that leave you feeling motivated and accomplished? Science says there’s actually nothing coincidental about that!

Studies have shown that the right morning routine will help you in two ways:

Psychologically

In his book, Willpower: Rediscovering The Greatest Human Strength (2011), psychologist Roy F. Baumeister discusses research that suggests that our willpower is at its highest in the morning hours. This not only means that we can get more done in the mornings, but also that tasks that we struggle to commit to and find particularly challenging can be done both easier and more efficiently in the early hours, before our finite levels of energy are depleted on other things.

Check out my 6 Willpower Boosters Here 

Physiologically

Numerous studies have shown that we experience a natural cortisol surge every morning – this means we have the most energy to use during the hours that this surge is in effect. Taking advantage of this natural energy boost is a great way to get things done in the morning and to avoid forcing yourself to do tasks half-heartedly and not to the best of your ability throughout the rest of the day. Research also shows that getting off to a healthy start in the morning motivates people to continue with healthy life choices throughout the rest of the day, so that’s always a plus!

Do You Have What It Takes?

While entrepreneurship is certainly not for the faint of heart, there’s something incredibly inspiring in the many entrepreneurial success stories out there. Many entrepreneurs start out from scratch, with limited financial resources, obscure networks and little business experience; those who manage to make the best use of the resources available to them and to reinforce productive habits can take the little they have and turn it into something they could have previously only dreamt about.

Are your habits Affecting Your Path To Entrepreneurial Success?

Entrepreneurs are people like just like everyone else who have succeeded in consistently following the habits that they know to be useful to them – if they could do it, so can you! Try out some of the habits above and make them work for you – you may be surprised at how much of a difference they can make!

To your Success

Kirstin ODonovan

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