Happy & Healthy
9 THINGS INSANELY SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE DO
These are the lists that I feast on. A list that will make your life easier and open up the gateway to stacks of money and success. The American journalist Kevin Kruse interviewed 200 hysterically successful women (billionaires, Olympians, you name them – he talked to them) which resulted in a few rules they all live by. And thank the heavens, getting up insanely early is not one of them. Hooray.
1. Think in minutes, not in hours
We like to divide our working days into hours. An hour for a meeting (I’ll get back to this), half an hour for a job interview, etc. Don’t do it. All you have is 24 hours in a day, but you do have 1440 minutes. Work with that. It’ll leave you with more time on your hands.
2. Avoid meetings
Here’s a point that’s got me hooked because as important as I think it is to get together with your team, meetings can drag out (proof!) and take forever. Usually you’ll waste about fifteen minutes waiting for the group to be complete and everyone wants to have their say. Before you know it, it’ll be 120 minutes later (clearly from now on I’ll only be talking in terms of minutes). Did you know that TV producer John de Mol doesn’t arrive to meetings until everyone is present? Smart and understandable. Otherwise the poor man wastes 240 minutes a day on waiting and small talk.
3. Delegate
The biggest in the business never think in terms of ‘How can I do this?’ but they go for the ‘Who can do this?’ instead. If you do everything on your own, it’ll slow everything down. Remember, there are only 1440 minutes in a day. People who think big let other people do their work (she said as she was typing at 6:25 in the morning…)
4. The one touch theory
Are you always marking your e-mails? Making you stare at an inbox filled with a multitude of colored flags? Quit it. You’ve read the email, and then read it a second time and you have to come up with what you want to do with it. IT’s a waste of your time. Successful people work with the one touch theory. If the task doesn’t take more than five minutes, get it done right away. This way it won’t float around in the back of your head causing unnecessary stress.
5. Avoid to-do lists
When you’ve got things to do, you always jot it down and plan it in your agenda. Thanks to the one touch theory, you’ve gotten most of your things done already. To-do lists hardly get completed which leads to the feeling of guilt. Try to remember this: making a to-do list also requires time.
”Barack Obama eats at home at least two days a week”
6. Always go for time off
Extremely successful people literally plan out their day by the minute. But that means they also know exactly what keeps them focused and what inspires them. Barack Obama eats at home at least two days a week (or else he’s got Michelle running after him with her rolling pin), other people schedule in plenty of holidays and time off with their families. They know exactly which things they find important and what gives them energy so that they can perform even better.
7. Don’t be a slave to your email
I read every fun email that pops up in my inbox. Wrong. You’re a slave to your inbox. Book a certain amount of minutes in your day during which you efficiently respond to your emails. I’m going to do it right away.
8. Say ‘no’
Absurdly successful people only do the thing they enjoy. If something isn’t a ‘hell yeah’, it’s a no. Waste of your time. Before you know it, you’ll be living through and for others rather than yourself. A huge role model of mine always said: ‘Make yourself scarce’ so that one time you do show up, everyone will be over the moon.
9. Morning ritual
Nothing was said about having to wake up early (I once wrote about high achiever waking up at ungodly hours here), but they do all have a morning ritual which consists of eating breakfast, meditating (good for the soul), working out and reading. I’m afraid their alarms still go off quite early.
So we might never become the second Steve Jobs or Barack, but a little more success and a few more precious minutes in a day won’t hurt, right? Time for me start.
