★ Rich Habit #1: Adopting Good Daily Habits

going forward we'll cover one of these habits, starting from the top and going down the list. Here's the very first one now. It's the most important!

Rich Habit #1: Adopting Good Habits and Following Them Every Day

Good daily habits are the foundation of success. Successful people differ from unsuccessful people in their daily habits. Successful people have many good daily habits and few bad daily habits. Unsuccessful people have many bad daily habits and few good daily habits. No person will ever be truly successful until they become aware of their strengths and their weaknesses. Self-assessment requires self-awareness. In order to be able to determine which habits are helping or hurting you, you must first become aware of the habits that you have. Once you identify all of your habits, only then can you determine if they are good habits or bad habits. For three workdays I want you to carry around a small pad of paper and write down every activity, thought or decision that is a daily habit. You know an activity, thought or decision is a daily habit because you will, through this exercise, find yourself repeating it every day. You won’t need to add it to your pad because it will already be there from the previous day. Once you have a complete list of all of your habits, the next step is to put a plus (+) or minus (-) next to each habit. The plus represents good habits and the minus, bad habits. With your habits graded, now we move on to the next step, which is converting your bad habits into good habits. On a piece of paper form two columns. List your bad daily habits under column one. Then I want you to invert each one of your bad daily habits and list their opposites under column two, which we’ll refer to as your new good daily habits.

Bad Daily Habits

Good Daily Habits

I watch too much television.

I limit myself to one hour of TV per day.

I don’t exercise regularly.

I exercise 30 minutes each day.

I don’t watch what I eat.

I eat no more than XXXX calories per day.

I don’t do my work-related reading.

I read 30 minutes each day for learning.

I procrastinate.

I complete my to-do list every day.

I waste too much time.

I did not waste time today.

I smoke.

I will not smoke today.

I don’t return phone calls right away.

I will return every phone call today.

I don’t remember names.

I write down names and remember them.

I forget important dates.

I acknowledge important dates of others.

For 30 days, follow your new good daily habits. Review them once in the morning, once at noon and once at bedtime. This forces accountability. The objective is to follow as many of your new good daily habits as you can each day. My experience has been that if I am able to follow 20 to 30 percent of my new good daily habits it’s a good day.

Good Daily Habits Work Week Checklist (Sample Items):

  • I read and learned something new today for my job, my business or some dream I am pursuing.
  • I exercised for 30 minutes today.
  • I completed 80 percent of my to-do list today.
  • I called at least one prospect today.
  • I did not waste time today.
  • I did one thing today that I did not want to do.
  • I stopped myself from saying something sarcastic today.
  • I stopped myself from saying something inappropriate today.
  • I stopped myself from talking today when I realized I was talking too much.
  • I ate no more than 2,000 calories today.
  • I limited myself to two beers today.
  • I worked for 30 minutes more than I am required today.
  • I called one person today, just to say hello.
  • I called everyone I know who had a birthday today to wish them a happy birthday.

In Summary

Successful people automate success by adopting good habits. They also eliminate bad habits that prevent success. This is the first Rich Habit and the most important one because it lays the foundation for the rest of the Rich Habits I will be sharing with you.