7 Good Habits of Highly Successful People

By Brian Tracy

Successful people are where they are today as a result of their habits.  Your habits determine fully 95% of your behavior.  Everything that you are or that you will ever accomplish will be determined by the quality of the habits that you form. By creating good habits and becoming goal oriented you can become successful and live a prosperous life.

SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE MAINTAIN 7 GOOD HABITS

Success in human life has been studied by the great thinkers and philosophers for at least 2500 years.  I have personally studied the subject for more than 30 years.  What I have found is that the very best people have good habits. I have identified seven habits that you need to develop if you want to perform at your very maximum in everything you do.

BE GOAL ORIENTED

The first is to become goal oriented. You need to be a habitual goal setter, and dedicate yourself to working from clear, written goals every day of your life.  All highly successful people are intensely goal oriented. They know exactly what they want, they have it written down, they have written plans to accomplish it, and they both review and work on their plans every single day.

BE RESULT ORIENTED

The second habit successful people develop is result orientation.  Result orientation is made up of two practices.  The first is the practice of continuously so that you become better at what you do.  The second practice is that of time management, which means setting very clear priorities on what you do and then concentrating single-mindedly on the most valuable use of your time.  All really successful people are intensely result oriented.

BE ACTION ORIENTED

The third major habit you need to develop is that of action orientation.  This is really the most important habit for material success.  It is the ability to get on with the job and get it done fast.  It is your ability to develop and maintain a sense of urgency, a bias for action.  Fast tempo in whatever you do is essential to your success.  You need to overcome procrastination, push aside your fears and launch 100% toward the achievement of your most important goals.  The combination of goal orientation, result orientation and action orientation, in themselves, will virtually assure great success.

BE PEOPLE ORIENTED

The fourth habit you need is people orientation.  This is where you put relationships in the center of your life.  This is your decision to cultivate within yourself the habits of patience, kindness, compassion and understanding.  Virtually all of your happiness in life will come from your ability to get along well with other people.

The good news is that you can become a wonderful human being in your relationships with others when you decide to.  And, as Aristotle said, the only way that you can learn any habit is by practicing it on a regular basis.  The more you practice being a truly excellent person in your relationships with others, the more you will internalize those qualities and actually become that person.

BE HEALTH ORIENTED

The fifth habit successful people develop is health orientation.  This means that you must fastidiously watch your diet, and always eat the right foods in the right proportions.  You must exercise on a regular basis, continually using every muscle and joint of your body to keep it young and fit.  And finally you must have good habits of rest and recreation that will enable you, in combination with diet and exercise, to live to be 80 or 90 years old.  Remember, your health is the most important single thing you have, and it is completely subject to the habits that you develop with regard to the way you live.

STAY HONEST

The sixth habit is that of honesty and integrity.  In the final analysis, the character you develop as you go through life is more important than virtually anything else.  Honesty means that you practice the “reality principle” in everything you do.  You are completely objective with yourself and with the world around you.  You set very clear values for yourself and you organize yourself around your values.  You develop a vision for yourself and then you live your life consistent with your highest ideals.  You never compromise your integrity or peace of mind for anyone or anything.

This attitude of honesty is critical to your enjoying all of the other good habits that you are developing.

BE SELF-DISCIPLINED

The seventh habit, and the one habit that guarantees all the others, is that of self-discipline.  Your ability to discipline yourself, to master yourself, to control yourself, is the most important single quality that you can develop as a person.  The habit of self-discipline goes hand in hand with success in every area of life.

Every one of these habits, being goal oriented, result orientated, action orientated, people orientated, health orientated, honesty and self-disciplined can be developed.  You are where you are and what you are today because of your habits.  Your habits have been developing, mostly accidentally, from the time you were an infant.  Today you can take complete control over the shaping of your character and personality, and everything that happens to you in the future, by making the decision, right now, to define and to develop the habits that will lead you to great success.  And when you develop the same good habits possessed by other successful people, you must and will enjoy their success as well.  Your future will become unlimited.

Brian Tracy   International Success and Motivation Coach