People who do well in life rarely announce every little thing that keeps them grounded. It doesn’t matter whether they keep their rules secret because they’re too personal or too ordinary. They stick to their rules every day without mentioning them.
Here are seven personal rules people who succeed in life often don’t talk about. Which one do you think would be the hardest to keep up with?
Allocate deliberate practice time
Many successful people have a habit that involves setting time aside that’s not for meetings. It’s not for emails, either. No, they allocate a certain amount of practice time each day just for getting better.
They’ll complete focused & uncomfortable work that stretches their limits in ways that they simply couldn’t do in their daily lives. You wouldn’t even notice it on their calendar. But it’s there. It’s during this 90-minute block that they achieve real progress.
Run private after-action reviews every week
The majority of people simply move on after a win or a loss. Not successful people. They’ll replay what really happened by writing it down or perhaps talking it out. However, it’s not necessarily because they’re feeling guilty. They’re simply looking for patterns.
They look for where they went wrong & work out how to improve for next time. Successful people never allow something to happen without asking themselves what worked and what didn’t.
Avoid notifications during deep-work hours
Don’t be surprised to receive radio silence whenever you message a high-performing person in the middle of the morning. It’s on purpose.
They schedule chunks of time when nobody can reach them because it helps them to focus on the task at hand. Their deep work time is when they do the thinking that moves the needle. Reacting all day? That’s not on their schedule.
Track progress in writing
While they may not talk about it, you can guarantee that a highly successful person has a notebook or spreadsheet that includes all sorts of data about their lives. They’ll include scores & habits, as well as check marks and mood ratings.
Yes, it’s boring to share. But it’s also powerful to do, and they make it a rule to use these scores as proof of growth. Successful people rely on this far more than any motivational pep talk.
Never announce goals publicly
A common rule about successful people is that they don’t announce personal goals & challenges on social media. They’ll make deals with themselves instead & keep it quiet.
It might be something such as scheduling a donation if they skip going to the gym or locking social media during work. Either way, they force themselves to be accountable.
Schedule sleep like a meeting
The people who keep climbing to the top schedule bedtime like they’re clocking into work. They’ll sleep at the same time & wind down in the same way.
Romanticizing burnout doesn’t work for them. Their rule is to be strict about when they should go to sleep and refuse to make any excuses about it otherwise.
Write the next concrete action before stopping work
Successful people also have a special rule before they call it a day. They’ll write down the first thing they need to do in the morning because it helps them remember where they left off.
No, they don’t write a full plan or long list. They simply jot down the next step. They can do it immediately the next time they sit down, saving time & effort.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.