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What is “Success”?
What are your life goals?
As women, many of us grew up thinking our life goals were to simply grow older, get married, and have kids.
Not that doing so is bad at all, but have you considered achieving even more?
There are amazing, strong, and talented women out there who have families and yet are highly successful! It may be in fashion, writing, coding, owning a business, or even being a schoolteacher.
Being “successful” is different for everyone, but there are a handful of habits that are critical to establish when going down your personal path to success.
Related Post: 10 Books Every Woman Should Read for Ultimate Success
There is no cookie-cutter approach for every woman out there!
Yet, it won’t take long to think about what your personal idea of “success” is.
Let’s do a brief thinking exercise to prime our brains:
While you’re sitting and reading this article, imagine how you want to be in 5 years from now.
No matter your age, you have endless potential.
Think about:
- Your dream financial situation
- When you (and your partner) would like to retire
- The vacations you’d love to take
Pretty simple!
When thinking about your future, our brains like to tell us, “sure that seems fun, but come on, that’s not really possible”.
Related Post: How to Create Your Own Vision Board
It’s the danger we put ourselves in when we are shifting our mindset to abundance. We are afraid of all we could do. We don’t know how it is possible, and just assume it couldn’t happen.
Today is the day to change that mindset of yours.
Today, you are taking one step ahead of where you were before.
Let’s examine 5 ways you can improve your life today for your perfect tomorrow!
1. Fully Understand Your Finances
As a personal finance blog, this is a critical step that we advocate for.
Now, if you happened upon this article, without knowing much about us, do know that we take money pretty seriously.
Millions of women are working on their financial journey and achieving financial freedom.
It’s beautiful, it’s amazing, and you need to get a grip of your personal financial situation if you ever want to be successful.
Let’s be honest here:
There are plenty of people out there who are getting rich off social media, YouTube, and other similar methods. Some make it seem far too easy.
But, even after earning money now, so many of these people won’t have a foundation of effective budgeting, saving, investing, and spending to keep their money in the long run!
But you’re different.
You want to make a long-lasting change, and you want to take control of your life.
To begin, consider tracking your spending and learning about your financial future through our favorite, free app, Personal Capital!
In fact, we’ve created a full review of this app here, in case you want to learn more!
There are plenty of ways to start learning about your finances, and it does not have to be hard!
We created this blog to provide information from top leaders and books in this industry, so head over to our blog for current advice, by women, for women!
There are plenty of books, too, that we’ve loved learning from, if you are a book person!
Some of our favorite books for beginners include:
We’ve created a free workbook that can help you through all of the beginner’s stages of your mindset shift and learning how to start saving your money! Be sure to check it out and stay current with all the great content we regularly post!
2. Wake up Early
I know. You probably saw this one coming, but don’t turn back just yet!
Seriously, this is one of those tips that you won’t truly agree with until you fit it into your own life.
What is one thing that so many successful men and women do that they swear has transformed their life?
Waking up early.
How early is early?
Some say 5am. *cringe*
Some say 1-2 hours earlier than when you currently wake up at.
So, why do this?
When you wake up earlier, you actually have alone time to get things done. You don’t have to listen to the kids arguing, you don’t have to deal with your husband, you don’t have to think about work.
You simply get things done!
For example, some things we do in the early a.m. include:
- Write down daily goals/to-do lists
- Meditate
- Brief exercise
- Make and eat a healthy breakfast
- Listen to podcasts, write, read, or another form of learning
We’ve all experienced dealing with convincing ourselves to be productive in the evenings.
We either stay up way too late and mess up our sleep schedules, or we don’t have time to do all of those things we promised ourselves we’d do that day (I’m looking at you, exercise!)
This is one of the best books out there for help to start waking up early!
If you have any interest with adjusting into this new lifestyle, the book will be your step-by-step guide! We loved it, and it could make an impact on your life as it has for millions of others!
3. Don’t Skimp on the Fitness
I know what you’re thinking: “Yeah, yeah. I know. I need to exercise. Next.”
But, wait!
If you want to join the other top leaders in this world, you need to realize one pivotal concept:
If you plan to be successful in this world, you must first control your own body and mind.
We’ll tackle the mind part later in this article. But, for now, let’s just brief over why it is so important to work on your fitness.
Exercise gives you energy. It keep you on this earth for longer. It prevents countless diseases and health problems.
And you don’t even have to be running miles each day.
A popular way that busy women swear by is doing a quick morning workout, as one of the very first things you do in the morning.
The rush of blood flow, the endorphins, the sympathetic system…it all results in better brain functioning!
Now, if waking up early was too much for you, then trying to fit in exercise in the morning may just be a tipping point.
Yet, there are plenty of ways to ease fitness into your life, without even trying hard!
Some examples include:
- Change your desk chair to a dynamic chair, or a yoga ball
- Start tracking your water intake and try to get at least 2-3 more glasses in a day
- Begin tracking your food/drinks that you consume through an app like MyFitnessPal
Sure, there are plenty of “successful” women out there who can now afford daily personal trainers, private gym memberships, and personal exercise equipment.
You don’t need any of that to start a more healthy life!
It all starts with one change. One thing. Try just one effort today to take that small step toward a better life.
4. Set Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Yearly Goals
This is a life changer!
Setting goals and reviewing them daily is a habit that you should consider starting right away.
Now, setting goals is more specific then just stating “I want to be a millionaire”, or something of the similar.
Instead, we advocate taking the approach by looking at how you want to feel in the future. Money won’t bring you happiness. But, money can bring you more opportunities for happiness.
Related Post: The One Habit You Need for Investing Success
We’ve put together some goal examples that show what your goals should and should not look like:
“Bad” Goals
- By the time I’m 30 I want to own (enter a specific car and model here)
- I want to have x dollars in my bank by the time I retire
- I want to weight x pounds by the end of this year
“Good” Goals
- I want to be able to afford taking my family on a large vacation every year
- I want to have all my debt paid off and to have enough passive income to not have to work
- I want to establish a healthy eating and exercise lifestyle
- I want to afford to lease (or own) the newest model of car I like, without ever going in debt
Okay, so what stands out between these two categories of goals?
The main point to get is that “good” goals are more broad.
Throw away what your English teacher or counselor told you about S.M.A.R.T. goals, or R.U.M.B.A. goals.
Sure, being about to purchase a specific car at 30 years old is exciting, but the excitement will wear off fast. As will having a specific amount of dollars in band or losing a number of pounds.
It’s motivational until you hit it. Then, you have nothing to look forward to!
Others will say, “Well, yeah. Then make new goals?”
That’s one way to think of it, but when making financial goals, that are satisfying in an evergreen and life-long way, it is best to consider what is under the “good goals” category.
When thinking of goals, think about what will make you happy. Will a car actually be the very thing that will make you happy, both when you buy it and 10 years down the road? If so, then it’s a decent goal.
But, try to think about what really will give you and your family happiness. Will being out of debt and buying your dream car in cash be a better approach?
We have a section in our workbook that tackles this very concept!
So now that you have a small grasp on types of goals, it is important to make a variety of goals that are appropriate to different times.
You want to think about daily goals, weekly, monthly, yearly, and even goals that are far down the road.
Daily goals can be as simple as:
- I need to take the trash out
- I need to make 4 calls when at work today
- I want to read 20 pages of my latest book
Weekly goals can look like:
- I want to meal prep at least 1 meal this week
- I want to have 1 date night with my partner
- I will do 5 small acts of kindness this week
Monthly goals could include:
- I want to exercise at least 2 days a week for this month
- I want to do research on a side hustle that I could do for this year
- I want to finish 1 book that will help me on my financial journey
…and so forth!
Also, if you are a reader, check out Rich Dad Poor Dad for another great view of how you can create the financial life of your dreams!
5. Change Your Mindset to Positivity
The most important way to build your life for success is changing your mindset.
There are a few great ways to do this (outlined below), but you must realize this isn’t an overnight change.
Adapting new habits and changing the way to see the world is a practice, and only something that will continue to evolve as you learn and grow!
We’ve explored a handful of ways to be more abundant, to reach high achievement levels, and to knock out some goals that were picking up dust.
It’s completely cliché to say, but you really can achieve your life’s dreams…if you put in the effort.
And, it all starts with getting your brain on the right track to success!
Meditation
Famous actors, authors, businessmen, professionals, and entrepreneurs use this trick.
Now, meditation sounds terrible. If you haven’t tried it, then the idea of sitting still while blocking out your thoughts doesn’t necessarily seem that productive.
And that’s because you’re thinking of it in a wrong way!
We loved learning about Meditation through an app and service called Mindvalley, but you can simply go over to YouTube and listen to guided meditations to start!
If you really are a beginner, try typing in ‘guided visualizations’, which are like guided meditations, but focus on making you think about specific scenarios. They’re fun and they absolutely transformative.
If there is anything on this list to try, you should consider picking up meditation!
Or, at least go Google the benefits of meditation and get convinced that way 😊
Appreciation
This is a quick and simple one: STOP COMPLAINING.
Really, though!
Every day, go through a list of 3-5 thing you truly are appreciative for! It can be a part of your meditation, during a prayer, or even scattered throughout the day.
When you start appreciating more, you start realizing that the world does not revolve around you, and that there are so many amazing things in your life that you are taking for granted.
You’ve heard it before: You don’t know what’s lost until it goes missing.
Some ways to start appreciating your life just a bit more:
- While driving, note 3 things that will happen (or had happened) in the current day that you are grateful for
- When getting ready in the morning, tell yourself 3 things that you love about yourself (and don’t pair it will all the things you dislike!)
- When exercising, tell yourself 3 things you are happy about (i.e. your health, your ability to afford a gym membership, your good pair of shoes, etc.)
Forgive and Forget
Easy to say, hard to do.
We learned about the power of forgiveness while learning about meditation, and never knew there is an entire science behind it!
When you have time, you should Google about the psychology behind forgiving others. There are fascinating studies that show forgiving can:
- Improve athletic performance
- Help you score better on schoolwork/tests
- Help you to be less reactionary and have better reasoning skills
But, how?
There are theories that we bottle up the negativity inside us. Some say it is negative energy, others think it’s something else.
But, it works.
So, next time you’re meditating, or if you are sitting around and feel like visualizing, try forgiving someone in your head.
Yes, literally sit, close your eyes, and fully imagine yourself forgiving a person in your life for something you’ve been angry with them about. It could take anywhere from 3-5 minutes.
Now, it will take numerous trials to get good at this, and it’s best to be in a meditation while doing this, but this act alone can do you wonders!
If you’re interested in how to create your ideal life, by mastering these more advanced methods, check out one of our favorite books to learn!
Let’s Summarize!
- Success is defined how you want it to be. You are in charge of creating your own personal goals!
- Get started today by tracking your finances! It’s never too early or too late!
- Women are fully capable of achieving amazing things! But it is critical to start achieving great strides in your personal life, such as your health and mindset, before trying to tackle the world.