I Don’t Believe In Success, But I Believe In the Habits of Success

Build your mini empire one step at a time

The common narrative that guides society these days is that something outside (a job title, an award, accolade, bank balance, girlfriend, boyfriend, business, car, boat, plane, or some other form of recognition) will deem us a success or not. We might even say, “if only I had that thing or was in that place then I would be successful”.

Whether we like it or not, what we do for work takes up a lot of our time, it directs our energy, focus, and our creative output, along with occupying a large chunk of how we spend our days. This then heavily influences what our daily routines are shaped around and how we engage with the world.

All of these combined make up a large part of the life that we live so depending on how they make us feel and how inspired we are through what we do, will determine how good or bad we perceive our life to be.

What success means for you

For some it comes through their work, reaching goals, being a great parent, becoming financially free, becoming a boss, living off the land, or simply being happy and peaceful. Each one of us holds a different perspective on what success means so defining it is key if you want to implement daily habits that support you to become a success.

Success is the by-product of our daily habits and not the source of them. So, the moment-to-moment actions we take every day will set the foundations for us to be successful or not.

If we can consistently show up to habits that support a “successful” life for a sustained period of time, “that thing” or “that place” that we want to have or be will be what we have without us even having to try.

I’m a full-time writer and a breathwork practitioner so a successful life for me looks like writing full-time, earning enough money from my writing, building a committed audience, publishing articles and books with the knowledge I love to share, and teaching and guiding breathwork sessions.

A successful life is also one that keeps me engaged, learning, and inspired so finding new writers, platforms, and opportunities helps me to stay curious, open, and excited for more. I am extremely blessed and fortunate to say that this is the life that I now live.

“It doesn’t matter how successful or unsuccessful you are right now. What matters is whether your habits are putting you on a path toward success. You should be far more concerned with your current trajectory than with your current results.” — James Clear

The dopamine effect

Dopamine is a key player in how we feel pleasure. Whenever we have a reward circuit in place that makes us feel good, a little hit of dopamine is released. Our body, mind, and nervous system then take note of this so an association of what we just did is linked to how it made us feel so we seek to do it again.

This can either lead to wonderful habits that support growth, health, and happiness or to negative habits that lead to addiction.

Exercise, enough sleep, being in the sun, walking barefoot in nature, eating healthily, making love, and mindfulness practices such as meditation, yoga, and breathwork (to name only a few) aids the release of dopamine and help to keep us balanced, energised, and centred.

Being highly focused and on purpose can also provide energy and release dopamine if we are engaged, inspired, and in a creative flow.

You can “hack” this system by creating reward systems that release dopamine when you achieve whatever it is that you’re working on. These reward systems can be as simple as making a cup of tea when you’re finished, nibbling on some chocolate (cacao releases dopamine too!), going for a workout, taking a hot bath, practicing gratitude, or even speaking to yourself with more love, compassion, and kindness.

Often, the simplest reward systems aid the release of dopamine more frequently as they are more accessible and frequent.

You know what you like to do and what makes you feel good, you also know where you self-sabotage, where you procrastinate, and what you need to work on for you to reach your goals so setting up a reward system that supports you to stay focused is key. Then you can slowly but surely change those old habits that stopped serving long ago to healthier ones that do.

Separating the winners from the losers

“If successful and unsuccessful people share the same goals, then the goal cannot be what differentiates the winners from the losers.” — James Clear

“Winning” is a very complex set of conditions that are hard-wired into a person long before they ever win. Winning is a wonderful by-product of those pre-existing conditions. Those conditions may vary but among the most successful people in the world these are often the areas whereby they excel the most:

Work ethic/passion
Mindset (how they speak to themselves and others, feeling worthy of success, how determined and focused they are, how they self-regulate their emotions)
Daily habits
Their ability to take risks

You might have a terrible work ethic, have no idea of what you’re passionate about, you might struggle to see yourself as worthy of success or fear taking any kind of risk at the moment, but by introducing daily habits and routines that build your confidence, energy, and courage, you can begin to move closer and closer towards a self that thinks “I can” rather than the one that thinks “I can’t”.

Then you’ll find that you have more passion and energy to work and focus, you’ll believe you are worthy of success, you’ll feel better, and you’ll be ready to take risks because you’ll have changed your fear around failing to one of learning.

Robin Sharma advises people to wake up at 5am every morning. He claims 5am is the time of least distraction, highest human glory, and greatest peace. He also says “Your daily habits reveal your deepest beliefs.”

Marie Forleo says “create before you consume” and “success doesn’t come from what you do occasionally, it comes from what you do consistently”.

Tony Robbins says “if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten”

James Clear says, “every action is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity”

Whoever you draw inspiration from, the message they share seems to be the same and that is that daily habits, consistent action, and taking small steps forward everyday combine to make ‘success’ a part of your everyday life and not a destination that you are waiting to arrive at.

Once success is a part of your everyday life, you won’t have to get anything or be anywhere to feel successful, you will have exactly what you need and be exactly where you want to be every single day.

To close

Follow in the footsteps of those that have walked far and wide before you. They have blazed the path and imprinted the ground ahead with the knowledge on how to go about getting what you are now seeking.

A few simple tweaks in your day-to-day life can make all the difference. Seek those that have gone before and take what resonates. Implement those new habits before reviewing the results. If they’re working, keep going! If they’re not, keep refining and tweaking until they do.