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There’s a meme going on, and I’ve been hit by Rick, Lyman, Sania, and Karen. Inquiring minds want to know what I do on a daily basis to be successful. I have a few habits that I am currently building and a few that are in bred, but I want to hear from you first.

What daily habits do you have that help you to be successful? Share them in the comments. I’ll be back later on today to share mine

I’m back

In order to tell you what habits help me to be successful, I’ll have to share with you my idea of success. Success to me is living an on purpose life, a life in which I express God in every moment, I experience radiant health, abundant prosperity, and soulful relationships, and a life where I am heightening spiritual awareness. The degree to which I do that is the degree to which I feel successful. Success defined this way is changing moment to moment, yet can be evaluated over a lifetime. To be honest, at this point I feel highly, not wildly successful.

First there are the habits that I’m cultivating through the Life Transformation Program.

Meditation

I can’t stress this enough: Having a spiritual practice is key to living a balanced life. My meditation time is a worry-free zone. It’s 30 minutes that I can be completely present, no thoughts of past or future (not even that day). It’s time for me to consciously remember who I am. Time to connect with God. Time to know and experience oneness with all that is.

On occasion, I receive profound insights and direction during my time of meditation. More often than not, it’s after the meditation that I find myself awash in ideas and instructions. Clear, concise, remarkable direction. I’ve learned to trust it and follow promptly.

I’ve also learned to take that time of consciously being present and extend it into my life. By being present, I mean that I am consciously aware of things happening to me, around me, and from me. That allows me to choose my mood, to pre-edit my discussions, and to recognize opportunities, which in turn helps me to have soulful relationships and financial abundance.

Exercise

I am a self proclaimed anti-healthnut (no offense to the nuts ). I’m overweight (actually obese). Exercise is my daily step towards radiant health.

It’s not just about moving my body. I’m a pretty intellectual chick. Exercise is time dedicated to listening to my body. From the habit of exercise and being aware of my body, I learned the difference between eating when I’m hungry and eating when I’m lonely. Rather than going by the latest fad - low fat, low carb, or high protein - I can discern the kind of nourishment that my body is asking for at meal time. By listening to my body, I can tell when I am full. I can also tell when I need rest before I get sick.

This might all seem elementary for some of you, but it’s a huge deal for me. I spent most of my life ignoring my body, beating it into submission, and listening to what other people thought was good for it. I am finally gaining some sense of being in my own skin.

Writing

I had no idea I loved to write until my back was against the wall and I started journalling. I was a math and science girl. Writing helps me to discover myself. It’s a medium to present my ideas. It’s helping me to raise spiritual awareness (I think). It’s helping to increase my fianancial abundance. Best of all, it’s helping me to shift careers.

Other habits that I have that help me to be successful:

Waking up between 5 and 6am - Getting up early ensures that I set my day up the way I want it to start with meditation and exercise.

Keeping the important list to 3 items - Right now there are only 3 things I have to do everyday: meditate, exercise, and write. Everything else falls in around it. Remarkably, I have the time to do everything in my day when I ensure that I get the important stuff done. Otherwise, I feel like a hamster on a wheel.

Sending love notes - I recently started sending my husband love notes via email. It helps us stay connected and keeps a smile on his face. I like that

Having a “fantastic” day - I picked this one up from my dad. Now, no matter how my day is going, when asked how I’m doing I say, “Fantastic!” I feel fantastic anyhow. I’ve noticed that I can feel fantastic even when a virus hits and 100 users can’t use their equipment for a week!

This is not delusion, I actually feel that way. It helps everyone around me to loosen up and we work much more effectively.

Reading daily - I read about 50 blogs a day and at least one page out of a book. The more I learn, the more I don’t know. It’s a whole new world every day when I read.

Eliminating television - It started with the news many years ago. Today I’m down to about 2 hours of television a week. The bad habit I have is that it’s usually when I’m eating. On occasion, I might indulge in a movie or a guilty pleasure (Making the Band, Sex and the City, or Real Sex), but by and large TV is out.

If you ever feel like you don’t have enough time, turn off your television. Besides freeing up your time, you will feel a sense of peace about you that is surreal.

Checking email in the evening - Otherwise known as last things last. I’m forced into this because I have a day job, but I will continue it when I run my full time endeavours. I love email because I can keep in touch on my own time. However, I used to be in the habit of checking it with every pop up. Now, I check it at the end and I can do everything in batch, much more efficient.

So there you have it, 10 habits that make me highly successful! One of these days I’ll share with you some metrics of success and where I am. For now, who wants to share their success habits? Go for it, I tag everyone!

In Spirit,
Nneka

For 6 months, I’ve been working on a self-designed Life Transformation Program. In an effort to shift my life from the difficult, dark place I was in, to an on-purpose, light existence, I instituted 3 things that I would do daily: meditate, exercise, and write.

So far, I breathe easier (I have asthma), I’ve lost weight, increased my net worth, improved my marriage, made several friends, and grown to love where I live. In short, I’ve made a 180 turn. In addition to these benefits, I’ve learned a lot about how to achieve my goals and live life on my terms. Many of these have been trumpeted by personal development gurus, but there’s nothing like learning from doing.

Lesson 1: Action Is Key

Try as I might to visualize my way to good health, it just was not working Turns out that I actually needed to get out and walk. Same thing with my goal of becoming a writer. One blog post may not make me a writer. However, no words on a page or on a computer screen, definitely make me a non-writer.

Action is essential if you want to achieve your goals.

Lesson 2: Small Consistent Steps

Consistent action is even better. I’ve said this before, but it seems like a novel idea to me, so I’ll repeat it.

I used to think that I had to make huge leaps to accomplish my goals, that I could do it once and be done. Certainly, some things in life are like that, but it turns out that being healthy, or living on purpose is not a one time event. It takes consistent deposits. In order to sustain my efforts, I needed to make them tiny.

In the beginning, this felt laborious and pointless. After all, I saw no evidence of weight loss after 1 week of walking. However, today, after 6 months, I can really see the difference in the shape of my body, and my breathing, not to mention the scale.

Small steps may seem like a chore, but they add up and they are doable.

Lesson 3: First Things First

Meditating, exercising, and writing set up my day. To be honest, I started off meditating and exercising first thing in the morning and it gradually shifted to when it could be done. It’s much better to get the important things done first. It sets the tone for your day. It makes you feel accomplished out the gate. It ensures that it is done.

I thought that I would have to give up some things in order to do this Life Transformation Program, but it turned out to be just the opposite. Once I set a priority on those all important activities and wrapped my days around them, everything else had a place. I could talk on the phone, surf the internet, work my 9-5, volunteer at church, be a board member, do Toastmasters, read books, and be present with my husband. All the while with no worries or guilt because I got the important stuff done.

Lesson 4: Do It Anyway

In January when the temperature was in the teens at 5 o’clock, I just did not want to leave my warm, cozy bed and brave the wind so that I could walk for 40 minutes. So I used the Walk Away The Pounds DVD, and got my 40 minute walk in ANYWAY. (It actually worked out better because my body got some different movements.)

When my mind keeps chattering on and meditation becomes a philosophical discussion or a planning session, I continue to bring myself back to my breath, and sit still ANYWAY.

When I can’t think of anything cohesive to publish on Balanced Life Center and my brain is rattling away, I open up a Notepad and I write ANYWAY. (I may not publish it, but I do write.)

My edict for this year is: Exercise, meditation, and writing done, are better than exercise, meditation, and writing not done.

Lesson 5: Trust Yourself

That said, I’ve failed the 30-day trial every month because of extenuating circumstances. Days when I was too sick to leave my bed, or the week spent in Miami with my family. On those occasions, I yielded to the voice that said that I needed to rest, or that I needed to be present with my niece and nephew.

The caveat is that I could only do that because I built in those habits. I have a deal with myself that I write, exercise, and meditate, no excuses. I learned to tell the difference between an excuse and a genuine reason. In short, I learned how to call myself on bullsh!t, and how to give myself some leeway without a side of guilt. I’m not sure how I managed this, but it’s a great side-effect.

Lesson 6: Attract, Don’t Chase

A minister once said to a groom before the wedding, “Never chase a bus.”

I got this lesson recently. I learned that if I do what I have to do, everything else will fall into place. By writing everyday, I get into the habit of generating content, fine-tuning my voice, and establishing a rhythm. In late January and February, I lost sight of that and I began chasing links and stories. Writing became difficult. Once I realized what I was doing, I returned my focus to my habits. Everything then fell into place. I stopped chasing, and all manner of opportunity gravitated toward me. Life was easy again.

Lesson 7: Be Present

A great side-effect of meditation is becoming aware in every moment. One day I was in meditation and I just marvelled at the luxury of the situation. I could sit in a comfortable chair, in a comfortable room, quiet all around me, and take the time to just be. No appointments, nowhere to go. I had the luxury of being completely present. Then it dawned on me: I chose to do this, I can choose at any time.

I began the practice of being present all the time. Being completely engaged when reading a post, or walking in the morning, or troubleshooting a problem for a customer, or in conversation with a friend, and even in the midst of a heated discussion. I could watch myself acting, see everything around me, and choose consciously in the moment. I’ve not mastered this yet, but I would say that my level of awareness is about 5 times what it was.

As a result, I feel truly alive, and no matter what activity I’m engaged in, I’m having fun. I bring myself completely to everything.

Conclusion

As if the direct rewards - weight loss, increased income, and peace of mind - weren’t enough, I also receive a great sideline of experience and self awareness through the Life Transformation Program. I figure, if I can achieve the small goal of exercise today, I will be able to achieve my big audacious goal of starting a school.

In Spirit,
Nneka