This list was compiled by asking a large number of individuals what it is that they do that makes them successful.
Simply Successful Secrets Roundup!
Top 15 Success Secrets - All received at least 25 individual votes, in order from most popular to least popular
1. Exercise/Eating Healthy Foods - Including walking, running, swimming, rollerblading, bicycling, resistance exercise, yoga, pilates, taking the stairs, drinking plenty of water, drinking healthy tea, taking vitamins and/or minerals, practicing martial arts, and eating foods in the proper proportions and at the proper times of day. - 71 Votes
2. Read - Including books, textbooks, blogs, helpful magazines, newspapers, library books, children's books, fiction and non-fiction, articles, newsletters, mind puzzles, comic books, and the Bible. - 63 Votes
3. Practice Productivity Habits - Including Simpleology, "tickler" systems, time management, focused intensity exercises, responding to email/telephone calls in a timely manner, being organized, finishing tasks once they are started, keeping a to-do list, turning off the TV, reviewing tasks the night before, doing tasks in chunks or blocks of time, prioritizing, only focusing on things within our control, knowing when to stop spending time on any given task, knowing which tasks are even worthy of your time, keeping it simple, using the proper tools, doing something right the first time, and controlling the flow of information. - 58 Votes
4. Switch Off/Quiet Time/Recreation - Including taking down time to watch TV, playing games/video games, getting out of the house, knitting, spending time with friends, making time for yourself, working on community activities, shopping, taking a bath, rewarding yourself, sitting in a hot tub, and other recreational activities. - 51 Votes
5. Staying Focused on Mindset and Tasks - Including being mindful of the proper mindset for any given situation, avoiding stress by knowing when to say "no", staying focused on the task(s) at hand, listening to your intuition, consistently working on tasks that lead to goal attainment, being persistent or having a high level of perseverance, being focused on the journey rather than the reward, taking one step at a time, reminding yourself why you are doing what you are doing, giving your best effort every single time, and practicing affirmations. - 44 Votes
6. Finding Joy/Happiness - Including the realization that we can create joy from our own state of mind, observations of the many things in our lives to be joyful about, having fun, smiling, laughing, appreciating life/nature, not taking life too seriously, enjoying the little things, doing what you want to do at any given moment, having a cheerful attitude, loving your work or your career, living/working with passion, celebrating your successes, living every day as if it is your last, and acting silly. - 42 Votes
7. Practice Gratitude - Including reflecting on life, being grateful for wonderful events, for lessons that have been learned, for health, for opportunities, for other people in our lives, for the beauty of nature, for jobs and careers, and for technology. Also, thinking of things before bed and again upon rising to be grateful for, and not taking people or situations for granted. - 41 Votes
8. Visualize/Clarify short and long-term Goals - Including visualizing the future, setting new goals, reading goal lists, clarifying and documenting desired outcomes, saying goals out loud, making/focusing on vision boards and other goal reminders, setting intentions, practicing Law of Attraction principles, and reevaluating and refocusing on your goals when circumstances change. - 37 Votes
9. Writing - Including blogs, business and personal journals, articles, stories, notes, websites, and copywriting. - 36 Votes
10. Family Time - Including play
time, family meals, watching TV, reading to children, spending time with spouse/significant other, talking to parents or other relatives, spending time with children. - 35 Votes
11. Learning from other People - Including emulating successful behavior, avoiding mistakes that other people have made, learning something new every day, and engaging in interesting conversations. - 30 Votes
12. Practice Personal Growth/Self Development - Including asking "How can I?" questions, reading personal development articles, books, & blogs, surrounding yourself with positive/empowering people, committing to personal or spiritual transformations, being self-sufficient, and listening to, reading, or watching motivational or inspirational content. - 28 Votes
13. Becoming Still/Letting Go - Including a conscious effort to stop thinking about how things are going to work, taking mental down time during which you do not think about the future, practicing resistance releasing techniques, not overly thinking situations, simply being quiet, and listening when others speak. - 28 Votes
14. Research/Gain Experience - Including Internet research, asking others for their opinions, trying new things outside of the norm, and getting job/personal/career related education or experience. - 26 Votes
15. Not being Afraid/Pushing your Limits - Including taking on challenging projects, setting hard to reach goals, accepting difficult employment assignments, trying new things, asking for help, saying "no", and taking risks. Also includes getting outside of your comfort zone, continuing to focus on a task even when you think you can't do it anymore, doing things that you wouldn't normally do, putting yourself in difficult situations so that you have no choice but to perform, having big dreams, and embracing the unknown. - 25 Votes
The next 20 - All received at least 10 votes, in order from most popular to least popular
16. Helping Others - Including social work, forgiving others for past misgivings, being available when others need assistance, opening up, donating time or money, giving back/paying it forward, giving advice/feedback to others, knowing when not to give advice, helping others to attain greater heights, and being generous. - 22 Votes
17. Meditate - Including guided meditation, mind-clearing meditations, Holosync, hypnotherapy recordings, brain-wave recordings, breathing techniques, deep thought, reprogramming of old belief systems, and paraliminals. - 21 Votes
18. Planning/Scheduling - Including planning tasks to be accomplished on any given day, planning days or weeks in advance for upcoming tasks, scheduling the proper amount of time at or away from your place of business, and starting or stopping work according to a preset schedule. - 20 Votes
19. Be Creative - Including writing, making jewelry, metal works, painting, gardening, designing graphics, drawing, cooking, doing something crazy once in awhile, sculpting, daydreaming, singing, writing poetry, sewing, crocheting, and just generally allowing the mental flow of creativity. - 19 Votes
20. Communicate Online - Including instant messaging, email, message boards, telecommuting, and sharing files online. - 19 Votes
21. Be Confident in who you Are - Including coming up with your own solutions to problems, choosing appropriate advice to take that is given by others, believing in yourself and your abilities, believing in your career or choice of business, leveraging your personal strengths, knowing your weaknesses, having great love for yourself, and making eye contact with other people. Also, not being afraid to be yourself, admitting your mistakes, not modifying your personality to suit the needs of others, allowing yourself to be at ease as you go through life, and making personal observations about yourself so that you can make modifications as you see fit. - 19 Votes
22. Get up Early - Including getting out of bed before other members of the household, getting up early enough to accomplish tasks before the busy parts of the day, enjoying quiet time before the world wakes up, and getting up at the same time on the weekends as during the week. - 18 Votes
23. Having a Positive Attitude - Including looking on the bright side, not succumbing to negativity, not allowing circumstances to dictate your level of happiness, practicing forgiveness, and removing negative people and influences from your life. - 18 Votes
24. MasterMind Groups/Partnerships - Including working with or being influenced by others for the purposes of goal setting, best practices, growth strategies, conference calls, sharing ideas, networking, and spending time with others who have similar interests. 17 Votes
25. Get out in Nature - Including going for walks, hiking, gardening, sitting outside, enjoying fresh air, and general communing. - 16 Votes
26. Taking Action - Including acting on inspired thoughts, securing resources for business growth, accomplishing business-related tasks, moving quickly when an idea comes to you, taking the first steps on a new project - even if it is a big one, experimenting with new ideas, and focusing on the accomplishment of daily tasks. - 15 Votes
27. Get enough Sleep - Including night-time sleep, afternoon naps, power naps, various sleep/nap methodologies, and sticking to a regular sleep schedule. - 15 Votes
28. Appreciating Music - Including listening to music, meditating to music, being inspired or motivated by music, and playing musical instruments. - 15 Votes
29. Blogging - Including writing, reading, commenting, tending to technical issues, handling administrative tasks, and marketing. - 14 Votes
30. Doing things Differently - Including interacting with people in different ways than the norm, taking a different path than others take or that is expected of you, questioning present systems or management guidelines, and doing what you want to do regardless of what other people think. Also includes standing up for your rights, standing your ground for what you believe in, "sticking to your guns" even when others don't believe in your ideals, allowing your beliefs to power your life, and remaining effective as a parent despite social stigmas, expectations, or standards. - 13 Votes
31. Give and Receive Affection - Including hugs, kisses, shaking hands, quality time with family, being open to experiencing and sharing emotions, and loving unconditionally. - 12 Votes
32. Prayer/Spirituality - Including active prayer, mindfulness of spirituality, reading from religious texts, working inline with specific religious beliefs, practicing devotion, and examining existence or spirituality. -
12 Votes
33. Write down/record Thoughts or Ideas - Including recording thoughts for inspired action to take, new business ideas, reminders to do something, goals you want to achieve, or doing a "brain dump" in order to put all of your thoughts out on the table in order to be sorted out and acted upon. - 12 Votes
34. Setting Personal Standards - Including personal goals to accomplish, personality traits to honor, ethics and morals to live up to, competition with oneself, following your passions, believing in your own potential, rewarding yourself for your accomplishments, working at your own pace, respecting the systems that you put in place for yourself, and not living with undue self-imposed pressures. - 12 Votes
35. Keeping Perspective - Including being flexible and resilient, maintaining your sense of humor in the face of adversity, "rolling with the punches", recognizing that success can change forms as you grow and develop, looking for the positive lessons in life's experiences, allowing introspection, and seeing things from another's point of view. - 11 Votes
All the Rest - Each received between 1 and 9 votes, in order from most popular to least popular
36. Talking - Including talking to friends and family members, talking to clients or co-workers, talking to yourself out loud, communicating effectively with others, and knowing when it is effective to talk and when it is not. - 9 Votes
37. Measure Success - Including tracking financial figures, traffic/customer levels, weight loss goals, career status, and assessing your most and least productive activities. - 9 Votes
38. Think before Acting and Speaking - Including pausing before answering questions, considering the outcome of actions, putting forth well thought-out responses and actions, being objective even during moments of strong disagreement, empathizing with the needs of others, practicing courtesy, respect, and good manners, remaining calm, keeping things private when appropriate to do so, and using appropriate language. - 9 Votes
39. Don't Burn your Bridges - Including the art of leaving a job without ruining your reputation, gracefully getting out of relationships, dealing with family members in a civil manner, acting appropriately around and towards other people, being kind, being honest, being nice, and practicing respect. - 8 Votes
40. Follow Through on Plans - Including sticking to a to-do list, honoring obligations, making it to scheduled appointments on time, following a productive daily routine, and keeping your word. - 7 Votes
41. Having a Morning Routine - Including drinking certain beverages, eating certain foods, spending quality time alone or with family members, or spending time in solitude. - 6 Votes
42. Focusing on the Highest Priority tasks - Including spending time on things that are more important in the long-term than the short-term, and doing the most important tasks first each day. - 6 Votes
43. Accepting Responsibility - Including concepts such as leading by example, being mindful of the way that we talk to others, thinking about the needs of others when making decisions, coming to terms with the results of our past actions, and raising children with proper levels of discipline and respect. Also includes thinking about the positive or negative implications of choices, staying on a path that leads most directly to success, evaluating possibilities based on their long-term results, and living your life consciously or intentionally. - 6 Votes
44. Taking Scheduled time Off - Including scheduled days off each week, breaks from work, and planned vacations. - 3 Votes
45. Delegate Effectively - Including delegating tasks to other people, removing certain tasks from your mental or physical to-do list, setting up residual income streams or passive management systems, and outsourcing tasks to other companies or individuals. - 3 Votes
46. Over-delivering - Including giving customers more than they paid for, practicing excellent customer service, getting things done quickly or ahead of schedule, and doing more for your friends or family than they expected you to do. - 3 Votes
47. Multi-tasking - Including dividing your mental focus between more than one task at a time, doing one task while another runs in the background, and finding creative ways to get more things done. - 3 Votes
48. Living in Harmony - Including putting away work in order to spend time with friends or family, stopping what you are doing to give undivided attention to people, tending to areas of your life that need attention - even if it means that tasks in other areas won't get done, building a well-rounded lifestyle rather than just focusing on your business, yourself, or your family, and maintaining a balance of internal and external factors. - 3 Votes
49. Maintaining Contacts - Including staying in touch with friends and family, staying up to date with business associates, keeping in touch with vendors & suppliers, having appropriate interpersonal relations in the workplace, and appropriate workplace friendships.- 3 Votes
50. Have no Regrets - Including seeing everything in life as a learning experience, finding knowledge in things that did not go your way, and not doing things that you wouldn't be willing to own up to later on down the road. - 2 Votes
51. Look at each Day as Full of Opportunities - Including making a fresh start each day, not lamenting about the past, and being motivated about brand-new chances for success. - 2 Votes
52. Look your Best Everyday - Including dressing professionally for work, and putting on certain types of clothes to get into the spirit or the role of what you are about to do. - 2 Votes
53. Be prepared for the Worst - Including the extrapolation of "worst case scenarios", expecting the unexpected, projecting possible success barriers, and being prepared for the fact that some ideas won't work out. - 2 Votes
54. Ask the Right Questions - Including "How much can I do with my life today?", "Am I fully committed, yet completely detached?", "How can I feel good today?", "How can I make the impossible possible?", "What is my body thinking and feeling and what does it want?", and "What is the next obvious thing that I should do?". - 2 Votes
55. Practice - Including learning something by actually doing it, or improving skills that you already have. - 1 Vote
56. Recording Life - Including taking and cataloguing pictures, video-tap
ing events, and sharing videos online. - 1 Vote
57. Getting into the Light - Including getting into the daylight as soon as possible each day, and getting an adequate amount of sunshine. - 1 Vote
58. Only Work with Certain People - Including only choosing clients who are going to honor your time and your offerings, and only working with partners who you have synergy with or who represent a high probability of success. - 1 Vote
59. Be a "Big Fish in a Small Pond" - Including excelling at things that you are good at, yet not trying to be everything to everyone - you can always branch out later. - 1 Vote
60. Take appropriate Medications - Including anti-depressants, asthma medicine, or ADD/ADHD medicine. - 1 Vote
61. Be Competitive - Including making the best products, having the best company, competing with yourself on a personal level, or competing in physical fitness events. - 1 Vote
62. Be Cynical - Including not believing everything that you hear or see, taking things "with a grain of salt", and applying your own filter to knowledge that crosses your path. - 1 Vote
