27 Daily Habits Practiced by Exceptionally Successful People

According to more than two dozen high achievers, it comes down to the things you do every single day.

The definition of success is a subjective one. But for most people it likely involves some level of career achievement, financial security so that you can provide for yourself and your family, and a posse of people in your life who love and support you. Clearly, these are things not everyone possesses. Yet according to more than two dozen high achievers, it’s just a matter of being consistently focused on the right things.

1. Make sure “being successful” isn’t how you measure your self-worth

“When I became a father, I was just getting my company off the ground. Of course, I was excited to fall in love with this brand-new little person in my life, but I was also concerned: If my company ever got traction, was I going to be forced into some sort of Faustian bargain, trading my business against my family? Looking back on things so far, I had it all wrong. To be a successful entrepreneur, I needed something outside of the office to become the core of my identity. To be clear, this doesn’t need to be kids, or even family. All that matters is making sure your sense of self-worth is tied to something decoupled from your professional success, or failure. If ‘extraordinary professional success’ is what you need to feel good about yourself, you’ll be reluctant or feel unbearable stress when it comes time to take the really big, important risks. And, ironically, that will just get in the way of your success. To be clear, my advice isn’t to go and have a kid before starting a company, but just to make sure the core of your identity and your sense of self-worth is tied to something more grounded than your company’s valuation. Ironically, that’s the best way to set yourself up for the risk-taking you’ll need to maximize it.”

–Ben Sigelman, co-founder and CEO at LightStep, a company that makes complex microservice applications more transparent and reliable for customers including Lyft, Under Armour, Medium, GitHub, Twilio, and others

2. Always be open to feedback and actively seek it out

“I try to ask for or give a piece of constructive feedback every day. It puts me in a mindset of constant growth and improvement, as well as focusing my mind on how I can help those around me grow and develop. I also make it a point to talk to at least one customer a day. This helps me stay close to our customer’s needs and gain valuable insights as to how we can better serve them.”

–Garrett Lord, CEO of Handshake, a career community for college students, connecting 14 million students and young alumni across 50 states with more than 400,000 employers

3. Keep it positive and stay adaptable

“Mastering the art of capturing negative thoughts and instantly creating the counter-positive statement, then repeating it three times in a row, and a few times throughout the day helps me keep my head in a positive, creative mindset. In the same vein, when confronted with challenges, I’ve made instant acceptance a practice so that I can adapt, adjust, and execute to keep moving forward.”

–Joshua Kreitzer, CEO of Channel Bakers, an Amazon-focused ad agency that has driven more than half a billion dollars in e-commerce sales for clients including Samsung and Logitech

Read more: inc