My #1 Secret to a Successful Life
I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve been asked this question, “How do you keep up with everything”? For those of you who don’t know me, I’m a mom to a three-year-old, a 3-month-old, I work full time from home, I run my side hustle and I’m taking classes on the side.
Admittedly, my life can feel chaotic at times. But keeping up with “everything” can actually be made pretty simple.
🤫 THE SECRET
Start every day with a primary goal and end every day by learning something new.
That’s it. Really. That’s how I built my own business. That’s how I go to school and work and run this business. That’s how I wake up at 4 am to make time for Bible studies. It’s all about setting a priority and striving to get better each day.
Okay, maybe that one sentence doesn’t make sense, so let me break it down and explain what that really means.
Every. Single. Morning. Wake up, and make a goal for yourself.
- Today I want to write a blog post.
- Today I’m going to go skydiving.
- Today I’ll learn HTML coding.
- Today I’ll find a way to donate 10% of my income to XYZ.
- Today I will share my faith with 2 people.
- Today I’ll plan a dinner with a friend.
It doesn’t really matter what that goal is, just as long as you make one. How many times have you written out 10 to-do list items in the morning and gone to bed with only 2 of them crossed off? Make one goal. ONE. And meet that goal every single day.
Go ahead and write a to-do list, and get those things done too, but make the goal your #1 priority. Do it first and do it well. Then let everything else happen as it needs to.
Sometimes that goal might be as simple as “do one laundry cycle” or “eat lunch before 3 pm”. You don’t have to do something big every day but focus on doing one thing that matters and doing it fully.
The second part of this sentence is to learn something new every day. Learn to be resourceful. DIY things, teach yourself the skills you need. Every day has 24 hours in it, give 15 minutes of that day toward learning.
If you learn one new thing, trivia, a new skill, a new word, a new trick, you will know how to do 365 new things every year. Want to be successful? You need to always be growing and learning. Read a book, watch an educational video, make 15 minutes worth of progress on a course, do 15 minutes of Duolingo. It doesn’t matter what you learn, as long as it challenges you.
The world changes every single day, especially in online business. If you’re learning new skills regularly, those changes won’t phase you. You’ll be able to adapt and grow along with everything else instead of getting left in the dust. One of the biggest secrets to being successful is not being afraid to try new things. When you gain confidence through learning, you’re becoming better at learning and adapting. You’ll be willing to try more, to make the leap, to step out of your comfort zone.
🏆 HOW TO MAKE IT HAPPEN
That sounds great, right? Make a goal. Learn something new. But I’ll be honest with you, sometimes it is not easy. Some days I want to let the kids run wild and scroll through my phone. Even on those days, you can still better yourself and get stuff done. Here are some ways to make sure every day is productive.
DON’T STOP LEARNING
You don’t have to learn how to build a rocket ship every day but learn something. If you want to binge-watch TV all day, watch a documentary. Watch the news. Consume content that helps you. Watching re-runs of Friends or Gossip Girl will not teach you new things. Go ahead, watch an episode of some crap TV, but then read a book, or go for a walk, or do something proactive.
Personally, I love reading. I try to read every day, whether that’s a business book, fiction, or the Bible, read something every day. Reading is a fantastic way to learn and it can actually make you a better writer.
You could learn the name of your next-door neighbor, or learn a shortcut into the office. It doesn’t have to be life-changing knowledge, just something that improves your life a little bit.
You can also take this to the next level on days you really feel it. Take an e-course online, get certified in a new skill, watch a course on Lynda. Just do something that will put a new piece of knowledge in your brain that can be used later.
DON’T BE AFRAID TO FAIL, FIGURE IT OUT!
If you want to make me crazy, tell me you’re not launching something or making something or trying something because you don’t know how to start. That’s my pet peeve. If you don’t know how to do something — google it.
Don’t know how to start a newsletter? Take a course on it. Don’t know how to change a tire? Watch a YouTube video. You have an entire wealth of knowledge in that little phone of yours. The excuse that “you don’t know” is the laziest thing you can ever say.
Just because you might do something wrong the first time, or you might look silly doing it, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. There’s nothing wrong with asking for help, but figuring things out for yourself, the tinkering process, makes you understand the process better.
You will fail a million times in your life, but you will learn something every single time you do. Failure is not avoidable so you might as well buckle down and do the best you can. I had 4 different businesses before this one. If I had let those failures stop me, I wouldn’t have over 10,000 people consuming my content every day.
The fear of failure will keep you from living.
TEST, TEST, AND TEST AGAIN
So when you fail, and you will eventually fail, dust yourself off, and try again the next day. Some mornings I wake up with a goal and at the end of the day, I achieved nothing. Do you know what I do? I wake up the next day with a new goal and I hit it.
If something doesn’t work the first time, try again.
📌 WHY THIS PROCESS WORKS
Humans are goal-driven. We love to feel accomplished and valuable. Whether that’s winning an award or being able to cross something off your to-do list, victories keep us moving forward.
When you set your own standards every single day, and you make a habit of hitting those standards, you’re actually teaching yourself how to be successful. Reaching your goals isn’t just good for growth, it makes you a good parent, a good spouse, a good employee, a good friend, a good human. Learning to be self-sufficient and overcome obstacles is a skill that is transferable into EVERY industry.
When you strive to better yourself on a daily basis, you’ll learn discipline, self-sufficiency, confidence, and whatever new things you learn as you strive for those things.
Not only will you be learning something new daily, but you’ll also be creating habits that will improve every other part of your life.
🔁 GOAL-LEARN-REPEAT
Do me a favor. Try this strategy for 20 days. Write your goal on a post-it or on your phone or tweet it out. Whatever you need to do. Hit that goal. Learn something new. Then do it again the next day. At the end of those 20 days, if you don’t feel more productive, accomplished, and focused, you let me know.
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