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How regular habits can lead to success

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Many people think of success as something they must be extraordinary to achieve. In fact, real success is usually the result of effort applied regularly. On its own, the effort may not look like much, but over time, it adds up. What is extraordinary is not so much the thing itself but the consistency. Below are several areas where most people could use help being more consistent and thus more successful.

Sleep

It might sound boring, but sleep is really at the root of productivity and generally feeling good. Regular sleep is also something you can achieve through good habits. It’s all about what is often called sleep hygiene, training your body to recognize when it’s time to sleep. Going to bed and getting up at the same time every day, starting relaxing activities about an hour before bedtime, and avoiding caffeine or other food or drinks that will keep you up can all be important in promoting sleep hygiene. If you work from home, don’t work on your laptop from bed; make it a restful space for you.

Debt

Most people have some debt, but you can get rid of it by making a commitment to regularly pay off the same amount every month. Paying it off is important because debt can be a serious constraint on your lifestyle and flexibility. The first step is to lower your interest rates as much as possible. This might mean moving your credit card payments onto a different card or refinancing your student loans. You can use a student loan refinance calculator to check what your payments will be with a private lender.

The next step is to decide if you will pay off the highest interest rate loan first or the smallest one first. Once you have decided, pay the minimums on every other debt and make your highest payment to the first debt. When it is paid off, transfer that plus the minimum you’ve been paying to the next debt in line. By doing this steadily, even if the amounts you are paying are not large, you can slowly become debt-free.

Your goals

If you feel like you are always setting goals that you can’t reach, it’s probably because you don’t have the right habits. This can be a revelation for many who struggle to see the relationship between their daily activities and the goal that seems to keep moving away in the distance. Big goals and overwhelming projects can be broken down into smaller chunks. People prepare for marathons by spending months running a few times a week.

If you want to write a good book, you don’t have to crank out five chapters this weekend. Set yourself a small goal of 300 words per day, five days per week, and in a year, you’ll have a first draft. It can be helpful to think about other habits that you perform regularly without really thinking, such as showering, eating and brushing your teeth. You don’t have to give yourself a big motivational speech to make you do these things; you simply do them. You should have the same approach to the small actions that add up over time to goals accomplished.

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