Intro

What sets the most successful people in the world apart from everyone else?

While some of it may be luck, there are also a number of daily habits many famously successful business people do every day that help them accomplish more with their time.

Take note.

These productivity and time management hacks and habits could be transformational for you and for your online business!

Reading

While there are countless ways to gain knowledge today, reading is still one of the easiest to practice and most reliable methods.

It’s so reliable that tons of successful business people, entrepreneurs, and highly accomplished people attribute some of their success to their reading habit.

Daily reading is a habit many successful people swear by. Not only can you learn a lot by reading, it also takes you away from the stress of your daily life and gives you a sense of mental stillness.

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In the highly competitive world we live in today, these are all equally important benefits.

Want to know some of the people who advocate for reading every day?

• Warren Buffet
• Mark Cuban
• Bill Gates
• Elon Musk
• Tony Robbins
• Mark Zuckerberg
• Oprah Winfrey
• Jeff Bezos
• Lebron James
• Malala Yousafzai

All of these people have credited daily or regular reading as a part of their success.

For example, Warren Buffet insists that you focus on reading non-fiction books from successful people, such as leadership books. On the other hand, Lebron James, Oprah, and others make the case that fiction books also add a lot to your education about the world.

From books, you can learn valuable skills and strategies to advance your online business. But, you can also learn more about soft skills that help you in social situations, including skills like empathy, flexibility, and critical thinking.

Whatever you’re interested in reading, try to make time for it every day.

One of the best times to read is at night before bed. You’ll give your mind and body a chance to relax, and will likely retain the information better because you won’t have anything else to distract you for the rest of the day.

Utilizing Audiobooks

If you don’t really enjoy reading, you have trouble reading, or you aren’t sure how to start making time for it, try out audiobooks.

Some studies show that auditory learning may not be as effective as reading. It’s easier for your mind to wander, meaning you may not be able to remember everything. But, it’s still highly beneficial and way better than not reading at all!

Other studies show little to no difference in how well people comprehend information over time based on how they received the information (reading versus listening).

A lot of this is going to come down to your own personal experience. When you listen to a podcast or audiobook, are you able to recall what you learned when you’re telling someone else about it?

Are you able to engage with audiobooks and focus on what’s being read to you?

Can you remember the key concepts discussed in the books?

As long as you’re gaining knowledge, audiobooks can be a great substitute for reading. Listen to them in the car, put one on while you’re cooking dinner, or pop on some headphones to listen while you exercise.

Start reading every day and see how it transforms your life and your work.

Meditation

Meditation is used by many top executives as a way to relax their minds and stay focused throughout the day.

Here are some names you might know:

• Jeff Weiner (LinkedIn)
• William Clay Ford Jr. (Ford)
• Marc Benioff (SalesForce)
• Arianna Huffington (Huffington Post)
• Oprah Winfrey
• Ellen Degeneres
• Tim Ferriss (4-Hour)
• Russel Simmons (Def Jam Records)
• Bill Gates (Microsoft)

All of these business people practice meditation daily, or they previously did during foundational periods of their companies.

Research has shown that the benefits of meditation include:

• Stress management
• Self-awareness
• Stronger focus on the present
• Boosting creativity and imagination
• Improving patience
• Finding new perspectives on your circumstances

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The great thing about these benefits is that they don’t just stick around for an hour or two after you meditate. Regular meditation helps you keep these benefits around consistently.

There are many different types of meditation. Even yoga can be used as a form of meditation if you learn to follow meditative techniques while you do it.

Meditating for just 10-15 minutes a day is enough to start feeling some of the benefits. You can meditate in the morning when you wake up, at night before bed, over your lunch break, or any other time that works best for you.

Exercising

At this point, you probably know about the physical health benefits of exercise. It can strengthen your body, help you avoid injuries, boost your energy, and make you feel better overall.

Beyond the physical health benefits, did you know that exercising comes with a ton of mental health benefits as well?

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That’s why so many successful people make a point of exercising daily!

What can exercising do for your mental health?

Studies suggest that exercise leads to:

• A sharper memory
• Clearer thinking
• Better quality sleep
• Higher self-confidence
• Greater mental resilience
• Easier time focusing
• Longer attention spans
• Improved problem-solving and critical thinking
• Reduced stress and better stress management
• More stable moods and emotions

While it sounds too good to be true, it’s actually not.

The best part is that you don’t have to hit the gym for hours every day to start seeing the results. Research has shown that 90 minutes of moderate exercise per week can be enough to feel a lot of these mental health benefits.

You can break those 90 minutes down into bite-sized daily workouts. If you set aside 15 minutes every morning for a workout, you’ll reach your 90 minute goal in 6 days with 1 day for rest every week.

Those few minutes of exercise every day are an investment into your health. As long as you’re consistent, you’ll reap the benefits for years to come.

Staying Current

It’s wise for business owners to keep up to date on what’s happening broadly in the world and in their specific field. Many top businesspeople spend a little time each morning catching up on the news.

Having knowledge of what’s going on in the world can help you take advantage of opportunities and adapt to challenges more quickly.

You can go through the headlines for a few of the top news sources to get general news and then read specific market news for your industry and related industries.

While you can just look at each site individually, you can also set up an RSS feed or use a news app to gather all the relevant news stories for you every day.

Setting Up an RSS Feed

RSS feeds are not a new thing. They’ve been around for more than a decade. You can create an RSS feed using a lot of top online service providers.

News Curation Apps

News curation apps are apps that let you set up a custom news feed. That way, you can get only the types of news stories you actually care about every day.

These are useful apps because they cut through all the irrelevant stories and only give you a selection of articles that you’re likely to want to read. Not all news is important. Cut through all the noise and get to the good stuff more quickly.

Some of the top news curation apps are:

• Google News
• Apple News
• Flipboard
• SmartNews
• The Week

All these apps, and other similar apps, help you create a custom news feed from a ton of different online news sources. You can filter out the types of stories you get instead of just getting all the daily news from every category.

It can be well worth it to set up a customized news feed, using an app or an RSS feed. The time investment up front is tiny compared to the benefit of time saved every day sorting through the headlines!

You’ll improve your efficiency while still getting up to date every day with what you need to know.

Planning

Planning ahead is one habit that’s consistent among nearly all the world’s top businesspeople. Billionaires, CEOs, entrepreneurs, and small business owners alike can all benefit from planning.

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There are 2 main parts of planning ahead: short-term and long-term planning.

Long-Term Planning

What are your goals for the next year? 5 years? 10 years?

If you don’t already have any goals set, take a day off to plan out your major goals.

A good framework to follow is the SMART goals framework:

S – Specific

M – Measurable

A – Achievable

R – Relevant

T – Time-based

Setting proper goals helps you establish how exactly you’re going to reach them, making it more likely that you’ll actually be able to get them done.

When you have your goals in place, you can plan major milestones and the large things you’ll need to get done in order to make your goals into a reality.

This might include important meetings and events that your business needs to do throughout the year.

What’s standing between your online business and your goals for it?

What do you need to do to make it happen?

Once you have your larger milestones in place, it’s time to plot the course of how you’re going to reach them. That’s where short-term planning comes in.

Short-Term Planning

To improve your efficiency, you need to be aware of what you’re going to be doing every day. While you should already have your long-term plan for the major stuff you’ll be doing, short-term planning helps fill in the gaps for the smaller things that make up each day and week.

Many top executives credit short-term planning for their productivity.

Short-term planning usually means planning ahead for the week and for each day. There are a few ways you can do it.

• Weekly Planning

Before your week starts, take a few minutes to plan ahead for your next week. You can do this Sunday evening before bed to clear your mind and get you prepared for your workday the moment you wake up.

This kind of planning takes a broad look at what you’re doing throughout the week. It’s a rough plan that you can adjust as needed.

• Daily Planning

Many people advocate for planning every morning. Since you’re already prepared for your week, you can take a few minutes in the morning to go over your schedule for the day and rearrange as needed.

Getting an eye on your daily tasks in the morning helps you mentally prepare for your day and keeps your plan fresh in your mind. You can also compensate for anything you may not have been able to do throughout the week that still needs to be done.

Never underestimate the power of planning!

When you plan out your week and take a few minutes each day to make sure you stay on track, you’re more likely to be able to accomplish larger goals over time.

Following a Routine

Having a good daily routine reduces your stress levels, helps you get better sleep, lets you get more done during your day, and may improve your overall health.

Start small. One of the easiest ways to develop a routine is to start with a morning or night routine.

Morning routines are good because you’ll be able to make sure you begin the day well every day.

Your morning routine could include some of the other habits we’ve already talked about here, like planning your day, exercising, meditation, or reading the news.

Your evening routine could also include some of these habits as well, like reading or meditation. Both of these habits can help you sleep, making them a great addition to your evening routine.

Routines don’t have to dictate every single thing you do during the day. Instead, a routine establishes a few basic things you’ll do every day at roughly the same time.

Include basic habits that are important for your mental and physical health, as well as things that will help you accomplish your goals.

The best time to start a routine is today. It takes at least 21 days to develop a new habit, so get to it as soon as possible!

Carving Out Family Time

Want to know one of the big secrets to success? It’s not all work and no play.

Many successful people make a point of carving out a portion of their day for themselves or their families.

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Part of planning your days and weeks well is including your loved ones in your schedule.

If you have too much work during the week, let weekends be family time. Just having some free time that you get to spend with people you care for helps you center yourself and stay committed to your mission.

Conclusion

Which of these daily habits could you use to be more productive and successful in your online business?

Good foundational habits can make the difference between reaching your goals or falling short. By establishing your routines now, you’ll be able to keep going throughout anything, even when times are tough.