To become successful, we have to first understand what the word "success" really means. The Cambridge Dictionary defines success as;

"the achieving of desired results, or someone or something that achieves positive results".

Despite the actual definition, the word "success" has now been associated with monetary rewards by society. Often times people think that to be successful means to be rich. The truth is, one must first be successful before he can ever be rich. Once a person fully understands that concept, he allows himself to reach his full potential. Success is a habit, and money is attracted to the habit of success. Below is a list of 8 things I believe you can start applying today, that will help you build the habit of success in your life.

Make the decision

You will not accomplish anything in life without first making the decision to commit to accomplishing that thing. You will not get healthy without FIRST committing to a healthy lifestyle. Before you can become successful, you must first commit to success. Most people say they want "it", but they don’t ever commit to getting "it", and to making the necessary changes needed to get "it". Talk is cheap, you MUST make the commitment first and figure out the "how-to" later. Convince yourself that success is attainable, and that it’s not an impossible thing in your life. Don’t credit your failures or shortcomings to "Bad luck" or to a "lack of opportunities". You must take responsibility for your failures, and understand that the reason you are not where you want to be in life is due to a lack of commitment to success. Plain and simple.

Write down your goals

Most people don’t see the value in writing their goals down on paper. "I have my goals in my head" they say. We live in a time where we are exposed to an overflow of information every day. Your goals WILL get lost somewhere in the chaos of all of that information if you don’t write them down on paper and revisit them EVERYDAY. Write down your goals on a piece of paper once when you first wake up, and once before you go to sleep everyday. Get in the habit of focusing your attention on your goals. Some people are not even able to commit to writing down their goals on paper twice a day, and then they wonder why they cannot achieve them. This isn’t some law of attraction stuff (although that stuff works).

This is a method to get your mind focused solely on your goals and off of the latest social media buzz or nonsense. It’s very easy to get side tracked nowadays. I recommend you try writing your goals down twice a day for 1 week straight and if somewhere within that week you stop doing it, then that’s how you’ll know that you have a problem with the habit of success.

Do the Math

Set a financial target/goal for yourself , and then do the math to figure out how to get it. This is straight out of the Grant Cardone playbook and I credit it 100% to him. First you must figure out what you have to offer to the world, then you have to figure out "Who’s got my money".

For example, if I am someone who’s very good at athletics, and can offer athletic training, then I will target athletes, that’s "who has my money".

After you do that, you must figure out how much money you can make from what you have to offer. If as an athletic trainer you make 70$ per hour, then you must use that to break down the math of how to reach your financial target.

For example, let’s pretend that I am an athletic trainer, my target audience (Who got my money) are athletes, I charge 70$ per hour and my goal is to make 100,000$ in 1 year.

First, I will divide my goal (100,000$) by my hourly income (70$) to determine how many hours I must work to reach my target.

(100,000 divided by 70 = 1,430) I know that I must get paid for 1,430 hours of work in 1 year to reach my goal

Second, I will divide the hours I must work to reach my goals (1,430) by the number of days i have set for myself to accomplish my goal (365) to determine how many hours per day I must work to reach my goal.

(1,430 divided by 365 = 4) I know that to reach my goal I must get paid for 4 hours of work everyday

If you are charging 70$ per hour, and are training 4 clients per day for only 1 year you will reach 100,000$ in that time. Once you break down the big numbers, you will see that they are not as big as we think they are. Do the math, to make the big numbers seem smaller.

Seek knowledge

The amount of time people spend consuming junk is ridiculous, and I am guilty of it as well.

I know it’s hard to look away when Kanye West is going wild on twitter, I understand that. With that being said, you must counteract the junk that you are consuming by gaining more useful knowledge and information. There is no shortage of great content out there for people to learn from. Rather than spending all of your time watching cat videos on YouTube, you’d be better off learning from people like Grant Cardone, Gary Vee, Bob Proctor, who are consistently dropping amazing and useful FREE content everyday. Invest in yourself and in your personal development. I recommend the book Think & Grow rich for anybody who is looking to get started in moving towards the direction of success. DO NOT overlook the power of a good book.

Find mentors, role models, & teachers

This is very important for people who are just getting started in their careers. You must find someone who you want to live like and study everything that they do, did & are going to do. You must find people who are great at what they do and emulate them. The average Canadian makes 51k per year. There is a cycle that is going on and we are constantly falling into this cycle of mediocrity because we are being taught the wrong information. Most people want to become millionaires, but are getting their life advice from someone who makes 51k a year… That doesn’t add up. You must forget everything that you have been taught about money, and find someone who can actually teach you about how to make it in the quantities you want. If your goal is to be a millionaire, then go get advice from a millionaire. If you don’t have access to any millionaires, then follow people like Grant Cardone, and Bob Proctor who can mentor you through the unlimited amounts of content and information that they put out.

Get rid of bad habits and Junk

Bad habit is the kryptonite to success. People love to hang out with toxic people, drink toxic beverages, and waste time being unproductive in toxic environments. This isn’t a judgement of anyone, nor is it a question of morality… this is an assessment of poor time management skills. How are you spending your time? And with who are you spending it? I recommend that you stop giving your time away, and focus on spending it on income producing activities, or personal development. The people, and places that you give the most time to will directly influence the growth or lack thereof in your life. Become stingy with your time, and value you it the same way that you value the worthless pieces of paper known as money.

Surround yourself with winners

This plays into the previous point of getting rid of the bad habits, and the waste of time in your life. To get rid of something is difficult; but to replace something is easy. Once you get rid of the toxic parts of your life, look to replace them with something positive. Network with like-minded people who are looking to achieve the same things that you are. Create a mastermind group with someone who supports your goals and ambitions, whether it’s with your mom, uncle, cousin, girlfriend, etc. Find someone who supports your visions, and meet with them regularly. You will see a HUGE difference in your life and in their lives as well.

Clean your room

This last one is for all you dirty folks out there, CLEAN YOUR MESSY ROOM. All the moms out there will thank me for this last point. A messy room is a representation of a messy mind.

Clean your room, you will notice a big difference in your overall emotions. Give it a try and you will thank me later.

These are few things you can start doing today, to start building up the habit of success in your life. Most people think success is a crazy, unattainable thing and that is not the case. We are all capable of success. Take responsibility for any shortcomings you may have and start working towards success.

Don’t be a little bitch.

Thank you for reading, be sure to follow me on Instagram @Thedonshraify for more posts like this.