Striving For Felicity

Personal Growth, Success + Lifestyle Tips

Personal Development

7 Reasons Why Failure Is Important For Success

Blog, Personal Development, Success

What is keeping most people from going after their dreams? Correct, the fear of failure.

Our modern society has become such a safe environment that we rarely need to risk anything anymore. If you are reading this, I guess you have a beautiful and secure home, a more or less stable stream of income, enough food in the fridge, warm clothes to shield you against the cold weather and legal rights you feel rather content with.

This safe life has caused many people to fear failure. They are simply not used to it anymore.

However, if you don’t fail, you don’t grow. If you rarely fail in life, you might as well ask yourself if you’ve lived at all. And you don’t want to regret not having lived your life to the fullest! You can read more on that in 15 Ways To Live A Life You Won’t Regret.

I’ve once read that life can be compared to a heartrate monitor. If you are alive and healthy, your heart steadily beats, and the heart rate line goes up and down and up and down. Therefore we all know it’s a bad sign if the line is flat.

Life, in comparison, is the same. If you truly live it to the fullest, you experience high and low moments, successes and failures. To prepare yourself for those low moments check out 9 Hardships You Have To Face In Life.

“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”

– Winston Churchill
Striving for Felicity Failure in business is important for success

If you love this quote as much as I do, you should definitely check out 21 Quotes To Overcome Failure after reading this article.

Together this article and the other ones I mentioned earlier are going to erase your fear of failure and give you that motivation to go after your goals and dreams.

So let’s dive into them 7 Reasons Why Failure Is Your Stepping Stone To Success.

1. Failure teaches you more than success

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

– Thomas Edison

The first good thing about failure is the things it teaches you. Every time you fail, you become a bit wiser on what does not work.

Of course, you could say that by succeeding you would learn what does work, which ist more critical. But that is not entirely true.

Success only shows you one way that works. Maybe it is a way that won’t work every time or perhaps it’s one of the worst ways to make it work. You will never know until you have failed and gained more experience.

And because failure is so painful, its lessons stick much more to your memory. You definitely won’t forget them that easily.

2. Failure increases your risk tolerance

This one goes along the lines of what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Once you’ve failed, you will see that it is not the end of the world.

You grow more confident in your ability to recover from failure and therefore you become more willing to accept necessary risks.

The key here is to look for asymmetric risk/reward opportunities. Yes, you always have to risk something, but the goal is to have an overproportionate chance of winning.

After having failed, you won’t be afraid to take that kind of opportunities.

3. Failure makes you more grateful

We, humans, get spoiled so quickly, and we don’t even notice it. Just think about it, I am sure there was a time where you didn’t have a mobile phone. Or your cellphone had barely any storage and short battery life.

But here you are, complaining about 64GB being too little storage and 3G being to slow.

Through failure, you learn to value your small successes more. After a defeat, a little success can make you the happiest person in town.

Failure teaches you to be grateful for the things that you do have. And as I always say, gratitude is key to happiness.

4. You grow through failure

Failure demands resourcefulness and mental strength. You have to do things you usually wouldn’t need to do.

You have to learn how to deal with frustration, disappointment, anxiety, and overwhelm and fight your way back to the top.

Is it easy? No. But it makes you much stronger than any amount of success ever could.

And that strength, that personal growth will help you later along your journey to that extraordinary life of your dreams.

5. Failure opens new doors

Some call it God or the Universe others merely luck, but we all know the situation where you’ve been disappointed by something not working out only to find yourself in a much better situation which you otherwise would have missed.

Maybe you’ve missed your flight and end up having to spend hours at the airport, but there you meet somebody that will change your life forever.

Maybe you didn’t get that job, only to get into a much better position you didn’t even know was available.

Failure tends to open new doors for us, that we otherwise would have never known about.

6. Failure is much better than regret

This one is huge, which is why I’ve also talked about it in 15 Ways To Live A Life You Won’t Regret.

If you want to live an extraordinary life and indeed be happy, you should live with as little regrets as possible.

Failure is, as painful as it might be in the moment, a million times better than to wonder “what if I had takes that leap of faith.”

So embrace failure on your way to success, because later on, it will give you that peace of mind that you’ve at least tried.

7. Every successful person has failed

Lastly, let’s mention that every successful person we are looking up to has failed to some extent in their life.

Some have even failed spectecularly, like J.K. Rowling, Donald Trump or Robert Kiyjosaki.

That should be testament enough that failure is a necessary part of success. So in a way you should celebrate each failure you experience. Because it not only means that you are getting closer to your goals but also that once you reach them, you will be able to look back and tell everybody about the failures you’ve overcome.

I hope this motivates you to keep fighting whenever failure crosses your path.

And again, should you need some more motivation, check out 21 Quotes To Help You Overcome Failure.

I encourage you to continue working towards that life of your dreams!

Until next time,

Sophie.

18 Powerful Personal Growth Ideas

Blog, Personal Development

Self-improvement and personal growth are big but vague words. They can mean everything and nothing all at once.

We Felicity Seekers are hungry to grow into our best version. And we know that self-improvement is the key for that.

But what are some concrete self-improvement ideas we can work on? Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered!

This list will enable you to jumpstart your personal growth journey in no time!

Enjoy!

1. Start listing things you are grateful for

We start this list with a straightforward but unfortunately very overlooked practice. I want you to start a gratitude journal or list.

And preferably write it down by hand although it can also be an excellent practice to have a notes section on your phone dedicated to it so that you can remember things you are grateful for throughout the day.

Striving for Felicity Personal Development Ideas

Every morning I want you to write down three things you are grateful about. And try not to write the same three things every day.

These can be little things such as “I am grateful I fell asleep so fast yesterday.” Or important things like “I am unbelievably grateful for getting that job!”

Starting your day like this will make it easier for you to be happier throughout the day and let “bad” things bother you less.

2. Read daily

I always preach the importance of nonfiction books for your personal growth.

Which is why I have created my Reading List for Personal Growth. This is where I list all my favorite nonfiction books that made me grow into a better version.

However, for some reason, people always have the excuse that they can’t find the time to read. That’s – to say it bluntly – bullshit!

We all have the same 24 hours in a day. And some of the most successful people on our planet, who definitely have a ton of things to do every day, find the time to read daily.

I am not saying you need to start reading 2 hours a day, although that would be great! Simply start by reading 15 to 30 minutes in the morning before you go to school or work.

I can almost guarantee that somewhere along your day you are mindlessly wasting these 15 to 30 minutes. Most likely scrolling through your phone. So how about redirecting them into something that will bring you closer to that extraordinary life of your dreams?

If you want to do that check out my Reading List!

3. Learn a new language

Admittedly, being able to speak different languages will be a skill that will become more and more unnecessary with developing translation technologies.

But I still believe it can benefit you immensely in your personal growth journey if you learn to speak different languages.

It’s not only lovely to speak the language of a foreign country you are visiting, but it can also help you network with different people, and it can change the way you look at different countries and cultures.

At the very least, it is a fun practice to keep your brain sharp and fit.

4. Learn a new skill

You will never be able to have too many skills in life. And there is an endless list of skills you could learn. Everything from drawing, cooking, calligraphy to driving, changing tires, and programming.

And the great thing about living in 2019 is that you also have a lot of options on how to learn those skills. You could find yourself a mentor, start doing it as a hobby, purchase an online course, or teach yourself through YouTube videos.

Life is more fun if you approach it as a never-ending journey of learning. So, what skills do you want to learn this year?

You could commit to learning one new skill every three or six months. Maybe even every month, if you are really ambitious and have the time to do so.

In a few years, you might be surprised where this skill could come in handy.

5. Get outside your comfort zone once a month/week

Our comfort zone is just that … comfy. And who likes to leave something comfortable behind for something less comfortable?

However, real growth always awaits us outside of our comfort zone. So we Felicity Seekers have to get out there.

Now how can we make it as easy as possible for us? Only by doing it regularly. It’s like a muscle. The more we do it, the easier it gets.

So try to challenge yourself to step outside your comfort zone maybe once a month or once a week. Do something you feel uncomfortable doing, but you know it would benefit you in the long term.

6. Find a mentor

I know this can be a daunting task and also a significant financial step, and so far, I admit I have not yet made it myself.

But wherever I look, all the successful people I am looking up to say you need to get yourself a mentor. The value he or she will provide you with is immeasurable.

7. Exercise regularly

It’s the 21st century. By now we all know we should excerzise regularly. Yet many people still can’t bring themselves to do it.

You don’t even have to go to the gym, just do some none equipment workout videos from home. I also don´t have much space at home but still manage to do it. There are even apartment-friendly workouts so that you won’t disturb any neighbors.

Blogilates and the Nike Training App are some personal favorites of mine. You can even do most Blogilates workouts without shoes. So there is absolutely no excuse left for you not to do it.

8. Improve your eating habits

I am currently working on trying to get rid of hormonal acne through celery juice. Let’s see how it goes, but it definitely already raised more awareness in me concerning the things that I eat and how they impact my body and how I feel.

Improving your eating habits does not only have an impact on your health for the long term; more importantly, it enhances the way you feel today!

9. Set goals

To achieve the most significant personal growth possible, you have to set clear goals. How else will you know what to work on?

And don’t just set unrealistic goals. They will only frustrate you. You should set S.M.A.R.T. goals. Meaning specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound

10. Find idols and study them

Another great way to improve yourself is by studying your heroes. Find a few people who you look up to in one or more areas in life.

And then analyze what exactly got them to where they are today and try to imitate that.

What are Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds doing to have such a happy marriage?

How did Jeff Bezos become the richest men in the world?

How does Ray Dalio achieve such incredible investment results for his clients?

11. Identify your flaws and create a plan to overcome them

We all have some things we don’t like about ourselves. Maybe you are always interrupting people unintentionally. Perhaps you are uncomfortable with your style. Maybe you want to get rid of your hormonal acne.

There are most likely always things that are bothering you about yourself. How about instead of merely complaining about them you decide to tackle them strategically.

12. Cultivate a new habit every month/quarter

It’s easy to procrastinate your self-improvement goals in the hustle of daily life.

Often we suddenly have a spark of inspiration and want to implement all these new and amazing habits into our lives. Only to fail spectacularly at them, because we tackled too much at once.

Instead, try to cultivate one new habit per month or every three months or so.

These can be simple things like brushing your teeth with your nondominant hand or meditating. No matter how small or big the habit, if you only focus on one habit at a time, it will almost effortlessly become a new part of your life.

13. Take a Social Media and Entertainment Detox

Most of us spend way too much time on social media or entertainment apps like Netflix and YouTube.

Have you ever looked at the tracker of your phone to see how much time you actually spend in the different apps? It’s probably a shocking amount.

Can you imagine what you ould be able to accomplish if half of that time went into your personal growth journey?

Taking a detox will rib you out of that bad habit, and you will get a glimpse at how much more time you suddenly have in a day.

The important thing, however, is that afterward, you don’t jump back to your old habits.

14. Start journaling

I am probably mentioning journaling in about every article I write. But that’s ok since I am absolutely sure everyone can benefit from it.

It doesn’t matter how often you do it or if you use prompts or not. Simply try to get into journaling. Maybe challenge yourself to journal once a day for two weeks and after that only as often as you feel will benefit you.

At the beginning of the year, I journaled daily. Sometimes even for two hours! And I can’t begin to tell you how much it helped me on my personal growth journey.

However, I am currently at a stage in my life where I don’t feel the need to journal every day. Now, I do it maybe once or twice a week. But it still makes me feel lighter and more motivated whenever I take the time to do it.

15. Start a side hustle

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you need to know everything before you can start a business.

You will never be perfectly prepared. In fact, the beauty of a business is that as it grows, you grow with it.

Take my blog, for example. It’s about striving for felicity, how to create the extraordinary life of your dreams full of success, passion, and financial freedom.

Do I have all of that yet? No. Definitely not. But every day that I am working on this blog, I am improving my business skills and my mindset, and I am getting closer and closer to that end goal.

16. Learn how to practice self-care

Self-care is one of these things that seem like some Instagram or Pinterest trend but is actually really important to implement into your life.

Self-care enables you to recharge and tackle life with more passion and motivation. It will not only help you achieve your goals faster but also enjoy the journey more.

17. Start bucket lists

And I am not talking about the cringy type of bucket lists. No, I am thinking about three kinds of lists: One for things you want to learn, fun things you want to purchase and investments you want to make.

Having these lists will not only help you decide on what to do with your time/money, but they will be an immense motivation to work towards your goals.

18. Set relationships goals

While striving for an extraordinary life, it is easy to forget spending time with your friends and family.

But an extraordinary life requires mastery of every area of life, also meaning your social and romantic life.

So try to set clear goals. Maybe call your family and friends once a week and meet up with them once a month.

You could also start a list of activities you could do together. That way, it always stays exciting, and you can make some fantastic memories.

Phew, that was a long list So many great ideas on how to improve yourself and grow into your best version. Isn’t that exciting!

Please don’t let this big list overwhelm you. Nobody is expecting you to start implementing all of these ideas at once.

Just take one after the other, and before you know it, you will look back at your old self and be staggered by your progress. I encourage you to really enjoy the process.

Personal growth can bring you immense joy and satisfaction if you don’t take it too seriously.

Just remember that if you are doing self-development at all, you are already far ahead of the vast majority of humans.

I am excited to hear about your progress! Comment down below if you want to share your successes with your fellow Felicity Seekers.

Sophie

6 Things To Do When You Are Feeling Lost

Blog, Personal Development

There are times in life when you are simply feeling lost. For example, you might be unhappy with your current situation but don’t know what exactly you want instead.

Or you might have figured out what you want but have no idea how to get there or if you are on the right track.

Most people seem to think that being lost is a feeling we encounter during a few big moments in our life.

For example, after you leave school and decide on a career or during a midlife crisis.

Striving for Felicity 6 Things To Do When You Are Feeling Lost

However, personally, I’ve made the experience that feeling lost is not a once in a decade feeling.

For me, it’s something I am regularly dealing with as I try to create the life of my dreams.

This blog is part of that journey. But as I work on it every day, I sometimes feel uncertain if this is really worth it. I wonder whether this blog is getting me to where I want to be.

As I am currently going through a wave of feeling lost again, I thought it would be the perfect time to share some tips with you on how to get over it.

1. Find inspiration

One thing that always helps me when I feel lost is inspiration. Try to watch motivating YouTube videos, read an inspiring blog post, and listen to personal development podcasts.

Those things never fail to inspire me. These sources are so packed full of passion and ideas that at least one of them will inspire you.

And as always, I can only recommend you check out my Reading List for Personal Growth. The books on this list are all highly inspiring.

You could also find inspiration by talking to new people. I am always surprised by the many exciting things I get from conversations with people I usually don’t talk to.

Read also:

2. Change your routine

I am very much a routine kind of person. 

I wasn’t even aware I was having routines for a long time until I discovered the massive niche of “routines” (My fall nighttime routine, my 5 AM routine, etc.).

And while routines are not only effective but can certainly also bring a lot of joy, they contain the danger of making our life dull. Because as Tony Robbins has discovered, one of our six basic human needs is variety.

When every day starts to feel the same, many of us begin to feel a bit lost in life.

For me traveling has always been a time to overthink my current situation and my goals in life. And when you think about it, it makes sense. 

Traveling very suddenly rips you out of the routines you’ve been following for weeks or maybe even months.

Your brain gets the variety it needs and starts working differently. Once you get back home, you likely feel less lost and have found some new inspiration and motivation to tackle your goals.

But you don’t have to go abroad to achieve this change in routine. There are many opportunities to make small changes in our daily routines. 

For example, you could drive a different route to work, or you could study in the library instead of your bedroom, or you could exchange Netflix time for Podcast time. 

If you keep your mind and eyes open, you will find many opportunities for such micro shifts.

Read also: 11 Microshifts That Will Improve Your Life In The Longrun

3. Write about it

As you probably know by now, if you are a true Felicity Seeker, I am a big advocate of the power of journaling.

Journaling not only helps me declutter my mind and feel more at ease, but it also helps me work through my emotions and thoughts.

I believe this is incredibly helpful, especially for us Felicity Seekers who commit to personal growth. 

Because even though personal development has become more accessible through Tony Robbins and other prominent figures, only a small part of our society is involved in it.

And because self-help makes you grow so much as a person, it often gets more difficult to connect with the people around you.

We Felicity Seekers have huge goals – insane goals if you ask most people.

I am not implying that people who improve themselves are better than those who don’t, but they simply look at the world differently. 

And if you have nobody in your inner circle who you can connect with on that level, journaling can become your safe haven.

Writing your thoughts and emotions down helps you express them, work through them, and release them. This enables you to get out of feeling lost in life.

4. Know you are not alone

I know this sounds very cliche and doesn’t necessarily help the situation. But often, we suffer more because of how we beat ourselves up for feeling lost than from the actual emotion itself.

Always remember it’s ok to feel lost. It doesn’t matter if you feel like that once a week, once a month, or once a decade. Remember that others are going through the same thing at this very moment.

And there have been others before you who overcame that feeling; this is normal!

If they can do it, so can you!

5. Change your mindset – Feeling lost is a good thing

Even better than knowing that others are feeling just as lost as you are, is the knowledge that this depressing feeling can actually be a good thing.

Feeling lost often precedes the most significant growth in life.

So don’t see it as a bad thing but be excited for what comes afterward.

You can expect greater clarity and purpose in life and, as a result, more happiness, success, and calmness.

6. Have patience

Lastly, the most annoying tip nobody ever wants to get is patience.

In a world where almost everything can be had on demand, patience has become a rare virtue. But it is a significant one as it can help you on so many occasions in life.

In this case, don’t despair over feeling lost. This, too, will pass.

As long as you acknowledge the feeling and try to work through it, you will come out on the other side.

Have faith.

7 Hacks That Help Me To Wake Up At 5 AM

Blog, Personal Development

If we need to, we can all wake up early and force ourselves out of bed. But because that is such an unpleasant experience many people resent waking up early.

But what would change if you would actually enjoy waking up early? Do you think you would do it more often?

Why not try it out? These hacks will help you to make waking up early comfortable, even if you are not a morning person!

Enjoy!

This page contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through one of them, I will receive a commission (at no additional cost to you). I only ever recommend products that I have personally used and loved. Thank you for your support!

1. Have a why

Remember those students that always asked the teacher, “what do we need this for”? Maybe you’ve asked yourself the same thing from time to time. I hope you do, less in school but more importantly in life.

You should always know why you are doing something. If we want something, it is easier to motivate ourselves to do the necessary steps to reach that goal.

Striving for Felicity 7 Hacks To Wake Up Early

But knowing your Why is not just important because it will motivate you, but also because it will help you to recognize unnecessary things you might be doing.

Time is our most valuable asset, and we have a limited amount on it. Therefore you should only spend it intentionally. You could spend it, for example, on one of the 15 Ways To Spend Your Time Wisely.

If you need inspiration for why you’d want to wake up early check out 8 Reasons You Need To Wake Up Early.

2. Don’t put your alarm clock next to your bed

What does a typical morning in many peoples lives look like?

The alarm goes off. Groaning you roll yourself over and hit the snooze button thinking to your sleepy self “just five more minutes.”

Thirty minutes to 2 hours later, you wake up and are already way behind with your day’s tasks.

However if we make the small change to put the alarm further away from the bed, so that you have to get out of bed to turn it off, it will become easier for you to resist the urge to go back to sleep.

Why? Because going back to sleep means you need to actively go back to bed. While staying awake can be accomplished by you simply standing still where you are currently standing. You might even close your eyes, but the act of standing will slowly wake you up enough that you can think clearly, remember your why and decide not to go to bed anymore.

Why should you? The hardest part is standing up, and you’ve accomplished that already.

So put your alarm clock further away from your bed and see if it makes a difference!

3. Have an enjoyable morning routine

Nobody likes to do things they hate. So why would you want to force yourself out of your comfortable bed if there is nothing exciting waiting for you?

Establish an enjoyable morning routine and see how that will influence your readiness to get out of bed.

I, for example, love my breakfast, and I allow myself to watch 20 minutes of a series during that. Yes, I know it’s not the ideal form to spend the first hour of your morning. But right now that’s pretty much the only time I am willing to spare for series or YouTube videos. Therefore it is delightful for me, and I am always looking forward to it.

4. Wake up at the same time daily

This one can be a bit tricky in the beginning. I mean, who wants to wake up at 5 am on the weekend?

However, your body doesn’t know anything like the weekend. The week with its seven days is a social construct we humans created. Just because our society agreed on it doesn’t mean our bodies will recognize it as well.

Once you start waking up at the same time each day, your body gets used to it, and it will become easier for you to wake up at that time. You might even wake up before your alarm clock naturally, provided you’ve had enough sleep. Which leads us to the next point …

5. Go to bed on time

As much as a no-brainer this one is, it might also be the hardest one for many people.

To wake up early, you have to go to bed early. You should get somewhat between 7 and 9 hours of sleep each night. And I mean EACH night.

Don’t think you can compensate on your weekend for missed sleep because as we learned in the previous point, you should wake up at the same time every day.

I, for example, go to bed at 10 pm. By the time I wake up at 5 am that will give me around 7 hours of sleep. In stressful times that might not be enough, in that case, I might go to bed even a bit earlier.

But of course, nobody’s perfect, I included. So naturally, there are days where I stay up way longer than my “bedtime.” And that’s ok, too. Life is meant to be enjoyed, and you shouldn’t set yourself too strict rules.

Still, those long nights always cause a significantly shorter and less enjoyable morning.

6. Create a shutdown routine

This tip and the next one will help you fall asleep quicker and therefore enable you to stay awake a bit longer or get more sleep.

In his book Deep Work, Cal Newport recommends creating a shutdown routine. That means you decide on a precise hour of the day, from which on you won’t focus on work anymore. You will spend the rest of the day non-work related.

And if you end that work time with a shutdown routine – for example, checking your calendar, creating a to-do list for the next day, cleaning your desk and telling yourself “that’s it. Time to relax!” – It will become more comfortable for your brain to relax and stop focusing on your work.

As always I recommend you to check out my Reading List for Personal Growth as it will have many more inspiring books like the one mentioned above.

7. Create a suitable environment to sleep

It is not only important to sleep a certain amount of time but to also sleep deeply. It is no use for you if you sleep for 9 hours, but your sleep is terrible.

To achieve the most relaxing and reenergizing sleep, you have to optimize your sleep environment.

One essential thing to do, for example, is to make sure there is no light in the room. Whether it is light, that comes from outside or light that is generated by some electrical device, you should dim it as much as possible.

Do you have any more tips on how to wake up early? Share them with us! Also, share your experience with implementing my tips.

I’d love to hear from you ^^

Keep creating that extraordinary life of your dreams!

Sophie

8 Benefits Of Waking Up Early | Why You Should Wake Up Early

Blog, Personal Development, Success

Striving for Felicity 8 Benefits Of Waking Up Early

Most of us know, we should wake up early, but we seldom consider the actual reasons for that. No wonder many people can’t get themselves to wake up early!

If that’s you, don’t worry. This list will give you the right motivation to turn your alarm clock at least half an hour earlier!

Enjoy!

1. Most others are not awake yet

The first significant advantage of waking up early is the peacefulness. Most other people are not awake at, let’s say 5 o’clock. This gives you the chance to start the day the way you want to.

You not only have silence to focus better on whatever you want to do but you also do not have to deal with other peoples demands yet.

Nobody is bombarding you with questions or is asking for favors. You can take some time for yourself. Do what makes you happy. Get yourself in a prime mood so you can start the day with the right foot.

We all know how easy it is to be grumpy all day if only a few things in the morning go wrong. You stub your toe, the milk is empty and then you run late and voila, it gets 200 times harder for you to have a happy day.

But if you can already start enjoyably, the day is yours to conquer!

2. You can work on your personal goals

Let me ask you something. When are you more likely to read a self-development book or do an online course. After you’ve come home from a draining day in a job, you are not all too passionate about, or after you’ve had an uplifting morning routine without people around you to annoy you?

For most people, the answer will be the latter. And I can understand that. After a day of lectures, I want to relax the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Unsurprisingly, it will be less enjoyable for you to work on your personal goals if you want to do it after all your other obligations. Why not make it a priority and start your day with it?

That way, you not only get it done and out of the way, but you also start into the rest of the day feeling inspired and empowered. That certainly sounds like a formula for a great day.

One of the best ways to improve yourself is by reading personal development books. To help you with that I have compiled a whole list of amazing and inspiring non-fiction books that will make you grow beyond your wildest dreams! Check out my Reading List for Personal Growth to expand your knowledge! I always keep it updated on my new favorite books.

3. You will have time for breakfast

Honestly, I almost didn’t mention this one, because for me it has never been an option not to eat breakfast. For me, it’s like brushing your teeth or putting on fresh clothes. Of course, you do it!

But many people do not eat breakfast, and, they do so because they don’t take the time for it in the morning.

I know I wouldn’t be very excited to eat breakfast either if I’d give myself only 10 minutes or less for it. No, breakfast is something that should be enjoyed, and if you wake up early, you can indulge in it properly!

4. There are health benefits

Waking up early can benefit your health on many levels.

It can …

  • reduce the chances of you developing sleeping disorders
  • reduce high blood pressure
  • help you burn more calories if you workout earlier

5. You are more productive

Despite the studies that suggest that our productivity is at its highest in the mornings, it is also very logical that waking up early raises your productivity.

For many of us, 12 o’clock marks the half of the day, simply because it is the middle of the day. Now, if you’ve already accomplished most of your tasks by then, you will feel good and like you have your stuff together. However, if you have most of it still left in the open … well, it will be harder to motivate yourself to get that done.

Waking up early gives you more time before that halftime of the day.

Furthermore, most socializing happens after and not before work. Even if you should not work in a 9 to 5, most other people do. Meaning, they get off work around 4 or 5 pm.

And once your friends and family are having free time and are enjoying themselves, do you think you will be motivated to hustle anymore?

I don’t think so. So wake up early!

6. The early bird gets the worm

We all know this saying, but most of us never consider how relevant it is to waking up early.

For example, having the earliest appointments possible gives you the advantage that not much has had the chance to interfere with it.

If you take the last flight of the day, chances are high it will be delayed. Not so much with the first one.

Same goes for doctors appointments. If you have the first appointment, you don’t have to worry that the other patients were late or emergency appointments delayed all of the other ones, etc.

You also might be able to drive to work before rush hour starts and therefore save time, which you might be able to use to get off the job earlier.

Which brings us to our next point.

7. You can relax earlier

The thing I love most about starting early with anything is that you finish before most others do.

I know that not only for me but also for many of my friends, it is frustrating to know that others can already relax, but we still have some work to do.

However, if I start working before others do, I am always highly motivated by the prospect of being able to finish earlier.

Therefore if you are waking up early, you can start working on your tasks earlier and relax sooner.

8. You will impress people

This one definitely shouldn’t be a priority, but it is a fun thing to consider.

Most people are impressed by others that have the discipline to wake up early regularly. So if you are looking for something to casually brag about, mention that you wake up early. ;D

I hope this short list convinces you to wake up early. This habit can help you achieve the extraordinary life of your dreams in no time!

So wake up early and keep creating that financial freedom and success you dream about!

I know you can do it!

Sophie

16 Habits of Highly Successful People | Habits for Success

Blog, Personal Development, Success

Our connected world has given us the possibility to hear about highly successful people from all walks of life. Their deeds fascinate and inspire us and especially Felicity Seekers like us wish we could be as successful as they are.

Striving for Felicity 16 Habits Of Highly Successful People

Lucky for us, success leaves clues as Tony Robbins would say. Highly successful people didn´t get lucky. They did something differently than the other 99% of the population.

They have figured out the habits that lead to success and they keep practicing them. That is one reason why the rich keep getting richer.

That should make you think. If we can adopt these habits, we should be able to become rich, too, right?

Let’s look into some of these habits of success.

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1. Wake up early

There is magic in waking up early. Trust me, I know. I’ve been waking up at 5 am pretty much every day for years.

Now, I don’t want to lie to you. Of course, there have been a lot of days where I would lie back down and sleep a bit more.

However, on those days where I wake up at 5 am and stay awake to jumpstart my day, I have the most productive and happiest days ever!

I regularly surprise myself by how much I can get done in the mornings. By the time lunch rolls around, I have sometimes already moved mountains and don’t have to feel guilty for tackling the afternoon in a more relaxed manner.

Now I know that some people are more like night owls. And that’s alright. Still, you should ask yourself why so many successful people recommend waking up early.

They cannot possibly all be morning persons, right?

2. Have a morning routine

Waking up early is essential. But if you waste the first few precious hours of your day scrolling through social media, you might as well sleep a few hours more.

The most successful people have a morning routine. This is a sequence of actions that set them up for a productive and happy day.

My morning routine for example currently looks something like this: I wake up, have breakfast, get ready, write three gratifications and three affirmations, read about half an hour a non-fiction book and study 10 to 15 minutes French with Rosetta Stone.

The gratitude and affirmation exercise helps me tune my mindset for happiness and success right in the first hour of the day, in which the mind is most susceptible to such stimuli.

By reading half an hour, I already completed my daily goal to read something that will improve myself, which is a huge relief since in the busyness of the day that task often gets lost.

If you are interested in what self-development books I am reading, check out my Reading List for Personal Growth.

And by taking a few minutes to study French every day, I almost effortlessly get closer to my goal of being able to have a conversation in French at the end of the year.

Oh and I incorporated stretching into my French Sessions. That way, I also get more flexible without having to cut out some time for stretching separately.

As you can see, with this routine, I take care of my mind, my body, my emotions, and my intellect within the first 1 1/2 to 2 hours of the day.

And since it has become a habit for me, it is effortless to do. Can you imagine the progress I will have made after doing this for a year?

No wonder the most successful people have a morning routine, right?

3. Create to-do lists

This is the 21st century. I don’t think we need to talk much about the importance of to-do lists anymore.

Successful people always have a lot on their plate. And to make sure that they can handle so many different tasks, they create to-do lists. Long-term lists as well as short-term ones.

Now you want to create a to-do list for the whole year. Like a new year’s resolutions list but with goals you actually commit to accomplishing.

You might also want to create a five-year plan or a three-year plan if you have huge goals you are working towards.

The short-term to-do lists you want to create should be monthly, weekly, and daily to-do lists. The daily ones are the most important.

Now optimally you want to create this daily to-do list at least the night before so that in the morning you can take a quick look at it and start working on your tasks.

But remember always to make sure that you do not stuff your to-do lists with too many tasks. That will overwhelm you and will make you less productive. Especially little tasks and habits do not need to appear on those lists. For example, you should not write “Brushing my teeth” on your list (except of course for whatever reason you tend to forget that).

And you should also create a system for your to-do lists so that you have them all in the same, easily accessible place.

As I have done before, I recommend you to use Trello. This program has seriously been a lifesaver, and I’ve been using it daily for over a year now. And the best is: it is free!

4. Stay away from entertainment

One big habit that separates the 1% from the other 99% is the time they spend on entertainment.

We live in a world of entertainment. You have endless options on series, movies, music, videos, social media apps, etc. to entertain you. And your phone enables you to take advantage of that wherever you are.

Of course, you can indulge in some entertainment. We wouldn’t be very human if we would be serious all day long. And quite frankly series and movies and music can bring you a lot of joy and inspiration, why miss out on that?

However, you should carefully consider how much time you want to spend on entertainment each day.

Every hour you spend on Netflix could have brought you one step closer to that extraordinary life of your dreams if you had invested it in one of the 15 Ways To Spend Your Time Wisely.

Jack Ma and Mark Zuckerberg have the same 24 hours a day as everyone else. Yet they get a lot more done than most ordinary people. Why do you think that is?

5. Read for personal development

First of all, I strongly recommend you to read regularly. Many people nowadays do not read books anymore. The most they read are Instagram captions and tweets.

If you do read books, however, chances are very high that you read fictional books. Now I know, they can be very thrilling and emotional, and yes very often there is some more profound lesson hidden within them.

Still, you would benefit so much more if you’d start to read with the focus on learning something instead of entertaining yourself.

As I mentioned above, entertainment is all fun, but it won’t get you very far in life.

And even if you do not have time to read much each day. I am sure you can find at least 15 minutes in your morning or evening routine to dedicate to reading. And if you have an average reading speed, you should be able to read at least one book a month at that pace.

That’s 12 books a year. That’s a lot of new knowledge you are going to absorb, which will make you grow immensely!

To jumpstart your journey towards a successful life, check out my Reading List for Personal Growth. I am regularly updating it on the most inspiring non-fiction books I’ve read.

6. Move your body

Another thing I preach over and over again is that you need to take care of your body.

Your body and your mind are the two things that enable you to live this incredible experience called life.

Have you ever imagined what life would be like for you without hands, feet, eyes, a mouth, legs, etc.?

Really think about that for a moment and now look in the mirror. If you don’t love your body, you have not yet truly realized the blessing it is.

Even if you were the ugliest human on earth (which statistically speaking you are not, especially since beauty lies in the eye of the beholder) and even if your body is not entirely healthy, aren’t there still so many things about it that you should be grateful for?

And if this beautiful and strong body enables you to live your life, shouldn’t you take care of it?

The most successful people have realized this, and they spend A TON of money on fitness and health. Did you know there actually is a whole industry dedicated to biohacking?

If that’s something you’re interested in, check out 9 Reasons You Should Want To Be Rich. I talk a bit more about it in there.

Even though you can spend a fortune on your health, you really don’t need to. Just reduce unhealthy habits like smoking and drinking and increase healthy habits like working out.

If your body is healthy, you will feel more energized and therefore will be able to achieve so much more each day!

7. Fuel your body

In addition to the previous point, you of course also need to eat healthily and drink a lot of water.

Make it a daily habit, and it will become second nature to you.

8. Do the inner work

As mentioned above, not only your body but also your mind enables you to live this life.

Therefore you should also dedicate some effort into keeping your mind sharp and healthy.

Meditate, journal, work on your confidence, rewrite limiting beliefs, do therapy, to sum it up, do whatever it takes to have a healthy and happy mind.

And do it regularly! You will not be able to succeed at much if you suffer from burn out or such.

9. Strategically work toward your goals

Having goals is important. If you don’t know where you want to go, you will not arrive there or way later than necessary.

However, setting goals, you never work on as most people do with their new year’s resolutions is only going to frustrate you at the end of the year.

Successful people set S.M.A.R.T. goals, meaning specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound.

This makes it possible for them to add tasks to their to-do lists that will get them closer to the realization of their goal.

You need to break your goal down into little tasks. You need to create at least some sort of plan for the achievement of it. Otherwise, your so-called goal is just a dream you are hoping to come true.

10. Unplug, Disconnect & Take care of yourself

The most successful people know that straight hustling all day every day will not work forever. There will come the point at which your productivity rate suddenly drastically drops because your body and your mind simply can’t take it anymore.

If you are lucky, that point comes pretty soon. If you are not so fortunate, that point will come after you have not only destroyed your health but also lost a lot of your most precious relationships because you neglected them for too long.

Striving for Felicity is all about living life to the fullest in EVERY area of life. What use is money to you if have no one you can share it with? What purpose is any success if you paid for it by wrecking your body and shortening your lifespan?

Take time to unplug, disconnect from all your responsibilities, and take care of yourself. That’s not something selfish. It not only shows that you have self-worth, but it will also make you come back stronger so that you can help more people and succeed even bigger.

11. Be grateful

Yes, I probably sound like a broken record, but the key to happiness is GRATITUDE!

The most successful people have realized that, and because they are grateful for what they already have, they attract more enjoyable opportunities in their life.

Because they are grateful, they are happy, and everybody likes to be around happy people. Therefore the grateful are quite good at networking, which gives them immeasurable advantages in life.

Gratitude will also motivate you to achieve even more to be grateful for. And being happy gives you the energy to work harder.

Gratefulness has many positive side effects, and you are missing out if you are not using it!

12. Remember your why

Your “why” has power. The most successful people know that and carefully consider their why before approaching any new project.

Remembering your why can get you through those frustrating times, in which you want to quit. It will give you back that fire, that made you start in the first place.

On the other hand, if your why doesn’t excite you anymore, or you can’t even remember why you started in the first place, maybe it’s time to abandon your task and focus on something more worthwhile.

After all, time is our most valuable asset. You shouldn’t waste it without a good reason.

I go into more detail into this topic in my 15 Ways To Spend Your Time Wisely.

13. Get outside your comfort zone

Courage is a muscle. You have to use it regularly to keep it strong.

Living an extraordinary life can be scary, especially in the beginning. You are afraid to take risks, afraid to leave your comfort zone and embark into the unknown.

Will it get easier? No, you will always need to take certain risks and take that leap of faith if you genuinely want to live an extraordinary life.

But it will feel easier because every time you leave that comfort behind, you strengthen your courage a bit more.

So try to reach for something a bit uncomfortable regularly.

14. Dedicate time to your friends & family

As mentioned multiple times already, the 1% understand that a truly fulfilled life consists out of mastery of every area of your life. And your social life plays a huge part in that.

Your family and friends are of immeasurable value to your happiness in life. Yes, they can be frustrating at times. But these are the people you can share your good as well as your bad moments with, your successes as well as the failures.

They are there for you whenever you experience hardships. They keep your love tank full, as the 5 Love Languages explain.

I don’t think I need to go into any more detail to explain to you why you should make a habit out of dedicating time to your friends and family.

15. Create multiple streams of income

This is something you always need to focus on. You can’t just take one week to create an income stream and then forget about it.

Make it a habit to not only create multiple streams of income but also to maintain them. If you have taken the effort to get the stone moving might as well keep it in motion.

The more streams of income you have, the more secure you will be from outer influences.

16. Live below your means

Have you ever noticed Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos or Gary Vee walk around in expensive designer clothes?

Sure there are wealthy people like Kylie Jenner, who invest a fortune into their designer items but very often they make money through doing that.

People love that about them, and they probably wouldn’t be as successful without this image.

However if you spend your money on all that expensive stuff and it isn’t part of your income agenda, you will slowly but surely see your money running out as Johnny Depp did for example.

The 1% live below their means, and that has caused their wealth to increase steadily. That way, below your means, will one day mean having multiple homes and driving a Ferrari.

Puh, that was a long one. Did you read all of it? Which of these habits do you need to adopt to reach that extraordinary life of your dreams? Comment down below!

Also, feel free to ask for any content that will help you on your journey. I’d genuinely love to be the catalyst on your way to a life in Felicity!

Looking forward to reading your comments ^^

Sophie