11 Extraordinary Life Lessons of Highly Successful People

If you were to follow the daily routines of super successful people, what might you find out? Here are 11 lessons you can learn from doing what the richest and most famous do, sometimes before breakfast.

1. Get Enough Exercise

This is a common element across most routines of highly successful people. The endorphins give your brain a boost, plus the physical strength you build help with endurance. Exercise will make you more productive and more focused. It's a habit to cultivate and keep.

2. Meditate

Stop telling yourself you don’t have ten minutes once or twice a day to sit and be still and to breathe. You might surprise yourself at just how much a difference this little habit can make in your mental clarity and productivity. Try it for a while, then stop for a week. Notice a difference?

3. Push Through the Mid-Week Slump

You might find that you’re ready for new good habits and setting new goals on Mondays, but by midweek, those habits might get harder to keep. Maybe the rush of the new habit’s benefits might be wearing off a little. Try and persevere through this natural slump in your own excitement about your new routine.

4. Understand that Sleep Matters

You’ll find that getting enough sleep will really make a big difference, no matter what your routine. Never get out of bed and feel a wave of dread to see your briefcase or your work-out clothes. Imagine waking up and not being exhausted! It will set the tone for your whole day.

5. Set Up a Bedtime Routine

You can’t just turn off your laptop, brush your teeth, and expect a restful and even night’s sleep. Try building a bedtime ritual (baths, no screens, herbal tea) to get your body and brain into the proper mindset. You’ll find you fall asleep faster and get a better quality rest.

6. Don’t Keep Habits that Don’t Serve You

If a new habit simply doesn’t work for you, toss it. Chances are you can modify it or find something entirely different that suits your lifestyle best. Don’t waste your time cultivating habits and routines that don’t help you accomplish your own goals.

7. Track Your Time

If you start tracking how you spent the hours in a day, you might learn a lot about where you could be more productive, or where you’re just plain wasting time. Cut out the fat! You can also determine which parts of the day are your most and least productive—and start scheduling yourself more intelligently for better results.

8. Stick to Your Routines as Much as Possible

If you have a good morning and bedtime ritual in place, and you get asked to do something that would require you to compromise that for a day or week, that’s a great way of helping you to figure out how much you really want to do that thing. Listen to your gut. If you’d much rather just be at home sipping tea at 10pm than at that club opening, it’s probably not the right event for you. Wait for something that really makes you want to make an exception to your established routine.

9. Establish Your Life Priorities

Rather than filling your days with shoulds, you might be able to figure out what activities, tasks, and goals in your life are actually things that matter to you. Figure out what your priorities and desires are, and follow those. Not just what everyone else is doing. And if something doesn’t interest you? (And you can afford to?) Skip it.

10. Trust Your Subconscious

If you try out a lot of new habits, you might find you naturally veer towards keeping the ones that work for you and tossing the ones that don’t. That’s great. That means you’re listening to yourself. Keep it up.

11. Try New Things

The best part of trying new habits and routines is that it gives you a real chance to figure out if things could be running more smoothly and productively in your life. Give yourself a chance to be your best self!