12 Things You Can Do Every Day To Become Highly Successful by Michael Sanders

1. Plan your day the night before

Stephen Covey stated in his book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People that you should review the coming day the night before. This way you have already created a mental map of how tomorrow will flow. You can make sure you have the information for your meetings and if you need to add other activities you can know where you may have time. By planning your day the night before you are being proactive and not reactive.

TEH : I do have the book by Stephen Covey but did not read much of it ... perhaps few pages. I will like to spend some time to read the book this weekend! So ... we have heard of this habit ... to PLAN at night before we sleep ... for tmr or a week ahead. But, most of us ...just do not have that habit, naturally. Ok ... it is JULY now ... I have to FORCE myself to plan for tmr/week after dinner!! I do hv many dairies ... many types too. haha.

2. Create a "to do" list

Okay, so you have just planned your day. Any thoughts pop up? What main topic were you going to cover in that customer meeting? Make a note. Were you low on milk this morning at breakfast? Grab some on the way home from work if you forgot to already. Any calls you need to make? Write it down. If you create a list of things you want to accomplish the next day you have a greater chance of accomplishing them.

TEH : Creating a to-do-list ... gotcha. Will create that but mine is VERY long list. I have a list of 30plus recently that I have only done less than 10? Haha ... time to be more serious to get moving and accomplish more!!

3. Get a good night sleep

This is easier to do after you have planned your day, feel comfortable with what you have to accomplish tomorrow and then can clear your mind of it. You won't have to lay in bed trying to keep straight in your head what you have to do tomorrow because you have a list. You should also sleep no less than eight hours and make sure you go to bed about the same time every night. If you do like to read before bed do it somewhere other than your bed.

TEH : I do need to sleep before 11.30pm and wake up 5.30am. In my opinion, 6 hours of sleep is sufficiently good enough. So ... I will do some light reading around 11pm (half hour per day). I do need to ut the alarm on ... and making it a routine.

4. Get up earlier than you need to

Getting ready for work in the morning always seems to take longer than we think. Then there is traffic, weather and parking to deal with. If you give yourself extra time you will be more present in the moment when you load your car or computer bag and the chances of forgetting something is reduced. You will also be more relaxed when you reach your destination. Nothing says failure like a rushed, disorganized sweaty guy running into a meeting late.

TEH : I hv failed in my new-year resolution ... to wake up at 5am (Robin Sharma) and I m becoming lazier ... so, ok ... make it 5.30am, wake up and exercise ... and bath. 6am breakfast! As I m no longer rushing to college to teach(working), I still need to fetch my girl to school(nearby). I do not have traffic issue as I m still riding my kap-cai. Yes ... I need to reach my trading table in a relax mode, plan my trades while waiting for market to open.

5. Read

You have been hearing this since elementary school. It doesn't matter what you read. You can read the Wall Street Journal for 45 minutes a day or a novel at night before you go to bed, just not in your bed. You can read business or books about hobbies. The point is that you read. Reading increases our vocabulary, makes us better spellers and exercises the muscle that is our brain... Well, the brain is an organ, but you get the point.

TEH :  I do read ... but not as much I would like to. There are many self-help books that I do like, besides investing/trading books. Now, I m reading on biz-book and how to be an entrepreneur!! Yes ... I do have goals to move into biz (an honest one, dislike cheating and lying). So, I set-up a tuition center and working on the next biz(anyone hv the idea and wish to work on it, let's have a drink).  After years of reading on investing/trading ... I quit my full-time job to focus in the B-quadrant.

6. Set goals

A goal is a dream with a timeline. Not only do you need to set goals, but set different sized goals. If your goal is start your own company you need to set goals about gaining skills that will help you run a small business. Start by getting a job in the industry and then try to get promoted in the first year. Or if your goal is to write a book set a goal of having a certain number of chapters done by a certain date.

TEH : I have placed 5 years to learn about trading. I m still learning much. So ... I am placing another 5 years to teach trading, and have started that earlier than planned. In my 7th year, I still have 3 years to prepare myself ... as a trainer for traders. Yes, we need at least 10years of consistent learning and experiencing trading before we could be well-verse in trading. That also, we need to be very hardworking and focus in our trades. Learn along the way ... another goal is to write a book in 3 years time!! Yes ... finally, I hv the guts to plan to be an author, besides I m a blogger. What is it about? Haha ... I don't even know what I want to write about but definitely not on trading. Perhaps, I could write about how I struggled financially merely 5 years ago, being a college lecturer ... and my struggle of educating myself about finances. How I moved from E to I ... and B, and still hanging on S (tuition). That will be easier to write as it is about myself, nothing2hide. Hehe.

7. Measure your goals

How do you know if you are on track if you don't measure your goals? If you are six months into that job and things are not looking like a promotion is going to happen... Why? Did you underestimate how much you needed to learn? That's fine - adjust your timeline. If you are not doing what you need to be doing think about why you have lost interest or momentum. Maybe this line of work is not for you?

TEH : I have quitted in many ventures ... people come and go. Things have to move on, get to know new people ... create new ventures and work from there. While past mistakes could be used as a guidance, we need to recognise if it is suitable for us. Is that what drives us to be passionate and we will be persistent on it? If not, we will lose interest or momentum ... it happened to me many of times, as when I failed ... I have to move away to reflect on my failures. So ... failing is common. Get use to it ... and pick-up ourselves, move on. Set new goals.

8. Reflect

Our lives are a story, not a plan. A plan is linear and a story does not follow a straight path. Your life is a story with subplots and surprise characters. It is okay to re-evaluate your goals and where you think you were headed and change direction. That is how you learn and figure out what you are good at doing.

TEH : Argeed. Yes, sir.

9. Get a mentor

A mentor should keep you honest. If you are not hitting your goals they should call you on it. You should have regular meetings with them and let them know what your goals are and the time frame you have given yourself to accomplish them.

TEH : How I wish I have a mentor ... guiding me when I was a total newbie. So ... I created my trading group, e-learning, trading workshop ... to reach out for newbies who are in stock-market trading. Yes ... I a being a mentor to many in my trading group, most of them appreciate my teaching(of trading). That motivates me to reach out for more. How about mentor ... in changing our MINDSET? Financial mindset, in general. I read books ... acquiring as much knowledge as I could. But ... if I have a mentor, at least he will help me to shorten my learning curve!! So ... I joined Dr Peter Yee's group recently ... WMT. It is great to find a mentor!! I m still looking for a mentor in entrepreneurship ... so, I joined the ToastMaster group(comprises of mostly self-employed entrepreneurs) recently ... and will be joining them for talks/training. We are going up Genting for training on Teamwork in Aug and I am excited about that.

10. Stay healthy

Sick people find it difficult to be successful because they are just trying to stay alive. Take care of yourself. Exercise, stretch and eat right. Exercise is a great way to keep you mind fresh by letting off stress. It can also give you time to gather your thoughts. Stretching is important because it keeps you from getting injured and then not being able to exercise. I am not talking about running a marathon - A long walk on a regular basis counts.

TEH : A must to follow as I am slowly changing my diet. Yes ... wake up 5.30am .. exercise. Do simple stretching after hours sitting here!!

11. Focus

Multitasking is a lie. Successful people focus on what they are good at and leave everyone in their dust  Look at what you are interested in doing in life and see if you are good at it. If you are, you are done looking. You have found your ONE thing. See you on the other side!

TEH : Ooppsss ... I failed here. I have so many on my plates that at times, I do wonder how I cope. From trading, maintaining my trading group ... giving tuition .... to blogging here!! Hmm ... ok, clearing off more responsibilities before I burn-out!! Perhaps, that explain why I am doing things so slow ... and not moving higher or faster. FOCUS, ok?

12. Rinse and repeat

Consistency is what makes people successful. I'm sure you have all had that coach who told you, "what you do in practice, you do in a game." That person is a genius, listen to them. Practice makes perfect... fake it 'till you make it. Whatever saying you want to use it all means the same thing. Once you have found your one thing keep working on getting better and better at it. How do you do that? Start with number one on this list and do all twelve steps over again, day after day until it becomes second nature. It takes 21 days to form a habit.

TEH : I have found trading/investing. I am getting better and better as I want to be a good trader, in future. To be a successful trader, I need to comply to ALL the 12 pointers above!! Yes ... let me be more discipline and do that for my own sake.

Have a good productive day, week or year ahead.

TEH