The best Christmas gift I could receive (well, other than a Cervelo) is being told I no longer have to turn off my phone or iPad during takeoff and landing on the plane.
Merry Christmas early to me!
So, while we were preparing for takeoff yesterday, I was scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed and came across an interesting article on Samantha Collier's page.
Called "Nine Things Extremely Successful People Do After Work," I thought, "I'll bite."
And I was pleasantly surprised! Of the nine things, I do seven quite consistently. Does this mean I'm extremely successful?!?
Take a look:
- Unplug
- Go to happy hour
- Have sex
- Plan your weekend
- Play an instrument
- Go outside and play
- Play a crazy sport
- Focus on family and friends
- Get eight hours of sleep
Likewise, an article in Inc., revealed the "Eight Things Really Successful People Do."
- Make materialism irrelevant
- Enhance knowledge
- Manage relationship expectations
- Practice emotional self-awareness
- Commit to a physical ideal
- Gain clarity about spirituality
- Adhere to a code of ethics
- Focus on time efficiency
And yet another article, "Early Riser? What You Should Do When You Wake Up," describes what entrepreneurs who get up early do with their time (I'm writing this at 4:09 a.m.).
The point is, there is no secret to success. It's different for everyone...and it constantly evolves.
Secrets to Your Own Success
But there are three things I think are imperative to anyone's success: Eight hours of sleep, a commitment to a physical ideal, and unplugging.
Eight Hours of Sleep. I don't get eight hours every night, but I do average that throughout the week (I know this because my UP band tells me so). I find I'm much more productive, energetic, and a better leader when I get enough sleep.
Commitment to Physical Ideal. I have always said exercise is like brushing your teeth ... it's just something you have to do every day. I used to have insomnia pretty badly. I've had nightmares since I was a kid and they used to wake me up and scare me so badly, I refused to go back to sleep. Then I started riding my bike a gazillion miles every day and my body decided it was too tired to even let me dream. I always have nightmares on my rest days (which is why I unwittingly only take one each week) and I don't sleep as well. Without the daily exercise, eight hours of sleep is not doable.
Unplugging. This is totally counter-intuitive, particularly in our society, but my New Year's resolution this year was to stop working weekends. Even if I have a crap load of work to do, I let it sit. I shut my computer down on Friday night and don't reopen it until Monday morning. I have found I am soooooooo much more productive during the week. There is no more telling myself, "Oh you can do that this weekend." The work has to get done during the work week. Sure, I don't totally unplug - I still check emails and the social networks on my phone or iPad. But the work, work? It waits for two days.
These are the three things I encourage among my team...and I challenge you to think about them, too.