Habits define who you are, whether they are bad or good, so why not take a look at the habits of the rich and successful, and learn from some of the best in the world.

The difference between an amateur and a professional is in their habits. An amateur has amateur habits. A professional has professional habits. We can never free ourselves from habit. But we can replace bad habits with good ones. – Steven Pressfield

There's a reason that these habits are so popular among successful individuals. Success doesn't come from luck or circumstance; it comes from hard work and dedication to good habit.

After a lot of research, I've defined the top 10 most common habits of the rich and successful and have even implemented them into my own life to learn the true benefits. I hope that this post will inspire you to do the same.

1. Meditate

What if I told you that you could take a pill and have less stress, improved concentration, increased happiness, and better self-awareness.

Would you take the pill?

If you're screaming at your screen “YES! YES!” Then I'm sorry but a magic pill like that doesn't exist. BUT…

If you spend just 10-15 minutes a day meditating, you can reap all the benefits listed above and much more!

“10-15 minutes EVERY day?” You might be thinking.

Hear me out:

Let's say you sleep for 8 hours every day, that leaves you with 960 minutes left in each day to do whatever you please. If you spend 10 minutes a day meditating every morning, that's only 1% of your day! I guarantee you that 1% will improve the remaining 99% of your day.

Just look at this post on LiveAndDare: 76 Scientific Benefits of Meditation. Yes, you read that right, 76 benefits!

I have been meditating (almost) every morning for just over a year now, and I plan to do so for the rest of my life. I actually feel weird if I miss my session one day.

Some examples of successful people who have talked about meditation are Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey, Jerry Seinfeld, and Ellen DeGeneres.

2. Exercise

Keeping your body healthy is just as important as keeping your mind healthy, which is why regular exercise is such a common habit among the rich and successful.

Mark Cuban, Tim Cook, and Richard Branson all agree that regular exercise is a critical part of their daily routine.

Why?

Well, take a look at the benefits of a quick 15-30 minute exercise at the beginning of your day. You'll have more energy, an improved mood, better focus, and that's just the start.

If all the benefits don't motivate you to get moving, try these 6 apps that pay you to work out. Money always motivates me!

3. Read Books

If you want to stimulate your mind and learn from some of the most successful, influential people throughout history, head down to the library!

Here's what Warren Buffet has to say about reading:

Read 500 pages every day. That's how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest. All of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will do it.

You don't even have to take it as far as 500 pages a day; I know you live a busy life. Try to start with ten pages a day, and work your way up from there. Reading is a skill, and you must continuously practice it if you want to get better and faster.

If you'd like to start reading, but you don't know what to read, check out Blinkist, an app that summarizes best selling non-fiction books into 15-minute reads. You get a free book to read every day that you can finish before you're done eating breakfast!

4. Set Goals and Create To-Do Lists

If you don't know your destination, how will you get there?

The tragedy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goals to reach.  – Benjamin Mays

Writing goals down has been proven to increase the chances of accomplishing them, so it's time to start taking advantage.

Here's an easy way to set goals each week and make progress on them every day:

1. Get a whiteboard, a notebook, or just a piece of paper.
2. Write down your top 5 goals for the week.
3. Each night, create a to-do list of smaller tasks by breaking down your weekly goals.
4. Work on those smaller goals throughout the day.

By creating these weekly goals and breaking them down into smaller, more manageable tasks, you'll know exactly where your priorities need to be every day.

You also won't be wasting time trying to figure out what you need to do in the morning because you'll have your to-do list done already!

5. Have Courage

Everyone experiences fear, it's a part of being human. Without fear we probably would have gone extinct a long time ago!

However, you should never allow fear to stop you from pursuing your goals. Many people allow fear to have too much power over them, and they end up giving up on their dreams because they're afraid of failure. 

Which brings us to a mini lesson: Never be afraid of failure. Failure provides some of the best teaching moments and it's a necessary step towards success.

Having the courage to face fear and overcome it will be what separates you from the competition. On the other hand, if you run at the sight of fear and allow it to control your life, you'll have a hard time growing as an individual.

Do you want to increase your fear tolerance? Get out and do something you're afraid of every day. It could be something as small as starting a conversation with a stranger. I like to take a cold shower every morning because it's something that I never want to do (and it also has a handful of benefits). Doing this makes the rest of the challenges I face throughout the day easier to overcome.

Just like Mark Twain says, “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”

If you want to learn how to overcome your fears, check out 10 Powerful Ways Successful People Overcome Fear.

6. Take Risks

All successful people know that there are times in life when you need to take calculated risks.

What is a calculated risk? Simply put, it is a risk that is carefully thought out as opposed to unplanned and rushed.

When first planning out a calculated risk, ask yourself these questions:

1. What's the worst that could happen?
2. What are the more probable scenarios?
3. What's the best scenario?

Once you have those questions answered, you just have to ask yourself two more questions:

1. If the worst possible scenario occurs, what damage will it cause and what will it take to reverse the damage?
2. If the best or one of the more probable scenarios occurs, what effect will it have (in your life, on your business, etc.)?

Asking yourself these questions will help you realize that most of the fears that come up are not that bad. You'll also realize that the potential positives outweigh the negatives big time!

7. Manage Your Money

If you want to become rich, you're going to have to learn the valuable skill of money management. Because if you can't manage your money now, how can you expect to be able to manage it when you're rich?

Rich people know that in order to create more wealth, they need to make their money work for them. They rarely spend money on things they don't need. Try to cut down on impulse buying (looking at you fast food) and focus on what you need rather than what you want. And whatever you do, try to stay out of debt at all costs.

If you have trouble saving, try creating a budget!

Remember, you don't need to stop doing fun things to save money, just stay reasonable and within your limits.

8. Eat Healthily

Listen, I love cookies, they're my favorite. I know that I shouldn't eat ten cookies every day though because I'd probably have a heart attack.

It's important to feed your body all the nutrients it needs to thrive, this, in turn, will keep your body and mind healthy, and leave you feeling more energized throughout the day. That energy will increase your productivity and happiness massively.

Now I know what you may be thinking:

“Healthy food is expensive!”

It's true; unhealthy food is usually cheaper and more accessible than healthy food. However, it is possible to eat healthy on a budget!

The secret way to eat healthily and save money & time is to meal plan. You can either make up your own meal plans or try a free trial of the $5 Meal Plan – a service that will send you a meal plan & grocery list every week.

9. Hang Around the Right People

“You cannot hang out with negative people and expect to live a positive life.” – Joel Osteen

That quote is powerful because it makes you look around and evaluate your relationships and what impact they're having on you. If you hang out with positive, success-minded individuals, there's a good chance that you will adopt the same mindset. These types of individuals will propel you forward in life and make sure you stay on track with your goals.

On the other hand, hanging out with negative people who have no ambition or purpose in life will only bring you down and keep you from accomplishing your goals.

Here's a little life hack you can use to start “hanging out” with some of the wealthiest and most successful people on this planet: read their autobiographies. Business Insider has an excellent article which lists 11 biographies to read if you want to get rich. Blinkist is also an awesome tool for this.

10. Don't Give up on Your Dreams

Last but not least, and possibly one of the most important habits of the rich, never give up.

This article on Inc.com states that 92% of people don't achieve their goals. Be the 8% that does.

Once you've defined your goals and you have a clear vision of the future you want to live in, don't let anything get in the way. As Shia LeBeouf would say:

Conclusion

If you want to reach your goals and make your dreams reality, you're going to need to develop good habits to help you get there. A good place to start is by looking at the habits of the rich and successful.

No matter how motivated you are today, there will always be those days when you don't feel like doing anything. It's these days that truly test our character. You can give in and lie in bed all day, or you can get out of bed, own the day, and come one step closer to fulfilling your dreams.

What will you choose?

Have any habits that you think should be on this list? Let me know in the comments!