You often hear that successful people have their rules and rituals that they perform every day in order to make their own luck. As we will see, no two people are alike and nether their recipes for success. Some might focus on sleep habits, others on dressing superstitions, others on showering or hanging up the jacket.

Sleep habits

Something typical for most of the entrepreneurs out there is this common side effect of the sleepless nights. Not sleeping well has a lot of implications beyond feeling tired the next day. Why sleep is important?

• Charles Dickens carried a navigational compass with him at all times and always faced north while he slept – all this in order to improve his creativity and writing
• Leonardo da Vinci would take a 20-minute nap every four hours rather than sleep a full night.
• Sheryl Sandberg (COO) balances her busy days at Facebook and time with her kids by hitting the bed as early as 9:30 pm

Outfit superstitions

How often do you wonder what to eat for lunch? What jeans to wear? What queue to choose? Where to go for breakfast? It’s said the average person makes 35,000 decisions every day.

• In HBO’s 2017 documentary series, Defiant Ones, Andre Young (Dr. Dre) mentions he wears only Nike’s Air Force 1 every day
• Steve Jobs became famous for a black turtleneck, jeans and New Balance sneakers
• Barack Obama wears only gray or blue suits
• Mark Zuckerberg sports his iconic gray Brunello Cucinelli t-shirt.

Do you understand now why all these successful people decided to cut down on the number of decisions they need to make? Productivity. By building habits, you just simplify your decision-making processes. Having a regular outfit makes you lose less time choosing what to wear but also shopping for the right clothes.
And to be honest, we should never forget that once you found your dream outfit and just wear them over and over again, you will always feel comfortable and good.

Just… weird

• Heidi Klum carries a bag containing her baby teeth
• Steve Jobs was famous for eating only one type of food for weeks at a time
• Martha Stewart is reported to allow only red or black ink to be used in her offices, and that employee desks be completely clear at the end of each business day
• Bill Gates memorized his employees’ number plates
• While composing La Comedie Humaine, Honore de Balzac drank as many as 50 cups of coffee each day, barely sleeping at all

Habits are developed in time, mostly in order to fulfill a basic need. Sometimes you might not even realize you are doing them, but they are very important in obtaining the success you wish for. We might actually say that great habits evolve into success rituals – they become part of your success and the reason of the changes in your life. Your habits become your rituals when you become aware of the benefits you have from them. You should keep in mind though that rituals can become a superstition and they can hold you back if you start believing that your success comes only from the ritual, and not from who you are.

Sources of inspiration:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/outlook/2018/03/22/amp-stories/recipes-good-luck/

https://www.indy100.com/article/these-are-10-rituals-of-highly-successful-people–lkG5ymQSPe

https://www.entrepreneur.com/slideshow/312179

https://www.slideshare.net/wiggmans/success-rituals-and-superstitions

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