The secret to your success will be found in this

The secret to success - something everyone seeks.

I could get into why we crave this secret - and often it’s because we think if success were as simple as people make it sound we would be doing that simple thing and we wouldn’t struggle with it.

In reality, that’s not true. Often we are both ignorant to our ignorance and blind to the most obvious of things.

But…

There is a secret to success, it’s just not very well kept.

You see success is nothing but the achievement of your goals.

For your goals to be achieved you have to do the right things consistently, to a high standard.

Which with life and distractions isn’t as easy as it sounds, hence you need something that will easily streamline this process of you doing the right things.

The best way to do that is to build systems for how you spend your time.

In other words, you have to build routines - a streamlined way to spend certain parts of your day in an effort to achieve a certain outcome.

Most people underestimate routines, not realising that they will always have routines.

The question is whether you build them or fall into them.

Consciously created routines make consistency easy, they make certain outcomes easy, and they improve work quality and productivity.

Look they're not because they’re magic.

It’s simply because of their systemised nature that focuses you in on that specific outcome and trains your mind to lock in during that period of the day.

Now you can build routines for everything and anything, but when building a routine you need to understand 2 things;

• The purpose of the routine

A routine without a purpose is pointless. Every routine should help you achieve a specific outcome.

• Less is more

A shorter routine is always better than a longer routine - why take 60 minutes to do what you can do in 20 minutes?

With these 2 principles you can build routines for anything you like, but there are 3 I view as essential if you care about focusing, operating and performing at your peak.

I’m going to give you the routine, the purpose and a sample model - feel free to use it directly or just take inspiration.

• A Morning Routine

Purpose: To wake you up and get you into your most important task asap.

Sample: Wake up, get outside (even if it’s dark and the sun isn’t up), water, and work for 90 minutes

This is not what most people expect when they hear morning routine - but remember your routine should help you achieve your goal outcome of that routine as effectively as possible

If you care about mental performance and progress, the goal of your morning routine is to get you starting your day with a win and to get your most important task asap, there’s a tonne of reasons for this, but I’ll save you the lecture.

If the goal of your morning routine is different, your routine will look different.

• A Deep Work/Focus Routine

Purpose: Elevate your focus and get you ready to do high quality work and maximise your productivity

Sample: get water, coffee (not in first work block), chargers, turn on app/website blockers on phone and laptop, close the door and get to work

• An Evening Routine

Purpose: Winding down for high-quality sleep

Sample: No caffeine within 10 hours of bed, no food within 3 hours of bed, hard stop with work 3 hours before bed, blue light blockers on 2 hours before bed, no screens or bright lights 1 hour before bed, read

You can build more routines if you wish, but if you care about performance and progress, these 3 are essential.

Remember, your routines are simply a collection of actions you take each day to achieve a certain outcome, hence your routines are critical in progressing, achieving your goal and growing your business.

Without consciously crafted routines you will suffer - your productivity will be lower, your discipline will be less and your progress will be slower.

With consciously crafted routines you will thrive - your productivity will skyrocket, your discipline will be unbreaking and your progress will be faster.

Hence, the secret to your success isn’t some crazy unknown, it’s the thing right in front of you - the secret to your success will be found in your routines.

— Ross

PS: if you’re an entrepreneur and want me to help you focus, perform, and operate at your peak within 90 days, ​click here.