Top 10 common habits of high achievers

I have spent the past fifteen years paying attention to the habits, mindset, rituals, processes and decision-making of high achievers who became very wealthy. I learned a lot from my Rich Habits Study and incorporated what I learned in my Rich Habits books.

High Achievers are people who achieve some level of greatness in life. They might be successful entrepreneurs, professional athletes, Olympians, famous writers/authors, painters, engineers, singers, prominent religious figures, etc.

Essentially, they are individuals who, through their actions, achieve greatness. And these high achievers all share certain common habits. Thanks to my research, I've identified 10 of the most common habits of High Achievers, in their order of importance:

1. Consistency. High Achievers go at it every day even when they are down, lack motivation, are sick, financially destitute or when life goes wrong. They have specific habits or routines they perform every day no matter what.
2. Focus. High Achievers are single-mindedly focused on their goals, dreams and routines. They block out all distractions. They are masters at single-tasking. They never take their eye off the ball.
3. Visionaries. High Achievers have a vision or a blueprint. Most likely, it is in writing and it is very specific. Their vision or blueprint is the GPS or map they use to get them from where they are to where they want to be.
4. Persistent. High Achievers pursue their goals and dreams relentlessly. They overcome adversity. They overcome obstacles. They pivot or find ways to navigate around impasses. They never quit.
5. Obsessed. High Achievers are fanatics. They are obsessed about their goals, dreams and routines. They think about them 24/7. They even dream about them.
6. Processed-Oriented. High Achievers create processes through experimentation that work and that they follow.
7. Action-Oriented. High Achievers are in constant motion. They pursue activities that help them to move continuously forward to achieve their goals and dreams.
8. Calculated Risk Takers. High Achievers are calculated risk takers. They overcome their fear of failure, fear of making mistakes and fear of consequences by doing their homework.
9. Deliberate Practice. High Achievers engage in daily Deliberate Practice in order to maintain and improve their skills.
10. Self-Educators. High Achievers pursue knowledge every day. They become experts in their field by increasing their knowledge through education.

As you can see, there are many moving parts, many variables and many ingredients to becoming a High Achiever. It's not any one thing that creates greatness. Greatness is a symphony.

Tom Corley is an accountant, financial planner and author of "Rich Kids: How to Raise Our Children to Be Happy and Successful in Life."

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This article originally appeared on Rich Habits.