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5 Daily Habits to Help You Steadily Reach Your Entrepreneurial Goals

Tyler Flagg
3 min read
5 Daily Habits to Help You Steadily Reach Your Entrepreneurial Goals

About two years ago, I came across a Jim Rohn quote that completely changed the way I saw the direction of my life.

“Income seldom exceeds one’s personal development.” – Jim Rohn

Not quite what you were expecting? I understand.

I kind of glossed over it the first time I read it as well. After all, the guy has like a million famous quotes! But that was before I truly understood what he was talking about.

So let’s dive into the tao of Jim Rohn a bit more and figure out exactly what it means.

Personal Development

In a nutshell, “personal development” is the conscious and consistent pursuit of individual growth through expanding one’s knowledge, skills and self-awareness.

Personal development can come in many shapes and sizes depending on what your goals in life are. Reading, writing, learning a language, getting in shape, going back to school, getting a certification, going to a seminar, learning a skill, teaching a class, meditating, waking up early, networking with business professionals and even taking an improv class could all be considered ways to increase your personal development.

Related: 8 Winning Habits to Improve Your Real Estate Investing Batting Average

Each of these actions, when done consciously and consistently, make you a better and more effective individual over time.

Why does this all matter?

Because no one was ever caught off guard by success!

That’s why it matters.

You will only reach the level of success in your life that you are prepared to handle.

This is precisely why 70% of people who win the lottery go broke. Their income exceeded their personal development. They were not ready for the windfall of financial success that they achieved through luck.

What’s a Person to Do?

We’ve all seen this question on the BiggerPockets Forums.

“Hi, my name is Something Something. I’m 22 years old and want to make a million dollars in real estate. What’s the first step I should do to get started?”

Welp. Here’s the answer that I wish I knew when I was 22.

Get started by developing yourself personally first.

Building a solid personal development foundation in the present is the only way to reach the level of success that you dream about in the future. After all, do you think Donald Trump got to where he is by playing World of Warcraft every day?

Doubtful.

Speaking of which… any chance we can get him on the Podcast? Surely he isn’t busy.

5 Daily Habits to Help You Steadily Reach Your Entrepreneurial Goals

Here’s a few tried and true exercises in personal development that will get you started on your path to becoming a real estate investing magnate!

Wake Up Early

This has been a game changer for me over the last year. Since I work a full time job (like most people on BiggerPockets), I can’t really control what happens in my life from 7:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. However, I have complete control of what happens from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. This is when I have the opportunity to write emails, find properties, read BP articles and develop my business plan.

Eliminate Bad Patterns

Jim Gaffigan is a brilliant and hysterical comedian. There are a number of great lessons that can be learned from his humor. One of my favorite all time skits is when he talks about McDonalds. He understands that it isn’t good for him and people always judge him for eating there. But in the grand scheme of things, everyone has their “McDonalds.” For some people, it’s watching “Kardashian” marathons; for others, it’s reading US Weekly; and for others, it’s playing 5 hours of “Call of Duty.” They’re all McDonalds… just packaged differently.

Related: 6 Non-Negotiable Habits of a Successful Real Estate Investor

Network

Go to the BiggerPockets Network page and find some people in your local area. Schedule a time to get together and talk about real estate. It doesn’t need to be anything more complicated than that. If you can’t do that, talk to people through the Forums. Remember, you’re the average of the 5 people you associate with most. So associate with people you want to be like!

Set Goals

Start backwards. Figure out where you want to be in 10 years. Then figure out what you need to do in 5 years, 1 year, 6 months, 1 month, 1 week, and 1 day in order to get you there. If this sounds cosmic, listen to the AskBP Podcast Show #39. It will all make sense after that.

Read

When I was younger, I rebelled when it came to reading. I didn’t do it because those mean teachers in high school told me to. Unfortunately, this means that I missed out on about a decade’s worth of outstanding books! So in an attempt to make up for lost time, I’ve been reading my face off. According to my Kindle, it has been 43 books in the last two years. I can safely say that it has changed my life — and will absolutely change your life too.

What habits would you add to my list?

Let me know with a comment!

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.