Six Habits of Professionals More Successful Than You

As a growth-minded person, I’m always striving to improve myself and my digital marketing agency. I regularly read business books, attend conferences and have joined professional groups like Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) to hone my skills and strengths. Over the years, I’ve picked up a few habits I believe have contributed tremendously to my success. In the spirit of the holiday giving and planning New Year’s Resolutions, I thought I’d share six habits that have been key to my success (and no, I’m not saying I’m more successful than you, it’s just a click-bait title and apparently worked!).

1.    Being responsive. I regularly monitor all primary communications channels (email, voicemail, social media profiles) for questions or opportunities and respond in a timely manner, usually within minutes or hours, not days or weeks. I’ve earned the respect of employees, clients and partners utilizing this habit. To be successful at being consistently responsive, you must balance productivity (typically via time-blocking mentioned later in this article) and regularly checking your “inbox”. I typically set my email to check hourly, but often respond much quicker if I’m not working on a project. Related article: Impact Marketing: Winning Customers with Quick Wits

2.    Staying top-of-mind. I regularly post updates (primarily to LinkedIn and Twitter, but also to personal profiles like Facebook and Instagram) to keep on my professional networks’ radar. Due to the nature of algorithms and significant velocity of posts on social media, it’s easy for your updates to get lost in the mayhem. As a result, it’s essential to maintain discipline and create a consistent cadence of updates. I utilize Hootsuite to maintain a steady stream of updates across my primary profiles. The same applies for email. At Anvil, we send a weekly news update to clients and a monthly newsletter to a broader audience, both are appreciated and generate relatively high engagement. Related article: How to be a Rock Star on 8 Social Media Platforms

3.    Curating a role as industry thought leader. With a background in public relations, I’ve always valued and enjoyed building brands via third party validation. As a business owner the past 18 years, I regularly write syndicate articles and ebooks, speak at industry events, host webinars and pitch myself as an expert resource to gain press coverage. If you can speak, submit as an expert presenter for industry conferences and workshops, you can host webinars, videos or podcasts. If you can write, consider contributing to an industry publication, not just your company blog (although doing both is ideal). Leverage Cision’s HARO platform to submit your thoughts as an industry expert to gain coverage. Related article: How to Ramp up Revenue in One Week or Less

4.    Focusing on helping others. I believe my community (personal and professional) has supported and aided in my success, so I give my time and expertise, as well as cash to charities that are making the planet and my community a better place. I’ve built giving into two organizations I’ve founded or co-founded, including SEMpdx and Anvil. Both have a Charity of Choice program. I’ve seen the benefit of giving back, beyond the powerful positive feelings. The pro bono work we did for MercyCorps years ago at Anvil turned into three modest accounts: The Nature Conservancy, Ocean Conservancy and International Rescue Committee. In short, if you’ve made it to the top, remember to send the elevator back down. Related article: Why Early Literacy is My Charitable Focus

5.    Setting goals. Seems simple and straight-forward, which it is, but so few people regularly set goals. I set daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual goals. I’m still working on reducing my swearing, however. The psychology is simple: if you write down a goal, and monitor your progress, you’re exponentially more likely to achieve it. I put my 1, 2, 5 and 10-year goals on a piece of paper taped to my nightstand back in 1997 and was able to check them all off, most of them well ahead of schedule. Related article: 20 Lessons in 20 Years as a Marketer & Entrepreneur

6.    Being productive, not just busy. You may be familiar with the myth of multi-tasking, which states there is no such thing as ‘effective multi-tasking.’ There is only switch-tasking, which requires time for your brain to mentally switch from one activity to another, losing up to 2 minutes each time. As a result, we’ve implemented time-blocking at Anvil, so that the team is more productive for longer periods, focusing on one project or activity at-a-time and not checking email or being interrupted by coworkers. The secret is setting the expectation both internally and externally with clients and partners regarding the proposed schedule. I can’t recommend time-blocking enough. I also recommend getting out of your seat and walking around every hour, if not every 30 minutes. Sitting for 8 hours negates a 30-minute workout, so your health depends on it. While we’re at it, you typically need at least 7 hours of sleep a night, so don’t short that critical recovery time because you’re ‘too busy’.

I understand success is relative and personal and that others have had greater success than I by any metric, but I’m hoping these ideas will help you have a more successful 2019, personally and professionally. Feel free to add your success habits in the comments section below!