By Morf Morford, Tacoma Daily Index

The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken. – Samuel Johnson

It would be easy to make the argument that every aspect of our life is a habit.

From how we respond to difficulties to when we wake up in the morning or what we eat for breakfast, we all have patterns of behavior and responses that have become, for better or worse, our near reflexive response or expectation.

From smoking to daily exercise, virtually every action becomes a habit after just a few times.

One habit few of us consider is our attitude.

We don’t always have control over what happens to us, but have almost total control over how we respond and react to what happens to us.

A simple principle from several years ago was to count to ten before reacting impulsively.

Of course there is nothing magical about counting to ten, but any pause, to collect your self and take a breath is always a good idea before taking a rash action.

Doing what other people don’t want to do

Successful individuals excel in taking note of what “everyone” seems to be doing or paying attention to.

But they don’t necessarily follow suit.

In fact, successful people tend to look beyond what “everyone else” is focusing on.

Several years ago I was working for a small, independent company where each one of us had multiple areas of responsibility.

What “needed to be done” emerged each day, some aspects were largely predictable, but many seemed to come out of nowhere.

I found myself drawn to those unpredictable, unforeseen, borderline catastrophes that could have easily thrown the entire business into chaos, if not financial collapse. These were largely unacknowledged crisis interventions.

And, as you might guess, my job was never the same on any given day.

And most of what I did went unnoticed.

My job quickly become something like the automatic biological processes that keep our bodies (if not all of nature) alive and in motion.

It is, after all, those unnoticed, below the surface, nearly subconscious actions, like breathing and keeping our blood flowing, that keeps us alive.

The same with the habits that make for success: they are often barely noticeable, but they make a huge difference in our lives.

Successful people aren’t born that way. They become successful by establishing the habit of doing things unsuccessful people don’t like to do. – William Makepeace Thackeray

Among the things that unsuccessful people don’t like to do is taking responsibility – and taking criticism.

But successful individuals know something that most people seem to not know; when others agree with you, or say yes to everything you say, you don’t learn anything.

Constructive, helpful criticism not only takes courage, it also take thought. Agreeing with the boss is always “safe” and easy – but it is almost never helpful – or actionable.

A good idea, one that makes a difference, is, by definition, something that has NOT been done before.

Every good idea is going to seem crazy at first.

In fact if it is not different, it is only more of the same.

And if you want more of the same, you don’t want success, you want predictability and conformity.

Successful people pay attention – and learn from the mistakes of others

There’s a old saying that “leaders are readers” – and that’s mostly true.

But leaders, and successful people, don’t just read books; they read people and “the signs of the times”. And they learn from the mistakes – and disasters – of others.

Successful people, in general, see things before most others.

The road to bankruptcy and financial ruin seems to be paved and popular.

There may be multiple routes to success, but, for the most part, there are only a few tried and true paths to disaster – debt, deception and hubris seem to be the favorites.

Successful people, or even those who value their own sanity and well-being, learn those lessons by observing others – not going that way themselves.

You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine. – John C. Maxwell

A popular success principle a few years ago was to change one thing. It could be one thing a month, or one thing at work, but the point was to step out, to break the accustomed predictable pattern, to move out, to question, to step into new territory.

In other words, if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you always get.

Out of the box

Successful people, and certainly most interesting people, defy categories and standard definitions and are rarely comfortable with labels or “boxes”.

Successful people are, for the most part, very curious people who maintain a lifelong wonder and questioning spirit. They want to know how everything works and they keep asking questions when other people have already gone home. They test boundaries and pursue their interests and visions wherever they might lead.

In summary, successful people see beyond the immediate and obvious, they pursue it, and even if they don’t achieve it, learn from the experience and become more and better equipped for the next challenge.

And they often encounter (and take advantage of) opportunities others don’t even see.