Twenty-sixteen was the year of habits of the rich, the successful and the powerful. If you wanted to be like any of these people you had to do what they did and poof, you’d be just like them; so you thought. A lot of these habits, backed by supposed science, we’re often contradictory. The rich and successful get up at 5 AM. While the other rich and successful were lazier and more productive in the afternoon. What the top ten lists fail to mention is that these are the habits of those people once they’ve made it. The habits could just as well have been: lies on the beach, sips Tequila Sunrises, does nothing all day. The habits that you want are those that get you there, which is a lot harder.

I’ve discovered is that simply trying to understand who I am is a tough job. I always have to think, analyse, and readjust my lifestyle. All based on what I’ve discovered about myself. It’s exhausting. Since I’ve been on this path, it’s become very hard to let go. I’m always worried about becoming complacent; the enemy of success. Or worse, focusing my energy on the wrong things.

Also, I’ve discovered that I’m more introverted than I had thought. Sometimes it seems like the whole world is introverted. I can push myself to do the uncomfortable for so long, then I need to take a break, and process everything. And once that’s done, start the process over again.

Sometimes, I need to change direction to move forward. I can focus on learning a set of skills for so long. Then let that stew while I focus on learning something very different. I always have three or four things going at once in different priorities. I’ve been trying to write a novel forever and that finally seems to be going well. I’m also back to improving my programming skills; I’ve finally found a clear path forward. I constantly try to use the soft skills that I’ve learned.

What I am getting better at is realising the weaknesses that I do have and attempting to find ways to improve them. Or find ways to work around them. My current biggest weakness is going from technical mode to soft skills mode. Soft skills is something that is not always second nature. Especially, when I’m uncertain about what the potential outcome will be. It’s not that I’m not able to control the situation. But more to do that I am nervous about the interaction when I want something for me. Keeping calm, being professional, and being patient.

The point of this post is that for getting from A to Z requires going through the entire alphabet. It would be great to be successful, rich and powerful. But the work involved to get there sometimes seems insurmountable. It’s all about baby steps. Keeping on pushing. If you can’t go through, go around. Sometimes pull back, regroup and try again.

So you can keep reading all those blog posts about the habits of the rich and famous. But remember, that you’re you, not them. You can be successful and different from them.