Thomas Oppong - Habits That Determine 80% of Your Success: Principles for wealth, health and happiness

Habits That Determine 80% of Your Success

By

Thomas Oppong

Copyright 2021

Contents

Forward

This book is made up of a few of my best essays about better habits written from 2019 to 2021. For most of this period I wrote for an audience of over 200,000. My interest in philosophy, psychology, technology and learning led me to explore principles, habits, tools, mental models of modern living. This book is one of nine books on life, self, work, success, habits, career, productivity, learning and effective thinking.

My aim as a writer has always been to explore what works, proven principles in life and work, what the experts have already figured out and how to connect ideas better and make them easy to consume.The essays in this book are a record of my intellectual quest to make sense of our rapidly changing world. Theyre the diary of my curiosity. It contains habits, routines, timeless insights and ideas, ancient wisdom and lessons I have learned over the years of exploring what high achievers and successful people are doing differently. Just actionable ideas and insights that stand the test of time.

Thank you for your support, for your trust, and for allowing me to extend my intellectual journey a little bit longer.

Thomas Oppong

Kent, United Kingdom

March. 8, 2021

If You Are Serious About Long-Term Success, Optimise Learning Over Money

A solid foundation will never fail you

You cant accelerate your success if the foundation is not right. Instead of looking for shortcuts to success that will probably not last, focus on laying a strong and firm foundation for financial growth. Learn better or indispensable skills that will still be valuable in the next 5 or 10 years, embrace lifelong learning and build better routines and habits that can advance your goals.

The power of exponential learning

Optimizing learning over money early in your career changes everything. It sets you up for massive results in the future especially if you plan on earning for decades before you retire. If your learning curve is flat right now, you are setting yourself up for a massive dip in the future. You may be earning enough to support yourself now, but if you dont have a plan to improve yourself, upgrade your skills or become a better version of yourself, you will soon become obsolete. Dont make that mistake. You will miss almost all the opportunities in life if you are not ready to disrupt yourself. When you disrupt yourself, you are looking for personal growth.

Disrupting yourself is critical to avoiding stagnation, being overtaken by low-end entrants (i.e., younger, smarter, faster workers), and fast-tracking your personal and career growth, writes Whitney Johnson in her book Disrupt Yourself: Putting the Power of Disruptive Innovation to Work.

One of the best ways to reinvent yourself is to prioritise learning over short-term financial gains. Make learning a daily routine. Its a better approach to success in all areas of your life. Money has always been important in life, but if you value money over learning, you will become addicted to paychecks and it will determine where you go, how you think, and what you do. That mindset can easily make you irrelevant in the future. As you progress in life, the time that was not spent on learning useful or valuable skills or upgrading yourself will catch up with you, and the fall will be painful. Money is just a buy product of providing value. You can only create value if you have learned and acquired the right skills. Learn skills that can help you provide the best value for your audience, employer or your subscribers. When you value learning above everything else, it will lead you to all of the right choices you need to make to prepare yourself for the future. Every new skill you acquire now or in the future will give you the ability to create more value and improve your odds of success. The future belongs to those who learn more skills and combine them in creative ways, says Robert Greene in his book, Mastery.

In the future, the great division will be between those who have trained themselves to handle these complexities and those who are overwhelmed by themthose who can acquire skills and discipline their minds and those who are irrevocably distracted by all the media around them, Greene writes. Are you prepared for the future? Become who you want to be by investing in yourself. In the end, by valuing learning above all else, you will set the stage for your creative expression, and the money will soon come to you. A solid foundation will never fail you. It lasts for ages. When you are driven by a learning mindset, you become unstoppable.

For the best return on your money, pour your purse into your head, says Benjamin Franklin. Dont be excited about negotiating a good salary. You are still dispensable if you are not growing or improving your skills. Aim to become so good at what you do that you cant be ignored. Aim to be in control of your financial future. That can only happen if you choose lifelong learning over good money in the short-term. The real-world rewards those who provide consistent value. Most people dont have the patience to seek better knowledge that puts them in positions of control. They become slaves to moneyand grow weaker, less capable and trapped in careers that become obsolete with time. They become too busy to realise that doing nothing puts their careers at risk. They are in a hurry to see temporary results. They think in sprints, and forget that life is a marathon.

Aristotle was right, Learning is an ornament in prosperity, a refuge in adversity, and a provision in old age. Life is a balanced system of learning and evolution. Exceptional results require a rare combination of extreme patience and accelerated learning. Do what you have to do to pay the bills but dont forget to upgrade your skills and embrace the journey of constant discovery in your career. A discovery-driven career can help you become the best version of yourself and attract long-term success.

People Who Are Successful In The End Are Usually Curious In The Beginning

The economic rewards for genuine intellectual curiosity have never been higher

They are endless opportunities to improve your life, career, relationships, happiness, health and wealth. But here is the bitter truth, finding them largely boils down to being curious. If you are not open to exploring whats possible, what works, what doesnt or whats valuable for your long-term growth or progress, you could remain stuck for a very long time. Curious people are seekersthey actively look for new experiences and challenges that will stretch them, upgrade their skills, expand their worldview and push them to do their best work or do more great work.

We live in the age of infinite leverage, and the economic rewards for genuine intellectual curiosity have never been higher. If you are prepared to follow your curiosity, you will open up new opportunities that can help you in almost all areas of your life. The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled, says Plutarch. Activating your curiosity can lead to the biggest breakthrough in your life. Einstein did just that even at a young age. When he was five years old, Einsteins father showed him a compass. Einstein saw the needle move and wanted to figure out why (Compass). That was the start of his interest in physics.

Curiosity was one of Einsteins greatest qualities, writes PhysicsCentral. I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious, is one of Einstein's famous quotes.

Curiosity is the most essential mindset for finding success in the age of knowledge abundance. Being curious gives you the rare chance to discover extraordinary opportunities. Successful entrepreneurs and innovators are intensely curious about what the world wants and needs. Curiosity is the engine of achievement, says Ken Robinson.