10 Ways You Can Be A Successful Early Riser

The average person sleeps about 8-9 hours a day. Now, just imagine for a second how much more exciting and successful your life could be if you would gain 3 additional hours of valuable time every single day.
Imagine, getting up at 5AM without being tired and buzzing with energy throughout the entire day.
In only one year, you would gain almost 1100 hours or 45 days.
What would you do with all that extra time?
You could take your business to the next level, you could learn a foreign language, you could spend more time with your family…
But, isn’t it terribly difficult to get up early every day?
Sure, forming a new habit is always somewhat challenging at the beginning. You may be struggling a bit the first few days. After one week it is already much easier and after 3-4 weeks you will have created a new habit and it surely won’t be a big deal any longer.
So, yes, you probably will be tired for about a week. But, your body gets used to the new rhythm and to having less sleep very quickly – much quicker than you may think.
And you know, it is not so much the quantity of sleep you get, but much more the quality of your sleep that really counts.
Several years ago, I was sleeping almost 9 hours a day. And still, several times during the day I felt very tired. Now, I’m sleeping only 6 hours a day and I’m feeling much fresher and much more energized.
Here is the simple formula to greatly improve the quality of your sleep and to make getting up at 5AM really easy:

1: Change your beliefs about getting up early

Most people believe that they need 8 or 9 hours of sleep a day to “function” properly. I know from my experience and from the experience of many other people, that 6 hours is absolutely enough.
Re-condition your mind and tell yourself that after a short period of adaptation you will be feeling absolutely great with only 6 hours of sleep a day and that it is NOT a big deal at all to get up at 5AM.

2: Don’t eat several hours before going to sleep

I recommend, you don’t eat anything after 7PM. Also, avoid drinking coffee, black tea or alcohol 6-7 hours before going to sleep.
If you eat before going to sleep, additional energy will be required by your digestive system, the quality of your sleep will suffer and you will wake up tired in the morning.

3. You need a good reason to get up early

Think about why you would like to have more time in your life. What drives and motivates you? This will help you to get up early.
I also recommend you write a task list for the following day and you define what task(s) you will tackle first thing in the morning. If you get up early and then you don’t know what to do, there is a “risk” that you just go back to bed.

4: Calm your mind before going to bed

Make it a habit to meditate or relax 20-30 minutes before going to bed. Don’t work or watch TV just before going to bed. If you do that, your mind keeps on running, it will take you longer to fall asleep, your sleep won’t be as deep and relaxed as it should be and you will be tired the next day.

5: Make a firm decision to get up at 5AM and turn it into an exciting challenge

Before falling asleep, tell yourself to get up at 5AM – no matter what! Visualize yourself having a deep, relaxing and energizing good night’s sleep and getting out of bed at 5AM feeling refreshed and excited to start the day.
That way, you condition your subconscious mind and getting up early will be much easier.
Make “getting up at 5AM” an exciting challenge. Most people won’t even try their entire life, many of those who try give up after only a few days… Yes, getting up early is a habit mostly used by highly successful people.
Will you succeed? Of course you will!

6: Don’t Snooze

I know, it’s tempting to snooze when the alarm clock rings, but it only makes your challenge of getting up early more difficult. You snooze once, the next day maybe twice, then you stay half an hour longer…
Don’t think, don’t negotiate, don’t try to find any reasons why it would not be a problem to stay a few minutes longer… just get up, just do it!
You can even practice this behavior during the day: Lie down, set your alarm clock to ring in 5 minutes, relax and pretend you are sleeping… and as soon as the alarm goes off, tell yourself: “Time to get up, I’m looking forward to another exciting day…” – and just get out of bed.

7: Put your alarm clock out of reach

If the temptation to snooze is too strong, put the alarm clock further away from your bed so that you have no other choice than getting out of bed to switch off the alarm.

8: Time to fully wake up

Ok, you just got out of your bed, but probably you are not fully awake yet. Open the window and take 5-10 deep breaths of fresh air. I also recommend some light physical exercises for at least 10-15 minutes to fully oxygenate your body and to get ready for the day.

9: Be proud of your achievement

Less than 1% of the population gets up at 5AM and typically it’s only the high achievers and the super successful people. So, take a minute, enjoy your achievement and be proud of yourself.
This may sound a bit childish, but it’s really important. Having this feeling of accomplishment will provide you with additional motivation and it will make getting up early easier for you the following days.

10: Make sure your nutrition is healthy and balanced

The quality of your nutrition has a huge influence on your energy level. The higher the quality of your nutrition, the more energy you will have and the less sleep you will need.
I recommend you buy a good book on healthy nutrition. Here are some basic tips to give you some ideas: Eat more fruits and vegetables (ideally organic), drink enough water. Avoid alcohol, fast food, junk food, too much coffee or black tea… Reduce your consumption of sugar, unsaturated fatty acids, meat… as much as possible
Trust me, it’s not as difficult as you may think and it gets easier every day

The Conclusion:

Once again, getting up early will probably be somewhat challenging at the beginning, but it gets easier every day. You just have to push through the first 7-10 days. This takes some discipline and will power, but it is well worth it.
Yes, you will be tired at the beginning, but after a week or so you will realize having more and more energy during the day and feeling less and less tired.
Our goal here is to be buzzing with energy throughout the entire day while sleeping less. There is no point in getting up at 5AM if afterwards you are tired for the rest of the day.
Some people recommend to make getting up early a slow and incremental process, where you get up 15 minutes earlier every 1-2 weeks.
When I decided to get up earlier, I immediately went from about 8AM to 6AM and about a year later I decided to give 5AM a try and it worked quite well for me.
But, you can experiment with both approaches.

Source: Addicted2success.com

7 life lessons from the very wealthy

Please excuse the very wealthy for feeling a bit under siege lately.
Taxes for the top 2 percent are very likely to go higher. Uncle Sam’s share of capital gains and dividend income might rise, and means-testing for Social Security and Medicare is probable. In the United States, the very rich hold most of that wealth in dollars, which are worth increasingly less. As income inequality has grown dramatically in the nation, the very wealthy are blamed for all manner of social ills.
Rather than pile on the wealthy, this week I’d like to approach the subject of money a little more philosophically. There are surprising insights to be gleaned from the experiences of the very wealthy regarding their investments and experience with wealth.
Some context: In my day job, I come into contact with very high-net-worth individuals. These include young technologists with modest portfolios to families that measure their wealth in nine and 10 figures. For the math-averse, that’s hundreds of millions to billions of dollars.
Over the years, I have had some fascinating conversations with people who have hospitals and graduate schools named after them. I’d like to share some of the things I have learned from these folks.

1. Having money is better than not having money.

Sure, this may be obvious, but let’s get it out of the way upfront. Money may not buy you happiness, but it buys many other important things. Like financial security, excellent health care, education, travel and a comfortable retirement. In a word: freedom.

2. Don’t become “cash rich” and “time poor.”

Devoting all of your waking hours to making money is a problem, especially in professions with a partnership fast track. Lawyers, doctors, bankers and accountants can get so caught up in the competitive nature of their jobs that they lose touch with their family. Any semblance of a normal personal life disappears, and a very unhealthy balance between work and home can develop.
Work is the process of exchanging your time for money. Remember: What you do with your time is far more meaningful than the goods you accumulate with your money. If you are working so much to become rich but you ignore your spouse and miss seeing your kids grow up, you are actually poorer than you realize.

3. Memories are better than material objects.

You may be surprised to learn that among the monied set, expensive cars, yachts, houses, jewelry and watches come at the end of the list.
Their priorities? Memories and accomplishments. This was especially true when it came to family. Toys matter less than good times.
The rule of diminishing returns is a harsh mistress with luxury goods. Do you really think $100,000 audio speakers sound 20 times better than a pair of $5,000 speakers? (They don’t). Is a $250,000 sports car five times faster than a $50,000? (It is not). These days, you can buy quite a lovely home for $1,000,000 (and much less in the country’s interior). Those $10,000,000 manses are not 10 times roomier. Anyone who has owned a $10,000 Rolex will tell you that a $39 Casio keeps better time.
When discussing the benefits of wealth, I have heard again and again about amazing experiences, family get-togethers, vacations, shows, sporting events, weddings and other events as these people’s most important life experiences. While these things cost money, nearly every family can afford reasonable versions of them.

4. Watch your “lifestyle leverage,” especially early in your career.

Those partnership-track careers? The dirty little secret: Those firms love to get their young employees leveraged up. They will even help you get that way, co-signing mortgages for big houses or even directly lending you the cash on favorable terms.
They encourage up-and-comers to spend extravagantly; they extend lines of credit to their rising stars. You need a big house with a jumbo mortgage; you cannot pull up to a business meeting in anything less than the best luxury car. It is part of their corporate culture.
Isn’t that nice of them?
Not really. The big banks, investment shops, law firms and accountants have learned how profitable it is to have “golden handcuffs” on their best employees. These highly-leveraged, debt-laden wage slaves will work harder, put in longer hours and stay with the firm longer than those debt-free workers.
Besides, overleveraged employees do not leave to work at a new start-up or a smaller, more family friendly competitor.
You recent graduates: Remember this when you are offered credit on generous terms. Your leverage is your detriment.

5. Having goals is incredibly important.

I have a friend who is a serial entrepreneur. He was a board member in a household-name dot-com from the 1990s. He sold his stock — too early, I warned at the time — for $30 million. (It would have been worth $90 million a few months later.)
But that didn’t matter to him — he planned to use that money for his next company, which he promptly built and sold for $250 million. He rolled that l into his third venture, which he cashed out of for a cool $1 billion. His long-term goal, and the ability to execute that vision, are what led him to incredible success.
He once said something that has stayed with me: “I am always surprised at how many people have no goals. They simply let life’s river flow them downstream.”
There is a Latin phrase associated with military actions: “Amat victoria curam.“ It translates as “Victory loves careful preparation.” You would be amazed at what you can accomplish with planning.

6. You must live in the here and now.

Goals are important, but don’t miss out on what is happening today.
This is especially true among entrepreneurs, corporate execs and Type A personalities. Do not let dreams of that mansion on a hill prevent you from enjoying the home you live in.
This is an area that can easily veer into cliche. Rather than risk that, I’ll simply remind you of what John Lennon sang in “Beautiful Boy”: “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”

7. It helps to be incredibly lucky.

I am struck by how many very wealthy people I know — especially tech entrepreneurs – have expressed being grateful for their good luck. Again and again, I have heard the phrase: “Being smart is good, but being lucky is better.”
Rather than leave you with the impression that success is simply a roll of the dice, I am compelled to remind you what the Roman philosopher Seneca the Younger was reputed to have said: “Luck is where preparation meets opportunity.”
I don’t know whether it’s better to be smart or lucky, but I would suggest that making the most of the opportunities takes more than just dumb luck.

Source: washingtonpost.com

The Top 10 UK Entrepreneurs

The United Kingdom has long been a hotbed of entrepreneurial activity, and hundreds of thousands of people in Britain have achieved financial independence by way of starting their own businesses. Even among Britain’s many successful entrepreneurs, there’s always a small percentage of people that rise to the upper echelons of high net worth status.
Below is a list of the current top ten UK entrepreneurs, in order of net worth, from the lowest to the highest.

10. Peter Jones (Net Worth: $367 million)

Peter Jones is a well-known business tycoon and recent star of the popular BBC2 television series “Dragon’s Den“.
Peter has interests in several major industries such as television, mobile phones, travel/leisure, and real estate.
Jones obviously believes in “paying it forward” to some degree, as he recently persuaded former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown to create an academy in London for up-and-coming UK entrepreneurs.

9. Simon Cowell (Net Worth: $400 million)

Perhaps most famous for his brutal honesty during his tenure on the famous television show “American Idol” (and more recently with “X Factor”), Simon Cowell earned his fortune as a music executive and television producer. Cowell got his start working in the mail room of EMI Music Publishing, a company in which his father held an executive position. Simon managed to work his way up the ranks until he eventually broke away to form his own record label, E&S Music. After a wildly successful stint on American Idol, Cowell now owns a new record company known as Syco, along with its sister television production outfit, SycoTV.
The combined salaries of Simon’s various television and music ventures reportedly earns him a cool $95 million each year.

8. Duncan Bannatyne (Net Worth: $645 million)

Duncan Bannatyne is a perfect example of the classic rags-to-riches story. He started his first business with only $730, selling ice cream from a second-hand van. He eventually entered into the Bed & Breakfast and nursing home industry, subsequently developing over 30 such properties which he later sold for $42 million. He then took $36 million of the proceeds and entered into the fitness club arena. Bannatyne also purchased an 80% stake in the popular Just Learning child care franchise along the way, which he later sold after making $36 million from the investment.
Duncan now owns an empire of 40 spas and well over 60 health clubs, along with other assorted hotels and bars. He is also a devoted philanthropist, operating the Bannatyne Charitable Trust which supports over 25 different charities.

7. J.K. Rowling (Net Worth: $1 billion)

A Gloucestershire native, J.K. Rowling is most famous for authoring the immensely popular Harry Potter series of books, which later became immensely popular movies as well.
Rowling is the first author in history ever to achieve a net worth of $1 billion, and is currently one of the wealthiest private citizens in the UK.

6. Alan Sugar (Net Worth: $1.14 billion)

Popularly known as Lord Sugar and now Baron Sugar, Alan Sugar made his fortune in the consumer electronics industry, creating the popular computer brand known as Amstrad (short for “Alan Michael Sugar Trading“), which he later sold to BSkyB for roughly $187 million in July of 2007.
Amstrad presently owns a number of business interests including a digital signage company, a property investment company and an executive aviation company. Sugar recently achieved TV star status due to his role on the BBC reality series called “The Apprentice“, basically becoming the British equivalent of Donald Trump.

5. Laurence Graff (Net Worth: $4.3 billion)

Graff founded the world famous diamond jewelry business, Graff Diamonds, in 1960. He is intricately involved in every phase of the diamond business, from sourcing and mining the raw materials to cutting, polishing and marketing the finished product.
Graff occupies the number one spot in terms of the wealthiest diamond merchants in the UK.

4. James Dyson (Net Worth: $4.5 billion)

A phenomenal engineer and inventor by any standard, James Dyson has taken his passion for building a better vacuum cleaner to stratospheric heights, earning his fortune through innovative creations such as the Dual Cyclone and Dyson Ball vacuum cleaners.
With other technologically savvy inventions such as the blade-less fan and HEPA-filtered hand dryers to his credit, Dyson is far and away the wealthiest engineer in the UK.

3. Richard Branson (Net Worth: $4.6 billion)

A London native, Sir Richard Branson is CEO of the Virgin Group, a conglomerate of companies that includes Virgin Mobile, Virgin Airways and Virgin Megastores. He is known just as much for his exuberant and eccentric personality as he is for his extravagant wealth.
Richard Branson is also a noted philanthropist, having donated hundreds of millions of dollars to various charitable and environmentally conscious causes.

2. Philip Green (Net Worth: $5 billion)

Philip Green is the current CEO of Arcadia Group, a conglomeration of various popular retail companies including British Home Stores, Topshop, and Dorothy Perkins. Green struck out on his own at an early age, quitting school at the age of fifteen to begin working as a shoes importer. His hands-on training in the art of international trade served him well in later ventures, including a jeans importing business in which he worked with major London retailers to move his products.
Philip Green eventually began buying various clothing and retail chain stores, which earned him the bulk of his multi-billion dollar fortune.

1. David and Simon Reuben (Net Worth: $5.53 billion)

The individuals holding the top spot on the list of the UK’s wealthiest entrepreneurs are the Reuben brothers, both self-made billionaires from several diversified industries.
Born in India to a Jewish-Iraqi family, David and Simon Reuben started their lives in abject poverty, but a move to London in 1950 sparked entrepreneurial ambitions in the hearts of both brothers. David started out in the scrap metal trading business, while his brother Simon managed to buy out England’s oldest carpet company after working for years in the carpet industry. They leveraged their earnings in these businesses to invest in property as well as other raw materials businesses (e.g., aluminum, copper, etc.).
The Reuben brothers are fiercely private about their wealth, and are well-known for being somewhat elusive, even to the point of skipping out on dinners and parties in which they are the hosts.

Source: addicted2success.com