The 25 Habits for Your Success

Our personal integrity is the foundation of long-term success both in our personal, as well as our business lives. However, until we reveal our true identity, we can’t have integrity. We tend to believe that we are separate beings, but the truth is that we are not separate from each other, we are an inseparable part of each other and the bigger universe. This is called Oneness, which simply means that I cannot be happy and successful unless those around me are happy and successful.

Oneness is the ultimate truth from which all principles and truths exist and in which we all reside and by which we are enlivened.

If we understand that we are a part of the world and it is a part of us, then we treat everyone with the utmost respect and integrity. It is important to realize that true and sustained integrity is an outcome of a total immersion in the Universal truth of Oneness― all in One and One in all.

Once we are self-integrated, we will understand the far-reaching wisdom of Oneness. Consequently, we will know our clear purpose, mission and the core and ultimate driver of sustainable success, which is translated into and reflected in a habit of unconditionally adding the highest value in all that we do.

Much of the world operates within a scarcity mindset. We believe we have limited resources, a limited life, limited wisdom — in fact, we place limits on everything. This comes from believing that we are separate from each other and also believing that we own things. In reality, the resources of the universe are unlimited if we only know how to tap into them.

Everything we own — our intelligence, our wealth, our incredible capabilities, and all that we acquire during our stay on Earth — is in fact gifted and allocated to us and will either enhance or deplete us based on whether we use those gifts to unconditionally add the highest value or not.

When we are striving to add the highest value in what we’re doing, then all the needed resources will gravitate to us. Just the opposite occurs when we are seeking only to support our own agendas, greed, and ego-based fulfilment.

Success comes from keeping your steadfast focus on enhancing and undertaking projects that consistently add the highest value. If this effort is unconditional and continuous, the unlimited resources of the universe are always available and will be allocated to you. This will compel you to move out of a scarcity mentality, which undermines everything you do, nurtures fear and greed, and brings about frustration and stress. You will instead begin to develop and practice the Habit of thinking and living in abundance with utmost gratitude, which nurtures and ensures success

Though the universe provides unlimited resources, since we do not own them, they can be taken away from us if we squander them or they are not put to proper use. Resources are gifted to us not for self-indulgence, but to make a difference to the bigger One, society. We must be responsible for the resources that are placed at our disposal, then the resources allocated to us will expand.

Frugality does not mean being cheap and mediocre, but instead employing the maximum utilization of all our resources and thereby bringing the highest quality, elegance, and creativity to all our endeavors. Since we are operating in Oneness, frugality means never taking advantage of others, cheating, compromising, or cutting corners. It is all about delivering excellence, and forever improving the quality of all that we undertake. When we are serving the highest power of the universe — the Oneness present within everyone we serve — there is no room for second best

We must continuously sharpen our tools and learn new skills, thus, giving us the capacity to continuously make our best better. Otherwise, we will not be able to sustainably maximize the use of resources allocated to us. We must constantly learn, listen, evaluate, verify, and integrate.

The more we learn, the more we realize how little we know. Learning keeps us humble, keeps us open, and keeps us from making gross mistakes.

In this age of rapidly changing technologies, everything is changing with lightning speed. As a consequence, customers are constantly expecting higher performance and measurable improvements in our products and services.

This Habit not only helps us accept changes, but encourages us to bring about those changes that nurture our objective of adding the highest value in all that we do. Our competition therefore becomes our own last best contribution. Our journey to success through this Habit is carried out by continuously improving our improvements.

All sustainable successes are embedded in continuously achieving excellence. Perfection is a forever-moving target and in the pursuit of attaining perfection, we potentially achieve excellence. Excellence, therefore, is never a permanent state or an end in itself. Yesterday’s excellence often becomes today’s mediocrity and hence needs improvement to reach excellence again. But if we wait for perfection, we will never reach it, as our so-called “perfection” can always be improved. True perfection is simply not achievable. But if we continuously strive for perfection, then we’ll continue growing, improving, and bring about excellence.

Quality is a journey, never a destination. Excellence is a path and mindset of constantly achieving, of completing, and then improving — continuously improving our improvements.

Sustainable success comes from understanding that our true competition is not from outside ourselves, but comes from within. It lies in continuously making our best better.

Success comes from undertaking and prioritizing tasks that add the highest value, as opposed to doing tasks that don’t add the highest value, but are quick and easy.

When urgency is tied to the highest, value-adding tasks, time management automatically falls into place. Intensity brings about the focus and concentration to elevate the tasks to their highest creativity and quality.

In the absence of prioritized urgency and quality-driven intensity, we’ll fall into the trap of not completing our tasks on time. When the deadline arrives, we’ll experience stress. We need to take what we consider important and reframe it as urgent. Then, we’ll complete what we need to complete without the stress of anxiousness, frustration, worry, disappointment, overwhelm, depression, and anger. Urgency makes us plan. Intensity is required to gain concentration and focus to apply the highest performance and achieve ongoing excellence.

One of the most rewarding Habits for success is to prioritize what adds the highest value in whatever we’re doing. It is only then that even our mundane tasks — an intrinsic part of adding the highest value — become our passion and automatically set us up to utilize our time properly and most effectively. The outcome is a stress-free state of mind that not only nurtures and supports urgency — embedded in Oneness — but fosters creative innovation that delivers sustainable success.

Procrastination is a direct result of the absence of our commitment to our purpose in life. When we achieve self-integration and become one with the universe, which is Habit #2, our purpose in life becomes clear to add the highest value in all our thoughts and endeavors. In the absence of this purpose, what we’re doing simply becomes a task and chore rather than a joy and passion, which leaves us with no incentive to begin, let alone complete, the task. The result is procrastination.

Completion must be the outcome of the previous step of “urgency and intensity.” Otherwise, we’ll end up spending double our resources, cause waste, create stress, and only achieve mediocre outcomes at best. We’ll remain in that mindset of mediocrity and from there, everything will spiral downward. Completing projects allows for a continual sense of moving in the right direction, of progressing, and encourages an incentive to do more and better.

This Habit of finishing what we started often allows us extra time and thus positions us to elevate our performance wherein we can utilize leftover time to make additional improvements and further enhance our excellence.

We need to provide energy to our human body/vehicle. Without enthusiasm, we have no energy. Endless enthusiasm comes from immersion in our purpose, which is completely endorsed by our true selves (revealed through Habit #2, self-integration). Purpose-driven enthusiasm transforms work into a passion, failure into a lesson, and hurdles into untapped opportunities. Success then becomes a joyful and wondrous journey of continuous discovery and breakthroughs.

Enthusiasm is also a catalyst to bring about enthusiasm in others, and empowers and inspires creativity in all that we do. Without this creative fuel, it will be an uphill task to produce the excellence required to continuously improve our improvements, which is essential for sustained success.

It is important to remember that enthusiasm is a byproduct of practicing the prior 8 Habits, and an essential state of mind for comprehending and living all 25 Habits.

The past is history and the future is only a dream. It is only by living in the present that we make history and fulfill our dreams.

Often, our worries about the future and bad experiences from the past deprive us of the concentration essential for bringing about excellence in all that we do. Living and operating in the present makes us immune to the traps of the past and anxieties about the future.

Our understanding and practicing of the previous 9 Habits imbeds us in the present and gives us enthusiastic engagement in the projects at hand that fully comply with our core purpose — adding the highest value to all of life. By staying in the present, we keep anxiety and frustration at bay, and we lock in our creative focus with every task before us, which ensures excellence in all that we do.

We live our lives conditionally. Often, we arbitrarily create conditions and expectations that prevent us from moving forward, such as “I’ll start exercising right after the holidays.” We find reasons to postpone what we intrinsically know we should do right away. We kind of put life on hold. As we know, time doesn’t wait for anyone. We constantly and continuously miss opportunities. All that comes about because we haven’t enthusiastically bought into our purpose of adding the highest value in all our endeavors.

Today, living conditionally has become our habit. If we systematically develop a habit of unconditional living and the habit of continuously and enthusiastically focusing on our purpose at all times, we will become highly proactive. We’ll unconditionally take on and complete all of our tasks that add the highest value.

When our focus is on adding the highest value in all that we do, we become void of judgments, expectations, and prejudices —instigated by our insecurities, greed, fear, and egos — that end up paralyzing us. People who are unable to succeed often wait for the right conditions to appear and become expert in explaining their failures. Conversely, people who succeed capitalize on existing conditions and circumstances, learn from their setbacks, and convert obstacles into opportunities to grow and add value.

Our sole and clear purpose in life must always be to unconditionally add the highest value in all that we do.

We will only undertake projects that add the highest value, not only for ourselves, but, looking through the lens of the Oneness paradigm, to the bigger, collective One. Thus, any selected project or subprojects that pass this one criteria will automatically get our full concentration and passionate creative focus. This will result in excellence in everything we do.

Conversely, goals and objectives that are polluted by our insecurities, prejudice, ignorance, greed, fears, and egos — void of Oneness — will automatically not receive our endorsement, energy, and time. It is important to understand that mediocrity and marginal performance are born from projects not first validated and then immersed in Oneness.

When our habits are based on insecurity, greed, fear, prejudice, ignorance and our egos, we will always limit ourselves with conditions, hesitation, cutting corners, and end up utterly compromising our endeavors — setting ourselves up for eventual failure. This self-centered habit doesn’t allow us to nurture any long-term trust or relationships, which is essential for any sustainable success.

Once we have inculcated the 12 Self-Integration Habits, all of our illusionary, pseudo-realities grounded in insecurity, greed, fear, prejudice, ignorance, and our egos are discredited and nullified. We then begin to operate in Oneness.

The consequence of this is that we each become value-adding entities, and as these 12 Habits are instilled, we automatically and unconditionally add the highest value in everything we do. Without trying, we begin to build trust, reliability in our relationships and higher self-worth in ourselves, which results in egoless self-confidence.

In the absence of the 12 Self-Integration Habits, we only practice honesty out of the fear of getting caught, which leads to shame, embarrassment, guilt, and being negatively branded. Otherwise, we practice dishonesty, which is then nurtured by our insecurity, greed, and egos. We end up always being stressed out from our fear of getting caught, judged, and punished.

Stress not only mentally cripples us, it also effects our health, negatively impacting our judgment and concentration and thereby affecting our ability to perform at our peak.

If you don’t practice honesty, you are unable to demand or expect honesty from others. As a result, you are unable to build a trustworthy, dependable and ethical team around you, which is crucial for sustainable success.

Comprehending and practicing Oneness as reflected in the first 12 Self-Integration Habits leaves no room for dishonesty in your thoughts, words, and actions. The consequence of that is that you exude ethical trustworthiness automatically and unconditionally, which positions you for stress-free success.

Without investing in the first 12 Habits, we will always be guided and run by our insecurities and egos, which normally do not allow us to recognize and acknowledge goodness in anything outside of ourselves. The law of nature is that whatever plant you nurture grows. Nurturing goodness in people, we can benefit from the valuable assets they bring to the team: insights, skills, talents, and creative energy.

Noticing and acknowledging goodness in others is a positive change tool. When you complement a colleague on their good qualities or excellent performance in something, you earn “emotional credits.” These positive emotional credits can be used to bring about positive changes in your colleague’s negative habits, as they will be more open to taking your suggestion to heart and more likely to implement positive changes proactively.

We always have a choice to either focus on the positive or negative of any situation or circumstance. When we focus on the negative, all we bring about is a downward spiral of energy within ourselves and those around us. On the other hand, when we focus on the positive and try to find the good in everything and every person, we enliven, energize and inspire everyone, which in turn catalyzes a positive environment for outstanding teamwork.

If we have all sorts of degrees, knowledge and experience, but aren’t responsible and reliable, our value in the marketplace is diminished and our personal values and self-worth are compromised. It’s just as though we were a highly-acclaimed, technically advanced electric shaver that didn’t produce reliable results. We wouldn’t keep it, regardless of how much it cost.

The other side of responsibility is that when we fail to deliver, we look for excuses and for someone to blame rather than owning up to what is our responsibility. The outcome is frustration, stress, and a negative environment that robs us of success.

Success only surrounds people who reliably deliver on their commitments. When we arrive at this Habit after mastering the other Habits, then our commitments are grounded in Oneness — rather than our insecurities, greed, need for recognition and rewards, and egos. Consequently, all of our faculties and capabilities are aligned and focused on fulfilling our responsibilities. Simultaneously, we will upgrade our team’s performance, innovativeness and enthusiasm without worrying about who gets the credit. We will effortlessly be positioned for unprecedented successes.

In the absence of Oneness, our sense of responsibility only extends to our families, loved ones, and our company/team. Whereas, in Oneness, any thought, word, or action must never undermine any part of our bigger society and environment. This mindset will cultivate the Habit of being responsible wherein you never need to worry about your decisions and their long-term consequences, as everything you do adds the highest value to everything and everyone.

It is through keeping the promises we make for ourselves, that we bring discipline into our lives and we become the most valuable asset to ourselves and our team. Immersed in the previous 16 Habits, we won’t make any promise — to ourselves or others — lightly.

A further consequence of practicing these 16 Habits is that the promises we choose to fulfill will not be guided by our insecurities and greed or designed to enhance our egos. Instead, the outcome of those promises must deliver the highest value to our lives and the lives of the people with whom we associate.

When we are a slave to our insecurities, greed, fear and egos, it becomes critical for us to feed our incessant need for recognition, though that need can never be quenched. That need is fulfilled by taking undeserved and shameless credit for everything regardless of who did it — yet never take any blame even if we are directly responsible.

The wisdom of the earlier 17 Habits clarifies the fog of our illusionary egos and imbeds us in Oneness, which gives us a singular focus to collectively add the highest value. This mindset gives us enormous grace to honor others with credit, as well as tremendous courage to remove obstacles by taking the blame.

The mind is a data-gathering instrument that not only collects incomplete information, but that information is often adulterated by our insecurities, greed, fears, and egos. Whereas our Souls, which remain pure, are connected to the Universal Power of the universe. That is why our Souls take everything lightly and a hearty laugh always touches our hearts and Souls.

It is known that the right humor in an intense environment will bypass the negativity created by the highly prejudiced brain and bring about the freshness of pure Soul. Often, the consequence is that the two parties that otherwise were at loggerheads with each other begin to laugh, tensions are reduced, and they begin to listen again.

Any humor that is denigrating or at the cost of someone’s dignity will always backfire. That is why when we practice humor in the absence of the prior 18 Habits, we will not be able to minimize the influence of our egos, and thus may end up exacerbating a situation rather than helping it.

The safest way to use this Habit is to learn to make fun of yourself without demeaning yourself in the process. Mastering the first 12 Self-Integration Habits will help you realize an intrinsic personal confidence vested in egoless Oneness, and your lightheartedness will allow you to make fun of and laugh at yourself.

At the end of our journey, all our trophies, medals, wealth, titles, and awards are going to be less important than those rare moments when we were able to make a difference to a complete stranger without the remotest expectation of getting anything in return.

Therefore, in the core design of our inner psyche, which is void of ego, our true pleasure comes in seeing others happy and successful. Yet, when we are infested with our egos, we are obsessed with winning and derive immense pleasure when others lose.

In this rapidly changing environment due to fast-changing technologies, we can never predict whose help and collaboration may become vital to our success in the future. When we create win-win situations in all of our interactions, we not only come across as fair and honest, we also leave a very pleasant feeling with all of our business associates, including our competitors.

A wise man has said that there are no true and lasting victories in war — at best, they are only temporary. Yet, we are so fixated on winning at any cost that we’ve created utter chaos and disorder in society. When we remove this virus of insecurity, greed and ego by practicing the prior 19 Habits, we’ll be able to clearly see the wisdom of creating a win-win situation in all of our endeavors.

An essential necessity of the Social-Integration Habits is to truly understand others’ needs, where they stand, and what will add the most value to them. This requires a commitment to developing unselfish and thoughtful listening skills.

Fundamentally, this Habit gives us a tool to implement all that we’ve learned with the other Habits — unconditionally adding the highest value in all that we do. To do it correctly, we must get a full picture of what will add the highest value. It requires listening to and understanding others without our egoic need of judging and impressing others.

Listening is an art and science and often requires feelings and emotions associated with not only spoken but unspoken words. Many times, others are not able to express their needs and concerns — inhibited by their fears and egos — as openly and clearly as needed and desired in order to seek appropriate help and collaboration.

Operating in Oneness gives us amazing connectivity and empathy, which positions us to not only comprehend what they’re saying, but to understand the unspoken messages hidden in their tone and body language. The wisdom of Oneness also allows us to visualize what they often are unable to see or imagine what is best for them.

Whenever our focus is not on unconditionally adding the highest value in every thought, word and action, our older habits of simmering insecurity, greed, fear, and ego will boil over. Instead, anything unfamiliar and different begins to make us fearful and uncomfortable. Thus, anyone who looks different, dresses differently, talks differently, thinks differently, and behaves differently will make us at least apprehensive if not outright judgmental and prejudiced, which may provoke paranoia and ignite anger — derailing us from our core purpose of adding the highest value at all times.

On the other hand, when we are embedded in Oneness, we gratefully accept all conditions and circumstances as we are exposed to them. We look for opportunities to fulfill our purpose and focus of adding the highest value at all times. We automatically begin to become a student and eagerly, respectfully, and passionately learn about others’ differences. This positions us to not only effectively fulfill our purpose of serving unconditionally and making a positive difference, but to bring graceful dignity to the entire experience.

Our capacity to quickly judge and evaluate is a unique gift that allows us to discern any harm or danger that threatens our survival. But, we extend that survival habit to instantly judging people without having enough information, data, or experiences with them. The irony is that the less we know, the more quickly we judge. To really know and understand anyone, we have to withhold our opinions, judgments, and preconceptions until we truly appreciate where they are coming from and their needs, wants, agendas, and purposes.

We need to be mindful that not everyone is exposed to the uncontaminated universal wisdom of Oneness. As a result, their core purpose is dictated by their self-centered, five senses-dominated, human body needs — the “What’s in it for me?” syndrome. Usually, they are not aware of who they truly are — the universal force that enlivens their bodies — and are therefore unaware of the “needs and greater purpose” of their true selves. Again, that purpose is to add the highest value in very thought, word, and action unconditionally.

Most people’s opinions and desires are the outcome of the information they’ve accumulated based on their environment, experiences, education, and upbringing. Their sense of who they truly are is often missing.

If we cultivate this Habit of not judging people, not only will we remain steadfast in our own core purpose, we will also be in a position to take on the responsibility — through our unconditional respect and unselfish purpose of making a positive difference — of helping align them to Oneness, which will transform them into a highest, value-adding entity

The process of forgiving, which we all practice, is conditional. We are often preached to “forgive and forget” because the outcome of holding grudges is self-poisoning and self-defeating. This process is all about saving ourselves and has nothing to do with truly forgiving others.

The actual act of forgiving is done under strict conditions dictated by our selfish agendas that simply nurture our egos. For many people, the need to be right and to feel superior through the act of forgiveness is rooted in their inherent insecurity.

The drawback of this self-serving process is that it always leaves a reminder and residue, which is resurrected with the slightest provocation and we live that agony all over again with ever-deepening resentment, pain, and need for vengeance.

It is only through the clarity brought about by Oneness that we begin to see that we are all one, unified by the single, enlivening universal power that gives us life. In light of this enlightening truth, the concept of forgiving doesn’t even arise as we are all one and part of each other. It’s as though while hammering a nail, you hit your left thumb with the hammer. Are you even going to consider forgiving or punishing your right hand? Obviously not because both hands are part of the same body and the pain is experienced by the whole body.

It is important to remember that whenever someone harms you, they are usually guided by highly-contaminated information, prejudices, and deep-seated insecurity that leads to mental and emotional imbalance during the incident. They are completely void of the ultimate truth of Oneness.

It is only in the Oneness paradigm that we can practice unconditional forgiveness. In the process, we have the opportunity to transform and inspire those we’re forgiving by exposing them to their empowered true selves that are already integrated in Oneness.

When we comprehend forgiveness under the wisdom of Oneness, it automatically comes without conditions, limits, preconceptions, expectations, and agendas. When this thought process becomes integrated in us, it gives rise to an essential habit for success, the Habit of unconditional forgiveness

Operating in this world where Oneness is mostly absent in thought and action, we get continuously bombarded with decisions and circumstances that simply don’t make sense. We are constantly thrown off course and depleted by life’s distractions and demands, which derail us from practicing the empowering 24 Habits and we find ourselves lost once again in our old, destructive habits.

The best way to re-align ourselves to the core truth of Oneness — which gives us clarity, insight, and strength — is to first stop the poisons, contaminations, and delusions of life from entering our being, while simultaneously nullifying their influence on our decision making and thinking.

The most effective way to achieve that is to immerse ourselves in unconditional loving, serving and giving, which is influenced far more by our hearts than our minds. This exercise recharges our batteries, clears us of brain fog, and puts us back on the path of practicing, living, and integrating the other 24 Habits.