Want to be successful in the year ahead (and many years to come)? Many network marketers think that success relies on luck and hard work. Although hard work plays a role, it’s important to give credit where it’s due – in your habits. Your habits can make or break your journey to success. Habits may seem like small things, but it’s where you put your energy and focus every day. If you want to achieve success, you have to develop great habits. 

A tale of two habits

For example, you could set super ambitious goals for yourself and your business. While things may start great, for a few months, your motivation will naturally begin to wane. When motivation wanes, your focus may as well. Your daily activities – including connecting with your network – may become less of a priority. You may go from a daily Power Hour to a once-a-week Power Hour. As a result, you may find that you fall further and further away from your goal targets. And, at the end of the year, you may wonder where it all went wrong. The first place to look? Your habits.

Now, let’s say you set those same ambitious goals, but you also take the extra step of reflecting on your habits. Perhaps you discover that since your energy is on point in mid-morning, that’s the best time to work on your business and connect with your network. Then, you schedule a Power Hour into your day at 10 am several times a week. Maybe you don’t have time to work on your business every day, but three times a week is something you can do. Great! Now that you’ve made a date with your business three times a week, you make it a priority to meet that appointment.

You plan your day around completing your smaller business goals. If something comes up, you may reschedule for another day, but you don’t skip that date with your business entirely. Working in your business becomes a normal part of your day, like brushing your teeth. You’ve built a great habit, one that will assist you on your path to achieving your goals. 

How to develop great habits

As a network marketer, you may strive to make the second example your reality. However, for many it’s not as simple as just setting the intention to create successful habits; you’ve gotta put in the work. And, “the work” begins with some reflection.

Great habit tip #1: Identify the habits that are holding you back

No one is perfect. We all have habits that may impede our success. For many, it’s procrastination. It’s so much easier, we think, to put things off until tomorrow. We even make excuses to justify it: “I’m too tired to do it now; I’ll wait until tomorrow when I’m feeling more refreshed” or “It’s Monday/Friday and I don’t think my network will be responsive to my messages now anyway. I’ll just wait.” The problem is, the next day, many of us continue to put it off and make more excuses to justify doing so. Before long, the task doesn’t get done and we’re left wondering why we’re so far from reaching our goals. 

For other network marketers, it’s motivation. One of the best parts of working for yourself is that you don’t have a boss on your back telling you what to do at all times. You can get things done on your terms. The worst part is that you don’t have someone holding you accountable to ensure that you do what you say you will. You don’t have someone checking to make sure you do your Power Hours or follow up with your prospects. There’s no one there to make sure you meet your smaller goals, which help you reach your larger ones. You have to motivate yourself and if you’re not feeling motivated, your business will suffer. 

So, what habits are holding you back? 

Just as we advise when discovering your why, take a few quiet moments to think about the habits that may be impeding your success. Do you tend to procrastinate? Are you in need of a bit more accountability? Do you just plain forget to work on your business each day? Be honest with yourself and identify the things you do that may prevent you from succeeding.

Keep in mind that you may already have some great habits that may need some nurturing. While you’re assessing your habits, also note any habits that may need more development. For example, if you’re conscientious about a task once you’re doing it, that may be something to nurture further. 

Great habit tip #2: Keep your eyes on the prize

Once you’ve recognized your bad habits, it’s time to replace them with great habits. This is the hard part. It’s one thing to set the intention, but it’s another to make it happen. To make it happen, you have to keep your motivation high. You have to want to change and develop great habits. 

It’s helpful to think of your Why. Why did you get into network marketing? By tapping into the reasons why you got into this business in the first place, you can tap into your original intent and motivation. This is the fountain you’ll draw from when you feel thirsty for motivation. When you begin to feel yourself slipping back into bad habits, think of your Why to stay on track.

Great habit tip #3: Schedule your activities

We say it all the time. If you want to succeed in business – any business – you have to make it a priority. You are the center of your business. Without you, it cannot succeed. To succeed, you have to work on your business and make it a priority in your day. The good news is, you don’t have to clock in and sit at a desk for 8 hours every day. With network marketing, you can set aside an hour or less to connect and follow up with your customers, prospects, and distributors. You can do it all in one shot or spread it out throughout the day. It doesn’t matter, as long as it gets done. 

However, for many network marketers, that’s the hardest part – remembering to do it. We often get so busy with everything else that pops up in our days. While some of these distractions are anticipated, others seem to pop up out of nowhere. It’s so easy to give in to distractions. But, if you want to succeed, you have to ignore them for the time being, or at least until you can complete your Power Hour. YOu have to make your business a priority and what better way to do so than to make sure you do them daily by writing it into your calendar. Whether you use a paper calendar or the one on your phone, schedule your Power Hour into your day. That way you can plan your day around it and ensure you get it done. 

Great habit tip #4: Be patient

It takes time to replace bad habits with great habits. Although the amount of time it takes to build a habit is up for debate, the key thing to remember is it takes daily practice. 

This is a tough concept in our get-it-now culture that prizes speed over mastery. When we want something, we want it now, NOW! But success takes time as does develop the great habits that are conducive to success. You may not see results right away, but they’ll come in time. Focus on the daily act of building your habits and the rewards will follow. 

Great habit tip #5: Use the tools available at your fingertips

While Teamzy can’t connect with your network for you, it can make it easier and more fun to work on your business. We created Teamzy to help network marketers develop a business from the heart that allows them to build relationships with their networks. A huge part of building a relationship is building trust, and to build trust you have to be consistent. Teamzy takes the guesswork out of figuring out who to connect with and what to say. With your goals in mind, Teamzy provides a list of people in your network to connect with each day. Simply log in and start working through your list. If you’re not sure what to say, use the scripts to help you start the conversation. What’s easier than that?

If you’re not using Teamzy, what are you waiting for? Click here to learn more about how it can help you build your network marketing business.