The 9 habits of individuals building a successful future:

1. Save 20% of Your Money: This is prudent, but challenging advice especially for a young person with a significant amount of student loan debt.

2. Exercise Daily: If you’re thinking about getting started in the northeast Ohio area, I suggest CrossFit Cadre. I’ve been meaning to take a rest day for a couple weeks now, but I just keep finding myself back at the gym. Having a good support system for your fitness routine makes you much more likely to stick with it. CrossFit works for me, but find an exercise routine that fits your schedule and makes you happy. That is the only way you’re going to stick with it.

3. Eat Healthy: As I mentioned yesterday, I just started an 8 week challenge where I’ll be doing nothing but the Paleo Diet. After these 8 weeks, I plan to live a “Paleo Inspired” lifestyle. Basic guidelines to eating healthy: Avoid sugar and processed food, and eat lots of fruits, vegetables, and protein. Most things are okay in moderation.

4. Plan Weekly and Daily: I use a to do list and keep my calendar detailed and built out. For me, a To Do list is a set of goals I have to accomplish. I am very goal oriented so I get an immense feeling of gratification and accomplishment when I can cross something off my To Do list. It also keeps me from forgetting things.

5. Read For Pleasure: Do this every day. For starters, I encourage you to bookmark this blog to satisfy some of your daily reading. I also encourage you to always be reading a fiction or nonfiction book. I’m currently finishing up Michael Lewis’ The New New Thing and am looking forward to getting started on 4th and Goal by Monte Burke. Audiobooks count as reading (in my book at least).

6. Brush and Floss: Just do it. You won’t like you’re dentist (or your gums) when he’s angry.

7. Meditate: This is different for everyone. However you want to do it, take time to inwardly reflect. Think about your accomplishments and your goals, or just find your center and relax.

8. Journal: Much of our lives are lived on social media, so for many people downloading an archive of your tweets or looking back through your Facebook timeline is like reading a diary. I encourage you to put down in print more than that. Writing helps to clarify thoughts and feelings and is a great way to track your life so you can look back from your 80s and reflect on how awesome you were in your 20s. On social media, we speak in hyperbole and portray an image of how we want to appear to others, an “ideal self” so to speak. When you’re journaling, you’re more likely to be candid and honest.

9. Serve: You can accomplish this in a variety of ways. Supporting a charity, giving back to your community, and volunteering your time are all great options. You can serve at work too even if you’re not a hero like a policeman, fireman, nurse, doctor, or a member of our armed forces. As a leader, your job is to remove barriers for your team and put them in a position to be successful. Good leaders serve their organization and subordinates by putting them first and making decisions in their best interest.