1. Let Go of the Unhealthy Lifestyle

Your energy, mindset, and resilience all start with your body. Success requires stamina—mental, emotional, and physical. And that means your daily habits around sleep, food, and movement matter more than you think.

No one’s asking you to become a fitness model or survive on kale. But a basic commitment to nourishing food, consistent exercise, and adequate rest will compound into enormous results.

Neglecting your health now will cost you energy, productivity, and clarity later. You don’t need to overhaul your life overnight. Start by walking daily, drinking more water, and ditching what you already know is dragging you down. Small, consistent steps can carry you a long way.

2. Ditch the Short-Term Mindset

If you’re constantly chasing quick wins and instant gratification, you’re setting yourself up for long-term disappointment. True success comes from consistency, not urgency.

The problem isn’t ambition—it’s impatience. Wanting results now often leads people to quit before progress has time to unfold.

Start thinking in years, not weeks. Commit to becoming the kind of person who builds for the long term. Work out because you value strength and health, not just because summer’s coming. Save money because it gives you freedom, not just to buy things. Think in layers, not flashes.

The faster you embrace patience, the faster you’ll build something real.

3. Stop Playing Small

You weren’t meant to live a quiet, compromised version of your life just to make others feel comfortable. When you minimize yourself to avoid criticism or to "fit in," you shrink your own potential.

Playing small doesn’t serve the world. Your ideas, your skills, your goals—they matter. You don’t have to shout. You just need to show up fully.

Speak up. Take risks. Submit the application. Share your work. Ask for the opportunity. You’re not doing this to be seen—you’re doing this because the world is better when more people show up with their gifts unapologetically.

4. Leave Excuses Behind

Excuses might feel like protection, but they’re really just delay tactics in disguise. They sound logical—“I don’t have time,” “I’m not ready,” “It’s not the right moment”—but they quietly keep you stuck where you are.

Successful people own their outcomes. They don’t wait for ideal conditions. They make progress within their current reality.

You can’t control where you started. But you can decide where you go from here. That shift—from blaming to owning—is one of the most powerful you’ll ever make.

Letting go of excuses doesn’t mean life gets easier. It means you take charge of writing the next chapter.

5. Break Free from the Fixed Mindset

If you believe you’re either talented or not, smart or not, creative or not—you’ve already hit your ceiling. The fixed mindset convinces you that your limits are permanent.

But they’re not.

Every skill is learnable. Every weakness can be improved. Your brain is far more adaptable than you think. Growth begins the moment you believe change is possible.

Start seeing setbacks as feedback. View effort as proof that you’re on the path. If you adopt a growth mindset, you’ll outpace more “naturally gifted” people simply by showing up and evolving daily.

6. Stop Looking for the Magic Fix

There’s no single course, routine, or product that will hand you success on a silver platter. Still, many waste time hoping for that one secret shortcut that makes everything click instantly.

The truth? Success is built on boring repetition. On quiet persistence. On showing up when no one’s watching.

Improvement is incremental. But it builds. One percent better each day leads to radical change over time. Instead of obsessing over hacks, focus on your habits.

7. Let Go of Perfectionism

Perfectionism is just fear wearing a fancy mask. It convinces you that “almost done” isn’t good enough—and so you never finish. Never share. Never start the next thing.

But perfection is impossible. Your work, your business, your body, your relationships—none will ever be flawless.

The goal isn’t perfect. The goal is progress. Ship the work. Launch the product. Share the article. Then improve it later.

Success favors the brave, not the perfect.

(Part 2 of 2 – final part of rewrite for “13 Things You Should Give Up If You Want to Be Successful”)

8. Stop Multitasking

Multitasking might make you feel productive, but it’s a lie. Your brain doesn’t do multiple things at once—it just switches rapidly between tasks. And every switch drains focus, increases mistakes, and reduces your depth of thinking.

If you want to succeed faster, start doing less—but do it with more intensity. Pick one goal. One task. One conversation. And give it your full presence.

This habit alone can double your results. It brings clarity, peace, and power into everything you do.

9. Let Go of the Illusion of Control

So much energy gets wasted trying to micromanage the uncontrollable. Whether it’s other people’s opinions, unpredictable setbacks, or timing that isn’t ours to dictate—we stress ourselves over things we can’t change.

Here’s the shift: focus only on what you can control—your attitude, your response, your choices. The rest? Let it go.

This kind of emotional detachment doesn’t make you careless—it makes you focused. And paradoxically, it brings you more control where it actually matters.

When you stop wasting effort on the uncontrollable, your progress accelerates.

10. Say No More Often

If everything gets a yes, your most important work won’t get done. You have limited time, limited energy, limited space. Every yes carries a cost.

Highly successful people understand this. They don’t fear missing out. They fear dilution.

You don’t need to be rude or rigid. You just need to be selective. If it’s not aligned with your goals or values, let it go. Protect your time like a valuable resource—because it is.

Short-term guilt is better than long-term regret.

11. Cut Ties with Toxic People

You become the average of the people you spend the most time with. If your circle is full of gossip, drama, laziness, or negativity, those patterns will seep into you—no matter how driven you are.

This doesn’t mean you abandon everyone the moment they struggle. But it does mean you evaluate your environment honestly.

Surround yourself with people who challenge you, who believe in growth, who build rather than tear down. Seek out those ahead of you—and be someone who pulls others up, not down.

Your environment is either your anchor or your wings. Choose wisely.

12. Stop Needing to Be Liked

Approval is addictive. And it’s also the fast track to mediocrity. When you shape your actions around pleasing others, you dilute your power. You mute your truth.

Not everyone will like you. Not everyone will understand you. And that’s okay.

Success often requires making waves. Doing things differently. Saying what others won’t. That kind of boldness doesn’t win popularity contests—it creates impact.

Be kind. Be fair. Be respectful. But never bend yourself into someone else’s expectations. Your authenticity is your sharpest tool.

13. Break Free from Mindless Screen Time

There’s nothing inherently evil about social media or television. But when used as escape mechanisms, they slowly chip away at your attention, ambition, and clarity.

Think about the time lost scrolling, the comparison loops triggered, the energy drained. That time could’ve gone to learning a skill, building your business, writing your book, or strengthening a relationship.

You don’t need to quit everything cold turkey. But start paying attention. Set boundaries. Use screens with intention, not as a default.

You’ll be shocked how much life expands when you disconnect from noise and plug into purpose.

Success doesn’t come from piling more onto your plate—it often comes from clearing it off. By letting go of these 13 habits, beliefs, and behaviors, you make room for discipline, clarity, and aligned action to take root.

Growth isn’t just about becoming someone new. It’s about shedding the parts of you that were never meant to stay. And once they’re gone, you won’t believe how fast your life starts to move forward.