In 2007 I started with no idea what it might become. I have been through a lot with the site—professionally and personally. Over the years I have read copious amounts of books to help me make the right decisions for the site. This list is a summary of the best advice I have found for starting with nothing and trying to build something. I hope that this will be useful for some of our followers who are hoping to get away from the mainstream and create something new of their own.

Madonna in the eighties and nineties. David Bowie. Lady Gaga. What do these artists have in common? They did what no one else was doing. They stood up and said: “this is me. Like it or lump it.” The success of these people didn’t come from trying to please everyone; it didn’t come from following trends. It came from doing something that was new, astonishing—even genre-changing. While Metallica was busy fighting in the courts against Napster to maintain a stranglehold on consumer dollars, other bands—such as Radiohead (as early as 2007)—were dumping the traditional model and selling direct through their own website.

It is one thing to be a great artist. It is another to be a great artist who isn’t sucked into consumerism and greed—merely wants to maintain the status quo. Would you rather be Metallica earning the few pennies their label tosses at them (at the expense of being reviled by everyone but the label) or Radiohead—earning less but keeping true to their art and having a passionately dedicated fan-base?

If your friend said jump off a cliff, would you? I know . . . it’s a cliché but that’s the point—most of us would. We see our fellow lemmings diving head first off the cliff and we follow suit. And we don’t even need Disney staff to help push us! One of the most significant pieces of advice you can heed is this: ignore everyone else. You are amazing. You are amazing because you are different from everyone else. If the majority around you say X, you need to think Y. Did Steve Jobs bow down to the majority? You may remember a site named Digg. It was huge. It was Facebook before Facebook (in terms of popularity). Then they took venture capital and, at the advice of their financiers, changed how they worked. The result: Before the changes Digg was worth 164 million dollars. Digg sold for $500,000 in 2010 . . . and no, I didn’t accidentally leave off three zeroes.

A lot of people currently advocate the idea of working four hours. Forget it. For the last six years I have worked from the moment I woke until bed time. That is no exaggeration. It is currently 7pm and I have been working on since 5 am this morning. Time and time again you see people complaining that their blog isn’t popular: but they only post an article every other day. When I started to feel like I didn’t need to work such long hours, I tripled our daily lists so I had more to do. This isn’t a burden—it is a pleasure. Not many people can say they spend fourteen hours a day doing something they absolutely love. The minute I wake in the morning I jump out of bed and go straight to the computer to start working—because I love it (actually I have a smoke and coffee first but I get those over as quickly as I can). If you are passionate and love what you are doing, you will succeed. I could work four hours and pat myself on the back while I head out to play golf or whatever it is the four hour work day is meant to allow you time for but I would much rather be sitting here in front of  Steve Balmer of Microsoft scoffed at the iPhone and—rather awkwardly—pointed out: “It doesn’t have a keyboard. [ . . . ] We’re selling millions [ . . . ] of phones a year: Apple is selling zero phones a year.” Watch the clip above. Ouch. How’s that Zune going Steve? McDonald’s created McDonaldland and Burger King thought it was a great idea so they copied it with their Burger King Kingdom. McDonald’s made twenty-seven billion dollars in 2011. How much did Burger King make? Just under three billion. That’s what happens when you copy. Burger King was recently taken over and the first thing the acquirer did was dump the ridiculous rip-off Burger King mascot. If you want to succeed, don’t copy success. Create your own. Don’t mimic those who have done well—do well in your own niche. This applies on all levels. If you want to set up a stall selling lemonade, don’t just copy the neighbor’s kids. Find a way to make your lemonade better or find a way to make your customers happier.

A fear of failure is probably the number one thing stopping someone from succeeding. If you think you will fail you are not likely to even start. This even applies to activities you are currently engaged in. When I first started I created five blogs all on completely different subjects. After a week none were succeeding. At that point most people would give up thinking it was a failure. And it was: for four of the blogs. In week two took off. If I had let the fear of failure stop me, you wouldn’t be reading this right now and I would probably still be programming software for other people instead of spending my days doing what I love most: sharing fascinating facts with friends.

Facebook. Love it or hate it, it is a huge part of the Internet. We have always had Facebook like buttons on to help promote us but recently I noticed something. Every day around eight hundred thousand pages are viewed here. And the Facebook likes each day number in the low hundreds. This isn’t because we aren’t popular: it’s because most of our readers aren’t the type of people who click “like”. It takes roughly two seconds for the social sharing buttons to load on a page. For the sake of three hundred people who clicked like, we were making 799,700 people waste two seconds of their precious time. This is not focusing on our followers: it is focusing on marketing. Two days ago I removed all social sharing buttons from our articles. By removing these sharing buttons we improved the experience of our followers at the risk of reducing our marketing to a bigger audience. It was well worth it. Focus on the people who follow you—don’t try to create a new market. If you do you will lose your biggest asset: your fans.

We all have a tendency to think big. But that tendency can actually inhibit our success. If you want to write a book or create a product or the next big thing on the net, focus on attracting a small audience of very dedicated fans. Don’t be put off if your idea only appeals to a few. If you work hard for that few they will reward you by sharing your passion with others. It is far better to have 1,000 devoted followers than 100,000 take-it-or-leave-it customers. Famous jewelry store Tiffany & Co. were an exclusive brand. They were exclusive and they were small. But they decided to grow. They launched a new product line aimed at the mid-price jewelry market and the end result was near bankruptcy. They have now returned to their original niche. Calvin Klein isn’t so hot now that you can buy their underwear at most department stores; but when they started out they were exclusive. Who wants to rave to their friends about having CK underwear now?

This is getting harder I will admit, but a difficult job of getting traction for your ideas is made significantly easier if no one has seen it before. Be the first to do something and you are already half-way to success. Seth Godin is a great author whose books I strongly recommend. In one of his books he talks about the leader of a village in India with no electricity. The leader—a very old man—bought the first solar-powered lantern (everyone else was using kerosene lamps). For months after his front yard was filled with all the villagers watching the lamp and discussing how long it would last. He was a hero in his town—he had everyone’s eyes on him. Eventually everyone else got the same lanterns but do you think the second guy who bought one had a yard full of people? Nope. He was second.

In every aspect of your life: be remarkable. Be the person that turns heads by going the extra mile. If someone asks for $1 give them $10. If you want to start a website don’t publish one article a day: publish four. Put everything you have into whatever you are doing. It may seem like hard work, but in the end you will be the one everyone remembers. And quite often doing something remarkable doesn’t have to be hard. It can be as easy as responding to every comment on your blog—or remembering someone’s name when you meet them for the second time. People don’t pay extra at Harrods because the goods are better (though sometimes they are,) they pay for service that makes them say “Wow!”

Right now you can start putting all of these ideas into practice. You have no excuse to wait. It is Saturday so you will be more likely to go to the Mall than work, but try—even if only once—to make a stranger remember you today. Do at least one act that turns heads. Make someone say “Wow!” Alternatively, start that book you want to write. Start that blog you have always wanted to create. Make your dinner remarkable: set the table and have a high-class restaurant experience at home. All it takes is a bit of change and a new way of thinking to completely transform your life.

Everyone wants to achieve their goals, everyone wants to taste success but are you on the right path for your goals? Success is a result of daily habits and you need to acquire the best habits that all successful people follow on a daily basis. We have mentioned 10 life changing success habits below. And we can’t arranged them in order because every habit is unique and important.

10 Life Changing Habits You Can Learn From Successful People:

FOCUS

Focus is one of the most important life changing habits if you want to be successful. You can’t acquire laser sharp focus because it is a practice of months and years. Start from a small activity for half an hour or 15 minutes and increase the time of your activity daily. Remember not to see your mobile or computer while working to prevent distraction. You can also do meditation on a daily basis to increase your focus ability.

Don’t Wait Just ACT

Winners don’t waste their complete time in just thinking and planning. Winners think and ACT instantly. They don’t care for the results because they just try and learn from the experiences. They have a focused mindset and focused goals and they just plan about their goals and ACT’S instantly. Here’s a tip. Whenever you get a new idea or thought just write it down in a notebook within 5 minutes because after 5 minutes your mind will start erasing that idea.

Self-Discipline

If you don’t have Self Discipline and self-control then drop your idea of success just now. First develop self-discipline and self-control inside yourself. If you decide to exercise, then exercise regularly. If you decide to study hard, then study daily. Believe me it is the key to success. You can read books and watch videos to develop your Self Discipline.

Self-Learning

No successful person leaves this. Elon Musk learned complete rocket science just by reading books without any college degree. Don’t study only what is told in school or college, gain as much knowledge as you can. Find what you love and read books about it, watch videos, take training sessions, talk to the professionals of this field. Don’t stop, just gain as much knowledge as much you can about that particular topic you love and you will see the results.

Value of Time

Time is priceless and no one can buy time or stop time. Elon Musk has blocked his time and it is called Time Blocking. He follows the 5 minute rule for every meeting. You can also practice Time Blocking. You can fix days of week for a particular task or you can make a daily timetable but be regular. Don’t waste your time scrolling on social media, just use every single second of your time.

Value of Money

Everyone runs behind money and very few make money run behind them and they become millionaires and billionaires. Warren Buffett still lives in his old house that is worth only 0.001 of his net worth. A successful person will never waste his money on something that will not contribute to his success. Start valuing money and money will value you.

Never Give Up

Everyone has heard of this term and will say something new. But why new when this term is the best. Successful people never give up whether it is a race or a school exam or working for 14 hours a day or reading books, workout daily. They don’t give up even a simple task. Just do what you love and don’t give up. No one cares what you do so stop thinking about this world and work as hard as possible and Never Give Up.

Risk Taking Ability

If you don’t have courage to take risks, then drop your dream of success. Taking risks is a part of success. Elon Musk failed 3 times and launched a successful Space X rocket in the 4th try. He took risks and got success, same for every successful person. I am not saying to go bankrupt, take calculated risks but start taking risks.

Health and Fitness

Health plays a major role in success. Elon Musk eats superfoods in his daily meal, Mark Zuckerberg drinks healthy smoothies all day to feel energetic. Richard Branson always has a fitness trainer with him wherever he goes. Eat healthy food that keeps you energetic all day. Exercise for at least 30 minutes a day, take a healthy sleep of 6-8 hours. Don’t sleep more than 8 hours because it is ⅓ rd of your lifetime. Keep yourself healthy by maintaining your diet and eating healthy food.

Become a Reader

Every billionaire is a reader. Read business books, personality development books, healthy lifestyle books, motivational books. Just read books that directly contribute to your success. Books are the biggest source of knowledge and no successful person leaves this golden opportunity of knowledge. Develop a habit of reading books at least 1 hour a day. You can also listen to audiobooks but I would recommend to read books because they are more engaging.