This post is part rant, part insight, and part inquiry into what your habits for success are.

Over the past year i've read a whole range of books covering topics of business, success, self improvement, motivation, marketing, pretty much anything I can get my hands on to help me grow as an individual and as a DJ. Everytime I kept looking for something new that would give me an edge, and help me get more done quickly and creatively. The problem however in seeking out new ways of doing things is that nothing ever becomes internalized. I find myself constantly switching methods or ways of doing things, and while they may yield different or new results it doesn't matter because they don't stick.

I have come to the conclusion that this year must be the year to form concrete habits/rituals/routines for success. I'd even go as far to say that habits are the source of success. I always came from the mindset that routine was bad, it made things stale. I thought if I was always trying something new or learning something new that would be the best way to achieve my goals. Of course the key here is balance, too much routine will result in stagnation if you don't branch out, but too much branching out results in lack of foundation, you have nothing solid to build off.

Routines and habits act as signals and anchors and actually free up our conscious to focus on other things. One of the most insightful things I read was from a book called "The Power of Full Engagement". It talked about how when a habit becomes powerful enough it becomes part of our unconscious, we no longer have to think about it we just do it. Think of those things that you just do without really thinking, they are the most powerful form of action because the unconscious is pretty much on autopilot. Our conscious is much more limited compared to our unconscious, think of how easily it is for our conscious to be overwhelmed by things we have to or want to do. Our conscious can get plugged up easily and it gets really easy to lose focus when you "consciously" have to think about what you have to do, rather then have it being guided by the autopilot. The power of habit too is repetition. How often do you find yourself only Djing in large chunks of time every now and then. I know over the holidays I think I only ever got to DJing once every 2 weeks and I tried to cram a bunch of stuff into the small block of time. Daily habits allow you to chop away at something bit by bit as oppose to trying to crush it all at once.

So i'd like to turn the conversation to you, what are some of your personal habits/routines for success? This year i've decided to go to the gym before my university classes, it's the time that is guaranteed to be free everyday and it starts my day off right. I'd like to build in some DJ focused habits and routines (i.e. a half hour a day browsing for new music)