KEY TO SUCCESS: 12 Things You Need to Really Get Rid of in the Next 12 Months [OPINION]

If you want the next 12 months to be different than the past 12 months, look at your habits.

Changing a habit, especially a bad one, is among the most powerful forces you can employ to make your life and business better.

Here are 12 habits many of us repeatedly struggle with. If you recognize yourself in any of these, you really need to get rid of them--and this time next year, you could be free of the consequences they cause.

1. Stop giving up.
Success in life and in business comes when you simply refuse to give up--because failure doesn't come from falling down, failure comes from giving up.

2.  Stop letting everyone else make decisions for you.
If you want to be successful, never allow anyone to tell you what's good for you. You're the one who knows what you need and what works for you. So stick to what you know and do what you know is right.

3.  Stop thinking you're on your own.
Success is not an individual undertaking. Be smart and brave enough to ask for help when you need it and allow others to help you along the way.

4. Stop chasing after those who don't want to be caught.
Don't waste time on people and projects that aren't going to happen. The right people, the right project, the right venture, the right idea will show up with hard work and patience and when it does you want to be prepared.

5. Stop discrediting yourself for everything you aren't.
Sometimes we focus on what we aren't--that we don't see who we really are. Respect yourself enough to know that you deserve the very best. The strongest factor of success is self esteem, believing you can do it, believing you deserve it, believing you will get it.

6. Stop focusing on the negative.
Success comes when we stop focusing on what's against us and we start focusing on  what's good for us.  Every day may not be good, but there is something good in every day. Our positive thinking gives a positive attitude. That doesn't mean always expecting everything great to happen, but accepting whatever happens to us, to make the best of it.

7. Stop being hard on yourself.
Everyone makes mistakes, but that doesn't mean we have to pay for them for the rest of our lives. Sometimes smart and successful people make bad choices. It doesn't mean they are not smart, and they can't be successful; it just means they are human.

8. Stop mulling over the past.
It's hard to see the future when you're always looking back. Use the past only as a road map to help guide you toward your future. Practice this every day of every month this year.

9.  Stop running from problems.
Everyone has problems. What's important is to stop running from them. Own them and deal with them, however overwhelming they may be--because if you don't face them, they will own you.

10.  Stop expecting life to be easy.
Nothing worthwhile is ever easy, and the most rewarding aspects of life are the things we fight the hardest for.

11.  Stop holding on to things you need to let go.
Many people think that letting go means giving up--but in fact it means accepting that there are things in life that are not working out. When you let go of them, you help clear the road toward success.

12. Stop giving up on who you are meant to be.
If you want to be successful, you have to stop settling. Spend every single minute of every single day working toward who you are meant to be; it will not happen on its own. Start working toward your purpose.

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BY LOLLY DASKAL 
@LollyDaskal