Arianna Stassinopoulus was born in Greece, Athens, on July 15, 1950. She studied at the University of Cambridge and published her first book with Random House in 1974.
Following a romance with an American writer, Arianna moved to the United States in 1980. Three years later she would publish her acclaimed 'Maria Callas: The Woman Behind the Legend'.
“You have to do what you dream of doing even while you’re afraid.”
In 1986, she married Michael Huffington and became Arianna Huffington. She ran for the California governorship against Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2003 and launched the lauded 'The Huffington Post' in 2005.
Quite an incredible journey, wouldn't you agree? Sometimes tells me Arianna is not done yet -- she has kept publishing relevant and meaningful books, -- and neither are you! Today I'm going to share with you Arianna's 4 little habits that have led her time, and time again towards success.
1. Getting enough sleep
Arianna believes we have to build a foundation for success. Just like building a house -- if the foundation isn't strong enough, everything else will fall apart. Success works exactly the same way.
In order to set yourself up for success, you need to start getting enough sleep. There are plenty of studies out there which will tell you the best hours to get some rest.
I believe as long as you sleep long enough for your body to rest, that's fine. Some people need 6 hours, others need 8, and there are those that can't live without their 10 hours of sleep.
All you have to do is listen to your body and make sure you stop when you see the signs. Exhaustion comes because we tend to ignore all the alarms and decide instead to charge on, fooling ourselves into thinking that's the right attitude.
“We think, mistakenly, that success is the result of the amount of time we put in at work, instead of the quality time we put in.
Are you a night owl? Not a problem. Do you prefer to rise early with the Sun? We got you covered, too. In the end, it doesn't matter when exactly do you sleep, as long as you do sleep. Our bodies didn't all come out of the same manufacturing line, so our sleeping habits will differ, too.
2. Exercise
This should be part of everyone's habits, period. There are no excuses for you to not commit to some form of exercise nowadays. From public parks to gyms, YouTube channels and iPhone apps, the choices are endless.
Pick something you can see yourself enjoying (eventually) and give it a try. Don't go to extremes, though -- if you don't have this habit yet, don't start by aiming to exercise every day. However, don't set too low of a goal.
If you shoot for 2-3 days of exercise per week, you'll immediately notice your productivity shoot for the moon. Really, try anything. And don't be afraid to change your plans if it's not working.
For those of you who just can't commit -- and can afford it, -- a personal trainer might be a solution. An alternative to it would be to find a gym buddy who holds you accountable.
3. Meditation
If you still haven't tried meditation, you should stop reading this right now and do it. Just give it a shot, already! It doesn't mean you're into the mystical arts, or you're betraying your beliefs.
Meditation isn't exclusive to the monks and it is the equivalent of physical exercise for your brain. Taking some time off your day, every day, to just sit down and collect your thoughts will have greater repercussions in your life than you can imagine.
“If you take care of your mind, you take care of the world.”
The art of meditation is about understanding your thoughts and feelings; taking control of your narrative, and changing your behavior from reactive to an active participant in life. If you check out any of my previous blog posts, you will see many of the great names have joined the meditation train.
4. Eating healthy
Are you surprised? Probably not. Many -- if not all, -- successful people point out the benefits of leading a healthy and balanced diet. Again, as we discussed earlier, our bodies have different needs, so we all need different diets.
A healthy diet where I'm from might be completely foreign where you're from. You can, of course, observe some golden rules -- avoid too many sweets, don't eat fried food every day, stay away from fast food at all costs, and always try to have a plate filled with as much different colored food as possible.
If you do wish to follow a strict diet, I highly encourage you to check with a nutritionist. What I've done, sometimes, is to journal on my Bullet Keeper the diet I'm on and how I'm following it. These way, I can always look back and analyze what worked best and what didn't.
That's generally my advice for anything in life. Get your hands on a Bullet Keeper and journal away. The more time you take to sit down and take a look at your life, the easier it is for you to identify your strengths and weaknesses. The beauty of the Bullet Keeper is it allows you to have a look at your whole week, for example, at a glance.
There you have it. The secret to a successful life lies in creating and keeping simple but powerful habits. When you take care of your foundation, you're setting yourself up for a life of success. Easy, right?