If you want the best -you have to invest in the best, and the investment must start today.

Here are 20 success habits that you can begin today so you can be successful in the future.

1. If there’s a way to do it better- find it.

Start now to increase your commitment to actively and consciously creating your future instead of waiting for good things to happen. Shift some of the energy you put into coping into creating a better reality.

2. Old ways won’t open new doors.

Just as you have to prioritize saving for long-term financial goals, you have to prioritize your personal development and self-improvement if you want to become the kind of person who can face any challenge.

3. Make time for self care.

Whatever your age now, in five years you’ll be…well, five years older. You can make it five years of getting used to the damaging practice of sitting at a desk all day or five years of cultivating the energizing and beneficial habit of regular exercise.

4. Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.

What could you accomplish with a gift of 900 hours? Save just 30 minutes of wasted time a day, and that’s what you’ll have in five years.

5. If your life is worth living, it’s worth recording.

The habit of reflective writing, even a short daily passage, can make you more productive. It also helps clear out the cobwebs and gives you a record to look back on.

6. Keep searching until you find what you want.

It’s easy to settle for what’s in front of you, but the best leaders see opportunities where others see nothing. Begin now to discipline yourself to seek out answers, do research, and look for solutions rather than problems.

7. Slow down so you can speed up.

Learn now how to slow down your internal pace. It will be a vital skill in a world where things move even faster than they do now.

8. Trust is earned when actions meet words.

Trust is a fragile thing, Easy to break, easy to lose and one of the hardest things to ever get back, especially when you looking to create partnerships and relationships that will help you succeed.

9. Reading changes lives.

Avid readers have a wealth of knowledge and experiences. It’s easy to let the reading habit fall off when life gets busy, but you owe it to your future to make the time.

10. Balance isn’t something you find, it’s something you create.

Priorities tend to become even more challenging as you move through life. Work now to build balance among your competing priorities. Learn what balance feels like and appreciate its gifts so you can maintain it into the future.

11. Every choice you make has an end result.

If you’re at a point in life where it’s a temptation to switch to autopilot, keep yourself making intentional choices every day based on your life plan and long-term goals. Don’t allow your life to become a clumsy series of unplanned events and outcomes.

12. Flexibility is the key to stability.

We’ve heard it a million times: The only constant is change. That means the most important skill is the ability to embrace change and adapt.

13. Never stop learning because life never stops teaching.

The capacity to learn is a gift, the ability to learn is a skill, the willing to learn will always be up to you, learning can be attained through reading, paying attention, and by deliberate efforts to stay on top of current developments in your field, community, country, and the world. When you are open to learning you are open to growing.

14. All the world is a laboratory to the inquiring mind.

Pay attention to what’s going on around you, and if you don’t know or understand something, ask. Always ask.

15. True humility is staying humble, regardless of how much you already know.

I believe the first test of a truly successful person lies within their humility. Humility is the solid foundation of all virtues.

16. Tough times don’t last, resilient people do.

Learn now to finish what you start and developing the discipline to stick with what you’re doing, even when the excitement and novelty have worn off, even when it’s no longer fun, that is resilience.

17. Think and be positive, and positive things will happen.

Invest in the future with a spirit of making every day a great day. Don’t give toxic people or negativity the slightest foothold, and commit to staying positive through good times and bad.

18. Learn to go confidently in the direction of your dreams.

If you have tendencies toward people-pleasing and a need for approval, start now to replace them with confidence. Belief in yourself is a valuable asset to carry into the future.

19. Gratitude turns what you have into enough.

Wherever you find yourself in five years, you’ll be a happier person if you learn to be thankful for whatever you have. It is not happy people who are thankful, it is thankful people who are happy and successful.

20. The meaning of life is to give life meaning.

Be ready to set new standards, higher than the ones you have today. The meaning of life is to find your gift, the purpose of life is to give it away.