A few hours a day separates the successful from everyone else, according to Tom Corley

All of us on planet Earth have just about 23 hours and 56 minutes a day to use as we wish. Therefore, each of us, rich or poor, successful or not, is entitled to the same amount of this most precious resource: Time.

Now, according to research done by Tom Corley, who spent approximately five years surveying and researching very successful people, almost all adults use about 20 hours a day doing similar types of general activities such as working, commuting, family-rearing, sleeping, eating, bathing, grooming, and dressing...

If we do the math, that leaves about 20% of a day's time unaccounted for. And, if Corley's research is correct, the activities that we choose to do during these precious few hours are responsible for the very different outcomes we experience in our lives: triumph or failure, achievement or defeat, realization or unfulfillment.

So, what do successful people do during these "extra" 4 hours?

For starters, for one hour a day, they proactively think, or, to be more accurate, they dream about what they want to accomplish in life and how they will go about doing so. Dream-setting activities involve the pursuit of long-term aspirations. Typically, this is something outside of work, such as engaging in some side hustle or spending time creating one or more additional streams of income, etc.

For another hour each day, they deliberate invest time in learning or practicing important skills. The high achievers regularly practice some related expertise and devoted time to increasing their knowledge related to whatever proficiency, career, or industry they want to excel on. This daily habit helps them maintain and improve their competence level, making them virtuosos in whatever it is they want to achieve mastery on.

For half an hour a day, the winners in life invariably devote themselves to some form of physical exercise. Numerous scientific studies have now shown the many benefits of such activities as they improve countless aspects of our lives, including our overall health and mental functions. By exercising you become a healthier individual, and healthier people have fewer sick days, more energy, less stress, more happiness, which in turn translates into more active and productive days, which makes you more valuable to your organization and customers, which ultimately brings about more accomplishments and profits.

Another half an hour a day is deployed, by the self-accomplished people, to building harmonious and rich relationships. So, what, more specifically, do they do to maintain and grow powerful relationships? a) Networking: Participating in or running business organizations, non-profits, or trade associations. b) Hello calls: Calling important relationships just to say hello. Happy birthday calls: Calling the people who matter on their birthdays. c) Life event calls: Making calls to people who matter, who have had a baby, gotten married, experienced a death in the family, etc. Life-event calls are critical because life events are always emotion-based and emotions create powerful memories. They will remember you and your call.

For another hour each day, most successful people engage in relaxation and leisure activities. The self-made are not superhuman. Like everyone else, they require some daily downtime. The difference between them and everyone else is that they restrict that downtime to no more than an hour a day.

Therefore, how you spend your time each day determines your level of success in life. Every productive moment accrues surpluses and premiums which, in the long run, accumulate into vast resources. The high achievers forge daily habits that make excellent use of their resources and assets (time, relationships, health, wealth). They stick to their daily routines with discipline, commitment, and dedication, come hell, or high water. Over time, these daily habits have a cumulative effect that eventually shows up in the form of increased rates of success in whatever they choose to accomplish throughout their lives.

Remember: every second counts!