The Marine Corps is seen by civilians as an organization made up of disciplined professionals — and this assumption is not wrong. It’s a reputation that we’ve been building ever since we decided to start a war-fighting force at a bar in Philadelphia. Now, in the modern day, we’re seen as these hard*sses who get things done. But none of this would be possible without first building good habits.
We’re known for being great planners and time managers because we devise plans so meticulous that we even know what color socks we’re going to wear a week in advance. We build routines, we formulate habits, and we execute with precision. And when we get out, many Marines hold on to some of these habits, and these habits continue to contribute to daily success for the rest of our lives.
Here are just a few of the Marine habits that will improve your daily performance and overall success.
1. Reverse planning
This is the concept of first determining a deadline and then planning backwards from there on how you plan to meet said deadline. Using this concept, you’ll be able to determine exactly how much work is in front of you and accomplish tasks on time. You’ll also reduce stress and anxiety knowing, at a glance, that the big bad deadline isn’t sneaking up on you.
When you reach that final objective, you’ll feel much better.
(U.S. Marine Corps photo)
2. Double checking everything
Us Marines have do this thing where we pat ourselves down to make sure we have everything on our person that we need for the day, just how we’d inspect our gear numerous times to make sure we had everything we needed for a mission.
If you adopt this habit, you’ll rarely forget any of the essentials — you’ll just never leave home without them.
3. Clean your living space on a regular basis
You might not think this will help improve your entire life, but it does. Having a clean home promotes a healthy lifestyle and doing the mundane, repetitive tasks to keep it neat is what builds discipline. Plus, when you get done, you see the results. Nothing makes you feel better about accomplishing a task than seeing positive results.
Set aside time now to get help in the long run.
(U.S. Marine Corps)
4. Prepare for the next day before you go to bed
If you take half an hour or so each night before to prepare yourself for the next morning, you won’t have to scramble each day before work or school. Set up your clothes in the bathroom, set your gear keys next to the door, and all you need to do is grab and go.
5. Pay attention to small details
Paying close attention to detail will help you find minor problems that lead to much larger ones. The sooner you can identify a problem, the sooner you can devise a solution and resolve it. This type of skill can become lifesaving when refined.
This one is drilled into our heads pretty hard.
(U.S. Marine Corps)
This article originally appeared on We Are The Mighty
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