28 Things Successful Professionals Do To Become Even More Successful

(Forbes) -- It's mid-February and highly likely that you haven't started implementing your New Year's resolutions yet.

Most people will beat themselves up over their proclivity for procrastination, which will only make matters worse.

I advise you to stop this negative thought process immediately, accept that you haven’t done anything productive to move your life forward and just start anew.

One of the true beauties of life is that we can have a do-over, reinvent ourselves and keep on trying. In addition to your own personal goals, I’d like to share some tips that I’ve learned from successful corporate executives over the years that you may want to incorporate into your own lives.

These are some of the things they do—and avoid doing—to fast track their careers and succeed.

1. This time around, write down your goals and share them with people close to you. Physically write them down in an elementary-school-style notebook. When it's down on paper in black and white, it all of a sudden becomes real. As you tell others about it, you’ll then have skin in the game and are likely to be even more committed now that people will be tracking your progress.
2. Stop the partying and pursuing short-term highs that distract you from your important goals. Don’t go out on weeknights at all— or at least not too much. While you think you can handle it, your co-workers notice the sneaking in late, the unkempt appearance, the constant nodding off in the afternoon and a whiff of alcohol or weed.
3. Put the phone down and actually take time to read nonfiction books. Try to learn as much as possible about your industry. Reading will help you discover smart management techniques—if you would like to manage. Read about startups if you want to build a business. You won't go very far if you spend your free time arguing with strangers on Twitter, scrolling through ex-girlfriends on Facebook or looking at everyone else’s supposed glamorous lives on Instagram. These things will suck up most of your time and actually make you feel worse about yourself.
4. Have real conversations with your spouse and children at the dinner table. This is a time to learn about their daily lives and concerns. Pretty soon, they’ll be out of the house and you’ll learn too late that you don't know them. Having a good solid homelife will give you the support, strength and motivation to work harder. You won't have additional stress at home on top of what you deal with at the office and will want to work harder for your family.
5. Too many people get caught up with working for the sake of working. The busier they are, the more they brag about how busy they are. Somehow, this is equated with success. Step back and analyze what you are doing. If it is not productive, stop the activity right now and move onto something else that is building your career and moving it forward.
6. Take good care of your health. Go to your doctors for annual check-ups and other needs. Jog, do yoga, ride a bike or participate in competitive sports. If you are not physically healthy, it becomes harder—especially as you get older—to have the strength to work hard and succeed.
7. Surround yourself with people that intellectually challenge you and are different from you on paper. Find hobbies or activities where you can interact with people of all ages, religions, races and economic levels. It will take you outside of your little bubble, open your vistas, widen your network and you’ll learn more, which can be useful in your work.
8. I’m not sure if this is everywhere, but in my suburban New Jersey town, when some people hit a certain age, they’ve completely given up on trying to keep up with fashion and new trends. Their clothes, musical tastes, eyewear and vocabulary are stuck in another time period. While it may sound superficial, people judge you by your appearance and speech. If you look and sound like you are from another bygone era, management will believe that you’re not up to today’s fast-paced and ever-changing landscape.
9. Take some time out to spend with friends and family, sign up for a continuing education class, start a new hobby or adopt a rescue puppy or kitten. These activities will alleviate your stress and make you more human and likable. It will mentally balance out the long and tough days at work.
10. Don't let negative people bring you down. It's a weird thing that even your best friends and close family are—at times—happy when you fail. They’re also not overjoyed with your success. You have to reevaluate this type of relationship. Most often, their poor attitude is due to their own internal issues and personal shortcomings.
11. Tell people that you’re looking for a new job, so they can offer you assistance and possibly give you leads on potential opportunities. However, don't constantly complain that you hate your job. Nobody likes to hear a person who continually complains. They will start avoiding you.  Also, if you haven't found a new job in a couple of months, they’ll think—in addition to you being a whiner—that you don't have the courage to change your circumstances.
12. Learn a few jokes, anecdotal stories and a grasp of recent sporting events or pop culture references, even if you’re not interested in them. Having this broad knowledge is a great way to break the ice and start a conversation during an interview, cut the tension in a meeting or an opening to speak with a stranger at a networking event.
13. As important as your job is, don’t let it come to define you as a person. One day, it may all be gone and then you’ll be left with no identity. This will then make it harder to mentally bounce back and find something new.
14. Stop talking about where you went to college, your fancy upscale neighborhood, exotic vacations and expensive cars. It won't impress anyone and will make them intensely dislike you. They will think that you are a pretentious bore.
15. Put as much time as possible working in your 20s to early 40s, so that you can enjoy those efforts and reap the benefits over the next 40 years.
16. Decide how much your time is worth. Delegate everything you can to others. I have a friend who is a partner at a law firm. We coached Little League Baseball together and he would always tell me he had to run home after the game to mow the lawn, do the landscaping and other chores. I would question him on why he would do all of this stuff in which he hated. Since he could bill $500 an hour at his law firm, why wouldn't he pay $30 a week to a professional landscaper (who would do a much better job), freeing up his time to earn an additional couple thousand of dollars?
17. Accept the glass of water or cup of coffee from the interviewer, even if you don't want it. When someone gives you something, they form a bond with you. Also, the likelihood is that halfway through the interview, you would like a drink of water and then it would be a bother and pushy to ask them to fetch one for you.
18. If you perspire, wear an undershirt to the interview. If you have to take your suit jacket off and you’re a person who sweats profusely, it will be an ungodly sight.
19. If you kindly offer to help a colleague at the office, make sure you finish the project or task. If you don’t, the good will established with the generous offer will quickly turn to disdain. The person who relied upon you is now left holding the bag and stuck trying to figure it out by herself.
20. Do push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks or take a long walk around the office building before your interview. These activities get your blood flowing, increase your adrenaline, improve your mindset and get you pumped up.
21. Try to always be cool. When you find yourself in an unfamiliar or unusual work situation, act as if you you’ve been there or seen it all before. It's not an attractive look to panic at what seems like a bad event (especially when it's not) or to celebrate and spike the football, as if you scored a touchdown in the Super Bowl, when it's perceived as a no-brainer to those in the know.
22. When you’re out of the office, leave your suit jacket on the back of your chair, a half cup of coffee and quarter of an eaten bagel on your desk and music playing on your computer. People will think that you are the guy who is always in early, staying late well into the evening and working hard.
23. There will always be someone earning more money, having a higher corporate title or seemingly living a better life than you. Don't let it bother you. You never know the problems others are dealing with. It's okay for others to be successful, as it does not take away from your own accomplishments. If you constantly compare yourself to others, you’ll never be happy. The only person you should compare yourself to is the person you were yesterday.
24. Try not to wear too much, if any, perfume or cologne to an interview. The interviewer may be allergic, not a fan of the scent or made nauseous by the smell. It's not worth the risk.
25. Avoid getting angry and developing a feud with a co-worker or boss. It takes too much time and energy holding onto a long-term grudge. You can, however, channel this hateful feeling and let it spur you on to spite the other guy.  Then, when you succeed, you can bask in it. It's much more productive than engaging in a never-ending game of corporate tit for tat.
26. Be the person you want to be 100% of the time, rather than the 10% you’re usually at.
27. For men, stay away from ostentatious jewelry, such as pinky rings or gold chains. It's not a sophisticated look.
28. Change your vocabulary so that you don't say things like, “It is what it is,” while shrugging your shoulders. “I guess the rich just get richer,” “That will never work,” “We’ve always done it this way” and “Who did he sleep with to get that job?” should all be stricken from your conversations. These statements reflect a defeatist attitude. People prefer positive attitudes.