Most of us are very good followers. We do as we are told. We become accustomed doing as we are told. This habit forms early in life. Our parents, for our own good, make us do things we don’t want to do: wake up early for school, eat broccoli, do homework, house chores, etc. Doing what we are told is conditioned into us from the very beginning.

But then we become adults. Physiologically, this metamorphosis begins at about the age of fourteen and continues until about age eighteen. Some parents who recognize this transformation, slowly begin handing over decision-making for our lives to us. They encourage us to take individual responsibility. They let us make mistakes and experience some of life’s harsh realities and stand ready to offer advice and direction when things go wrong.

Unfortunately, parents like this are in the minority. Most continue to exert control over the lives of their children well into their twenties, preventing them from becoming independent thinkers and doers. They are sometimes referred to as helicopter parents. We pursue goals and dreams of our parents and not our own goals and dreams. We put our ladder on our parents’ wall and climb that ladder our entire lives. At some point, we realize we are unhappy doing what we are doing and become despondent or depressed about the work we do. This unhappiness usually begins to manifest in our mid to late thirties, when we have children of our own. We get stuck between a rock and a hard place because we believe we must continue to climb our ladder up our parents’  wall in order to provide for our family.

How do you break free? How can you take your ladder off that wall and move it? You need to take action on your goals and dreams. Devote small blocks of time every day in the pursuit of your own individual goals and dreams, either early in the morning, late at night or on the weekends. It is possible to climb your own wall if you devote the little amount of time you have every day, day in and day out. In the beginning it takes discipline. But once you get going your passion will take over and energize you. Eventually, this investment will get you higher up your ladder and closer to the top of your wall. You will begin to feel happy and enthusiastic as you climb your own wall.

Don’t wallow in self pity because you do not like what you do for a living. Take action. Put your ladder on your wall and start climbing it every day. Take action today.

We are all born geniuses. Each of us is gifted with unlimited potential to grow and express our genius. Unfortunately, along the way, we accumulate limited, negative beliefs that act like brakes, stopping us from activating our individual genius. The good news is that it is never too late to unleash your genius. Our brains have the capacity to grow well into our eighties. So how do you unleash your genius?

• Pursue something outside of work that you are passionate about. Start today.
• Engage in some creative hobby or extracurricular activity 15-30 minutes today.
• Read to learn for just 15-30 minutes today.
• Practice optimism by looking for one thing to be grateful about in your life today.
• Praise one person today for something positive or good they did today.
• Read something inspirational today.
• Journal only about positive things that happened in your life each day.
• Set and achieve one small goal today.
• Learn one new fact today.
• Learn one new word today.

Your brain expands when you engage in positive growth activities. Making small daily self improvements helps unleash your genius. Today is as good a time to unleash your genius.

I became an entrepreneur so that I could become a multi-millionaire.

Why do you want to become a multi-millionaire?

Becoming a multi-millionaire means I never have to worry about money.

Why does having more money mean less worry?

Because having money means I never have to worry about paying my bills and paying off my mortgage?

Why do you want to have enough money so you don’t have to worry about paying your bills and paying off your mortgage?

Because becoming a multi-millionaire means I won’t have to constantly work and make money to pay my bills and pay off my mortgage.

Why is less work important to you?

Because if I don’t have to work as much I can spend more time with my family.

Why do you want to spend more time with your family?

Because I am happiest when I am with my family.

Your ultimate true WHY puts all of your dreams and goals within reach. You must know WHY you want something. Your WHY must have powerful emotions behind it: happiness for you or your family, to get healthy, to leave your mark on life (legacy), to help improves the lives of the poor, children, battered women, the addicted, the homeless, society, to teach something profound, etc. If your core WHY does not get you emotionally charged and infuse you with passion, then you will eventually stop pursuing your dreams and goals. Willpower alone can only get you so far. Passion is behind every successful person. It is the fuel for success. The right WHY turns on the passion switch.

When we focus on our past mistakes, misfortunes and failures we anchor ourselves to victim thinking. We tie our current circumstances to our past. Successful people release their past by taking individual responsibility for their mistakes, misfortunes and failures. Then they pick themselves up and move on. If you focus on the past you are never going to be able to change your future. You need to release the past. The only thing that matters is what you do today to move your forward in life. The past is a prison cell that will hold you captive. The key to opening that prison cell is to focus on the future.

If you were to write your obituary today what would it say? Would it paint a picture of someone who went all out in life? Or would it paint a picture of someone who was controlled by their fears and doubts? For the most part, we all have the same amount of time. When your time is running out the last thing you want to feel is regret – regret for not doing more with your life, for not utilizing your full potential.

Each one of us is born a genius. The human brain has the capacity to turn thoughts and ideas into physical things. What are you creating with your incredible human brain? When the clock is winding down, you want to be able to feel that you at least tried to paint a masterpiece.

Why is pursuing success so important? Because success has its rewards:

• Happiness – Pursuing and achieving something you are passionate about brings you happiness
• Increased Wealth – While success is not just about creating wealth, the wealth you do create has a domino affect that impacts almost every aspect of your life.
• Growth – The pursuit of success expands your knowledge and your skills. It helps you grow into the person you need to be in order for success to happen.
• New Experiences – The brain likes novelty. Pursuing success introduces you to all sorts of new people, new ideas, new opportunities and new ways of thinking.
• More Opportunities – Success is like a magnet for opportunities. The more success you realize, the more opportunities present themselves.
• More Freedom – While there is a cost to pursuing success (hard work/long hours), that initial cost should be viewed as an investment that will pay dividends down the road. Oftentimes this future payout manifests itself in the form of more freedom: more money and more time to spend doing doing what you want to do.
•  Less Stress – Financial problems create an enormous amount of stress. According to a recent study by the Pew Research Center, 71% of the population in the world is either poor or near poverty. Struggling to pay bills, fund college tuition for your kids or simply survive day to day when you have little to no money creates constant, long-term stress.
• Peace of Mind – Knowing your financial future is secure gives you peace of mind.
• Greater Enthusiasm and Motivation – Success fuels your enthusiasm and motivates you like nothing else.
• Increased Confidence – When you succeed at anything, it grows your confidence. More success translates into more confidence.
• Ability to Help Others – When you are successful you can use your influence and your money to help causes you believe in. You can improve the lives of others.
• Increased Intelligence – Pursuing success requires that you gain new knowledge and new skills. This growth increases the number of synapses (brain cells that talk to one another) and also increase the size of axons (component of every brain cell). Neuroscientists have found that the greater the number of synapses one has, the larger your axons and the greater your intelligence.
• Improved Health – Success reduces many of the stresses ordinary individuals must contend with every day. Poverty or near poverty creates many stresses. Long-term stress increases the production of cortisol, which depresses your immune system making you susceptible to disease and infection.
• Increased Optimism – Success improves your outlook on life. It gives you the confidence that you can overcome obstacles, suppressing your doubts and fears.
• Enlightenment – The pursuit of success expands your view of the world and shines a light on your strengths and your weaknesses. It opens your mind to your true potential, which is unlimited.
• Increased Good Luck – Success is like a magnet for good luck. It draws individuals and opportunities to you. It opens doors that were previously closed to you.

As a result of my five year study of the habits of self-made millionaires I am often asked by the media what is the secret to success. If I were to boil down all of the data I’ve accumulated on the reasons for success I would have to boil it down to this:

The secret to success is:

The Persistent, Long-Term Focus on Something You are Intensely Passionate About.

Long-Term Focus – The ability to concentrate single-mindedly on one thing for however long it takes for you to become uncommonly expert in that one thing. In my research, I found this long-term period to be an average of twelve years. Twelve years devoted to becoming the best at what you do in one particular thing.

Passion – What makes it possible to focus for a long period of time is Passion. Passion = something you love doing and will continue to do until the day you die. Passion = activities you cannot stop engaging in and cannot stop thinking about. Eventually, these activities become habits.

There is a world of difference between willpower-based activities and passion-based activities. Willpower-based activities requires Forced Focus. This is a type of short-term focus that taxes the brain and uses a lot of brain fuel (glucose and oxygen). The brain becomes an involuntary partner and fights you when it perceives you are using too much brain fuel. And the brain always wins that battle.

Passion-based activities, on the other hand, utilizes something I call Unforced Focus. Unforced Focus enables you to engage in activities for longer periods of time. This unique type of focus eventually transforms passion-based activities into habitual activities. Think about a time when you found some activity you were really passionate about. Didn’t you want to engage in that activity every minute of every day? Eventually, you became so good at that activity that you could perform it in your sleep. It became a habit.

Tapping into Unforced Focus fast tracks habit formation and enables you to become an expert in your passion-based activity. Your brain wants you to engage in passion-based activities to save brain fuel and it will fight you when you engage in willpower-based activities because those activities expend too much brain fuel.

If you engage in passion-based activities, your brain becomes a voluntary partner and rewards you with this supernatural Unforced Focus. Unforced Focus leads to habit formation. Through habitual repetition, you eventually become an expert. And that leads to success.