Slickdeals, an online couponing site, commissioned a survey of 2,000 American adults in an effort to better understand impulse purchases.

One startling find was that the average American engages in three impulse purchases a week. This impulse spending habit costs the consumer about $450 per month, $5,400 per year and $324,000 over their lifetime.

Now, let’s flip the switch on this. What if you were an average 25 year old who didn’t have this Impulse Spending Poor Habit and, instead, invested that $5,400 every year in something that grew at a rate of 6% a year?

After sixty years, that 25 year old would have $3,057,026.

Eliminating one Poor Habit, Impulse Spending, and adding one Rich Habit, Saving $5,400 a year, would make the average person a multi-millionaire over the course of their lifetime.

Habits are the reason your are rich or poor.

Habits are the reason you are lean or overweight.

Habits are the reason you are knowledgeable or ignorant.

Habits are the reason you are skilled or unskilled.

Habits are the reason you are healthy or unhealthy.

Habits are the reason you have an abundance of friends or very few friends.

Habits are the reason you live in a home by the beach, or a shanty in the inner city.

Habits matter. They determine the quality of your life.

Go to school, get good grades, go to college, get a good job after graduating college, get a car, get engaged, have a wedding, rent an apartment, furnish that apartment, after three years – buy a home, furnish that home, have 2-3 children, buy a bigger home further from work, buy a 2nd car – a van or SUV, every five years buy or lease new cars, commute 30 – 50 minutes to work from your bigger home, repair and improve your bigger home, repair your cars, enroll your kids in sports, take vacations, send your kids to college, retire.

These are the stages of life for many around the world.

At each stage, is a battle for your time, your money and your mind.

At each stage, your enemy seeks to force you into certain habits that ensure they win the battle for your time, your money and your mind.

Their weapon of choice is habits.

Their goal is to force you into habits that will enable them to capture your time, your money and your mind:

• Bankers – The habit they force upon you is the Debt Habit. They offer debt to help you fund each stage of your life. Once that Debt Habit is forged, they win the battle for your future earnings.
• Retailers – The habit they force upon you is the Spending Habit. They offer you products to purchase at each stage of your life. Once that Spending Habit is forged, they win the battle for your current and future money.
• Media – The habit they force upon you is the Time Wasting Habit. They offer you content to watch, hear or listen. Once that Time Wasting Habit habit is forged, they win the battle for your mind.

These enemies use habits to enslave you for life.

But there’s a new counter-weapon that can turn the tables on your enemies. This counter-weapon is called Rich Habits. And I am its commander-in-chief.

Don’t surrender to your enemies.

Don’t become their slave.

Join my army.

And win back your freedom!

In a 2013 American Workplace Study by Gallop, 70% polled admitted to not liking their job.

Why?

There were many reasons, but the #1 reason why people didn’t like what they were doing for a living was – they were pursuing the dreams and goals of someone else – their employer.

When you put your ladder on someone else’s wall, climbing it eventually becomes a chore.

How many have spent the better part of their adult lives climbing a ladder that is resting on someone else’s wall?

A parent, a teacher, an advisor, a friend, relative, or some other significant presence in your life, very likely directed you to the wall you’ve been climbing the better part of your adult life.

Most people do what they do for a living because they followed the well-intentioned advice of some influencer; someone they respected and looked up to.

Those who mean well are offering advice they believe is best for you.

But, honestly, how could anyone, but you, know what is best for you?

When you pursue someone else’s dreams or goals, you are living someone else’s life.

You are not living your unique, authentic life.

When you are not living your unique, authentic life:

• You are unhappy
• Work becomes a chore
• Your life lacks purpose and fulfillment
• Money scarcity results

When you pursue your own goals and dreams, only then are you truly living your unique, authentic life.

The first thing you will notice is that your perception of work changes. Work ceases to be a chore, when it’s built around your dreams and goals. You will like or love what you are doing for a living because your efforts now have a purpose and work brings fulfillment.

The second thing you will notice is a shift in your mindset from negative to positive. You will suddenly become upbeat, optimistic and enthusiastic. You will shift from a problem-finder to a problem-solver. You will see opportunities around every corner.

The third thing you will notice is that you feel happy.

Lastly, you will begin to experience success and the fruit success produces – wealth. Money is no longer a scarcity.

Living your unique, authentic life by pursuing your dreams and goals is the key to a life filled with purpose, happiness, success, and the byproduct of success, wealth.

“When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bounds. Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.”  Patanjali

Asking for what you want or need is a Rich Habit.

Ask for help, ask for favors, ask for support for your initiatives.

If you don’t ask you won’t get.

Fear, unfortunately, holds most back from asking.

Fear of rejection, fear of being indebted or obligated to someone because they gave you some help, fear associated with deepening a relationship.

Self-made millionaires are successful for many reasons. One reason is they overcome their fears.

If you get turned down or ignored, do what my friend Mark Victor Hansen suggests – say “next” and move on to the next person.

In time, you will get a “yes” and this helps build confidence. Through repetition, asking becomes just another Rich Habit.

Start small. Ask for little things at first. Build up an immunity to rejection around things that don’t matter too much. After some time, you’ll lose your timidity and will start asking for bigger things. You will get many no’s but you will be surprised by how many are willing to give you what you want or need.

Sleep is by far the most important Rich Habit for good health. Inadequate sleep has the following negative repercussions:

1. Reduction in Leptin – Leptin is a hormone that signals it is time to stop eating. Inadequate sleep reduces the concentration of this very important hormone, leading you overeat.
2. Increase in Ghrelin – Ghrelin is a hormone that signals it is time to eat. Inadequate sleep increases the production of this hormone, leading you to overeat.
3. Increase in Blood Sugar Levels – Insulin is a hormone that circulates throughout your bloodstream, notifying your cells to open specific channels on their cell walls to take in glucose, thus removing glucose from the bloodstream. Inadequate sleep causes the cells to become unresponsive to insulin, thus, glucose is not absorbed by the cells, causing high blood sugar levels to continue unabated.
4. Increases Blood Pressure – Sleep deactivates the sympathetic nervous system, which amps up during the day, while you are awake. High blood pressure is the result of an overactive sympathetic nervous system and causes blood vessel walls inside the coronary artery to stretch and become damaged, leading to atherosclerosis, or the build up of calcium deposits (plaques) on artery walls.
5. Decrease in Growth Hormone – Growth Hormone is the great healer of the body – it helps heal damage done to your blood vessels during your waking day. During normal sleep, Growth Hormone surges, cleaning up the mess to blood vessels caused by being awake. Inadequate sleep reduces the production of Growth Hormone, damaging the vascular plumbing throughout the body.
6. Increases Atherosclerosis – Side effect of prolonged, increased blood pressure, caused by inadequate sleep.
7. Increases Weight Gain – Side effect of decrease in Leptin and increase in Ghrelin, as a result of inadequate sleep.
8. Decrease in Memory – Deep Non-Rem sleep occurs throughout the night but is more prominent during the last few hours of sleep. During Deep Non-Rem sleep, the hippocampus transfers information it acquired during the day to different parts of the cortex for purposes of long-term memory storage. Inadequate sleep means you lose those precious few hours of sleep and this impairs memory.
9. Decrease in Immune System – Inadequate sleep depresses your immune system. A depressed immune system can lead to diseases such as cancer, autoimmune disorders,  heart disease, and many other diseases.
10. Increase in Risk of Alzheimers – Amyloid plaque and the protein Tu are removed from brain cells during sleep. Inadequate sleep shortens this janitorial process, causing the build up of these two brain-destroying toxins.
11. Decrease in Testosterone – Testosterone is critical to the maintenance of bone density and muscle strength. During sleep, Testosterone surges, repairing any damage to bones or muscles. Inadequate sleep throws a wrench into this damage-repair process.
12. Decrease in Willpower Energy – You Willpower Rain Barrel becomes empty during the day, while awake. During a full night’s sleep, this rain barrel is completely restored. Inadequate sleep keeps the Willpower Rain Barrel from being filled and this means less willpower energy the following day. Willpower energy is critical to making good decisions and focus. Thus, lake of adequate sleep translates into bad decisions and a lack of focus.

According to sleep researcher Matthew Walker, PhD, the optimal amount of sleep required each day is a range between 7 – 8.5 hours.

Success in business is actually a very simple formula – keep your customers or clients happy.

How do you create happy customers or clients? 

1. Produce value-added products or services and/or
2. Meet or exceed the expectations of those you serve with those products or services.

If your business is struggling, and keeping or acquiring customers or clients is difficult, there are likely two reasons for this:

1. Perceived Inferior Value and/or
2. Perceived Failure to Meet or Exceed Expectations.
   

But, how do you know your customers or clients are not happy with your product or service? 

• Your customers or clients leave you the moment something goes wrong.
• Your customers or clients find a competitor who can provide what you provide, at a lower price.
• Your customers or clients leave you for a competitor, who actually charges more than you.
• Lack of Referrals – If your customers or clients are not regularly referring new customers or clients to you, that is a red flag. Customers or clients will make referrals if they are happy with the product or service you provide. They will not make referrals if they are unhappy with your products or service.

Happy customers or clients see your product or service as superior (value added) or are consistently satisfied or wowed by your product or service (expectations met or exceeded).

Unhappy customers or clients believe your product or service is inferior and/or your product or service consistently fails to meet their expectations.