In November 2016, the journal BMC Public Heath, published a study conducted in Finland over an eleven year period.  The study included 2,267 men and women. 121 of those men and women, who were identified as more pessimistic than the rest of the group, had died of coronary heart disease during the study’s eleven-year period.

The study concluded that pessimists were less inclined to healthy lifestyles and that optimists were more inclined towards healthier lifestyles. The study also found that pessimism impairs your immune system, while optimism, boosts your immune system.

So, in an effort to extend your life, I’d like to share some strategies to help boost optimism:

• Every day express gratitude for three things that went right yesterday. Gratitude is the gateway to optimism, so expressing gratitude every day acts like a force field, pushing pessimism to the side.
• Volunteer for some noble cause a few hours every week. I have a treasure trove of studies that indicate volunteering fosters a positive mental outlook by releasing oxytocin, a feel good hormone.
• Eat more vegetables. We have two brains – the one in our head and our Enteric Nervous System (ENS). The ENS is a complex system of about 100 million nerves found in the lining of the gut (small and large intestines). Inside this system are trillions of bacteria and other microorganisms. By eating more vegetables (and also berries, nuts, seeds, olive oil, beans, cauliflower and yogurt), you are feeding your gut with good bacteria. There are many Gut-Brain studies which show that healthy eating reduces the effects of stress, depression and pessimism by increasing the number of good bacteria inside the gut.
• Exercise aerobically, 20 – 30 minutes every day. Aerobic exercise increases the release of endorphins, another feel good hormone. Aerobic exercise also reduces stress. Stress is the gateway to negativity and pessimism.
• Stop Multitasking. Multitasking taxes the brain. According to a University London study, multitasking impairs brain function by sapping the brain of energy (glucose) and this has a particularly negative effect on the emotional center of the brain (amygdala).
• Express love and compassion. This results in the release of oxytocin, a feel good hormone.

Michael Jordan is a famed basketball legend. To this day he is considered the common standard of comparison used by basketball pundits around the world. His name has entered the lexicon of everyday language: “He or she is the Michael Jordan of neurosurgery,” or ” he or she is the Michael Jordan of accountants,” or “he or she is the Michael Jordan of teachers.”

As a freshman at Laney High School, Michael Jordan was cut from their High School basketball team. For most, that would have been the end of the story. But for Michael Jordan, being cut from the team only spurred him on to become a better basketball player. He used that failure, being cut from the team, as a motivator, not as a deterrent.

The vast majority, when they fail at something, put their tail between their legs and move on to something else. Great achievers, however, use failure as a motivator. Failure inspires and motivates high achievers to improve and better themselves.

In order to achieve at the highest levels you must get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Failure and mistakes are very uncomfortable experiences. Those who excel in life are able to channel the negative emotions they experience in defeat as a catalyst to spur them on. Instead of accepting defeat, high achievers double down and work harder to prove to the world they are not failures. They use revenge to prove those who rejected them wrong. Revenge can be a great motivator.

“I was an overnight success all right, but 30 years is a long, long night” – Ray Kroc

One of the self-made millionaires in my study owned and operated a number of retail clothing and faux jewelry stores.  There were parts of her business she loved, such as creating new product lines or talking to customers. But that only accounted for about 20% of her time. The other 80% was grinding it out stuff – managing retail staff, accounting for income and expenses, or paying bills. She hated the grind part of her business.

In order to get her through her day, she told me that she had a mantra she kept repeating to herself for fifteen years, while she was growing her business. “I’m just one break away.”

She had a dream that one day she would catch a big break which would change her life. What that one big break was, she didn’t know. She said she just had this deep down gut feeling that if she kept working hard and was smart about running her business, one day she would get lucky and catch a big break.

Eventually that big break came along when a large competitor decided to buy her business. It was a life-changing event. Her ship did come in, after being out to sea for fifteen years.

I heard many similar stories from the self-made millionaires I interviewed. Sixty-one percent were business owners. All grinding it out day after day, year after year. All hoping that one day their hard work, financial investment and persistence would pay off with some big break. They were part of my study because their big break did come along. They kept grinding it out until they got lucky.

As an author of five books now, I can tell you I know exactly how those self-made millionaires felt. Eighty percent of the author business is a grind. Every day I have to do certain things I don’t necessarily like, such as pitching the media or editing a book or an article. I don’t like pitching the media because 99.99999999998% of the time they ignore me. And I hate editing my own writing because, well, it’s grunt work. I have to look for typos, figure out if a comma is needed or analyze my sentence structure so that I don’t come off sounding like Rocky Balboa. I just hate the grind, the 80% of the business.

But, I love that 20% – the writing. So, like the self-made millionaires in my study, I grind it out every day in order to do what I love. And like that retail self-millionaire who got lucky, I keep telling myself every day, “I’m just one break away.”

The other morning I was dressing for work and caught an interview on Good Morning America of E. L. James, the author of Fifty Shades of Grey. I was somewhat shocked when the host highlighted the fact that James’ book had sold 165 million books worldwide. As I pondered that thought, my shock was replaced by dismay. It dawned on me that so many people only read for entertainment and not to learn.

The rich are rich because they don’t do what the 99% do. This 1% does not read Fifty Shades of Grey. They don’t read Harry Potter either, which has sold over 450 million books worldwide. What they do read are books that educate. According to my research on the wealthy:

• 85% read two or more books a month for education and learning purposes
• 63% listened to educational audio books during their commute to work
• 88% read 30 minutes or more each day for purposes of education and learning
• 58% read biographies of famous successful people
• 51% read history books
• 55% read self-help books

Only 11% of the rich read for entertainment purposes compared to 79% of the poor. Billionaires like Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg devote many hours a day to reading for purposes of learning.

In short, the rich deserve to be rich because they put in the work that success requires. And part of that work is reading to learn. If you only read for entertainment, you are one of the 99%. If you read to learn, you are doing what the top 1% do.

Success isn’t easy. It’s a process that requires doing certain things every day that help move you forward in life towards realizing your dreams and achieving the goals behind those dreams. Part of that process requires that you read every day for at least thirty minutes solely for purposes of self-education. If you ignore part of the process, the entire process breaks down.

Every year the Internal Revenue Service issues a report that shares data on the top 400 taxpayers. This report focuses on those returns with the largest Adjusted Gross Income. In 2014, you needed $126.8 million to make it on their list. Here’s how the top 400 made their money:

• 4.47% – Wages & Salaries
• 4.24% – Interest Income
• 10.89% Dividends
• 16.24% – Profits from Partnerships and Corporations
• 65.16% – Capital Gains

Most of the capital gains were the result of selling all or part of some business interest owned by the taxpayers. When you combine the last three categories, this equals 92.29%. This 92.29% is income derived from business ownership.  Owning an interest in a business, either as a stockholder, partner or sole proprietor, was the key to accumulating most of their wealth.

The odds of getting rich are stacked against those who derive their income from wages, since only 4.47% of the wealth of those in the report, became rich from their wages.

If you want to get rich, you must do what wealthy people do. They invest in businesses or create their own business. Since 80% or more of the wealthy come from poverty or the middle-class, this means you must either save enough money to invest in some business or you must create something on the side, some side business.

If you’re a great saver and want to become rich, you must take a risk with your savings by investing it in some business that will generate dividends, profits or capital gains upon the sale of your investment.

If you’re not a great saver, this means you must take a risk and invest your time and whatever money you do have in some business that will generate dividends, profits or capital gains upon it’s sale.

Either way, you must take risk in order to become rich and that risk typically involves some business investment.