It took the average self-made millionaire in my study 32 years to become “rich”. That’s a long time, don’t you think? I asked many of the millionaires if they ever got so disheartened that they wanted to quit. Most responded by saying that I was looking at it all wrong. They said, they never felt like they were pushing a ball up a hill, hoping for some reward at some point. They were all on autopilot in a sense. Working hard every day, not to ring the bell, but because they liked what they were doing and believed one day all their hard work would pay off. I consolidated this lesson into the following quote:

You can only control your efforts in life, you cannot control the outcomes.

They weren’t saying don’t believe in yourself. What they were actually saying is don’t lose faith in yourself. Just do your best every day. That’s all you need to worry about. Don’t set expectations so high that when you fail to realize them you become depressed. They even suggested not to have any expectations for outcomes.

That really confused me because I was always taught by all of the self-help experts out there to set very specific goals with very specific time tables for achievement. But thanks to my research, I learned for the first time in my adult life what a goal really was. I’ve since written about the real definition of a goal. Here’s one of those posts: The Self-Made Millionaire Goal-Setting Process http://richhabits.net/how-millionaire-achieve-their-goals/.

When you set expectations too high and fail to achieve them it will take you down emotionally. Do that too often and you might just quit pursuing your dream. For this reason, self-made millionaires don’t focus on the outcomes. That just messes up your mind. They understand that there are many moving parts to realizing a dream and not all of those variables fall into place just because you will them to. The only thing to focus on is your efforts. Taking specific action is the real definition of a goal, not some number. All you can control is how hard you work in the pursuit of your dream. That’s all you need to focus on. When you persist and never give up, life eventually rewards you with success. Success is the realization of each one of your dreams by taking action. Actions = goals, not outcomes.

I was putting the final touches on my latest book yesterday. The editor wanted me to include some citations regarding some of the statistics I referenced in the book. One of those statistics related to optimism. The stat was:

70% of the people you run into in life are pessimistic and only 30% are optimistic.

There are a lot of variables that go into the self-made millionaire stew. Optimism is one of the most important variables. So too is a high tolerance for risk, which is only possible when you believe in yourself. The risk I’m talking about is calculated risk. This is very different from reckless risk, the type of risk most failures in life take. Optimism and calculated risk are joined at the hip. Your tolerance for risk will only be as great as your level of optimism. High risk tolerance requires high optimism. Low risk tolerance is caused by low optimism, also known as pessimism. Risk, however, can push you to the limit. When things are not going well, this risk can cause enormous stress. The only thing to make that risk tolerable is optimism. It’s like a seesaw. The level of your optimism balances out the level of calculated risk you are willing to take.

Elon Musk is perhaps the best modern day example of someone who was willing to take enormous calculated risk, putting everything he had on the line. His over the top optimism made that possible. He used it to inspire everyone he came into contact with. The investors, employees, the government, even NASA took risks others would find intolerable. And boy did they all need that over the top optimism. At the end of 2008, Musk and all of his companies were on the verge of outright bankruptcy. His Falcon 1 rocket had failed to reach orbit for the third time in early August, 2008. He had gone through most of his $223 million plus he had gone through most of the hundreds of millions venture capitalists and the government had invested in SpaceX and Tesla. Everything hinged on that fourth flight in September, 28 2008. If it too failed, it was over. Only it didn’t fail. The first privately built rocket made orbit. Musk was able to cobble together enough money to get them through the end of December, 2008. On December 28, 2008 NASA awarded SpaceX with a $1.6 billion contract.

The rest, as they say is history. Today, Musk is estimated to be worth $10 billion. His companies are changing the world. What saved the day for Musk was optimism. He, and the people he surrounded himself with, were infected by his optimism. They were all willing to devote their lives and their money to his cause. Musk made them believe they could change the world. the greater your optimism, the greater your tolerance for risk. Those with the most optimism are willing to take the most risk. High optimism, when combined with a high tolerance for risk, is what turns ordinary people into millionaires and even billionaires.