It’s so easy to do the easy. It’s so hard to do the hard. The other night I came home from work, hungry, tired and in need of some R&R. Dinner was waiting for me on the counter. There was a cold beer in the refrigerator just screaming out at me. I went upstairs, took off my work clothes and then I saw my sneakers staring at me. Before any of the demon voices in my head started talking, I took my sneakers, put on my shorts and headed downstairs to my basement. I got on my stair master and for the next 40 minutes I sweat. When I was done I walked into the kitchen, heated up my dinner and cracked an ice cold beer. That dinner tasted so good. That beer, so cold and delicious. As I ate and drank, I felt happy.

It’s so easy to give in to temptation. But sacrificing, by delaying gratification until something important gets done first, makes the thing you delayed gratification on infinitely more rewarding. Our lives are the byproduct of our behavior and the choices we make. When we choose the easy, life’s immediate pleasures lose their flavor. When we choose the hard, life’s eventual pleasures are heightened.

Always choose the hard. Hard and Happiness share more in common than a few letters. They are life’s yin and yang.

I hate to tell you this, but your life is not under your control. Your behavior, your thinking, the choices and decisions you make, what you spend your money on, what you eat and drink, who you associate with, the T.V. shows you watch, the Internet sites you visit and so much more. Your life as you know it, if you’re like most, is one big zombie life.

We are all being bombarded, every day, with outside influences:  T.V ads, Internet pop ups, tweets, text messages, newspapers, the books you read and the habits you’ve adopted all influence your behavior and thinking. And there is only one way to regain control of your life.

AWARENESS. If you want to take control of your life it starts with AWARENESS. You must become aware of those things that are influencing your thinking and behavior. Here’s a process to help you do just that. Take out 7 pieces of paper. On each piece of paper write the following heading:

• Sheet #1 – My Daily Habits
• Sheet #2 – T.V. Shows I Watched
• Sheet #3 – Internet Sites I Visited
• Sheet #4 – Tweets/Social Media Messages I Read
• Sheet #5 – Topics I Read
• Sheet #6 – Topics of Conversation I Had With Others
• Sheet #7 – Ads I Viewed

On each separate sheet of paper make 7 columns, one for each day of the week. Now the fun begins. Every day write down and track each of your habits, T.V. Shows, Internet Sites, Tweets/Social Media Messages, Reading Topics, Conversation Topics and Ads Viewed. You can customize your headings on each sheet or add sheets to include other categories you feel are having an outside influence on your behavior and thinking (i.e. radio, movies, podcasts, webinars, talking on the cell phone, etc.). The purpose of this exercise is to identify those things that are influencing your behavior and thinking.

By the end of the week you will have a comprehensive list of most of the things that influence your behavior and thinking. Once you know what is influencing you, only then can you take control of your life by identifying and then eliminating those things that are having a negative influence on your behavior. Put a Negative sign “-” next to each item that you believe is negatively influencing your behavior and thinking. Change is only possible with AWARENESS. Once you become aware of those things that are negatively influencing your behavior and thinking, you can eliminate them from your daily life.

If you want to succeed in life, you absolutely must surround yourself with other successful people.

• Successful people are successful  because they have expert knowledge and skills in very specific niches. Unsuccessful people lack expertise in any one niche.
• Successful people surround themselves with other success-minded people who are also experts in their field. They have developed strong relationships with those successful people, whom they can tap at a moments notice. Unsuccessful people have relationships with unsuccessful or average people who also lack expertise.
• Successful people know how to get things done in a cost-effective and expeditious way. Because they lack expertise or the ability to tap into other experts, unsuccessful people tend to complicate things, which ends up costing you time and money.
• Successful people immediately add value to your life or to your business through their expertise or contacts. Unsuccessful people immediately add complications and problems to your life or your business.

Stay away from unsuccessful people. They cannot help you become successful in life. How do you know when someone is unsuccessful without looking at their bank statement? Unsuccessful people are easy to find if you know what to look for:

• They have a glaring character flaw I call Bright Shiny Object Syndrome. This is the Poverty Habit of shifting gears from one obsession to another, year after year. They claim to be many things, having an expertise in multiple areas, which is virtually impossible for them because they never stick to one thing for very long.  As a result of this lack of long-term commitment, this absence of persistence, they lack expertise in any one particular area.
• They are struggling financially because they don’t make enough money in their self-proclaimed field of expertise.

Seek out only successful people who have devoted themselves to unique niches for many years. Ten years or more, focused in one area or in one discipline, is a good benchmark. Never engage anyone for any initiative that is important to you without obtaining at least 5 references from individuals who used their services within the past twelve months. Make sure none of those references are family members. And make sure you ask the references specific questions whose responses will raise red flags, such as:

• How much more money did they help you make?
• How much more product or services did they help you sell?
• Did you get the sense that they were struggling financially with their business while you were working with them?
• Are you aware of any clients or customers who suddenly terminated their relationship with them?

Successful people will fast track your success, reduce costs, free up your valuable time and open doors to opportunities for you to make more money. They shorten the time you have to push that ball up the hill and make the effort less arduous. They help clear the brush away from your path towards success.