I know it sounds crazy to say this but we are hardwired to be lazy. And we have our brains to blame. The human brain is lazy. Or, looking at it another way, the brain finds ways of doing things that make it work less. That’s why we have habits. Habits allow the brain to be lazy. There is no conscious thinking involved. Habits put us on autopilot. This is a good thing if we have far more good habits than bad habits and a very bad thing if we have far more bad habits than good habits. The vast majority of the population in the U.S. has far more bad habits than good habits. This is why we have so many in poverty, an obesity epidemic, increased incidence of type II diabetes, cheating spouses, an abundance of  harmful addictions (drugs, alcohol and gambling for example), racial discrimination and all sorts of other social ills. When too many individuals have too many bad habits, it affects all of society. Good habits improve everyone’s life, not just your own.

The commander in chief of lazy, inside our brain, is called the basal ganglia. The basal ganglia is tasked by the brain to create habits. The more the merrier. Why? The brain is an energy hog. It uses 20% of all of the glucose and oxygen created and taken in by the body every day. Without habits, the brain’s fuel needs would not be met. Brain activity would be forced to slow down. When brain activity slows, it sends a message to the rest of the body to go to sleep or rest. Without habits we would need to take a siesta every hour. Habits make it possible for us to function for long stretches of time, without the need for rest. So habits are wonderful things. The brain likes them so much that the 40% of all of our physical and mental activities are habits.

One of the many rewards of success is that of perception, rather than the tangible or monetary. Success makes people think you are a genius. The interesting thing is, they’re right. Those who succeed are geniuses; or, rather, they become geniuses by virtue of the learning and mental growth that accompanies the pursuit of a dream. But it’s not the realization of the dream and the success that follows, that makes you a genius; it’s the pursuit. You grow into the person you need to become in order to realize success. The pursuit changes you forever. It makes you better. It is the ultimate reward of success.

In my Rich Habits study I learned that self-made millionaires all have 6 common traits: passion, persistence, focus, patience, hard work ethic and a desire to learn. What’s even more interesting is that, according to these wealthy individuals, they never knew they possessed those traits until they became passionate about pursuing their dream. Passion, and the other success traits, are like standing dominoes. But the most important domino is passion. When the passion domino is activated, it sets in motion all of the other dominoes, that were previously just standing around, dormant. Inside each one of us are these success dominoes. Passion has a domino effect on other success traits, bringing them to life.

Our circumstances are temporary, made permanent by our habits. In order to change your life, you must change your habits. Poverty is the result of having too many bad habits. If we want our kids to grow up to be successful and avoid poverty, parents must teach kids good, daily success habits. The war on poverty begins at home.

Every habit results in an outcome. Some habits cause happiness, sadness, financial success, poverty, good health, bad health and short or long lifespans. There are also habits that alter our IQs. And still more habits that affect: relationships, job performance, motor skills, emotions or our overall circumstances in life. Because 40% of all of our daily actions, thinking and choices are habits and because habits represent unconscious behavior, most of us are unaware that our current life circumstances are the direct result of habits. Many individuals live paycheck to paycheck, barely getting by. They either scratch their heads, wondering what they’re doing wrong, or they play the victim, blaming others for their circumstances in life. The fact is, habits are behind all success and all failure. Habits create outcomes.

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking.
Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know it when you find it”
— Steve Jobs

“Am I in the right career?”

“I’m not sure if this is what I want to do the rest of my life.”

“How’s the job?  “Ok. It’s a job.”

“Oh crap, another Monday.”

When you find the work you should be doing for the rest of your life, you know it. There’s no uncertainty when you find work that inspires, motivates and fires your passion. You just know it deep down. If you have a job and you’re not sure if that job is what you should be doing for the rest of your life, then you haven’t found what you love. You’re settling. Certainty and deep down knowing, means you found it. Uncertainty means you haven’t found it, you are currently settling and you need to keep looking. Look every six months, even if you have a full-time job. Every six months pursue something new as an extracurricular activity. If after six months you are not blown away with passion, move on to something else. Eventually, you will find something you love to do. You will know it when you find it.

When you’re in the zone you know it. Time flies by. There is no shortage of energy. You can work for hours on a project without getting tired or bored. Passion fuels your focus. When you are in the zone you are experiencing unforced focus, a unique type of focus that favors those pursuing something they are very passionate about. Unforced focus and passion go hand in hand. Unforced focus turns ordinary individuals into creative geniuses, workaholics and producing machines. Getting in the zone is the fountainhead for all success.

We aren’t aware of the effects of habits on our lives because habits occur subconsciously. But habits do affect our lives. Habits affect our financial circumstances, our level of happiness, how we spend our time, they affect our health, our job performance and our relationships. Habits create a life filled with success, or one mired in failure. The secret to success is a secret for most, because habits create success, and habits are unconscious behaviors, thinking and choices we engage in every day. Until we make an effort to become aware, track and then change our daily habits, our lives will never change. In order to change our life’s circumstances, we need to get to the root cause, and the root cause for everyone = habits. Your life will not change until you change your daily habits. That’s how powerful habits are.

Habits come in all shapes, sizes and shades. Some habits are more powerful and impact our lives more than others. They are known as Keystone Habits. Some are stand-alone habits. They are known as Ordinary Habits. Ordinary Habits have very little impact on other areas of our lives, whereas, one Keystone Habit can offset numerous ordinary habits and help tilt your Habit Seesaw in the right or wrong direction.

There are many good habits that create happiness, prosperity, success, good health, strong relationships, increase our knowledge or keep us upbeat and positive. There are also many bad habits that create unhappiness, bankruptcy, contribute to failure, poor health, toxic relationships, ignorance, procrastination or make us negative and depressed.

Awareness and tracking of your daily habits is a prerequisite for changing them. Once you know what your habits are you can change them. Adding new habits then becomes much easier.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle

Our habits dictate whether we will be rich, poor or middle-class. The reason so many consider success a great mystery, and use the phrase “the secret to success”, is because the cause of success is still a secret to so many. Even the wealthy in my study did not realize that it was their habits that were responsible for their success. Some of the wealthy thought it was their education, their hard work ethic, luck, being in a good industry, making wise decisions etc. Those things are the effect of having good habits, not the cause of success. Success was a secret even to the wealthy. I’m doing my best to let the secret out of the bag.