Luck is common among all self-made millionaires. It is the byproduct of persistence. Most surrender to the unending obstacles and pitfalls that confront everyone pursuing success and wealth. But the few who persevere become the beneficiaries of luck. Luck is the reward for those who never surrender and never quit.

Humans are goal oriented. We are also creatures of habits. Sometimes these two characteristics can conflict with each other. When it comes to habit change, it is a mistake to pursue a habit to achieve a result. An example would be exercising for 3 months to lose 30 pounds. Usually this is behavior that is event driven, such as an upcoming wedding, a contest, looking good for the summer etc. Once the goal is achieved and you lose the weight, what normally happens? You stop exercising regularly. Before you know it, you’ve gained the 30 pounds right back.

Instead, you should pursue making exercise a habit rather than a means to an end. Exercise should not be tied to some result but, instead, to becoming a new permanent behavior. In order for new behavior to become a habit, it must be repeated for 18 – 254 days. Exercise habits are harder to form, so they will trend more towards the 254 than the 18. When you focus on the desire to change your behavior, rather than to achieve some end result, you have a much better chance of that behavior sticking permanently and becoming a habit. Once a habit is formed, it never truly goes away.

The wealthiest and most successful individuals share 4 common traits:

1. They Don’t Follow the Herd
2. They Engage in Constant Growth Through Daily Self-Improvement
3. They Are Persistent and Relentless – They Never Quit
4. They Have More Rich Habits Than Poor Habits

Want to get a good feel for how powerful our habits are? Here’s a very simple experiment I’d like you to try. If you wear a watch, take your watch off for just one day. Then keep a tally of how many times you glance at your wrist during the day, only to realize you aren’t wearing your watch. This little experiment will give you an idea how powerful habits are and how often we engage in habits on a daily  basis. I’d like to hear from you how many times you glanced at your naked wrist.

Smoking cigarettes impairs brain function. It reduces the supply of oxygen to the brain and nicotine passes through the blood-brain barrier, which further reduces the flow of oxygen to the right side of the brain. Nicotine also reduces the metabolism of glucose. Glucose fuels brain cells. Nicotine passing into the brain means less fuel for the brain, which is a very bad thing.

One of the big differences between the rich and the poor, that I noticed in my five-year study of these two groups, is that the rich always seemed to be engaged in extracurricular growth activities. If they weren’t reading to learn  something new, they were listening for new ideas in podcasts or attending seminars or speaking engagements. Conversely, the poor seemed intent on avoiding any learning at all, preferring T.V and Facebook to reading and other growth activities. In other words, poor people were like rocks, never changing, while rich people were like plants, continuously growing, evolving and changing. So which one are you? A rock or a plant?

The circumstances we are born into do not define us. We have the power to script our own lives. But this actually requires a script. You can’t wing it in life. You need to develop a blueprint of your future life. What is the perfect work you would like to do? How much money do you want to make? Describe your amazing house, the car you drive, the vacations you take with your family, the places you have traveled to. How much do you weigh in your ideal future life? What time do you wake up and go to bed? What books do you read? What type of people do you associate with? What does your neighborhood look like. What amazing dreams have you realized? What goals have you accomplished? How successful are you? What skills do you have in the future? What knowledge have you gained ten years from now? How many people have you helped thanks to your wealth and success?

Develop your blueprint today. When you iron out the details of your life, you remove all of the wrinkles.

Normally, when you think about the word disgust you associate it with negative feelings and emotions. But when it comes to habit change, disgust is one of the most powerful catalysts behind habit change. There are three levels of disgust: mild, moderate and extreme.

Habit change requires a long-term commitment. You must repeat the behavior or thinking enough times that a new neural connection (synapse) is created inside your brain. Depending on the complexity of the habit, this can take anywhere from 18 to 254 days. The greater your level of disgust, the greater your chances of effecting long-term habit change. The reason for this is that habit change requires willpower. There is a direct correlation between your level of disgust and your level of willpower. Extreme disgust provides the most potent level of willpower. The more willpower you have, the more you improve your chances of effecting long-term habit change.

“If you’re going to be happy, you need to separate your passions from your results.”   Mike Rowe, host/creator of T.V. show Dirty Jobs

One of the most common causes of unhappiness is not meeting expectations. Failing to meet expectations will drag you down, even in the aftermath of great achievement. Example: you work extremely hard all year to hit a sales goal of $500,000. Instead, you come up short at $450,000. Now the salespeople behind you would be jumping for joy if they hit that target, but you are miserable because you missed it. Why? Because you locked in a finite number and that finite number became your single-minded focal point. But you missed your target and you feel like you failed. A better approach would have been to set a sales goal range of between $400,000 – $500,000. Another example: you publish a book and set a finite goal of selling 50,000 books for the year. You sell 25,000 for the year instead and you’re miserable. A better approach would have been to set a broader range goal of between 20,000 to 50,000 books sold over a two year period.

We are all pursuing one singular thing in life – happiness. Managing your expectations is the surest path to realizing happiness. When you pursue something you are passionate about, do not focus on the results, focus on the act of pursuing your passion. Don’t focus on specific results when pursuing your passion. Give yourself, instead, an expectations range. You’ll be much happier that you did.

In my 11 years of studying the wealthy I’ve come to learn a lot about passion. One of the most important things I’ve learned is that it’s impossible to pursue more than one passion at a time. You simply cannot be passionate about two things at once. Most don’t understand this and this is why so many fail. They mistakenly believe they can pursue more than one thing at a time, and end up failing at both. Passion is a limited resource. Limited to one thing at a time. When you pursue something you are passionate about, you will lose your passion for anything else you are doing, because passion requires a singular focus. It simply cannot be shared or diluted. Passion is a selfish mistress who allows only one lover at a time.