“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”. Benjamin Franklin

If you fail to plan your life you are leaving everything to chance. In order to have the ideal life you must script every aspect of your life. You must create a blueprint for every facet of you life if you want to create a life of happiness and success. When you script your ideal life you set in motion forces that will attract into your life the people and circumstances that will help make your ideal life become a reality. Those who fail to plan their ideal life leave their life in the hands of fate and chance.

There is only one true definition of failure: Failure is when you quit on a goal, major purpose or life dream.

Everyone follows the Law of Visualization whether they realize it or not. When it comes to the rich and poor, however, where they part ways is on what they visualize. Successful, wealthy people visualize future successes, who they want to be and what they want to do and have. They dwell on achieving their goals and realizing their life dreams. Their visualizations are always positive, upbeat and focused on changing their circumstances and creating a future, ideal life. Those who do not succeed in life and struggle financially always dwell on their past mistakes, regret who they have become and focus on their current problems. Their visualizations are always negative and downbeat. They blame everyone but themselves for their circumstances.

Successful people become rich because they follow the Law of Incremental Improvement. Every day they do certain things that advance them further in achieving their goals, improve their skills and increase their knowledge. Successful people improve themselves bit by bit every day. They become the type of person they need to become to earn greater financial rewards in life. They make self-improvement a daily habit.

There are no limitations except self-imposed limitations. Pursuing something you are passionate about: big goal, main purpose or life dream, is empowering. Eventually all of the limiting beliefs that have held you back your whole life will fall to the wayside as you crash through one obstacle after another in pursuit of your goal, purpose or dream. Fears, doubts and other long-held limiting beliefs are no match for a person who has found their passion in life. They will all melt away and be replaced by new positive beliefs that are necessary to realize your goal, purpose or life dream. Obstacles such as working capital needs or limited knowledge/skills are no barrier to a person who has found their passion in life. Such a person will find their working capital, learn what they need to know and develop the skills in order to realize the goal, purpose or life dream they are passionate about. The key to success in life is to pursue something big and meaningful that you are passionate about. That WHY is all you need. The HOW will eventually be revealed to you when you find your WHY.

What do you want in life? What job do you want? Where do you want to live? What kind of home do you want to own? How much money do you want to make every year? How much do you want to weigh?

These are questions that require specific answers. A simple definition of success I like to use is this: “Success is pursuing and achieving your goals and dreams in life”.

But success does not just happen. You need to get specific about what it is you want in every aspect of your life. You need to think about what you want, you need to write it down and you need to pursue what you want with a burning desire. Clarity starts the process. Clarity creates the passion. Passion creates the action. Action makes your goals, dreams and wants a reality.

Abraham Lincoln used something called the Rule of 3 to commit important things to memory. It is a very simple rule: Write down anything you want to commit to memory three times. It activates something called the memory loop inside the brain. This memory loop occurs during REM sleep and helps consolidate new information learned the previous day. Give it a try!

“What’s easy to do, is also easy not to do.”  Jim Rohn

Read 30 minutes every day for self education, exercise 20-30 minutes every day, call people on their birthdays, to say hello or upon a life event, spend less than you make and save the rest, drink in moderation, don’t procrastinate, create a to do list and get 70% done every day, associate with other successful-minded people etc. It’s the simple things, when consistently applied, that make success possible. They’re as easy to do as to not do. It’s the easy things, done every day, that make the great things possible.

Successful people make their decisions quickly and change their minds slowly. Unsuccessful people make their decisions slowly and change their minds quickly.

A common question I am asked by the media regarding my research is this: “How important is having a college education in order to be successful.”

My response is always the same: “It’s not important. What is important is having the Rich Habit of daily self-education. That’s one of the many daily habits the rich all had in common and one of the Rich Habits the poor all lacked. The rich are in relentless pursuit of knowledge every day.”

Over 30% of the wealthy in my study did not go to college. The common denominator all of the successful shared, however, was their relentless pursuit of self-education on a daily basis. Self-education, is second only to persistence, in terms of its importance in creating success. Once you decide to pursue a big goal, main purpose or life dream, it really is irrelevant how much formal education you have. If you know how to read, write and do simple math you can become wealthy and successful. Once you turn on your passion by pursuing a big goal, purpose or your dream, your lack of formal education becomes irrelevant because your passion will drive you towards obsessive self-education. You will become like a sponge, soaking up all information related to your goal, purpose or dream. You will become an expert in your field, with or without a college education.