Being a parent success mentor to your children sets your kids up to be successful in life. Parent success mentors teach their children good daily habits such as:

• the 80:20 Rule (Living Below Your Means)
• the 5:1 Rule (Listen for 5 minutes, talk for 1 minute)
• limiting T.V., Internet, cell phone use to less than one hour a day
• reading for self-education 30 minutes or more each day
• exercising aerobically 20-30 minutes each day
• volunteering 5 hours or more per month
• practicing optimism and gratitude every day
• setting goals
• pursuing a dream or major purpose in life
• controlling your emotions
• eating and drinking in moderation
• staying in touch every day with valuable relationships
• avoiding gossip and
• always doing more than you are paid for

Time is a limited, valuable resource, second only to health. Most people, unfortunately, spend most of their time working to achieve the goals and objectives of other people, commonly referred to as employers. When you set a long-term goal or follow a dream or major purpose in life, all that changes. Passion explodes from within. Passion forces you to change your priorities. Somehow you are able to find the time. That’s one of the the unique character traits of passion. It changes how you use your time. It gives you the motivation to go the extra mile. It creates energy you didn’t know you had. This newfound energy enables you to do the work that is necessary in pursuing a long-term goal, dream or major purpose. Only when you are pursuing your long-term goal, dream or major purpose in life will you be truly happy. That is why goal-setting is so important. It creates the passion and energy that allows you pursue individual success.

We all talk to ourselves. Sometimes the self-talk is verbal and sometimes non-verbal. Non-verbal self talk are thoughts that pop into our minds from time to time and usually follow immediately after something happens such as a conversation, action, event etc. Verbal and non-verbal self-talk act as mini computer apps that infiltrate our subconscious (limbic system and brain stem) and program our minds a certain way. Self-talk can be positive or negative and can confirm or change an exiting belief. If you have limiting beliefs that are holding you back you need to change your self-talk from negative to positive in order to rid yourself of those limiting beliefs.

Wealthy, successful people all have one thing in common: ongoing, daily self-improvement. Whether it’s reading books, periodicals, digital media, listening to audiobooks or podcasts, exercising, eating less, eating healthier, meditation or any other number of self-improvement activities. Select just one and do it first thing upon waking up. It will make you feel better about yourself and will inspire and motivate you, no matter what your mental state. One self-improvement activity for one day. Give it a try. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose except a little time.

Poverty circumstances are temporary, made permanent by our daily habits. 40% of all of our daily activities are habits (2006 Stanford Study). This means we are all unconsciously moving toward wealth or poverty. It is also the reason you are stuck in the middle-class. Breaking free from poverty or the middle-class is possible. 5-7% of those stuck in poverty, every year, break free from poverty and realize financial success in life. This 5-7% group all have one thing in common: changing their habits, beliefs and behaviors. Breaking free from poverty or the middle-class requires that you adopt new success habits. By adopting just one Rich Habit, such as daily self-improvement reading, you put yourself on a path to success. Adopting two or more Rich Habits accelerates that process. Start small, with one Rich Habit, and watch your life begin to transform before your eyes.

There are 1,440 minutes in each day. Rich or poor, time does not discriminate. How you choose to use your 1,440 minutes each day, the choices you make with respect to your time, will dictate your financial circumstances in life. Those who are successful in life spend a portion of their 1,440 minutes in any of the following ways:

• 30 minutes or more engaged in reading, studying for self-education
• 30 minutes or more engaged in aerobic exercise
• 60 minutes or more pursuing some long-term goal, dream or major purpose
• 15 minutes or more planning their day (i.e. preparing to-do lists)
• 40 minutes or more networking, volunteering and relationship building
• 10 minutes or more meditating
• 30 minutes or more mentoring someone
• 30 minutes or more writing, speaking, teaching
• 30 minutes or more developing or learning some skill
• 20 minutes or more engaged in some creative pursuit
• 20 minutes or more staying current with events (reading the news)

When we are pursuing some goal in life, only then are we truly productive.  Real productivity requires that you incorporate into your day certain tasks that will move you forward toward realizing your goals in life. Productivity, without goals, is just work. It keeps us on the treadmill of life. The only way to get you off that treadmill is to actively pursue a goal. Goal productivity is a Happiness Event because it makes us feel good about ourselves. It creates a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction.

Human beings were intended to be creative. It’s hardwired into our DNA. Creative pursuits unleash our inner genius. We all have the creative gene. When we pursue anything creative it triggers positive emotions and creates new neural pathways. Our brains like it when we create new neural pathways so it rewards us with an infusion of neurochemicals that produce a feeling of euphoria. Every time we engage in a creative pursuit we create a Happiness Event. For the next month pursue some creative endeavor. If, after a month, your passion for the activity continues to grow, this means you are on the right track to finding your main purpose in life.  Those who pursue their main purpose in life are the happiest of individuals.

While it might seem strange that pursuing a goal is a Happiness Event, research shows that we are genetically engineered to be goal oriented. When we pursue a new goal we activate or create neurons, which then begin firing with each other, creating a new neural pathway. New dentrites and synapses form inside the brain. The brain likes this and releases certain neurochemicals that create a feeling of pleasure or happiness as we learn new things in pursuit of our goal. Every time you learn something new in pursuit of your goal you trigger a happiness event. This physiology is why those who pursue goals consider the pursuit more gratifying than the actual realization of the goal. For the next year find one major, long-term goal you have always wanted to pursue and dive in. You will give yourself a year of Happiness Events. Remember that those with the most Happiness Events in life experience an overall sense of happiness with their lives.

Laughter is a Happiness Event. The more you laugh, the more Happiness Events you accumulate in your life. Since the objective for everyone is to live a happy life, laughing is a simple, easy way to create overall happiness. Laughter reduces stress and pain, it also fires up your neurons and, much like aerobic activity, it increases blood flow. It boosts your immune system by creating infection-fighting antibodies and also triggers the release of endorphins, which promote a sense of well-being. For the next month, every day, read something, listen to something or watch something that makes you laugh. Start out your day with a good laugh. It’s like a form of meditation that’s also fun and easy.