Optimism isn’t something you are born with. It needs to be a routine; it needs to become a daily habit. Successful people understand this. They practice optimistic thinking every day. It’s part of their daily routine. Some of the tools they use include:

• Daily Meditation – 2-5 minutes each day morning and night. They visualize realizing their dreams and goals. They see themselves living their new future life.
• Vision Boards – 5-10 pictures of the things they want in their life. These pictures are taped onto cardboard, scroll on their desktop or posted where they can view them every day.
• Daily Affirmations – Various affirmations are repeated every day. These represent short statements of affirming the realization of their dreams and goals.
• Cancel – Any time some negative thought or emotion enters their mind they immediately recognize it and cancel it from their mind before it takes root.
• Script Their Future Life – Successful people write out a few paragraphs of what their future, ideal life is. They read this script at least once a week. This script keeps them focused on the big picture and keeps them in a positive mindset.

Children pick up and emulate the habits, behaviors and emotions of their parents. Children raised by parents with a positive mindset, good habits and good behaviors will mirror these parent traits well into their adult lives. Most of the successful, wealthy people in my five-year study had these traits. Most of the poor had a negative mindset, bad habits and bad behavior.

There is some science to this. The cingulate cortex is part of our limbic system; the second oldest part of our brain.  The cingulate cortex harbors  something called “mirror neurons” in the brains of all children to help them better survive by mirroring their parents. This mirror neuron physiology has been with humans for millions of years. This mirror neural physiology is why it is critical for parents to express positive emotions and positive behavior almost from the very moment of the birth of their children. Repeated exposure to these good traits will transform these mirror neurons into habits that will stay with children for most of their adult lives. The byproduct will be children who grow up to be happy and successful in life.

The book, The How of Happiness (http://www.amazon.com/The-How-Happiness-Approach-Getting/dp/0143114956), sites various studies on happiness. One such study determined the following:

• 50% of Happiness is Gene-Based
• 40% of Happiness is Activity-Based
• 10% of Happiness is Circumstance-Based

Your genetic makeup determines your “happiness baseline”. This is the baseline you revert to before and after happiness events and unhappiness events. This baseline is the reason why buying mega-mansions, expensive cars, jewelry etc. do not create long-term happiness. It is also the reason why events in your life that make you unhappy, such as the loss of a loved one, divorce, and failure do not create long-term unhappiness. Eventually everyone reverts back to their genetic happiness baseline.

The only way increase happiness, then, is to increase the number of happiness events in your life by engaging in activities that create happiness and in changing your financial circumstances. These two variable are the reason why the wealthy are happier than everyone else. They engage in activities that create more happiness events and that change their financial circumstances in life. By increasing the number of happiness events and your financial circumstances, you will increase your overall happiness in life.

There is no such thing as overall happiness. Asking someone if they are happy, at any given time, is like asking the weatherman, at any given time, if the sun is shining. Sometimes the sun is shining and other times it isn’t. Happiness is event-driven. What makes one person happier than another person is the quantity of happiness events they experience in life. The frequency of happiness events you have had in life is really the only way to determine if your life was a happy one. The reason wealthy people are happier than everyone else is not because of the wealth they accumulated in life but because of the happiness events that wealth enabled them to create. 52% of the wealthy in my study owned a vacation home. Their purpose in purchasing the vacation home was to create a hub for more frequent family get-togethers. Typically these were extended weekends. Since the wealthy can afford to go skiing more frequently, they are able to create more skiing happiness events. Since the wealthy can afford to entertain more socially, they are able to have more parties with friends. Since wealthy people can afford to send their kids away to college, they experience more college graduation happiness events.

The point is, the more happiness events you create in life, the more happiness you will derive from life. At the end of your life, when you ponder your overall happiness, you will be able to assert whether or not your life was a happy one overall by looking back on the quantity of the happiness events you experienced during your life.

Rich Habits Word of the Day

Intuition – Subconscious, hidden.  Tom knew that in order for his intuition to work to his advantage he needed good, positive thoughts, emotions and daily habits.

Rich Habits Fact of the Day

The brain is composed of three parts: Brain Stem, Limbic System and Neocortex. The brain stem is the oldest part of the brain. It controls vital bodily functions, such as breathing, organ functions and heart rate. It is also where the fight or flight response resides. The limbic system is the next oldest. It is where our emotions come from and where short-term memory resides. The neocortex is the most recent part of the brain. This is where our intellect, decision making and higher reasoning are found. The neocortex is also known as the cerebellum, which includes the basal ganglia, where habits are stored.

Rich Habits Lesson of the Day

Our conscious (neocortex) and subconscious (brain stem and limbic system) need to work together in harmony in order  to live a happy, successful life. Positive or negative emotions and positive or negative thinking are programmed into our subconscious, and good or bad habits are stored in our conscious. Positive emotions, positive thinking and good habits lead to a happy, successful life. Negative emotions, negating thinking and bad habits lead to an unhappy, unsuccessful life. Our brain is very much like a computer. It can be programmed for happiness or unhappiness and success or failure by our emotions, thoughts and habits.

Rich Habits Word of the Day

Bushy-Tailed – Healthy.  After a week of eating carrots, she felt bushy-tailed.

Rich Habits Fact of the Day

In 1939, Bugs Hardaway, Warner Brothers Director, decided to remake “Porky’s Hare Hunt” with a new rabbit. Cartoonist Charlie Thorson comes up with a gray and white rabbit with large buck teeth. He labels his sketch “Bugs’ Bunny”. Since 1939, Bugs Bunny has starred in more than 175 films. He’s been nominated for three Oscars, and won one in 1958, for “Knighty Knight, Bugs” (with Yosemite Sam). Every year from 1945 to 1961, he was voted “top animated character” by movie theater owners (when they still showed cartoons in theaters). In 1985 he became only the 2nd cartoon character to be given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (Mickey Mouse was the first). For almost 30 years, starting in 1960, he had one of the top-rated shows in Saturday morning TV. In 1976, when researchers polled Americans on their favorite characters, real and imaginary, Bugs came in second …behind Abraham Lincoln.

Rich Habits Lesson of the Day

Bugs Bunny is still alive and well because he eats carrots. There are many health benefits to eating carrots:

• Prevent Strokes: In a Harvard University study, people who at six carrots a week were less likely to suffer a stroke.
• Good for the Gums – Carrots get rid of plaque much like brushing your teeth.
• Healthy for Skin – Carrots have Vitamin A and other antioxidants that protect the skin from sun damage.
• Reduced Rate of Cancer – Carrots reduce the risk of lung cancer, breast cancer and colon cancer.
• Antiseptic – Shredded carrots can help reduce infections from cuts.
• Prevent Heart Disease – Carrots havebeta-carotene, alpha-carotene and lutein, which are associated with a lower incidence of heart disease.
• Improved Eyesight – Carrots are rich in beta-carotene, which have been shown to protect against macular degeneration and cataracts.

A carrot has only 30 calories.

Rich Habits Word of the Day

Efficacy – Capability.  The efficacy of apples in weight loss and general good health has been well-known for many years.

Rich Habits Fact of the Day

A typical apple contains 60 calories.

Rich Habits Lesson of the Day

Benefits of eating apples:

• Fights Alzheimer’s – Whole apples, including the skin, contain quercetin, a powerful antioxidant that protects brain cells from degeneration.
• Prevent Colon Cancer – An antioxidant found in apples called procyanidins, produces chemicals that help fight the formation of cancer cells.
• Stabilize Blood Sugar – Apples include soluble fiber, which slows the digestion of food and the entry of glucose in the bloodstream.
• Improve Gums – Apples are nature’s toothbrush. One apple stimulates the gums and prompts the flow of saliva, which reduces tooth decay.
• Prevent High Blood Pressure – Adults who eat apples are 37% less likely to have hypertension.
• Keeps You Thin – Apples are packed with fiber and water. They fool the stomach into feeling full.
• Reduce Heart Disease – Apples are rich in flavonoids, antioxidants that help prevent heart disease.

To receive all the benefits of apples, you must also eat the skin.

Rich Habits Word of the Day

Endowment – Legacy.  Her endowment was not the wealth she left behind to her children but the love and devotion to family that will last forever.

Rich Habits Fact of the Day

Easter changes every year. It occurs every first Sunday, after the first full moon, following spring. Spring arrives on either March 20th or March 21st (the Vernal Equinox – when nighttime and daytime = 12 hours). The date range for Easter is, therefore, March 22nd (or March 23rd) – April 24 (or April 25th).

Early Easter example: If spring is March 20th and the first full moon after spring is March 21st and the first Sunday after spring and the first full moon is March 22nd, then Easter is March 22nd.

Late Easter Example: If spring is March 21st and the first full moon after spring is 28 days later (full moon is every 28 days), or April 18th and the first Sunday after the first full moon is April 25th, then Easter is April 25th.

Rich Habits Lesson of the Day

Success requires sacrifices. Families sometimes become the victim of the fanatical pursuit of a dream, major purpose or goal. But real success is not just financial. Truly successful people are well-rounded in terms of success. They put their family first, second and third. Followed, then, by everything else. At the end of one’s life, your legacy will be many things, but the most important thing will be the love, time and devotion you gave to your family.

Rich Habits Word of the Day

Sobriety – Self- restraint, moderation.  Sobriety seemed the best course of action following a fun-filled holiday season.

Rich Habits Fact of the Day

Food in your diet must be digested before being absorbed by your cells, but alcohol included in your diet flows directly through your body’s membranes into your bloodstream, which carries alcohol to nearly every organ in your body. The unmetabolized alcohol flows through your stomach walls into your bloodstream and on to your small intestine. Most of the alcohol you drink is absorbed through the duodenum (small intestine). From there it flows through a large blood vessel into your liver. In the liver, an enzyme similar to gastric ADH metabolizes the alcohol, which is converted to energy by a coenzyme called nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD). NAD is also used to convert the glucose you get from other carbohydrates to energy; while NAD is being used for alcohol, glucose conversion grinds to a halt. The normal, healthy liver can process about 1/2 ounce of pure alcohol (that’s 6 to 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1 ounce of spirits) in an hour. The rest flows on to your heart.

Rich Habits Lesson of the Day

84% of successful, healthy people in my study drank less than 2 glasses of beer, wine or alcoholic drinks every day. They moderated their consumption of alcohol. A normal, healthy liver can process about 1/2 ounce of pure alcohol (that’s 6 to 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1 ounce of spirits) in an hour. The rest flows on to your heart. Alcohol is a sedative. When it reaches your brain, it slows the transmission of impulses between nerve cells that control your ability to think and move. That’s why your thinking may be fuzzy, your judgment impaired, your tongue twisted and your vision blurred.

Rich Habits Word of the Day

Yen – Craving, desire.  Tom had a yen for a bacon cheeseburger until he found out it had nearly 1,000 calories.

Rich Habits Fact of the Day

Paul Mason, a 50-year-old man from England was once considered the world’s fattest man at 980 lbs. but he recently underwent gastric bypass surgery and already is down to 560 lbs. He says his 20,000 calorie-a- day diet is what attributed to his extreme size, but he also blames Britain’s national health service for not allowing him to see an eating disorder specialist when he was just over 400 lbs.

Rich Habits Lesson of the Day

Poor eating habits are the primary cause of obesity. Healthy, successful people avoid high calorie foods. In my study, 70% of these healthy, successful people ate less than 300 junk food calories a day and 72% ate candy less than twice a week. 70% of all weight loss is caused by your diet. If you’re overweight, it’s because you’re eating too much junk food and too much food that is high in calories. It’s not because you are not exercising enough. Although exercise does help you lose weight, it only accounts for 30% of your weight loss. If you want to lose weight you need to limit your consumption of calories on a daily basis. You may only need to change some of the types of food you eat or reduce your caloric intake by 300-400 calories a day. You need to make eating right a daily habit if you want to stay lean and healthy.