Belief creates miracles. Belief transforms the impossible into the possible. Beliefs transforms ordinary individuals into extraordinary individuals.

It was the power of belief that created Steve Jobs.

It was the power of belief that created Elon Musk.

It was the power of belief that created Thomas Edison.

It was the power of belief that gave 145 of the self-made millionaires in my Rich Habits Study the courage, energy and persistence to pursue and realize their individual dreams.

It is this same power of belief that will transform your life from ordinary to extraordinary.

There is virtually nothing the human mind cannot conceive and then create. But in order to create, you must first believe. Belief marshals all of the resources of the human brain. We are the only creatures on earth that possess this God-like quality to create. But the power to create depends on the power of belief. Belief is the path to making the impossible possible.

To achieve great things in life, you need to believe in belief. Belief allows you to overcome all doubts. It makes you unstoppable.

The only time you are truly growing is when you are uncomfortable.

Discomfort forces growth:

• Doing something different, forces growth
• Acquiring new knowledge, forces growth
• Practicing a new skill, forces growth
• Developing new relationships, forces growth
• Abandoning old, toxic relationships, forces growth
• Forging new, good habits, forces growth
• Abandoning old, bad habits, forces growth

Why is growth so important?

Becoming rich requires success and the prerequisite for success is ALWAYS growth.

Without growth you stagnate. You become stuck. You know when you’re stuck. You feel it in your bones:

• Boredom – When you are stuck, you experience boredom.
• Hopeless – When you are stuck, you experience hopelessness.
• Discontent – When you are stuck, your life is not in balance. You have a feeling of discontent.
• Chronic Stress – When you are stuck, you experience long-term stress.
• Doubt – When you are stuck, you become filled with doubt.
• Helpless – When you are stuck, you feel helpless.
• Depression – When you are stuck, you become depressed.
• Treadmill – When you are stuck, you feel as if you are on a treadmill, getting no where in life.

Growth is the antidote to being stuck.

Growth is, however, uncomfortable. It requires that you step outside your comfort zone. It requires that you challenge your ideology, your thinking, your existing knowledge and your beliefs. It forces you to do things that are different from the way you have been doing them for years.

Only through discomfort is growth possible. If you want to succeed in life you need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Ideology is group-think. It requires embracing the thinking of others. This herding, provides protection. So, ideology provides protection. It is human nature to seek the safety of herds. 

While herds provide protection, they also act as a stopgap on achievement and success.

Wealth is a byproduct of success. Success is a byproduct of growth. Growth is only possible by embracing new and different ideas, new and different information, new and different practices and new and different opinions. Anything new or different leads to growth. Growth leads to success and success leads to wealth.

Ideological bias is a bane on achievement. It forces you to close your mind to ideas, information, ways of doing things and opinions that conflict with your ideology. When you close your mind, you cease to grow. 

Those who are ideologically biased close their minds to anything which challenges their ideology. Thus, they become stuck in life and do not grow. Any success they do achieve, is therefore, limited.

Since most are poor or stuck in the middle-class, clearly the way they are thinking is not working for them. The precursor for success and wealth accumulation, at least according to my Rich Habits research, is forging a Growth Mindset.

A Growth Mindset is a daily habit in which you pursue and acquire knowledge every day.

Sounds simple, right?

Well, it’s not. In fact, for most it’s unattainable. Here’s why.

Forging a Growth Mindset requires the following two things:

#1 Challenging Your Ideologies

Ideologies represent fixed categorical thinking we typically inherit from our parents or from our environment. It is dogma we accept without reflecting upon why we accept it. Ideologies represent foundational thinking that are more like tunnels. These tunnels keep us isolated from understanding or acceptance of other ideologies that might differ from our own. We simply accept our ideologies and dismiss any other ideologies that contradict them. Thus, our ideologies, when unchallenged, stunt our growth.

Some ideologies are religious. Your parents were Catholic, so you are Catholic. Catholics believe they will enter the Kingdom of God. Catholics believe if you don’t believe in Jesus Christ you will not enter the Kingdom of God. I should know, I was raised a Catholic. I was taught our Catholic religion was superior to all other religions. Jewish people disagree. So too do Muslims and Buddhists and many other religions. Who’s right? Your religious ideology says, you’re right.

Some ideologies are political. Your parents were Democrats and, thus, you are a Democrat. Why are you a Democrat? What is it about being a Democrat that makes it right? What is the Democratic agenda or platform? Do you even know? Maybe you’re a Republican. Why?

Some are racial. Many in Germany, during the Nazi era, believed white people, or the arian race, was superior. Then, in the 1936 Olympics, Jesse Owens won four gold medals. Did that change the thinking of millions of Germans? No. Why? Because ideology fixes your thinking. And facts that interfere with ideology, are ignored.

Some are socioeconomic. Until America entered the world’s stage in the late 1700’s, it was a widely held belief that those born into royalty were superior. The royal blood line was fanatically protected. Kings and Queens ruled most of the “modern” world. These royal dictators controlled most of the resources in the kingdom. They created the laws under which millions lived.

Then America, threw a wrench into everything. There was no royalty in America. Capitalism, thrift, hard work and merit dictated who controlled the country’s resources. Soon after, many countries around the world followed suit, embraced capitalism, and eliminated the need for dictatorships.

#2 Challenging Every One of Your Beliefs

Beliefs represent the acceptance of something without any proof. They are inherited unconscious programming. We adopt the beliefs of our parents, family, mentors culture and our environment (neighborhood, town, city, state, country).

Your beliefs cause you to develop habits. Some beliefs hold us back in our adult lives. Most people are not even aware of the negative and limiting beliefs they have. These beliefs prevent us from becoming successful in life and in many cases they act like an anchor dragging us down into failure, poverty and a life of misery.

If you’re struggling in life, your beliefs are likely the culprit. What are your beliefs? Do you even know?

The key to growth is to have an open mind. Those with an open mind challenge their ideologies and beliefs. This fosters growth through learning. You can’t learn and, thus grow, if your mind is closed by your ideology and your beliefs.

One of the most controversial aspects of my Rich Habits Study was the direct correlation between bad parenting and poverty.

What I discovered in researching the habits of poor people was that bad parenting, irrespective of childhood socioeconomic status, resulted in poverty. In simple English, I found bad parents were far more to blame for poverty as they passed along Poor Habits to their children.

Bad parents come in many varieties:

• Alcoholic parents
• Drug addicted parents
• Incarcerated parents
• Gambling addicted parents
• Abusive parents (physical or mental or both)
• Toxic parents (negative, angry or emotionally out of control parents)
• Combative parents (parents who fight with one another)
• Invisible parents (parents who ignore their children)
• Untrustworthy parents (infidelity)
• Parents with bad habits

Conversely, I learned from my research that good parenting, irrespective of childhood socioeconomic status, had far more to do with creating wealth than anything else in society.

Good parents also come in many varieties:

• Compassionate parents
• Mentoring parents (parents who mentor their children to succeed)
• Positive parents (upbeat, enthusiastic, optimistic parents)
• Trustworthy parents (parents devoted to one another)
• Harmonious parents (parents who greatly care for one another)
• Parents with good habits

Many who become poor adults continue to blame their parents throughout their lives for their poverty. While this might help rationalize poverty in the minds of the poor, it does nothing to fix it.

For those born into households with bad parents, the great elixir or remedy for this, is mentorship. Finding a success mentor in life, I learned from my research, mitigated the impact of growing up in a bad parent household.

This is why it is so important to find a success mentor in life. Success mentors erase much of the damage caused by bad parenting. They provide the template for a successful, wealthy life.

In my book Rich Kids, I share the success mentoring strategies and Rich Habits 177 self-made millionaires learned from their parents. Most of the parents of those self-made millionaires (76%) were poor or middle-class, highlighting the fact being raised poor or middle-class is unimportant. What is important, however, is being raised by good parents – parents who are success mentors to their children.

Since 2004, I’ve been studying the wealthy. I’ve found two core ways self-made millionaires rose from poverty or the middle-class:

1. Live Below Your Means and Wisely Invest Your Savings or
2. Pursue Something You are Passionate About

In all of my years of studying the wealthy, I learned a lot about number two – passion. One of the most important things I’ve learned about the wealthy who pursue some dream or passion, is that they focus single-mindedly on one thing for many, many years. They devote those years to learning, growing and practicing until they become expert in whatever it is they are pursuing. They avoid any distractions that prevent them from their single-minded pursuit. Eventually, they become expert in what they do. Only after they become an expert, do they then begin to realize financial success. And this, I found, takes a long time.

Based on my research, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s impossible to become an expert when you are pursuing more than one thing at a time. Our brains do not operate that way. We are neurologically hardwired for single-minded focus. When we embrace this neurological template, success becomes inevitable.

When you pursue something you are passionate about, your brain enters something called flow. Flow is a mental state that marshals all of the resources of the brain. In a state of flow, the left hemisphere, right hemisphere, limbic system, brain stem and cerebellum all work in unison, like a well-trained orchestra. When your brain is in a state of flow, you are able to see solutions to the problems and obstacles that get in your way. Flow can only be achieved through singular focus.

Most don’t understand this and that is why so many fail. They mistakenly believe they can pursue more than one thing at a time. When you pursue more than one initiative, one passion or one dream at a time, at best you will gain mediocrity. At worst, you will fail. Most voluntarily fail before they lose everything, which is known as quitting. Others involuntarily fail by losing everything. 

Single-minded focus leads to flow. Flow leads to success. Success leads to wealth.

Success is built upon a mountain of mistakes. The higher that mountain, the greater your success.

As crazy as it may sound, you want success to take a long time. The longer you pursue success, the more you will learn from your mistakes and failures and the more expert you become in whatever you do.

Those who pursue success for a long time, build a very strong foundation for success. Thus, the longer success takes, the greater and more permanent the foundation upon which your success will be built.

We live in a world of instant gratification. This desire to achieve immediate success can make people impatient. Patience is a very important Rich Habit that self-made millionaires possess. Without patience, most will quit on themselves and on their dreams.

In my Rich Habits Study, it took the average self-made millionaire, who was pursuing a dream, twelve years to become rich and successful. That’s along time and a lot of patience. Why did it take so long?

Success takes a long time because there is so much that must be learned. Learning what to do and what not to do takes many years. When you finally begin to figure things out, you make fewer and fewer mistakes. Through repetitive practice, you eventually become more proficient in what you do – you become an expert. Expertise takes a long time.

Those who seek instant success realize little success because the foundation upon which their success is built is weak and shallow and they never develop an expertise in what they do. These individuals suffer from Bright Shiny Object Syndrome, a Poor Habit in which you are easily distracted, lose focus and move on to any new thing which grabs your attention.

What makes any great idea great, is success. And success requires a laser-like focus along with relentless persistence. This takes time. According to my research, this focus and persistence begins to pay dividends after about twelve years.

Never quit on your dreams and your goals. At some point you will figure out what to do and what not to do. But you will never succeed if you quit on yourself and your dreams. You will never devote enough time to figure things out and you will never grow into the person you need to be in order for success to visit you.

The longer success takes, the longer it lasts.

All or nothing shows up once a year in the form of New Year’s Resolutions:

• Stop drinking alcohol.
• Stop eating junk food.
• Stop watching TV.
• Start exercising every day for an hour.
• Start reading to learn every day for an hour.
• Get up at 5am every day.

Invariably, this all or nothing approach, leads to failure, which is soon followed by self-hate, as you berate yourself for being weak and undisciplined.

The correct, sustainable approach, with any new habit, is to baby step your way into it. Small, baby steps that incrementally improve your life in some way, is the right approach.

The right approach:

• Limit my alcohol consumption to one drink during the workweek (or three drinks during weekends).
• Limit my consumption of junk food to 300 calories a day.
• Limit TV consumption to one hour a day. 
• Start exercising every day for fifteen minutes.
• Start reading to learn every day for fifteen minutes.
• Get up 30 minutes earlier.

Those small, baby steps build the neural infrastructure that, over time, take root, eventually becoming lasting, permanent habits.

Your brain will not fight you if the change is small. This is because small conscious changes do not deplete your stores of willpower energy (readily available glucose – the fuel most often used by the body when engaged in any willpower-required activity).

Because small changes utilize very little willpower energy, the brain will not go to war with you and your new habits. This allows you to engage in the habit every day. And every day that you engage in the habit, the habit synapse grows stronger and stronger.

After some time (thirty days or more), that new habit synapse will be strong enough to grab the attention of the basal ganglia, which will eventually designate it as a habit. One this happens, you can then amp up your habit. For example, you can increase your aerobic exercise from fifteen minutes to thirty minutes without the brain engaging in civil war. 

The definition of flow: To move, come, or go continuously in one direction.

We all have dreams and big goals. But few ever pursue their dreams and big goals. The main reasons are fear, doubt and discomfort:

• Fear of the unknown.
• Fear of failure.
• Fear of obstacles and mistakes.
• Fear of losing money.
• Fear it will disrupt your family life.
• Doubts of your ability, skill or knowledge.
• Doubts about achieving the outcome you desire.
• Survival Doubts: – Will you make enough money to survive financially?
• New pursuits push you outside your comfort zone.

Self-made millionaires do their diligence in gathering as much information as they can before they make a decision to pursue something they desire. Once they decide to move forward, they take immediate action (see Becoming a Self-Made Millionaire Requires Courage and Faith – http://richhabits.net/becoming-self-made-millionaire-requires-courage-faith/).

The amazing thing about taking action on your dreams and goals, is that action puts you in a state of flow.

Flow is a mental state in which both your conscious mind (prefrontal cortex) and subconscious mind (limbic system and brain stem) work together is seamless harmony.

When you are in a state of flow, your entire brain is working for you to complete a task. When your entire brain is working for you, when you are in a state of flow, creative solutions erupt from within your brain like a volcano. It’s an amazing, unique ability all humans possess.

Very few, however, ever achieve a state of flow. They are too busy working on someone else’s dreams and goals. Flow is easy to achieve when you are working on your own dreams and goals. But in order to tap into this incredible human capability, you must take action on your dreams and goals. The hardest part is the start.

According to my Rich Habits research, self-made millionaires follow a process in pursuing an idea, opportunity, dream or big goal. Typically this is the process:

1. Idea – This is the first stage in which an idea pops into your head or an opportunity presents itself. This could also be when you gain some clarity on a dream or major goal you’d like to pursue.
2. Due Diligence – Read books and articles about the idea, opportunity, dream or goal. Then seek feedback from others who have some expertise or knowledge about the idea, opportunity, dream or goal. This stage typically takes the longest because it requires an investment of your time in gathering the necessary information that will help you make a decision on whether or not to take action. This is also the stage in which you evaluate your capability to pursue the idea, opportunity, dream or goal. Do you have the requisite expertise or knowledge? Do you have the skills? Do you have the time? Do you have the financial resources? If not, you obtain what you lack. This could take many months or even years.
3. Decision – Once you have weighed all of the information you gathered, and acquired the knowledge, skills and financial resources you need in order to pursue the idea, opportunity, dream or goal, you decide to go for it.
4. Action – Once you decide to pursue the idea, opportunity, dream or goal, action follows immediately.

Almost always, pursuing any idea, opportunity, dream or big goal involves risk. You will never have enough of what you need: time, money, knowledge, skills, etc. So, there is always some risk. You don’t know what you don’t know. So, pursuing success involves significant risk. 

One of the hallmarks of the self-made millionaires in my study was that once they made a decision to pursue something, they immediately took action. Action followed decision. They did not procrastinate. They tossed aside all of their doubts and worries and took action. 

Becoming a self-made millionaire requires courage and faith, since you will never have everything you need when you pursue success.