Success visits those who are very clear about the direction of their lives. It ignores everyone else.

If you want to succeed in life, you need to get very specific about what it is you want in every aspect of your life. You need to think about everything you want. You need to write down what you want. You need to pursue what you want.

Clarity starts the process. Clarity creates the vison. That vision then turns on three very powerful parts of the brain:

1. Reticulating Activating System (RAS)  – This is the goal management system of the brain. It is also where intuition resides. The RAS, when toggled on, goes to work in helping you achieve your goals. Some neurologists refer to it as the brain’s GPS System for goals. This GPS System, when toggled on by a clear vision, then starts to search the external environment for anything and everything that helps you in realizing that vision. When it sees something important, it whispers in your ear.
2. Pleasure Center of the Brain – The Ventral Striatum & Nucleus Acumbens become highly active when you have a clear vision of your life. These are also known as the pleasure centers of the brain, rich in dopamine receptors. Dopamine is the happiness and fear conquering neurotransmitter. Higher levels of dopamine make you more adventurous and less risk-averse. Having a clear vision activates these two portions of the brain, making you feel happier, more decisive, more confident and more willing to take risks.
3. Amygdala – This is the emotion center of the brain located in the Limbic System. This is also where passion resides in the brain. Passion is a form of energy far more powerful than willpower. Passion stimulates you to take action. Action makes your goals, dreams and wants possible.

So, in order to help you zero in on your vision and get these three powerful parts of the brain working for you, let me ask you some questions:

• What do you want your life to look like in, say ten years?
• What ideal, perfect job do you want?
• Where do you want to live?
• What kind of home do you want to live in?
• How much money do you want to make every year?
• What can you do today to increase your income down the road?
• How much money do you want to have in the bank?
• What awesome stuff would you like to own?
• How much do you want to weigh?
• How healthy do you want to be?
• How long do you think you’ll live?
• What can you do to extend your life?
• What type of people do you want to surround yourself with?
• What would your ideal perfect day look like? List your daily future activities.
• What makes you happy?
• What makes you sad?
• Who makes you happy?
• Who drags you down?
• Who is holding you back from your ideal perfect life? Is it you or someone else?
• What’s holding you back from your ideal perfect life?
• What should you be doing to improve your life?

These are questions that require specific answers. If you want to have a successful life, you need to create a blueprint for your ideal, future life. You need to be clear about what that ideal, future life looks like. You need to create a clear vision of that life.

Once you figure out what your perfect life looks like, your subconscious (RAS) will toggle on and begin to go to work, behind the scenes. It will start to nudge you in certain directions. Your intuition will be re-calibrated and will tune you into what you need to do. It will begin to whisper in your ear. Your entire brain will start to go to work for you in delivering the life you desire. Clarity of vision, supercharges your brain and floods you with the passion energy that makes the impossible possible.

When Og Mandino, author of The Greatest Salesman in the World, was at his lowest, he used what little money he had to purchase a gun so he could end his life. Thankfully, he could not pull the trigger. But, that low point in his life, that disgust at being homeless and having lost his family to alcoholism, forced him to reevaluate and change his life.

Mandino eventually did turn his life around. He took his disgust and used it to transform himself into one of the most successful inspirational self-help authors in the world. His books and his wisdom live on, long after his death.

Most do not have to fall as low as Og Mandino. But many, at some point in their lives, experience disgust at the way their life is going. Some bury their disgust in alcohol, drugs or food.

Others, however, take a different path. They use disgust as a springboard for change.

Disgust is a byproduct of human evolution. Its intended purpose is to agitate us in order to force us to change the way we are doing things. Without disgust, humanity would not have achieved so much.

If you are disgusted with your life, that’s life way of prodding you to change what you are doing. You are in good company if you are disgusted with your life. Many successful people began their march towards success when they became disgusted with their life. Disgust, when used as life intended, is like jet fuel. It can lift you to heights you only dreamed of.

Will you use disgust as a springboard for growth and change?

Self-made millionaires swim in a sea of doubt.

In my interviews with these extraordinary individuals, I was surprised to learn that while they were on their journey towards success, they were filled with doubt.

What human being wouldn’t? Every day they faced challenges, had to navigate obstacles, made copious mistakes and generally felt like they were pushing a big ball up a hill. But they never quit because they believed in their mission. They believed they would ultimately succeed, despite swimming in a sea of doubt. How did they do it?

Self-made millionaires relentlessly seek to improve, to get better and to grow into the person they need to become in order for success to visit them. They are able to overcome their doubts by embracing certain success habits:

• Daily Reading to Learn
• Seeking Out Mentors
• Daily Practice
• Learning From Their Mistakes
• Getting up Early and Putting in the Hours
• Focusing on Improving Their Strengths
• Finding Success-Minded Partners
• Surrounding Themselves With Optimists
• Avoiding Pessimists
• Never Quitting on Their Dreams and Goals

Success is hard. It requires almost superhuman effort. You will be filled with doubts; doubts that shadow your every move. But doubt does not stand a chance when you are filled with passion and a clear vision of what you desire.

Human being are hardwired to be followers. When we don’t do as others around us are doing, it creates stress and anxiety. This desire to follow the herd is a byproduct of human evolution.

During the early part of our human existence, we quickly discovered that when we were part of the herd, it was harder for predators to attack. The Herd Doctrine ensured the very survival of our species. We so desire to blend in, to acclimate to society, to be a part of the herd, that we will do almost anything to avoid standing out in a crowd. It’s not theory. It’s science (http://www.nature.com/srep/2013/131009/srep02905/full/srep02905.html). Many years ago Candid Camera decided to test this science in their famous Elevator Prank (http://www.maniacworld.com/peer-pressure-on-the-elevator.html). As funny as that Candid Camera prank was, it highlighted the lengths people will go to be part of the herd.

In the U.S., we have a big herd – approximately 326 million. You can further break our U.S. herd down into various income strata (source Census Data 2015):

• Poverty or Near Poverty Herd – Approximately 84 million people
• Middle Class Herd – Approximately 215 million people
• Non-Millionaire High Income Herd – Approximately 16 million people
• Millionaire Herd – Approximately 11 million people

Most people stay in the herd they started out in for most of their lives. So do their children and their grandchildren and so on. Why is that?

While this Herd Doctrine helped humans to survive, it is also the reason why so many wallow in mediocrity. When you are doing what everyone else in your herd is doing, you will only do as well as the other members in your herd. Your financial well-being will mirror the herd’s financial well-being. Your income, the house you live in, the car you drive, the clothes you wear and all of the stuff you own will be roughly the same as every other member of your particular herd.

The only way to improve your financial life is to escape your herd. You must defy your herd by separating yourself from it in order to achieve success in life. And that’s not easy. In my book, Change Your Habits Change Your Life, I share several stories of self-made millionaires who were able to break free of their poverty or middle-class herds and go on to achieve enormous financial success in life.

Well-meaning family, friends and colleagues try to dissuade anyone pursuing anything that other members of the herd are not doing. This includes big goals or life dreams. They will tell you: “the risk is too great”, “what if you fail?”, “you will jeopardize your career”, “you could go bankrupt”, “are you sure you’re not making a mistake?”. This onslaught of doom and gloom forces most to stop in their tracks and return back into the herd.

Depending on the study, 76% or more of the wealthy are self-made – meaning they started out either poor or in the middle class. There aren’t many of them, however. Only 2-5% of the poor or middle-class are able to break free from their poverty or middle-class herds and become rich.

Separating yourself from your herd requires almost superhuman effort. This is why self-made millionaires are truly exceptional individuals. Their path towards success is a very lonely one. They must defy everyone they know inside their herd – their family, friends, neighbors, and other individuals – in order to break free from their herd prison. Not at all an easy thing to do.

So, if you are considering pursuing a big goal or life dream, you must, at some point, confront and overcome the well-intentioned members of your herd who will try to dissuade you. It won’t be easy. Your evolutionary conditioning and the evolutionary conditioning of those inside your herd will fight you every step of the way. But boy is it worth the fight.

When you defy the Herd Doctrine and escape your herd, enormous financial rewards, personal satisfaction, joy and happiness await you at the end of your journey.

In order to truly pursue success, you must accurately define what success you are pursuing and when. You must have a clear vision of the dream you want to realize and then take action.

When I was just starting out in my career as an accountant, success to me meant becoming a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). So, for two years, I studied and kept taking the CPA exam until I passed. When I received notification that I had finally passed the exam, I felt like a huge success.

Once I got my CPA license, I decided to go to graduate school to get my Masters in Taxation. Now, success to me meant getting that Masters Degree. When I completed my last course and received my Masters Degree in Taxation, I felt successful.

One of my most important goals in life was to get all three of my children through college. Towards this end, I saved as much money as I could every month and pursued additional streams of income. I obsessed over this goal for 15 years. In 2015, my last child graduated from college. In my mind I felt like a major success.

In 2009, I decided I wanted to write a book. In took 18 months for my first book to get published. When I held that book in my hand, I felt like a huge success.

After that first book, my definition of success changed. I decided I wanted to become one of the most successful self-help authors/experts in the world. I am still pursuing this success.

You see, your definition of success changes during your lifetime. It’s not necessarily fixed in stone. Dreams change as we get on with life. And that’s ok. The key is to see each dream through – to never quit until you realize the dream.

That’s what the successful, self-made millionaires in my Rich Habits study did. They pursued success until they realized each one of their dreams. For some it took longer than for others. But the one common denominator they all shared is: they pursued a dream or big goal and did not quit until they realized success.

Dreams provide the vision, action makes those dreams become reality. Success is the realization of each one of your dreams.

We lionize successful entrepreneurs such as Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. They inspire and motivate us to pursue greatness. We study them in order to learn their secrets to success.

When we peel the onion to their success common factors such as pursuing a dream, having a clear vision, working long hours, persistence, passion and focus often reveal themselves.

But there’s another lesser-known factor that gets very little attention – the power of the pivot.

Successful entrepreneurs learn how to pivot – to shift gears, change direction and alter their course or the path they take in order to achieve success. This may be the real secret to their success.

A typical airplane flight is off course 90% of the time during its flight. Pilots and the onboard computer systems continuously focus on the end, the destination, and make constant course corrections during the flight in order to arrive at the destination.

Successful entrepreneurs are not different. They make constant course corrections during their success journey in the pursuit of their dreams and goals. When their actions do not produce the results they desire, they pivot. When the people they work with are unable to help move them forward, they find other people. When a product or service fails to deliver, they tweak that product or service until it sells. They constantly alter what they are doing, find another route and then take that route. They do this over and over again until they achieve their goals and realize their dreams.

One of the stats in my Rich Habits research that stopped me in my tracks was this one:

88% of the rich read 30 minutes or more every day for self-education

I was doing a podcast interview yesterday. The host shared a story about a self-made millionaire he had interviewed.  At age 20, long before the millionaire became rich, he had attended a seminar. At the seminar there was a self-help speaker. The speaker told the audience that if you wanted to double your income in one year, start reading for self-improvement every day. So, the very next day, the 20 year old started reading everything he could to help him improve his life. He read self-help books. biographies of successful people and other success-type books. Within one year, the now 21 year old had doubled his income. He continued this Rich Habit for the rest of his life and eventually became a self-made millionaire.

One Rich Habit was all it took.

Reading to learn and to improve will introduce you to new information and new knowledge. It will open your eyes to the opportunities that are all around you. Reading is a common denominator among all successful people.

If rich, successful people read every day for self-improvement, why aren’t you reading?

The harder I work the more creative I seem to become. The more I write, the more ideas for new articles come bubbling up from my subconscious. It’s not just me, it’s the nature of creativity.

Creative geniuses like Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison or Nicola Tesla all had one thing in common – their passion for what they did enabled them to work long hours, day after day, year after year. They were grinding it out every day. Idea after idea, thrown away like yesterday’s trash, until that one big idea, that one magnificent spark of genius, seemed to manifest itself out of thin air, transforming ordinary individuals into iconic geniuses.

That’s the nature of genius. It visits the workhorse, typically when the workhorse momentarily puts down their work tools. Eureka-type ideas burst forth while riding a train (Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity), during a nap (James Watson’s structure of DNA and Dmitry Mendeleyev’s Periodic Table), or while taking a bath (Archimedes).

Genius requires consistent hard work. The harder you work the more creative you become. You must relentlessly practice your craft over and over again. Only then will the spark of genius burst forth.

I love interacting with my followers/subscribers. I pay very close attention to every email I receive from them. One of my subscribers asked the following question, which I think is important enough to address:

I just saw a YouTube video of Warren Buffet. He is speaking to students. He is claiming, that habit changing is only possible when you are young. What is your opinion about that?

My Response

Tks for your email XXXX. Unfortunately, Warren Buffet is wrong.

Like you, I admire Warren Buffet. He spent years, single-mindedly focused on ONE THING – finding undervalued companies.

His mentor, Benjamin Graham, was his professor in college. Graham wrote a famous book called The Intelligent Investor. I’ve read this book. It teaches many fundamental principles about investing. Perhaps Graham’s greatest contribution is his expertise in identifying undervalued companies. Warren Buffet spent his entire adult life honing this one singular skill. Buffet is an expert in value investing, mentored by the world’s greatest value investing expert, Benjamin Graham.

I’ve studied Warren Buffet and from all of the books I’ve read, Buffet devotes 8-12 hours every day perfecting his one amazing, great skill – value investing. He admits that he devotes little to no time on anything else, such as the neurology behind habit formation.

So, let me clear things up a bit regarding habit formation.

Habits are formed when neurons repeatedly communicate with each other. This is called a synapse. Given enough time (average of 66 days according to the famous University College London habit study), the Basal Ganglia will take notice of this synapse and, when it does, it will send one of its many long dendrites up to the synapse and anchor it in the vicinity of those neurons. When it does this, these neurons become marked by the basal ganglia as a permanent habit. Age has nothing to do with this process. You don’t stop forming synapses until you die or the brain shuts down. You can form new synapses and new habits well into your 70’s, 80’s or for as long as you and your brain remain healthy and alive.

In today’s fast-paced, highly technologically-driven culture, anyone can voice their opinion. We see celebrities opining about topics they have little to no knowledge or real-world experience in, and this is dangerous.

Just because someone has celebrity, does not mean they have any idea what they are talking about. Actors are expert at acting. Singers at singing. Basketball and football players are professionals in their respective sports. And Warren Buffet is an expert in value investing.

As a rule, ignore celebrities when they are sharing their opinion about anything, unless you know for certain that they have devoted their lives to honing their expertise in the thing they are opining on.

Life has a way of throwing wrenches into our routines.

For the past 30 days, I’ve been traveling quite a bit. My normal routine is to wake up at 4:30am to read, write, exercise and engage with my followers on social media. But that was sometimes hard during the past 30 days. Fortunately, I happen to be somewhat of an expert on habits and so I put my research to the test. Here’s what I did to stay on track:

• Strategically Cheat – I knew there would be certain days I would not be able to stay on track with my Rich Habits routine. So, on my calendar, I planned out my cheat days – the days I would not engage in my daily Rich Habits. Putting those Cheat Days on my calendar notified my brain that I would be cheating on certain days. This helped me psychologically – it gave me breathing room to cheat and at the same time it set a time limit on my cheating.
• Small Steps – When you go off track with your routine, it’s critical to get back on track. The best way to do this is to take small steps back into your routine. For example, just last week I was at the airport at 5am for a 7am flight. I was unable to run that morning. So, the next morning I limited my running to 20 minutes, instead of the 4-6 miles I normally run. Two days later I had to drive twelve hours to New Orleans. No running that day either. So, the following day, I ran 20 minutes. Two days later I was on another early morning flight back home and could not run that day either. So, the next day I ran 20 minutes. Yesterday, I ran 7.5 miles and I am now back on track with my exercise routine. Small steps keep you in the game. Small steps keep you motivated.
• Deplete Willpower Reserves on Recovery Days – When you fall off your routine, it can be hard to get back on track. But it’s only hard for a little while. For example, two days ago was my first full day back to my non-travel “normal” life. Waking up Monday at 4:30am took superhuman effort. But I did it. By the time I was done with my “normal” Rich Habits routine, I felt exhausted. I had completely depleted my willpower reserves. The following day, however, I got up at 4:30am without blinking an eye. I read, wrote, exercised and engaged with my followers on social media. I was back on track.

If you are trying to transform your life by engaging in certain daily habits that will lead to wealth, good health, success and happiness, you must accept the reality that life will throw wrenches into your good habit efforts. By Strategically Cheating, Small Stepping it back into your routine and depleting your Willpower Reserves on Recovery Days, you will stay on track.

Success is a journey and your habits are your transportation system. Stay focused on your Rich Habits. They will take you where you want to go.