I was on the phone recently with one of my favorite clients. He’s a balls to the wall entrepreneur, fearless and always optimistic. Like me with my Rich Habits business, he’s chasing a dream. He’s got a neat business model in that there is enormous upside potential. One or two things can go his way and tomorrow he could be a millionaire. But since 2008, he’s gone through hell. The Great Recession, irrespective of what the politicians and their media cohorts tell you, is still devastating small businesses, even eight years later.

At times, my client said he felt as if the everything was crashing in on him. At times he confessed to me that he felt like throwing in the towel. At times, he pondered if it would be better if he just filed for personal bankruptcy. We had many dark conversations.

Somehow, he was able to survive. Somehow, he was able to find the money to keep the banks and creditors from taking action against him. Somehow, he was able to keep his business afloat. He pivoted into other areas in his industry that were potentially more profitable.

In 2014, things began to turn around. A few of those opportunities began to pay off. He was able to pay down some of the debt he had accumulated in order to survive. 2015 and 2016 was more of the same thing. He no longer has banks and creditors calling him every day. He’s not out of the woods, but he is out of the forest fire. As he said to me on our call, “I’m one or two deals away from being a multimillionaire”. What an attitude.

And it’s precisely the attitude you need in order to succeed as an entrepreneur. Successful entrepreneurs very often have to walk through hell in order to get to heaven. They understand that the law of averages at some point kicks in. If you persist and somehow survive the dark days, eventually you get lucky.

Psychologist Rick Hanson, senior fellow of The Greater Good Science Center of UC, Berkeley has studied something called negativity bias for years. He found that our brains are all hardwired for negativity. Negativity Bias is the habit of focusing on worst case scenarios when we are confronted with problems. Our brains, he found, react more strongly to negative experiences than positive ones.

I have four businesses I am running right now. Two of those businesses are on the uptick, growing every month. One is just in the beginning phases of development and will take some time to become a viable business. But the forth business is the one that creates the most problems for me.

Yesterday, I was forced to confront a pressing problem with that fourth business. My initial reaction was completely negative. My brain fed me with all sorts of negative outcomes and zero positive outcomes. That’s the amygdala at work. The amygdala is the emotional center of the brain. It is where negativity, fear and doubt reside. And it was hard at work.

Thanks to my vast research on the brain and habits, I understood what was happening. So, I said to myself over and over again, it’s just a problem that I need to solve. After a few hours, my amygdala calmed down and the thinking part of my brain, the prefrontal cortex, took over.

Eventually, I was able to come up with some potential solutions to my problem. These solutions all provide outcomes for me that would help set me up for success down the road.   

If you are alive you will confront problems. That’s just life. It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor, there will always be problems. To turn off the negativity bias inside your brain, say to yourself over and over again, “it’s just a problem I need to solve”. That will turn off your amygdala and turn on your prefrontal cortex, allowing you to come up with creative solutions to your problem.

Remember, it’s just a problem, not the end of the world. Solving problems is what successful people do every day. Every problem has a solution. When you confront problems this way, you are able to shut down the negativity inside your brain and when you do, positive solutions will manifest out of thin air.

Life often gets in the way. Life has a way of throwing wrenches into our day, forcing us to trouble shoot our way through the day. By the end of the day, you look at your to-do list or all of the uncompleted tasks on your calendar reminder system and throw up your hands, wondering what to do.

There’s a simple solution that will help you accomplish the most important things in your day, in your month, and in your life. It’s called the “Rule of 3”.

Here’s how it works:

• Every day, pick 3 daily goals that you must get done that day.
• Every month, pick 3 monthly goals you will focus on accomplishing that month.
• Every year, pick 3 goals you would like to accomplish that year.

That’s it. The “Rule of 3” helps you focus on what’s important to you. It keeps you on track, allowing you to continue to move forward on your goals and dreams. By limiting your priorities to just 3 things every day, every month and every year, you will be able to take back control of your life and life’s wrenches will lose their power over you.

We all have unique talents. You might be good at writing, painting, communicating, math, organizing, building relationships, managing others, money, investing or athletics. Each of us has some genetically, god-given talent that is unique only to us.

Innate talents are skills that come easy to you. Where others are forced to toil for 7, 8 or 9 long, hard years to get good a something, such as playing the piano, you’re somehow able to master the piano in just a few short, painless years. Well, that’s an innate talent. That’s life’s way of telling you – play the piano for a living. If you focus all of your efforts on those things that you’re naturally good at in life, you’ll realize enormous success in life. Life rewards those who use their talents and their strengths.

But it’s not enough to find your talent. A talent must be put to use every day. You have to hone your talent, as if it were a little child. You need to nurture it and help it grow into an expertise. If you focus all of your efforts on those things that you’re naturally good at in life, you’ll realize enormous success in life. Life rewards those who use their talents and their strengths.

Habit is the repetition of thinking and behavior. Through repetition, any activity will eventually become a habit. As you engage in that habitual activity every day, you become better and better at it. Practice makes perfect, as they say. So, too with talents. If you can turn your talent into a habit and practice it every day, eventually you will become so expert at it that it becomes automatic. No thinking will be required.

This is why habits are so important. Habits transform innate talents into flawless perfection. When you reach the point where your talent becomes a habit, that is when you become an expert. The world pays a premium for experts. Experts make the most money and build the most wealth. So, find your inner talents, convert them into habits and, in time, you will become an expert who can command a premium for your expertise.

We are not creatures of circumstances. Circumstances can be changed. We are creatures of habit. Your life is not a product of luck, fate or the circumstances you were born into, but a product of your habits.

Habits are repetitive thoughts that lead to repetitive behavior. If your thoughts are positive and upbeat, your behavior will reflect that. If your thoughts are negative and pessimistic, your behavior will reflect that. This is why you must be conscious of the thoughts you have. Thought awareness is critical to forging good habits and eliminating bad habits. 

Habits exist to conserve brain fuel. They exist to automate our thinking and behavior in order to reduce the amount of work the brain must do. Your subconscious mind (limbic system, brain stem and cerebellum) is the seat of your habits.

Your habits define your life. They act like a mirror, reflecting the quality of the life you have. Good habits (Rich Habits) lead to a good life; bad habits (Poor Habits) lead to a bad life.

Rich Habits help you build a quality life; one filled with abundance, good health and happiness.

Poor Habits contaminate your life. Over time Poor Habits will drag down you into an abyss; a black hole, of poverty, poor health and unhappiness.

Your habits affect everyone around you – your family, friends, your colleagues at work and your community. Good habits improve relationships; bad habits destroy relationships.

The quality of your life depends on the habits you forge. If you want to upgrade, or improve your life, you must upgrade or improve your habits. Habits are the reason you live in a mansion on the beach or in a slum. They are the reason your children go to the best private schools, or not. Your habits are the reason you are financially free in retirement or dependent upon your children for financial help.

Habits are amazing things. Once formed, they become automatic, subconscious behaviors that require zero willpower. You don’t need to motivate yourself or pump yourself up to engage in a habit. All it takes is a trigger.

For Abraham Lincoln that trigger was committing something to memory. When Lincoln was studying to take the bar exam, he developed a habit that stayed with him forever.

Lincoln found it difficult to remember all of the legal concepts he needed to know in order to pass the bar exam. So, he decided to write the concepts down a minimum of there times.

After passing the bar, he incorporated this “Rule of 3” into his legal profession. Prior to presenting his case to the judge and jury, Lincoln would write down his arguments three times right before his court appearance. He became so well-respected as a lawyer that he was added to the list of lawyers who could practice before the Supreme Court of Illinois.

Lincoln took his “Rule of 3” with him into politics, eventually becoming the 16th President of the United States in March of 1861. He would write most of his own speeches using his “Rule of 3”. Because of his hectic schedule he would often have to write his speeches on the way to the speech. The Gettysburg Address, one of his most famous speeches, was written on his way to Cemetery Hill, the site of his Gettysburg Address.

When we try to memorize anything, we are using two parts of the brain: the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus. The “Rule of 3” is a more effective way to memorize facts because it activates three parts of the brain: prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and cerebellum. Lincoln, unknowingly, was using 1/3 more of his brain with his “Rule of 3”, which made it easier for him to commit facts to memory.

If you struggle committing facts to memory, take a page out of Lincoln’s playbook and try his “Rule of 3”. It works. I’ve been using it since 1988 and it has helped me to pass the CPA exam, obtain my Masters degree in Taxation, pass the CFP exam, the Series 7 exam, and has helped me obtain several other licenses. It’s now a habit for me. I’ve incorporated the “Rule of 3” in my Rich Habits business to help me with my speaking engagements and presentations.

Who do you want to be? Have you ever given it any thought?

Sure, we have ideas about what we want to do with our lives. This usually focuses on careers or starting a family so we can become a mom or dad.

At some point, usually around age 45, we begin to wonder if this is all we are in life – our career and a mom or dad. Up to this point we’ve been running like hamsters on a wheel. Working hard at our jobs and raising a family.

But as that family grows up, that wheel starts to slow down, and we suddenly have more time to think about our lives. This “mid-life crisis” event forces us to stop and think about the meaning behind it all. And the inevitable question arises – is this all I am?

Most take a non-productive path and bury themselves in things that occupy their time – new hobbies (golf, boating, crafts, fantasy football, etc.) and/or new addictions (drugs/alcohol/women).

These time-consuming hobbies and the addictions make us feel better while we’re engaged in the activities because they throw a blanket over the real issue and divert our attention. But they only serve to temporarily mask the pain we feel when we are alone with our thoughts.

A few, however, during this mid-life crisis, take the constructive path and begin to formulate a plan to become something more than a job-holder and parent. They pursue dreams and goals that will help them become something more significant in life. They strive for greatness.

We all have the capacity for greatness. But we need a plan to achieve that greatness. I call that plan Dreamsetting.

Dreamsetting will give you the answer to the question who do I want to be. Dreamsetting puts you on the right path in life. It will open your eyes and help you become the person you were intended to be.

I created a short eBook on Dreamsetting. If you’d like a copy, shoot me an email.

There’s a misconception about goals that you’ve no doubt accepted as true. This misconception is that goals represent some future outcome.

Future outcomes are affected by time, changing facts, changing circumstances and unexpected variables that pop up. Future outcomes are actually dreams in disguise, not goals. And this is precisely why so many fail to achieve their goals. They have been defining their goals all wrong.

In my research (Rich Habits Study) I learned that a goal is only a goal if it has two things:

1. 100% Certainty and
2. Physical Activity

This is the formula I discovered in five-year study of self-made millionaires. In fact, 99% of these millionaires stated that dreams and goals were not the same thing.

Future outcomes do not meet the definition because future outcomes are not 100% certain. You can’t control a future outcome. Too many things could go wrong. Only actions, or behaviors, that you can control are goals.

When you define your goals properly, they act like an elevator, pulling you closer towards the realization of each individual dream.

As an example, let’s say that want to become a CPA (Certified Public Accountant). That’s a dream, not a goal, because it represents some future outcome.

To determine the actual goal, you need to ask yourself two questions:

1. Do I have the abilities needed to study for the CPA exam? There are certain skills and knowledge that you must obtain in order to even sit for the CPA exam, such as 150 hours of specific college credits and a degree in accounting. Do you meet those requirements? If the answer is yes, then you can move on to question #2.
2. Can I perform the action required? Do I have the time to study for the exam? You learn from others who have taken the CPA exam that there is a huge time commitment. It requires, on average, two hours of study every day for six months and a very long exam – 14 hours of exams, broken down into four parts that you must complete over an 18 month period. Do you have 2 hours to study every day for the next six months and can you get it done in 18 months? If the answer is yes, then you have your goal:

Study 2 hours every day for the next six months and take the exam

The key to achieving goals, and thus realizing each one of your dreams, is to get clear on exactly what your goals are. Goals are not some future outcome. Goals are actions that require specific skills and knowledge. You must first determine if you have the prerequisite specific skills and knowledge before you define your goal. If you don’t, then you must redefine your CPA goal:

Obtain the skills and knowledge that I need in order to sit for the CPA exam

Once you understand the true definition of a goal, all goals then become 100% achievable. Each dream, such as becoming a CPA, requires that you achieve specific goals. Some dreams require that you achieve multiple goals. Once you achieve those goals, your dream is realized. Then you define your next dream and create goals around that dream.

You dream life is the realization of multiple dreams. It’s like a ladder. Each time you realize a dream, you climb another rung on the ladder. When you realize all of your dreams, you reach the top of that ladder. Your dream life awaits you at the top of that ladder. Achieving goals allows you to climb that ladder. Goals are your transportation system to your dream life.

There are no guarantees of success when you pursue a dream. It’s really hard to turn a dream into a reality.

Ask any entrepreneur who’s tried and failed or tried and succeeded. They’ll tell you straight up that the pursuit of a dream was way harder than they thought it would be. Thank God for rose colored glasses.

But while it’s hard to realize a dream, it is impossible to turn a dream into reality without persistent action. You need to go after your dreams every day by taking action. Persistent action forces luck to happen.

I’ve written often about luck being the key to success. Luck is illusive. It’s like a kid playing hide and seek. When you take action on your dreams every day, however, luck eventually runs out of hiding places.

This is why I emphasize the importance of habits. Habits automate action. When you forge the right habits, the Rich Habits, your actions automatically become persistent. Persistent action forces luck to happen.

The word entrepreneur literally means “bearer of risk”.

But what is risk? Risk is taking action that has two possible outcomes:

1. Good – Some probability of benefiting your life.
2. Bad – Some probability of adversely affecting your life.

When you take risk, you are exposing yourself to either a good or bad outcome.

Most avoid risk because they focus only on the possibility of a bad outcome. Fear grabs them with both arms and prevents them from taking any action at all.

Self-made millionaires, however, are able to overcome that fear. They are like Harry Houdini, able to break free from the grip of fear and take action on their dreams and goals.

Are self-made millionaires simply more courageous than most people?

Not really. They have certain Fearless Habits that enable them to overcome the fear of taking risk:

1. They Prepare Before They Leap – Self-made millionaires study and practice relentlessly and become experts before they take a leap. When they do take risk, it is typically an educated risk – a risk they studied and prepared themselves for over many years. Educated risk means you understand what can go wrong. There is no uncertainty about all possible outcomes.
2. They Expect Failure – Fear loses its grip when you pursue anything expecting mistakes and failure. Because they expect failure, they prepare for the worst. If the worst does happen, they are able to navigate around it because they prepared for it. They have a plan for the worst case scenario.
3. They Know How to Pivot – Self-made millionaires are constantly seeking feedback. Feedback gives you the information you need to allow you to pivot and adjust. Pivoting means you are not locked into a specific way of doing things.
4. They Focus on Their Vision – They have a clear picture of the outcome they desire. This means they are not easily distracted when something goes wrong. Their vision allows them to stay focused and persist.
5. They Surround Themselves With Experts – In any project, initiative or pursuit, things will go wrong. Self-made millionaires anticipate that things will go wrong so they surround themselves with individuals who have done what they are trying to do; who are experts at what they are trying to do. When something does go wrong, they lean on their experts to help them navigate the pitfalls.