Just finished an interesting book called Being Broke Makes No Sense. The author, Marshall James, is a Captain in the US Armed Forces.

What I like about this book is that it challenges the beliefs many of us were raised with. If you’re religious, you were likely indoctrinated in the belief that the pursuit of wealth is bad. Many who subscribe to this limiting belief often quote Luke 18:24-25: It is harder for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.

My mother used to repeat that part of the scripture regularly. As a result, we were all raised to believe that pursuing wealth was wrong. But my Mom was wrong.

“Many well-intentioned family members, friends and even the church have conditioned us to believe that poverty somehow brings us closer to God. There is nothing in the Bible that suggests we must live our lives in poverty in order to be rich..” Marshall James

I have written many times about The Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25: 14-30). This parable makes a strong case that the pursuit of money is a good thing. In this parable, the master gives each of his servants Money (talents). The two servants who took some risk and were able to double the money the master had given them were given more money. They were rewarded with more.

The purpose of this parable is to highlight the fact that the pursuit of wealth is a good thing.

Do not accept the limiting beliefs you were raised with. They will prevent you from realizing success in life.

Mark 9:35  And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”

We exist to serve others. When, in our service, we add value to others, we will be rewarded. The key then, is to pursue some purpose in life that allows you to add value to the lives of others. When you find that purpose, you will be rewarded financially and realize great success in life.

According to Barry Schwartz, a professor at the University of California (Berkeley), and author of the book The Paradox of Choice social comparison often creates envy and envy quickly makes people miserable.

Human beings have a character flaw that is hardwired into us thanks to evolution. They tend to look at others and compare others to themselves. If the other person has a bigger house, nicer car, more money, etc. this creates envy. Envy is a negative emotion that causes a sensation known as unhappiness.

Since comparing ourselves to others is a hardwired, human character flaw, the key then is to shift your comparison from those who have more to to those who are less fortunate. This eliminates the negative emotion of envy from rearing its ugly head and instead produces the positive emotion of gratitude.

Gratitude creates positive feelings about our lives and is the gateway to a positive mental outlook.

So, the next time you find yourself staring at a huge home or expensive car, instead turn away and replace your visual with a home smaller than yours or a jalopy of a car. You’ll notice almost immediately the feeling of gratitude replace the feeling of envy.

Edgar Allen Poe suffered from depression. If you lived his life, you probably would have been depressed too. He was born in 1809 to a couple of actors. He was two when his father abandoned him. His mother, unable to take care of him, left him with John and Frances Allen. His mother died soon after that.

Poe was rejected by the literary circles of his time, which was a result of his reputation for being a crazy drunk without any talent. Poe often referred to bipolar disorder through his themes using the “double self.” Later it was called a split personality and today it is referred to as bi polar disorder or schizophrenia.

There are days when everyone gets depressed. Monday mornings are famous for triggering depression. An end to family get togethers can lead to depression. Seeing your kids off to college is another trigger for depression.

You are definitely not alone when it comes to depression. We all experience these momentary bouts of depression or sadness.

One of the anti-depression strategies I uncovered in my five-year study of the daily habits of the wealthy involves engaging in a creative activity. Depression seems to fade away during creative pursuits.

It’s in our genes to create. When we create we are at our most human state and when we are at our most human state, we become happy. Creativity creates happiness and happiness displaces depression.

We all have some creative skills. It’s hardwired into our DNA. We are all creative beings. For me, it is writing. For others, it is painting or music or knitting or building. I actually have grown to envy builders because builders get to create for a living.

When you are immersed in any creative pursuit, the right side of the brain takes over and suppresses that part of the brain where depression resides. It’s hard to start a creative project when you are in the midst of depression and that is why you should plan your creative project far in advance of the depression-triggering event.

As you get older, you get better at identifying when those events will likely occur. Setting a date for starting your creative project, far in advance of the depression-triggering event, will help you process the reversal of the approaching depression.

Humans are the only species on earth who have the innate ability to create tangible things from mere thought. We have the ability to dream and turn those dreams into reality.

Each of us is endowed with the Creativity Gene. Those individuals who harness their Creativity Gene change the world and become wealthy in the process.

When you add value to society by creating something society wants or needs, society will reward you financially.

Only when we create are we truly being human. For some unknown reason, we were the only species on earth blessed with this unique gift to create. Those who spend their lives creating, are the happiest human beings. That is life’s reward for utilizing the Creativity Gene. Happiness. Creating is our purpose in life.

For most, unfortunately, the Creativity Gene remains dormant. When we ignore our purpose in life we find ourselves unhappy, eking out a living, never reaching our full potential. Making use of this Creativity Gene is the path to happiness. Ignoring it is the path to unhappiness. If you want to be truly happy in life you must create. You must activate your Creativity Gene.

Some of the greatest historical figures worked diligently at self-assessment and self-improvement.

Benjamin Franklin and George Washington created lists of good behavioral activities to help them eliminate any defects or bad habits they thought they had.

Benjamin Franklin’s list became know as the 13 Virtues of Life. He compiled this list at the age of 20 and spent the remainder of his life trying to live by those virtues.

George Washington’s list is known as the Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior. Washington created this list while still a teenager.

Is it an accident that these two self-improvement fanatics had enormous success in life?

Rich Habit #1 is known as the Self-Assessment Rich Habit. One strategy I uncovered in my research is to create a list of all of your bad daily habits and invert them into good daily habits.

Another strategy I uncovered is the five-year letter. This is a letter you write today about the future you. Included in this letter are all of the qualities and good habits the future you possesses. When done, you have a life plan that will act like a blueprint for pursuing the life of your dreams.

I get a lot of emails every day, mostly from readers of my books or blog. But every now and then I get emails from individuals trying to sell something.

The other day I received an email from some “expert” who was bragging about helping an author sell 50,000 books. In the email he was trying to sell their book promotion services to authors.

My first thought was, “how do consider 50,000 books successful?” I then deleted the email.

But it forced me to think about the definition of success. From the perspective of a new author, I suppose selling 50,000 books would be a major success. You see, your perspective affects your definition of success.

If you are eking out a living, struggling to get by, you might view anything that helps you earn more money worthy of pursuing. You might even drop $100 on some scheme that promises if you do X, Y & Z you will be able to earn an additional $500 a month. That $100 could make you $6,000 more a year. It’s worth the $100 and your time. To you that’s a successful investment.

It’s success because of where you started – broke. That $500 a month puts an end to being broke. It alters your circumstances in life.

Now consider an individual who just got a bonus for $100,000. They run across the same ad. And they think to themselves, “why would I invest $100 and my valuable time to make only an additional $6,000 a year?”

So, they ignore the ad. From their perspective, the prospect of making an additional $6,000 in exchange for $100 and their valuable time is simply not their definition of a successful investment.

Your definition of success depends on your perspective. Your perspective is determined by your current life circumstances.

Opportunities for success are all around you. Whether or not you take advantage of those opportunities depends entirely on your perspective. One man’s definition of success is often very different than another’s.

You could be told by 100 different people that you need to lose weight, moderate your consumption of alcohol, read every day in order to grow, call your mother, or (fill in the blank).

Most ignore the advice given by others. Until something happens in your life that opens your eyes and your ears. When your perspective changes on something, you become more receptive to advice.

It may be a visit to your doctor, where you learn that you suddenly have high blood pressure or learn  that your liver is unhealthy. Suddenly, you find yourself exercising, eating right and moderating your consumption of alcohol.

You might get fired from your job. Suddenly, you find yourself reading more about the things you need to know in order to become more expert in what you do.

You might learn that your mother is unhealthy. Suddenly, you find yourself calling her every day.

Those who succeed in life are perpetual students. Their eyes and ears are always open. They don’t wait until the timing is right in order to take the advice of others.

Keeping your eyes and ears open to advice is a Rich Habit. It takes practice to develop this habit.

Don’t be like everyone else and wait until some outside event forces you to open your eyes and ears to advice. Make it a daily habit of being open to the feedback and advice of others.

How?

Create an Advice Binder. In this binder you write down all of the advice you get from others. Then review your Advice Binder once a week. This keeps your eyes and ears open to advice. This habit will help program your mind to do the right things in life; to live your life in such a way as to avoid having to face circumstances that force your eyes and ears to open up.

Pareto Principle: 20% of all activities produce 80% of all results.

Stated another way: we waste 80% of our time on activities that are meaningless.

How do you know if you are wasting your time?

The only individuals who are focused on activities that produce results are those who have created a blueprint for their lives and are following that blueprint. Successful individuals are those individuals who pursue activities that create a life that is consistent with their blueprint. Most don’t have a blueprint, so most are wasting their time.

I’ve written often about the importance of Dream-Setting and Goal-Setting.

Dream-Setting is a process in which you create a script of your ideal, perfect life (500 – 1,000 words) and then bullet point all of the dreams within that script that need to come true in order to make that life a reality.

Goal-Seting is the process of creating and pursuing the goals (the action steps) that enable you to realize your dreams. It may take three or more goals in order to realize just one dream. When you accomplish a goal, you are pursuing activities that create results that matter.

Without a blueprint, there really is no way to know which activities are important. Without a blueprint, there is no way to know if your activities are creating results that will produce the life you desire. Without a blueprint, you are leaving it all to chance.

Individuals who have created a blueprint do not waste their time on activities that will not produce results that lead to the life of their dreams. Individuals with a blueprint say no often. They only focus on things that matter.

With a blueprint, you are able to focus on fewer activities that produce results that will create the life of your dreams. With a blueprint, you are able to stop yourself from wasting 80% of your time.

“Inaction breeds doubts and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage.” Dale Carnegie

The biggest thing holding you back from success in life is the fact that you do not believe in yourself. You second-guess every move you make. You overthink everything.

Overthinking is a habit. It’s triggered by the fear of uncertainty. The fear is that you will fail if you take action, so you avoid taking action by planning and thinking to the point of inaction.

Those who succeed in life shed this overthnking habit. They take action, fail and make mistakes.

Failures and mistakes enable you to figure out what works and what doesn’t work. Successful people make a habit of overcoming their fear of taking action.

When you take action and survive the failures and mistakes, you gain courage and this empowers you to take more action.