How to Read More Books

 

Reading is a Rich Habit. Eighty-eight percent of the self-made millionaires in my Rich Habits Study, read 30 minutes or more every day. Typically, what they read related to what they did for a living.
This habit enabled them to acquire more information, increasing their knowledge-base, which made them more valuable to their customers or clients.
The more knowledgeable you are the more valuable you are. People who perceive you to have superior knowledge are willing to pay a premium for that knowledge.
Here are some ways you can increase the number of books you read:
  • Best Time to Read – The time of day you read can actually increase your reading speed and comprehension. According to my Rich Habits research, the optimum times to read are:
    • First thing in the morning, after waking up. This is when your willpower is strongest and your brain is the cleanest it will be of toxins that accumulate during waking hours.
    • Immediately following a nap – naps recharge and restore brain function.
    • Immediately after or during aerobic exercise – aerobic activity dramatically boosts oxygen levels in the blood, which then filters into the brain. Why is oxygen level so important? Oxygen is used by every cell in the body to convert glucose or ketones into ATP, the ultimate fuel source for every cell in the body, including brain cells. The higher your oxygen levels, the more fuel mitochondria are able to manufacture inside your brain cells. Increased brain fuel allows your brain cells to operate at optimum levels.
  • Listen to Audio books while you: commute to work, exercise or do chores. Sixty-three percent of the self-made millionaires in my Rich Habits Study said they listened to audio books regularly. This allowed them to read more books and increase their knowledge base.
  • Keep a book in the bathroom, in your car or in your purse – Having easy access to a book makes it easier and more convenient to read. Over time, this will form into a permanent reading habit.
  • Keep a book on your nightstand – Reading before bedtime is not the most effective reading but it’s still reading. But, there is one huge bonus in reading to learn, just prior to sleep – while you sleep, the reading material stands a better chance of being converted into long-term Declarative Memory. During any part of the day, the Hippocampus does its best to temporarily store information you absorb during the day. During sleep, the Hippocampus transfers its temporarily stored information to the neocortex, where it is permanently stored. As the day wears on, however, information you acquire at the beginning of the day loses its priority within the Hippocampus, replaced by newer, more recent information. So, any information you acquire right before you fall asleep, will take priority over older information, and this increase the odds of that information being converted into long-term memory.

My mission is to share my unique Rich Habits research in order to add value to your life and help you realize increased wealth, superior health, abundant success, fulfillment & happiness. If you find value in these articles, please share them with your inner circle and encourage them to Sign Up for my Rich Habits Daily Tips/Articles.  No one succeeds on their own. Thank You!

Can You Really Trust the Voice Inside Your Head?

 

I have some bad news for you.

All of those self-help gurus who have been telling you to trust your intuition, to listen to the voice inside your head, have been giving you bad advice.

Intuition is knowing without thinking. It is the ability to reach a decision without having all of the facts and information that you need, in order to make that decision. It is a non-analytical ability to make good decisions.

Recently, there has been a great deal of research surrounding intuition. And that research is helping us gain a finer appreciation for exactly what intuition is.

In a nutshell, intuition is a subconscious decision-making process that is not based on reason, logic or analysis, but based on your subconscious ability to recognize patterns.

How good you are in recognizing patterns, depends on how experienced you are with respect to the thing you’re making a decision about.

For example, if you are a 25-year old engineer, with 3 years of engineering experience under your belt, your intuition is just going to suck.

If, however, you are a 55-year old engineer, with 33 years of engineering experience, your intuition is almost always going to be correct.

You see, intuition is like wine, it improves with age, because intuition grows out of experience.

Even for the most seasoned, experienced individual, intuition is not infallible. Your experience may not be sufficient or comprehensive enough and, therefore, your intuition may mislead you into making mistakes or poor decisions.

Because everybody has different experiences, even within the same field, industry or profession, it is imperative to seek out the intuition of others who do what you do, before making important decisions. Those others will see patterns, that are invisible to you, which will lead to better decisions.

My mission is to share my unique Rich Habits research in order to add value to your life and help you realize increased wealth, superior health, abundant success, fulfillment & happiness. If you find value in these articles, please share them with your inner circle and encourage them to Sign Up for my Rich Habits Daily Tips/Articles.  No one succeeds on their own. Thank You!

Covid-19 – A Case Study in the Power of Fear

 

I have a thought experiment for you.

Walter is a very successful, very wealthy, self-made millionaire. His track record, over many years has been incredible – every time he invests money, 99% of the time he succeeds in making himself and his investors more money.

Due to his 99% success rate, everyone wants to be part of Walter’s investment opportunities.

Walter is a close friend of yours over many, many years. You’ve done 100 deals with Walter over those years. Almost every time you have invested money with Walter, he’s succeeded in making you more money.

Only once, did you ever lose money, investing with Walter.

And, thanks to Walter, you’ve made millions over the many years doing deals with him, due to his 99% success rate.

Walter approaches you with another deal. He wants to know if you would be interested in investing in another deal.

You give it some thought, talk it over with your spouse, and agree to invest money in Walter’s new deal, fully aware that there is a 1% risk that you could lose money.

In your mind, the odds are greatly in your favor – Walter succeeds 99% of the time and only fails, 1% of the time.

Knowing what you know about Walter’s success rate, if Walter approached you and offered you an opportunity to invest with him, would you say yes?

Or, would you say no, because of the 1% risk that you could lose money?

Does that 1% make you afraid to invest your money with Walter?

—————————————————————————————————————

As more data comes in, the math on Covid-19 is becoming clearer.

Covid-19 is highly contagious. About 20% who come into contact with the virus, become infected. This is significantly more than twice the 8% contagion rate of the average flu.

And the percentage of those who die, as a result of becoming infected with Covid-19, while continuing to drop, is still high at about 1%. About 1 out of every 100 individuals who is infected with Covid-19, will die.

Now, that 1% is likely to drop, as more data comes in, but it’s still going to be closer to 1% than .2%, which happens to be the death rate for individuals infected by the average flu virus.

So, you have a 1% chance of dying from Covid-19.

And yet, that 1% has caused the entire world to shut down, in fear of contracting Covid-19 and dying.

Damn right! You say. I’m afraid of that 1% chance of dying.

Do you drive a car?

Did you know that you have a .9% of dying in a car accident?

Why doesn’t the fear of dying in a car accident stop everyone from driving a car?

When you give into fear, you allow fear to control you.

Successful people do not allow fear to control their behavior, thinking and decision-making. They do not give fear even a second to take root in their mind.

 

My mission is to share my unique Rich Habits research in order to add value to your life and help you realize increased wealth, superior health, abundant success, fulfillment & happiness. If you find value in these articles, please share them with your inner circle and encourage them to Sign Up for my Rich Habits Daily Tips/Articles.  No one succeeds on their own. Thank You!

Your Immune System is One Giant Habit

 

It’s amazing how habits control almost every aspect of our lives.

I’ve spent a sizable percentage of my time, since 2010, promoting habits that lead to wealth, health, success and happiness. Many of the habits I’ve shared are ones that we have the power to adopt or replace.

But there are habits that are hardwired into our autonomic system, which operate with or without our approval.

The Immune System is one such habit.

Nothing you do, no amount of discipline or willpower, can stop the human body’s habit of protecting itself from outside invaders.

The Amazing Immune System Habit Machine

The Immune System is one giant habit machine. Built into every human being are certain processes that stand as sentries, protecting the cells that keep us alive.

1st LINE OF DEFENSE – YOUR SKIN

Your skin is the first line of defense, preventing almost all invaders from entering the body. Because of its incredible effectiveness, very few invaders succeed in gaining entry.

2nd LINE OF DEFENSE – MACROPHAGES

When any invader manages to penetrate the skin or find entry through other means (eating, drinking, breathing, kissing, sex, etc), Macrophages come to life.

Macrophages are extremely large Guard Cells that stand guard at every border region of the body. We have billions of Macrophages. When they encounter any outside invader, Macrophages swallow them whole. Enzymes inside the cells then go to work breaking down the invaders. These Macrophages send a signal to the blood to release water, which the Macrophages use to assist them in their attack. This release of water, is commonly referred to as Inflammation. The water helps isolate and contain the invaders, so that the Macrophages can swallow them whole.

In the event the invaders replicate too quickly, and overwhelm the ability of the Macrophages to swallow them up, they release Messenger Proteins, called Neutrophils.

3rd LINE OF DEFENSE – NEUTROPHILS

Neutrophils are proteins that furiously kill invaders. They are so ferocious that they often kill healthy cells within the vacinity of the invading cells. These Neutrophils create barriers, like the water, to trap the invaders, to assist the Macrophages in destroying the enemy. Because of their ferocious nature, Neutrophils commit suicide after five days in order to prevent them from doing too much damage to healthy cells who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

4th LINE OF DEFENSE – DENDRITIC CELLS

When Macrophages and Neutrophils are overwhelmed by the invaders, Dendritic Cells are released. Dendritic Cells have a specific purpose – they take samples of the invader cells, deposit those samples on their membrane and carry them off to the Lymphatic System (Lymph Nodes are pervasive throughout the body). Residing inside the Lymphatic System are T Cells. These Dendritic Cells carry the body parts of the invader to T Cells, who then analyze their makeup.

5th LINE OF DEFENSE – T CELLS

After sampling the makeup of the invading cells, the T Cells who recognize the invader, begin to duplicate themselves by the thousands, instantly. Some of these Duplicate T Cells stay behind inside the Lymphatic System, to act as Memory T Cells – specific T Cells who may be called on in the future to help identify the invaders if they ever return. Some of them swim out to the battlefield to assist the Macrophages, Neutrophils and Dendritic Cells as they battle the invaders.

And some of the T Cells remain behind in the Lymphatic System to assist in the manufacture of weapons to fight the invaders. These weapon manufacturers they assist are called as B Cells.

6th LINE OF DEFENSE – B CELLS

Activated by T Cells, B Cells produce weapons called Antibodies. Antibodies are tiny proteins that are specifically engineered to bind to the surface of each invading cell. These Antibodies bind to the invader cells and sting them, much like a snake or spider does, paralyzing them momentarily. Once paralyzed, the Macrophages swim along and swallow them whole.

Once the war is over, most of these Antibodies commit suicide. Those who do not kill themselves, swim back to the Lymphatic System, attached to their B Cell host. These returning B Cells are called Memory B Cells. The are like a standing army, whose job is to stand guard, in the event the invader were to ever return.

My mission is to share my unique Rich Habits research in order to add value to your life and help you realize increased wealth, superior health, abundant success, fulfillment & happiness. If you find value in these articles, please share them with your inner circle and encourage them to Sign Up for my Rich Habits Daily Tips/Articles.  No one succeeds on their own. Thank You!

Turns Out There’s a Very Good Reason the Poor Gamble the Most

 

Poor people have many bad habits: they eat too much junk food, they don’t exercise enough, they have poor money habits, they watch too much TV, they don’t read books, they waste too much time on the Internet, they drink too much alcohol, they have relationships with the wrong people, and … they gamble more than any other socioeconomic group.

As many of you know, I’ve been studying the rich and the poor since 2004. My Rich Habits research has been seen by close to 100 million people in 27 countries around the world.

But, according to my research, when it comes to gambling, the poor actually have a legitimate, logical rationale for engaging in the gambling Poor Habit.

In a 2008 experimental study published in the Journal of Behavioral Decision-Making, the authors of the study concluded that the poor gamble more than other socioeconomic groups because gambling levels the playing field.

You see, winning at gambling is determined by random good luck.

And this type of luck is fairly democratic – it visits the rich, poor and the middle-class equally.

Because the odds of winning the lottery are the same for a rich person as it is for a poor person, this puts the poor on equal footing with the rich. Anyone, rich or poor, can win the lottery.

The lottery gods don’t care if you live on the beach with a Tesla in your driveway, or if you live in a tent, on a sidewalk in Los Angeles.

 

 

My mission is to share my unique Rich Habits research in order to add value to your life and help you realize increased wealth, superior health, abundant success, fulfillment & happiness. If you find value in these articles, please share them with your inner circle and encourage them to Sign Up for my Rich Habits Daily Tips/Articles.  No one succeeds on their own. Thank You!

Women Take Fewer Risks Than Men

 

In John Gray’s popular book, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, he highlighted many of the psychological differences between men and women. Gray noted that men and women just think differently and they have distinct emotional needs and communication preferences.

The book’s popularity led to numerous studies in an effort to better understand the difference between the sexes.

Two such studies found that women are hardwired to take less risk than men.

The Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances found that women held a greater share of their Investable Assets in lower-risk assets and were more likely to change their asset allocation during volatile markets.

A 2012 Study by the University of Buffalo, published in the Journal of Gambling Studies, found that men played the lottery more frequently than women. Men, on average, play the lottery 18.7 days a year, while women, on average, play just 11.3 days a year.

My mission is to share my unique Rich Habits research in order to add value to your life and help you realize increased wealth, superior health, abundant success, fulfillment & happiness. If you find value in these articles, please share them with your inner circle and encourage them to Sign Up for my Rich Habits Daily Tips/Articles.  No one succeeds on their own. Thank You!

One Question You Should Ask Yourself at the Beginning of Every Day

 

Do you have a vision of your ideal life or a future version of the ideal you?

If you don’t, you should.

Why?

Because 76% of the self-made millionaires in my Rich Habits Study created a vision of their ideal, future life. They painted a very specific picture, in their mind, of who they wanted to be and what type of life they wanted to have.

The brain thinks in pictures, so when you create a Vision of who you want to be, you are speaking a language your brain understands very well.

Many things need to come together in order for your Vision to become a reality.

Your Vision is really the culmination of a number of specific Dreams and goals. Those specific Dreams/Goals are like pieces to a puzzle. As your realize or achieve each one, they begin to form a picture – a picture of your ideal life and the ideal you.

Your Vision is your Destination. In order to reach that Destination you must realize those Dreams and accomplish the Goals behind your Dreams.

What keeps you moving forward toward your Vision is the actions you take on a daily basis. Are those actions tied to your Vision, your Dreams and your Goals?

When you take action on your Dreams and Goals, that means you’re doing the things that will help to improve your life down the road. So, when you take action, every day, on your Dreams and Goals, you feel proud of yourself.

Those who don’t take action on their Dreams and Goals, don’t move forward and feel stuck. And that creates a feeling of discontent or regret.

A very simple daily habit you can create, in order to keep you moving forward, is to ask yourself this one question at the beginning of every day: What one thing should I do today that will make me proud of myself?

My mission is to share my unique Rich Habits research in order to add value to your life and help you realize increased wealth, superior health, abundant success, fulfillment & happiness. If you find value in these articles, please share them with your inner circle and encourage them to Sign Up for my Rich Habits Daily Tips/Articles.  No one succeeds on their own. Thank You!

Sleep Kills Viruses

 

Getting a lot of sleep is vitally important when you are sick. In fact, it is so important, the body puts you into something called Sick Sleepiness in order to force you to sleep.

Why do we need so much sleep when we are sick?

When you go to sleep, your body’s immune system and janitorial crew go to work:

  • There are several automatic immune defenses that get deployed during sleep. As your body forces you to slow down, it performs the following functions:
    • Encoding: The immune system goes on the hunt for foreign bacteria or viruses.
    • Consolidation: The immune system gathers and communicates front line data about any foreign invaders it encounters.
    • Recall: Every immune cell commits to memory through its genes, exactly what weapons (Proteins) worked in destroying specific types of bacteria or viruses it destroyed. This weapon manufacturing memory is called into action any time the invaders return.
  • Damaged cells are repaired.
  • Cells infected with viruses, that have been killed by our immune system, are dismantled and cleared away.
  • Old, end of life cells, are dismantled and replaced by new cells.
  • In the brain, the Glymphatic System is called into action while we sleep, sending lympatic fluid where it is needed inside the brain, in order to remove dismantled dead cells or dismantled, beyond repair cells.

My mission is to share my unique Rich Habits research in order to add value to your life and help you realize increased wealth, superior health, abundant success, fulfillment & happiness. If you find value in these articles, please share them with your inner circle and encourage them to Sign Up for my Rich Habits Daily Tips/Articles.  No one succeeds on their own. Thank You!

Success is a Sausage – Here Are the Ingredients

 

Many people love to eat sausage because it tastes so good.

But, if you ever witnessed how sausage was made and the ingredients that went into it, you’d likely cringe.

Most people feel the same way about success as they do about sausage – they want it.

They’d like to be able to live in mansions, have yachts, go on exotic vacations, fly in private jets, own expensive cars, buy expensive jewelry, have a house on the ocean, etc.

But, if you ever walked in the shoes of the average successful person, you’d have second thoughts about success.

Why?

Because if you really knew what goes into creating success, it would make you cringe.

The Ingredients of Success

  • Long Work Hours – The Dreamer/Entrepreneurs in my Rich Habits Study worked an average of 61 hours a week, for twelve years. Weekend and vacations were almost non-existent. Those long work hours impacted everyone in the Dreamer’s immediate orbit. Family and friends are hit the hardest by their absence. Often one spouse must take up the slack and raise their children, almost as if they were a single parent. Close friendships whither on the vine, due to those long work hours.
  • Financial Stress – Until the Dream begins to pay off, making ends meet can cause almost intolerable stress. Only the strong can survive that stress and that includes the spouses. In the early going, getting a steady paycheck is near impossible. Weak marriages will almost certainly fall apart, due to this stress.
  • High Risk – Dreamers have to put everything they own on the line. Their homes, retirement plans, and savings become the assets that breathes life into their Dream. When a Dreamer runs out of assets, they have no choice but to turn to debt in order to continue to finance their Dream. The lucky ones are eventually able to secure Lines of Credit to keep them afloat. The unlucky ones are forced to rely on credit cards or loans from family and friends to survive until they thrive. If they thrive. Pursuing a Dream is a gamble. There’s absolutely no guarantee that the Dream will every pay off. Many fail. In fact, 27% in my Rich Habits Study failed at least once. Failure can mean bankruptcy. Sometimes that bankruptcy is followed by divorce.
  • Growth Habits – Successful people forge daily habits which help them grow, improve and become the best at what they do. But, forging good habits, in the beginning, is hard work. You need discipline and a strong reserve of willpower. It’s particularly not easy to wake up at 4:30 in the morning to engage in the growth habits that create success:
    • Daily Reading to Learn – Reading helps you to increase your knowledge-base, making you more valuable to everyone you serve. But, it’s not easy devoting hours every day to reading to learn.
    • Daily Practice – Practicing three or more hours every day to maintain and improve your skills, isn’t easy.
    • Daily Exercise – Exercise not only keeps your body healthy, it helps strengthen and improve brain cells. Daily exercise helps extend the life of all cells in the body by keeping telomeres healthy and long. Daily exercise feeds the body with oxygen, which helps boost cognitive ability. Daily exercise increases the ability of the mitochondria (fuel plants inside every cell) to convert glucose/ketones into ATP (fuel). Daily exercise helps your blood and lungs sweep away waste, bacteria and virus-infected cells. It’s not easy to exercise 30 minutes or more every day.
    • Daily Relationship Building – It’s hard work to build and maintain relationships with Influencers who can help fast track success.

When you see how the success sausage is made, most will turn and run.

My mission is to share my unique Rich Habits research in order to add value to your life and help you realize increased wealth, superior health, abundant success, fulfillment & happiness. If you find value in these articles, please share them with your inner circle and encourage them to Sign Up for my Rich Habits Daily Tips/Articles.  No one succeeds on their own. Thank You!

When You’re Feeling Sad or Depressed I’ve Got the Perfect Remedy

 

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 can drag you down. An end to a family vacation is another thing that can make you sad. Seeing your kids off to college is another trigger for sadness or depression.

You are definitely not alone when it comes to feeling the blues every now and than. We all experience these momentary bouts of 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. Sadness and depression fade away when you’re engaged in any creative pursuits.

Why?

It’s in our genes to create. When we create, we are at our most natural human state and when we are at our most natural human state, we feel happy and fulfilled.

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 takes up residence. It’s hard to start a creative project when you are in the midst of depression and that is why you should already have in place creative projects to ward off depression-triggering events.

As you get older, you get better at anticipating when those events. Starting your creative project, before a depression-triggering event, helps stop sadness and depression in its tracks.

If you’re feeling down right now, find something creative to do. It will not only take your mind off your problems, it will make you feel happy.

My mission is to share my unique Rich Habits research in order to add value to your life and help you realize increased wealth, superior health, abundant success, fulfillment & happiness. If you find value in these articles, please share them with your inner circle and encourage them to Sign Up for my Rich Habits Daily Tips/Articles.  No one succeeds on their own. Thank You!