Proof Habits Control Your Life

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Most people are not aware how much of their lives are dominated by habits. Habits literally control your life. Here’s a list of habits I’ve compiled over the years. This should open up your eyes:

  • Family-Related Habits
  • Friend-Related Habits
  • Culture-Related Habits
  • Neighborhood-Related Habits
  • Morning Habits
  • Afternoon Habits
  • Evening Habits
  • Bedtime Habits
  • Weekend Habits
  • Vacation Habits
  • Work Habits
  • Airport Habits
  • Bedroom Habits
  • Commuting Habits
  • Sleeping Habits
  • How Much You Eat Habit
  • Exercise Habits
  • Sports Preference Habits
  • Alcohol Preference Habits
  • Talking Habits
  • Listening Habits
  • Recreational/Leisure Habits
  • Smoking Habits
  • Emotional Response Habits
  • Networking Habits
  • Clothing Habits
  • Getting Dressed Habits
  • Getting Undressed Habits
  • Phone Habits
  • Returning Phone Calls Habit
  • Returning Emails Habit
  • Internet Habits
  • Social Media Habits
  • Texting Habits
  • Driving Habits
  • Porn Habits
  • Sex Habits
  • Email Checking Habits
  • Checking the Phone Habits
  • Shaving Habits
  • Cooking Habits
  • Food Preference Habits
  • Beverage Preference Habits
  • Conflict/Argument/Fighting Habits
  • Cooking Habits
  • TV Habits
  • Reading Habits
  • Cursing Habit
  • Spitting Habit
  • Sarcasm Habit
  • Chewing Tobacco Habit
  • Cigar Habits
  • Pot Habit
  • Drug Habits
  • Bar Preference Habits
  • Holiday Habits
  • Day of the Week Habits
  • Spring Habits
  • Summer Habits
  • Fall Habits
  • Winter Habits
  • Introducing Yourself Habit
  • Cold/Flu Response Habits
  • Homemaking Habits
  • Decoration Habits
  • Brushing Your Teeth Habit
  • Brushing Your Hair Habit
  • Going to the Bathroom Habits
  • Boredom Habits
  • Pre-Habit Habits – The Habitual Things You Do Just Prior To Engaging In a Habit
  • Writing Habits
  • Penmanship Habits
  • Words You Use Habits
  • Accent Habits
  • Sneezing Habits
  • Signature Habit
  • Typing Habits
  • Daydreaming Habit
  • Singing Habit
  • Humming Habit
  • Hucking Habit
  • Blowing Your Nose Habit
  • Cracking Your Knuckles Habit
  • Music Preference Habits
  • Bad Health Habits
  • How You Deal With Risk Habits
  • Unhealthy Food Eating/Junk Food Habits
  • Healthy Food Eating Habits
  • Gambling Habits
  • Keystone Habits
  • Feeling Sad or Down Habits
  • Cleaning Habits
  • Walking Your Dog Habits
  • Mowing Your Lawn Habits
  • Racking Your Leaves Habits
  • Barbecue Habits
  • Organizing Your Clothes Habits
  • Organizing Your Closet Habits
  • Organizing Your House Habits
  • Organizing Your Workspace Habits
  • Movie Watching Habits

There are no doubt many more habits, but this is the list I’ve accumulated over the years.

The purpose of this article is to open your eyes. As you can see, there are many things you do that are driven by your habits.

My Annual Dream-Goal Routine

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Every year, on January 1st, I perform an annual exercise that has helped me to stay on task with my Dreams and my Goals.

The first thing I do is review my prior year Consolidation Journal. My Consolidation Journal is a binder I maintain and update during the year. Every month I transfer my Current Month Journal Notes, which I carry around with me in a separate smaller binder, into this Consolidation Journal.

During this annual exercise, I take out my highlighter and highlight all of the important events I have listed in my Consolidation Journal. I then take out a sheet of paper and transfer the major events that happened during the year to that sheet of paper, and call it my Annual Summary Page. It usually takes up two sides of one page.

Using the Annual Summary Page to stimulate my thinking, I next create something I call my Dream-Goal List.

On my Dream-Goal List, I list everything I want to happen in the upcoming year. My list usually runs about one side of one page. On average, there are probably twenty items listed on my Dream-Goal List.

I keep this list with me, wherever I go. Typically, I keep three copies: one in my car (to see during my commute to work), one in my basement office (first thing I see every morning at 4:45 am) and one on the wall next to my computer in my business office.

Once I have my Dream-Goal List completed, I then go through each item on the list and put a big “D” or “G” next to the item. “D” stands for Dream and “G” represents a Goal.

Each year, there are about four items on my list that represent Goals.

I’ve found that it is important to separate the Dreams from the Goals.

Dreams are wishes or things that are outside my control, meaning I cannot control their outcome. Selling 1 million books in China, for example, is a dream because, despite my best efforts, I cannot make 1 million people in China buy my books.

Goals are things that I have 100% control over. Writing a Tip of the Morning to Ya post every morning is a goal. I can control that because all it requires is taking action.

By seeing the Dreams as something outside my control, it makes the Goals on my list all that more meaningful. It forces me to recognize that, although I can’t control the outcome of my Dreams, I can control the realization of my Goals, simply by taking action. So, this exercise empowers me to take action on those things I have 100% control over – my Goals.

My thinking, when I review my Dream-Goal List, goes something like this:

I know I can’t control the outcome of my Dreams, but I can control the outcome of my Goals. So, it’s simple really. All I need to do is take action on the things I can control, my Goals, and not worry about what I can’t control – the outcome of my Dreams.

I then take my Annual Summary Page for the year that just ended and compare it to my prior year Dream-Goal List, which I created at the beginning of the year that just ended. I mark off how many Dreams came true and how many Goals I achieved.

This annual accountability exercise drags me down and lifts me up at the same time.

It drags me down because, just about every year, most of the Dreams on my prior year list did not come true and about 25% of the Goals I set in the previous year, I failed to achieve.

But this annual accountability exercise also lifts me up because there are always out of the blue good things that happened, things which were not even on my radar when I initially created my Dream-Goal List. But, I realize now that those things happened because my Dream-Goal List stimulated me to take action and that action produced the out of the blue unexpected good luck.

You can call my annual Dream-Goal routine a motivational tool. You can call it an accountability strategy. I really don’t care what you call it. All I know is it works. It empowers me to take action. And anything that stimulates you to take action, is good. Especially if you are pursuing a dreams and goals in an effort to create the life, dreams are made of.

Overview of My Annual Dream-Goal Routine:

  1. Maintain Current Month Journal Notes
  2. Transfer Monthly Journal Notes to Consolidation Journal Binder
  3. At the End of the Year – Highlight Major Events in Consolidation Journal Binder
  4. Create Annual Summary of Those Major Events On One Page
  5. Compare Annual Summary Page of the Year That Just Ended to the Dream-Goal List I Created At the Beginning of That Prior Year
  6. Identify Which Dreams Came True and Which Goals I Achieved
  7. Create a New Dream-Goal List For the Upcoming Year
  8. Mark “D” for Dreams and “G” for Goals On The Upcoming Year’s Dream-Goal List
  9. Keep My Upcoming Year’s Dream-Goal List With Me Wherever I Go

You don’t need to follow my Dream-Goal Routine to succeed. Everyone is wired differently. What works for me, might not work for you. But, if you are pursing dreams and goals, you will need a process that works for you – one which forces you to take action on your dreams and goals.

Success is a process.

Habits keep that process going.

What the Rich Don’t Do With Their Money

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When it comes to managing and investing money, the rich are very different from the non-rich. From my five-year study of the rich and the poor, I discovered that there were certain common money management mistakes the rich never seemed to make.

The Rich Avoid Uneducated Risk Taking

The rich do their homework. They study investments for months before deciding to invest any of their money. They eschew those emotion-based “can’t lose” investments that always seem to do the very opposite. The non-rich don’t do their homework. They don’t study investments. They take uneducated risk.

The Rich Avoid Fad Investing 

The rich don’t always take the advice of their “experts”, but they do seek feedback from them regarding potential investments. They don’t seek out investment advice from their friends or family, unless their friends or family happen to be “experts”. As a result, they don’t fall victim to investing their money in hot tips or the latest fad.

The Rich Don’t Panic 

Because the rich have spent many years building their wealth, they have the financial resources, the liquidity, to weather the volatility of the stock market. As a result, they do not panic, like the non-rich tend to do, when market conditions turn south. The rich stick to their plan and ride out the down markets, and continue to buy, while everybody else is selling.

The Rich Don’t Put All of Their Eggs in One Basket

Most of the non-rich have their money tied up in a retirement account or some singular investment account that is invested primarily in the stock market. Conversely, the rich diversify their investing. They have their money invested in many baskets:

  • Some of their money is in the stock market
  • Some of their money is invested in real estate rental property
  • Some of their money is invested in limited partnerships
  • Some of their money is invested in TICS
  • some of their money is invested in triple net leases
  • Some of their money is invested in private equity funds
  • Some of their money is invested in bonds and other fixed investments

The Rich Do Not Depend on Hope and a Prayer

The rich use financial advisors to help them craft a well-thought out financial plan that they will follow for many years, or until the financial goals of the plan are achieved. The non-rich do not create financial plans. They wing it. Their investment strategy is hope and a prayer.

The Rich Do Not Succumb to Unbridled Optimism

The rich make investments anchored in reality. They do not go into investments with rose-colored glasses on. They understand that investing is a long-term propositioin. They expect the stock market to go up and down, numerous times, while they are investing in it. The non-rich see only the upside while investing. When the market does eventually turn, their rose-colored glasses break and they run for the hills, pulling their money out as fast as they can.

The Rich Don’t Liquidate

Because the rich follow a plan, they don’t liquidate their investments at the first sign of market volatility. They stay invested. And they continue to invest, even when the market is down.

The Rich Avoid the Herd Mindset

The rich do not follow the herd when it comes to investing. They follow their plan. The non-rich make investments based on what everybody else is doing. Their plan is to follow the herd.

Envy the Entrepreneurs

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When you think of successful entrepreneurs, what images immediately come to mind?

Do you see a well-dressed individual surrounded by a posse, jet-setting from one exciting place to the next in private planes, exotic cars and yachts?

Or do you see someone sitting all alone in their sweat pants, behind a desk, computer or stack of books at 5 am in the morning working, all alone?

To the outside observer, the entrepreneur’s journey is invisible. But to the entrepreneur, that journey is real, unforgettable and not at all an easy one.

With some entrepreneurs, their journey towards success makes them feel like they are running at breakneck speed on a treadmill, where, despite their best daily efforts, little to no progress is made.

For other entrepreneurs, their journey feels like a slow walk through hell. A hell in which they must overcome one hurdle after another, one let down after another, one disappointment after another, one problem after another or one rejection after another.

Lastly, there are the entrepreneurs who are consistently ignored. Important people, people with power and influence, don’t respond to their emails, don’t return their phone calls and cancel important meetings at the last minute.

The early stages of being an entrepreneur are like being stuck in a cave for many years, the outside world oblivious to their amazing talents, skills, products or services.

Perhaps the worst part about the entrepreneur’s journey is knowing that, with just a little luck, everything could change in a heartbeat. But that luck, unfortunately, eludes them for many years.

In short, it’s not a life you would wish on your worst enemy, let alone a family member or friend.

So, what keeps most entrepreneurs in the game? What magical superpowers do successful entrepreneurs have that allows them to persist for so many years, before success eventually visits them?

Three things:

  1. Belief in Themselves
  2. Eternal Optimism and
  3. Love For the Work That They Do

Successful entrepreneurs just believe they are good enough, or will become good enough to succeed.

Successful entrepreneurs are optimistic that they will succeed and that all of the hard work and struggle will pay big dividends down the road.

Successful entrepreneurs love the work that they do. That love of work, or passion for what they do, is the source of their energy, motivation and enthusiasm, despite the stifling nothingness or constant hardships they must endure.

So, the next time you see a successful entrepreneur, don’t envy their wealth. Instead, envy their ability to survive the journey.

4 Steps to Changing Your Life

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Success is a process. So, if you want to change your financial circumstances, you need to adopt a financial success process that automates success.

#1 Create a Blueprint of the Life You Desire

The success process always begins with a vision of the ideal, future life you desire. This could be ten, fifteen or twenty years into the future.

That future life is actually the realization of a collage of dreams that forms the picture of your ideal, perfect, future life. Each dream is something very personal that you desire – the ideal job, $1 million in your investment accounts, a vacation home, no debt, good health, etc.

Your dreams must be what You want. Not what others want for you. Putting your ladder on someone else’s wall will eventually lead to unhappiness and a life of drudgery. As Steve Jobs said in the 2005 Stanford commencement address: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living some Else’s life.”

Pursue YOUR dreams. Not those of your parents, teachers or some other significant influence in your life.

Below is the process to create a blueprint of the life you desire:

  1. Create a Script of Your Ideal Future Life – Pretend it is ten years into the future and you are writing in your journal. Describe in detail every amazing thing about this ideal, future life of yours. Also, describe your journey over the past ten years – Exactly what happened over the past ten years? Shoot for 500-1,000 words.
  2. Identify Each Dream – Define each specific dream that is a component of your ideal, future life,
  3. Create Goals Around Each Dream – Build individual goals around each dream. In order to realize a given dream, it may require that you accomplish numerous goals. Once you accomplish those goals, your dream will be realized. Think of each dream as a rung on a ladder. Every time you realize a dream, you climb that ladder, dream by dream, until you reach the top. At that top sits your ideal, future life.
  4. Create Habits Around Your Goals – The final step requires that you forge daily habits (goal habits) that, when accomplished each day, brings you closer to achieving each individual goal.

Building new daily habits isn’t difficult if you know what to do. It simply takes time and consistency. Consistency is the key.

#2 Grow Every Day

Becoming that ideal version of yourself requires that you grow into the person you need to be in order to realize financial success. You do that by forging growth habits:

  • Learn everything about your job and the industry you are in.
  • Learn everything about the dream you are pursuing.
  • Learn everything about the people who can help open doors for you – the influencers.
  • Learn everything about significant current events. They might come up in conversation with someone who may be a future door-opener (influencer).
  • Every day, learn at least one new fact related to what you do. Document those new facts. I use a Fact Binder for this.
  • Every day, learn at least one new word. Document your new words. Use them in conversation that very first day you learn the new word. Write down your new words. I use a Vocabulary Binder for this. It’s broken us into various sections: Words to Use in Writing, Words to Use in Speaking, Words Specific to My Industry/Profession. The words we use create perceptions. Being good with words makes you sound articulate and more intelligent. You want others to see you as intelligent.
  • Learn something outside your comfort zone; something that will challenge your thinking and force you to re-evaluate your beliefs. The wrong beliefs will hold you back in life,

#3 Change Your Inner Circle

We pick up most of our habits from those in our inner circle: parents, teachers, family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, mentors, coaches, etc. Those who you associate with frequently will infect you with their habits. For those who desire to become wealthy, it is therefore paramount to associate with individuals who are on the same path you are on.

  • Those on the Saver-Investor Path in my study surrounded themselves with other individuals who shared their smart money habits.
  • Those on the Corporate Climber Path in my study forged Power Relationships with senior executives within their company and/or their industry.
  • Those on the Virtuoso Path will in my study had close friends and colleagues who were also seeking to become the best at what they did to make money.
  • Those on the Dreamer-Entrepreneur Path in my study surrounded themselves only with individuals who helped mentor, encourage and support them during their journey.

The common thread among all of the different types of self-made millionaires in my Rich Habits Study was the intentional, conscious effort they made to associate with like-minded individuals.

In short – choose your path to wealth and then surround yourself with others who are on the same path.

#4 Change Your Outer Circle

Your outer circle includes individuals you do business with and individuals you respect and with whom you periodically seek advice from.

My mission is to share my unique research in order to help others realize their dreams and achieve their goals. If you find value in these articles, please share them with your inner circle and encourage them to Subscribe. Thank You!

Persistence Creates Luck, Luck Creates Success & Success Creates Wealth

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Very few who know, will tell you the truth about success, as an entrepreneur – Successful Entrepreneurs Owe Much of Their Success to Luck

If you are pursuing a dream, running a small business or you are an entrepreneur, much of your fate is in the hands of lady luck.

Luck comes in many forms but it is always an unexpected, unanticipated, unplanned occurrence that rockets you from ordinary to exceptional, from unsuccessful to successful and from a financial Lilliputian to a millionaire.

I learned a great deal about luck from the 177 self-made millionaires who were kind enough to share their stories with me for my Rich Habits Study.

But, I also learned that luck, for those 177 millionaires, was luck they created.

How?

One of the common threads among the 177 self-made millionaires in my study was persistence. They never quit trying, even when success took decades to achieve.

Becoming persistent, therefore, is critical to success, and wealth is just a byproduct of success.

So, how do you become persistent?

Habits.

With habits, feelings and emotions do not matter. How your day is going, doesn’t matter. If you’re not feeling well, or you had a fight with your spouse, you will still engage in your daily habits.

Habits, once formed, take control of your mind and body and dictate what you do on a daily basis.

Habits, by their very definition, are persistent routines. When you adopt daily routines around your business, a dream you are pursuing or goals you trying to accomplish, those habits make persistence automatic.

This is why forging the right habits is so important to success – habits force persistence.

The beauty of persistence is that, eventually, the persistent get lucky – luck is a byproduct of persistence.

And habits create persistence.

Five Factors That Boost Your Life Span

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Researchers at Harvard University studied 123,000 individuals at the age of 50 and followed them until they died.

They found that there were five factors, or lifestyle habits, that contributed to a longer life span. Individuals who possessed these five habits lived a much longer life than those who did not.

  1. Healthy Weight – Individuals who consume fewer calories and have a Body Mass Index between 18.5 and 25. Another way to look at this is pounds per inch:
    • Men – 2.2 to 2.5 pounds per inch of height.
    • Women – 1.9 to 2.3 pounds per inch of height.
  2. Daily Exercise – 30 minutes or more per day of moderate exercise.
  3. Moderate Alcohol Consumption – No more than 1 glass of wine, beer or alcohol per day.
  4. Non-Smoker – Individuals who do not smoke cigarettes.
  5. Healthy Diet – Individuals who consume mostly fruits, vegetables and whole grains and avoid eating red meat, saturated fats and sugar.

Men who had these five longevity factors lived an extra 12 years.

Women who had these five longevity factors, lived an extra 14 years.

The good news is that it is not too late to change your lifestyle and adopt these habits. Doing so will increase how long you live.

Your Miraculous Future is Going to be Amazing

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What happened in the past no longer matters.

Those who become wildly successful all have one common Rich Habit – Future Thinking.

They do not harp on the past – they focus on the future.

They do not beat themselves up over mistakes – they focus on the new education those mistakes taught them and how they will use that education to do it better next time.

They do not focus on what went wrong – they focus on how to fix what went wrong – solutions.

They do not look at the bind they are in – they focus on solutions that will unbind them.

Your past is gone. Whatever your past did to put you in your current circumstances, now is your chance to fix what you can fix.

For the next 12 months:

  • Set goals that make your skin tingle.
  • Pursue dreams that make your heart sing.
  • Build new relationships with people who make you feel good about yourself.
  • Develop some new skill that will make you better and more marketable.
  • Join a non-profit and meet the amazing people who run it.
  • Run, bike, exercise aerobically.
  • Start to lift weights or do hi impact exercises (push-ups, squats, jumping jacks, etc.).
  • Create a vision of who you would like to be in 12 months. Put that vision in writing. Read it every day. Your new vision will put your subconscious into overdrive.
  • Read inspirational books, articles, blog posts.
  • Listen to uplifting music.
  • Develop one new revenue stream.
  • Force yourself to overcome just one fear.

Lastly, look in the mirror every morning and smile because you know something others don’t – you are about to embark on a journey that will transform you into someone who will be better, someone others will admire, someone who you always knew you could be – an amazingly successful, healthy and happy person.

The past is filed away and no longer relevant.

However, the new past you are about to create, your future, is going to be something that will give you great pride. You are about to amaze yourself. You are on the precipice of transforming your life into the dream life you always knew you could have.

You are no longer a prisoner of your past. You are going to create a future that will set you free.

Your miracle is about to unfold.

Believe it! Believe in yourself.

There are those, like me, who believe in you and who are cheering for you.

How to Trick Your Lazy Brain Into Embracing New Year’s Resolutions

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According to a University of Scranton New Year’s resolutions study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology in 2014, just 8% of those who set New Year’s resolutions stick to them.

New Year’s resolutions are nothing more than habit change.

Why is habit change so hard? [Read more…]

Victims of Our Environment

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You wake up in the morning, meandor into the kitchen, see the coffee maker and you make coffee.

You finish eating dinner, you see the TV, you pour yourself a glass of wine, beer or some alcoholic beverage and begin watching TV.

During your commute to work, you notice the yellow McDonald arches, you pull in and order a breakfast sandwich.

We all develop habits that are triggered by things in our environment.

These triggers eventually become unconscious, meaning you are not consciously aware of them. But, your subconscious is all powerful, and it notices them. Once your subconscious notices an Environmental Trigger, it spurs you on to engage in the habit.

Some of those Environmental Habits are good, some are bad.

If you are unhappy with your life, if your life is not going in the direction you desire, there are obviously many reasons for this. Some of those things are outside your control, but many are completely within your control.

One of those things that have an enormous influence over the status of your life is your daily habits.

The good news is that you have 100% control over your daily habits, meaning you can dramatically improve the circumstances of your life simply by changing your habits.

But changing your habits requires awareness. You must become aware of the habits you have, in order to be able to determine which ones are negatively affecting your life. Those that are, are bad habits.

In my book Rich Habits, I offer a powerful strategy that allows you force awareness and help you identify which habits are good and which habits are bad.

Once you are able to identify your bad habits, then you can take control of your life by eliminating those bad habits that are, in large part, responsible for your unhappy life.

How do you take control of your habits?

One way is to alter your Environmental Triggers in order to eliminate bad habits and forge good habits.

How?

Change Your Cell Phone Reminders

You can change the sounds your cell phone makes and those sounds can become triggers, reminding you to engage in a good habit. The theme from the movie Rocky can serve as a reminder to stop watching TV, get off the couch and exercise.

You can set your cell phone reminders to anything that serves to remind you to engage in a particular new, good habit.

Post Pictures Where You Can See Them Every Day

Every day, millions wake up, head for the bathroom, gargle and brush their teeth.  The bathroom mirror is the first thing many of us see in the morning.

Pictures are effective in forming new habits, but not so effective in eliminating old, bad habits.

If you want to stop eating, place a picture on your bathroom mirror of the figure you desire to have. This will act as a trigger to exercise (new habit), and exercise is one of those keystone habits that affect other habits, such as eating junk food.

You can also download a picture to your cell phone and make it your background picture, something you cannot avoid seeing every day.

Remove Environmental Triggers

If you have the habit of watching TV after eating your dinner, which triggers sitting on the couch and drinking alcohol, put a sign on your dinner table that says “Read” or “Exercise” of “Go For a Walk”.

If your kitchen cupboard is a trigger to snack on junk food, then remove all of the junk food and replace it with some healthy alternatives.

If McDonalds or Dunkin Donuts is a trigger to eat junk breakfast food, then change the route of your commute to avoid seeing those yellow arches or that big donut sign.

Depending on the study, 40% or more of your daily activities are habits. Since habits are a major factor in determining the circumstances of your life, changing them must become a priority, if your life is not what you desire.

You are 100% in control of your habits. But only if you are aware of them and take action to change your habits.