In a study conducted by Yagi Tadash (Doshisha University) and Nishimura Kazuo (Kobe University), in which 5,000 adult men and women were questioned about their parents, they found that the environment these adults were raised in dictated their future success, wealth and happiness in life.

The study found that supportive parents had the most significant impact on an individual’s future success and happiness in life.

Even individuals raised in a poor household, in which parents were supportive, had better grades, greater happiness and higher income later in life.

If you were not fortunate enough to have been raised in a supportive household, all is not lost. I’ve written often about the importance in finding success mentors in life. Finding a success mentor is the fast track and seamless path to success. Mentors smooth out the path for you in life.

Mentors are everywhere. You just have to seek them out. They are in your neighborhood, volunteering at non-profits, at work, at school, in books and on the Internet.

Don’t be a victim, whose life is dictated by their current circumstances. Finding a success mentor will enable you to alter your circumstances. Don’t let fear hold you back from asking someone to mentor you. Make finding your success mentor your life’s obsession.

What is a muse? A muse is someone or something that inspires you. It can be a person (i.e. mentor), or persons (i.e. your children), an idea (i.e. a vision of the future you) or a dream you have. A muse draws out of you your inner genius. We all have the capacity for genius but, for most, it remains dormant most of our lives. The few who find their muse go on to achieve great things in life.

For me, my muse has always been my children, or rather, the desire to set my children up for success in life. So, my children inspired me to do certain things in life that would give me the financial resources to give them a leg up in life.

Do you have a muse? If you don’t, I suggest you get one. Give it some thought. A lot of thought. It’s important. Your muse will lift you up. Your muse will inspire you. Your muse will draw out of you your inner genius. Your muse will transform you from ordinary to extraordinary. Your muse is out there. You just need to find it.

We literally have two brains: The Conscious Brain and The Subconscious Brain.

• The Conscious Brain -The conscious brain is the newest part of the brain. It has been around for approximately 300,000 years. It is located in the brain’s topmost layers and includes the neocortex and the lobes. More specifically, it is located at the top and sides of our brain. Some neuroscientists refer to it as the upper brain or new brain.  It is responsible for voluntary thought, awareness, self-control (willpower)and planning. It can overpower habits (automatic routines). It can mute our emotions and sudden impulses.
• The Subconscious Brain – The subconscious brain is located in the limbic system and the brain stem. Some neuroscientists refer to it as the lower brain or old brain. It’s been with us for millions of years. Our old brain has massive computing power. It operates constantly, solving complex problems offline (without conscious effort). It is responsible for autonomic nervous system (controlling our internal organs), forging and managing all habits, it is the birthplace of insight and creativity and it is where our emotions reside. The Subconscious Brain is much faster and more efficient than the Conscious Brain. It gives us the ability to make quick decisions. While our Conscious Brain is at rest, our Subconscious Brain is at work helping us solve problems, alerting us to opportunities, helping us comprehend the incomprehensible, solidifying memory and nudging us into doing something or advising us to stop doing something.

Inspiration is one of the means by which the Subconscious Brain communicates with the Conscious Brain. Oftentimes inspiration occurs while we are engaged in other activities such as work, exercise, showering, dressing, eating, walking the dog, etc. Never ignore inspiration. Inspiration is fleeting. It is your brain’s way of communicating to you profound life-changing information that you need to act on immediately. Inspiration is literally the door of opportunity being jarred wide open. If you don’t act on that inspiration immediately, that door will close and the opportunity will be lost.

In many ways, inspiration is like a doorbell ringing. You need to answer it. You need to run to the door and open it up. This means of internal communication is why so many successful individuals carry a pen and paper with them and immediately write down the profound information being communicated.

Albert Einstein was famous for writing his inspired thoughts into his notepad. There is a famous story about one occasion in which Einstein was walking and talking with his Princeton students. In the middle of their walk and in mid-sentence, Einstein suddenly stopped, pulled out a pen and pad, and for the next twenty minutes he wrote down some formulas and ideas as his students just stood around watching in awe. Einstein understood the fleeting nature of inspiration. He never ignored it. When that doorbell rang, Einstein never failed to answer it.

Have you ever run into an optimist? Most who do walk away energized, enthusiastic, motivated and, well optimistic. Now contrast that to pessimists. Pessimists sap you of your energy, enthusiasm, motivation and drag you down in life. They push you away and make you want to run for the hills.

By a wide margin, the millionaires in my study were inherently optimistic. Seventy-one percent were grateful and optimistic about life. Why is this important to success? It’s important because success doesn’t happen on its own. You need apostles for your cause. You need to surround yourself with people who believe in your dream, your goals and your cause. Optimists are like magnets, attracting other optimistic, success-minded people to them, making it possible for them to move their dreams and goals forward. Optimists have many brains at work helping them overcome obstacles and open doors, clearing the path and enabling them to succeed in life. 

Pessimists, conversely, repulse people who could otherwise help them in life. As a result they are often left to their own resources, unable to marshall support for their dreams, goals or initiatives. Pessimists are limited to one brain in helping them succeed in life -their own. But even worse, their pessimism turns people they come into contact with from apostles to adversaries. Pessimists alienate others. These alienated individuals then become an army of human obstacles, fighting them at every turn.

Achieving success in life is hard. Optimism makes it less hard while pessimism makes it harder, if not impossible. Gratitude is the gateway to optimism. Envy is the gateway to pessimism. So if you’re struggling with pessimism, start by expressing gratitude every day for things you have and things that go your way. This will shift your mindset from negative to positive. Optimists succeed in life, while pessimists fail. Both mindsets are daily habits. Make optimism your daily habit and watch your life change.

When you take action in pursuit of a dream, or the goals that make dreams a reality, it is the equivalent of dipping your toe in the water. It creates ripples. Those ripples are the side effect of taking action. Ripples produce feedback. That feedback tells you if you are on the right track. Without ripples, no feedback. Without feedback, you’re flying blind. Feedback allows you to pivot; to alter how you pursue the goals behind every dream. But ripples require action. Dream all you want. But without action nothing happens. No ripples, no feedback. No feedback no pivoting. No pivoting, no success. Action starts ripples. Ripples put you on the path to success. So, dip your toe in the water today. Take action. Commit to your dream. Act on your dream. And watch the ripples change your life.

The average Red Oak tree takes 50 years to produce its first acorn. But it will produce acorns for up to 350 years, before it dies. Conversely, a Cherry tree takes about 4 years to produce sweet cherries but its longevity is short-lived. It will produce cherries for about 20 years before it dies.

Very few get rich quick. According to the National Endowment of Financial Education, about 70% of all lottery winners go broke within a few years. Success, like the mighty Red Oak, takes a long time before it bears fruit. It took the average self-made millionaire in my study 32 years to become rich and successful. The wealth they created, however, will bear fruit for the rest of their lives and leave a legacy of wealth that can benefit future generations.

If your goal is to become successful, you must build a foundation of success. This takes time. But the longer it takes, the more sound the foundation. So, I ask you, which tree will you plant today, a Cherry tree or a Red Oak tree?