Archives for January 2015

Smoking cigarettes impairs brain function. It reduces the supply of oxygen to the brain and nicotine passes through the blood-brain barrier, which further reduces the flow of oxygen to the right side of the brain. Nicotine also reduces the metabolism of glucose. Glucose fuels brain cells. Nicotine passing into the brain means less fuel for the brain, which is a very bad thing.

One of the big differences between the rich and the poor, that I noticed in my five-year study of these two groups, is that the rich always seemed to be engaged in extracurricular growth activities. If they weren’t reading to learn  something new, they were listening for new ideas in podcasts or attending seminars or speaking engagements. Conversely, the poor seemed intent on avoiding any learning at all, preferring T.V and Facebook to reading and other growth activities. In other words, poor people were like rocks, never changing, while rich people were like plants, continuously growing, evolving and changing. So which one are you? A rock or a plant?

The circumstances we are born into do not define us. We have the power to script our own lives. But this actually requires a script. You can’t wing it in life. You need to develop a blueprint of your future life. What is the perfect work you would like to do? How much money do you want to make? Describe your amazing house, the car you drive, the vacations you take with your family, the places you have traveled to. How much do you weigh in your ideal future life? What time do you wake up and go to bed? What books do you read? What type of people do you associate with? What does your neighborhood look like. What amazing dreams have you realized? What goals have you accomplished? How successful are you? What skills do you have in the future? What knowledge have you gained ten years from now? How many people have you helped thanks to your wealth and success?

Develop your blueprint today. When you iron out the details of your life, you remove all of the wrinkles.

Normally, when you think about the word disgust you associate it with negative feelings and emotions. But when it comes to habit change, disgust is one of the most powerful catalysts behind habit change. There are three levels of disgust: mild, moderate and extreme.

Habit change requires a long-term commitment. You must repeat the behavior or thinking enough times that a new neural connection (synapse) is created inside your brain. Depending on the complexity of the habit, this can take anywhere from 18 to 254 days. The greater your level of disgust, the greater your chances of effecting long-term habit change. The reason for this is that habit change requires willpower. There is a direct correlation between your level of disgust and your level of willpower. Extreme disgust provides the most potent level of willpower. The more willpower you have, the more you improve your chances of effecting long-term habit change.

“If you’re going to be happy, you need to separate your passions from your results.”   Mike Rowe, host/creator of T.V. show Dirty Jobs

One of the most common causes of unhappiness is not meeting expectations. Failing to meet expectations will drag you down, even in the aftermath of great achievement. Example: you work extremely hard all year to hit a sales goal of $500,000. Instead, you come up short at $450,000. Now the salespeople behind you would be jumping for joy if they hit that target, but you are miserable because you missed it. Why? Because you locked in a finite number and that finite number became your single-minded focal point. But you missed your target and you feel like you failed. A better approach would have been to set a sales goal range of between $400,000 – $500,000. Another example: you publish a book and set a finite goal of selling 50,000 books for the year. You sell 25,000 for the year instead and you’re miserable. A better approach would have been to set a broader range goal of between 20,000 to 50,000 books sold over a two year period.

We are all pursuing one singular thing in life – happiness. Managing your expectations is the surest path to realizing happiness. When you pursue something you are passionate about, do not focus on the results, focus on the act of pursuing your passion. Don’t focus on specific results when pursuing your passion. Give yourself, instead, an expectations range. You’ll be much happier that you did.

In my 11 years of studying the wealthy I’ve come to learn a lot about passion. One of the most important things I’ve learned is that it’s impossible to pursue more than one passion at a time. You simply cannot be passionate about two things at once. Most don’t understand this and this is why so many fail. They mistakenly believe they can pursue more than one thing at a time, and end up failing at both. Passion is a limited resource. Limited to one thing at a time. When you pursue something you are passionate about, you will lose your passion for anything else you are doing, because passion requires a singular focus. It simply cannot be shared or diluted. Passion is a selfish mistress who allows only one lover at a time.

Control is a powerful word. It’s a word that suggests dominion over others, things, circumstances, events, life. It’s also a word that separates the wealthy and the successful from everyone else. In my Rich Habits research I found everything circles back to one thing: control. The wealthy have it; the poor don’t. The wealthy have control over so many things:

• Habits
• Emotions
• Health
• Savings and spending
• Work life
• Relationships
• Thinking
• Goals
• Home life

When you have control over your life, it makes you happy. Lack of control is one of the primary causes of unhappiness. But control does not come easy. It requires sacrifice, discipline, devotion to the concept of delayed gratification, separating yourself from the herd, early mornings, hard work. When you make the upfront investment success requires, the ultimate payoff is control over your life, which creates a feeling of overall happiness. Control = happiness. Those who pursue success and wealth are really after one thing: control over their lives.

Learning something new every day is a daily habit of successful people. The seek out new knowledge, new skills and information about those relationships they desire to grow. Being open-minded about life and incessant curiosity are hallmarks of those who seek success.

Many of the successful individuals in my habit study blocked off chunks of time during their workday, typically in the morning, to pursue their goals for the day. In the afternoon, generally between the hours of 1pm – 6pm they responded to other peoples priorities. This afternoon chunk of time is when they read and responded to emails, listened to voicemail and then returned phone calls, tackled projects for customers, clients, business associates etc. They organized their day this way in order to give them focused time, each day, to pursue their goals and priorities.

There’s an important distinction between working on your business and working in your business. Dedicating time every morning to pursue your personal or business goals and priorities means you are working on your business. You are doing things that move you forward toward achieving your goals, not someone else’s goals. Working in the business means performing tasks that represent the goals and priorities of others. While it’s important to be responsive to the needs of others, especially if you are in the service business, it is more important to devote time every day to accomplishing those goals that will grow you as a person and that grow your business. In order to pursue your dream or goals, you need to block off part of your day and use that time to focus on those things that represent an investment in you or your business.

Ask anyone who has ever realized their dream, or some major accomplishment that alters the very fabric of their life, how it feels and they will share with you the common revelation that the realization of their dream was not quite as exciting as the journey. You see, the journey’s where the excitement is. The journey’s where you learn new things, meet new people, overcome seemingly impossible hurdles and discover the greatness you never knew you had, hidden deep inside you, all along. It’s the pursuit of the dream that is the real reward. That’s all anyone ever remembers. The means, is the end.