Archives for January 2015

Patience. It’s a four letter word to those pursuing success. Success is elusive. It requires focus, persistence, good daily habits, Opportunity Luck and patience. A lot of patience. Every successful person experiences Opportunity Luck; a good luck that is the byproduct of doing all of the right things, every day, and a prerequisite for success. You can’t dictate when Opportunity Luck will arrive. Opportunity Luck takes time. For some it could be a few years, for others a few decades. But it is a certainty for those who patiently persist. You have to attack success every day. And then wait. The waiting is the hard part. But every successful person experiences the frustration of patience. You’re not alone. Opportunity Luck did not visit Colonel Sanders until he was in his mid-sixties, Rodney Dangerfield was 46 before he got his first break on the Ed Sullivan show and before becoming President, Abraham Lincoln lost several runs for public office.

When you are pursuing your life dream or main purpose, failure is not an option and success is virtually guaranteed. You cannot fail and will eventually succeed when there is no option to quit. You will figure out a way to overcome every challenge, every obstacle and every mistake. This is why pursuing a dream or purpose is the key to success in life. It eliminates that one option that is responsible for every failure – quitting.

Why? Why are you doing what you are doing? This is a very important question because it gets to the heart of our very existence and our current financial circumstance. Why are you a CPA? Why are you a doctor? Why are you driving a taxi? Why did you become a teacher? If you’re like most, you don’t really know why. Most likely you are doing what you are doing because someone suggested it would be a good career choice. Probably a parent or significant influence in your life. In other words, you put your ladder up on someone else’s wall. And you’ve been climbing that ladder ever since. Is it any wonder why most people are unhappy, unfulfilled, and eking out a living? You are pursuing someone else’s why.

Until you define what your own why is, you will live a life of mediocrity. Your true happiness and passion will remain closed in a box, until you define your why. Your why opens up that box. There is a why for every person. You just have to begin with the end in mind. What do you really want in life? What stokes the flames of your individual passion? Therein lies your why and the wall upon which to lean your ladder.

You know happiness when it walks into a room. One person, bubbling over with happiness, can light up an entire room of people. Some call it charisma, but in reality charisma is nothing more than someone oozing with happiness. And it’s contagious. It’s like a healthy virus that passes from one person to the next. It can transform the disposition of anyone who comes into contact with it.

You want to associate with other happy people because happiness improves your health. It improves your immune system, lowers your blood pressure and sends a stream of neurochemicals throughout the body that not only improve brain performance and alertness, but also produce a euphoric feeling. Spread some happiness today! It benefits everyone.

Saying thank you is more than just displaying your good etiquette habits. It’s a reflection of your character. When you fail to thank someone for something, you send a powerful message to them that you do not matter to them; that they aren’t interested in maintaining or strengthening their relationship with you. It damages the relationship. Thank you says “I value of our relationship”. Thank you’s at best, require a personal call or a thank you card. Emails, FaceBooking, or texting works, but they are not as personal. They just maintain the relationship.  You lose the opportunity to strengthen the relationship if you don’t follow up with a call or a card. When should you say thank you?

• When someone sends you a gift
• When someone remembers your birthday
• When someone acknowledges an important life event such as a death in the family, birth, wedding, engagement etc.
• When someone refers a customer or client to you
• When someone does you or a direct family member a favor
• After paying a friend or family member back who has lent you money
• When someone acknowledges an accomplishment or achievement
• When someone does anything good for you or a direct family member
• When someone opens the door to an important contact for any reason
• When someone promotes anything that is important to you or a direct family member

Thank you calls and cards deepen the roots to the relationship tree. Saying thank you through calls or cards is a Rich Habit. It’s something the most successful people do with regularity.

What is a miracle? Most would agree that it represents the occurrence of a something perceived as impossible: hitting the lottery when you are on the verge of bankruptcy, a loved one recovering from stage 4 cancer, lone survivor in some horrific plane crash, a dream coming true. Miracles are impossible events that happen in our lives.

In my five-year study of the daily habits of the rich, I witnessed the manifestation of many miracles. I saw the realization of dreams that came true. I saw so many miracles occur that I knew there was something causing these miracles to occur. The common thread behind all of those miracles was one thing – passion. Every wealthy entrepreneur in my study who realized incredible wealth had passion. Passion changes your beliefs about yourself. It infuses you with energy, persistence, focus and patience. Each one of the wealthy entrepreneurs in my study had an intense desire to realize their dreams. They had a never ending focus on achieving their dream. They did not let obstacles get in their way. They believed in themselves. Their passion made miracles happen.

The human body contains approximately 100 trillion cells. Within each cell is the nucleus. Inside every nucleus of every cell are our genes. Experts estimate that the average human has over 20,000 genes. Some of these genes came from our mothers and some from our fathers.

Our daily behavior, our daily habits, can turn genes on or off. Bad habits can turn on bad genes. Bad habits create long-term stress in the form of financial problems, job loss, health issues, etc. Long-term stress increases the production of cortisol, a stress hormone. Cortisol switches certain bad genes on that can lead to heart disease, cancer and immunological disorders.

Conversely, good habits can prevent this from happening because the byproduct of good habits is reduced stress: financial independence, freedom, happiness, good health etc.

You’ve been fed a false narrative that nice people finish last; that you cannot be successful if you are a nice person. My research of the wealthy says the exact opposite. In fact, being nice to others, helping others succeed in life and mentoring others for success is a common thread among the wealthy. Successful people forge powerful relationships with others. Relationships are the currency of the wealthy. You cannot build strong, powerful relationships with others by climbing over them as you move forward toward accomplishing your big goal, life dream or main purpose in life. You must enlist others to assist you in your cause by lifting them up and helping them succeed.

Now is the time to become the future, ideal you. Now is the time to develop those qualities in yourself that will make you a winner. Growth starts today:

• Read today
• Exercise today
• Be optimistic today
• Be grateful today
• Pursue one big goal today
• Seek one mentor today
• Become a mentor today
• Spend less than you make today
• Pursue a passion today
• Help improve one person’s life today
• Conquer one fear today
• Eat healthy today
• Meditate today
• Be happy today
• Be nice to everyone today
• Listen more today
• Love unconditionally today
• Believe in yourself today
• Be persistent today
• Be humble today
• Don’t worry today
• Don’t gossip today
• Be enthusiastic today
• Spread only good news today
• Make one person feel important today
• Compliment one person today
• Provide outstanding service today
• Say hello to a stranger today
• Overcome one obstacle today
• Adopt one good habit today
• Eliminate one bad habit today

Take just one step towards becoming the new, ideal you today. Today begins your new life.