Archives for February 2015

When most people think of risk, they think of it in terms of some financial investment they make: investing money in a new business, investing in stocks, mutual funds, bonds etc., the lottery, or lending someone money. But financial risk is not the greatest risk most take. You can always earn more money. Money comes and goes, as they say. But there is another risk, most everyone takes for granted. This is a risk that, when made, never returns. It’s gone forever.

The greatest risk we take is time. When we invest our time in anything, it’s lost forever. It never gets renewed or returned to us. Yet, because we are all given, what seems to be an abundance of time, it has very little value. So we spend an enormous amount of our time engaged in wasteful activities such as sitting in front of a T.V., on Facebook, watching YouTube videos, at a bar, in bed or engaged in some other non-productive activity.

And when we waste time, it’s gone. It will never return. We don’t realize how precious time is until we are older and we realize our time is running out. Time needs to be invested wisely, pursuing goals, dreams, or some major purpose in life. Any investment we make of our time should pay dividends down the road in the form of creating happiness events, financially security, creating a legacy or in helping improve the lives of others. When you see time as the greatest risk of all, it will force you to become more aware of exactly how you invest your time. Invest it wisely, because you will never get it back.

We are only as successful as those we associate with on a regular basis. If you associate with more positive, success-minded people than negative types, you put yourself on the path towards success. If you’ve got too many negative types surrounding you, you need to change your team if you want to change the outcome of YOUR game.

61% of the wealthy in my study engaged in something I call Dream-Setting. They focused on their dreams and then created a script for their lives around those dreams. They tapped into their imagination and focused on what was possible; the ideal best scenario for their life. Possibility Thinking shifts your mindset from negative to positive. It puts fear, doubt, worry and negativity in a box. It activates a section of the brain that opens your eyes to opportunities that were previously invisible to you. Possibility Thinking is the mental force that has given birth to T.V., the airplane, the telephone, the Internet and the iPod. Elon Musk right now is using Possibility Thinking to transform the future transportation of the world. Sir Richard Branson is using Possibility Thinking right now to make space travel available to millions. Some unknown person is using Possibility Thinking right now that will give birth to something extraordinary. You can use Possibility Thinking to pull yourself out of your current circumstances and transform your life and the lives of your family.

64% of the rich and successful in my study were obsessed with pursuing one, singular goal. Some spent years, others longer, in pursuing and achieving one major goal. Realizing your dreams in life requires an obsessiveness that boarders on fanaticism. It must occupy your thoughts when you wake, during the day, at night and even in your dreams. That is how major breakthroughs happen – through persistent pursuit of your dream or major goal.

Some habits have more influence over your life than others. Keystone Habits are the most powerful. They affect other ordinary habits you may have. One good Keystone Habit, such as daily aerobic exercise, can put an end to numerous other bad ordinary habits you might have, such as eating too much junk food, smoking cigarettes or watching too much T.V. Complex habits, formed over many years, are the hardest to change. They often involve motor skills or some physical activity. An example would be changing a golf swing you’ve had for twenty years. Hard to do. Even simple habits can be hard to change, if you’ve had them for a long time. One good powerful habit can offset five, six or seven minor bad habits. Each habit has it’s own weight in a sense. Those that weigh more, offset those that weigh less. Keystone Habits and complex habits weigh the most. When you embark on habit change, seek to add good habits that are either Keystone Habits or complex habits. All habits are not created equal as there are many shades to habits.

With 40% of all of our daily activities habits, we are all, to a large degree operating on autopilot. To take your life to the next level, you need to make changes in your daily routines, behaviors and choices. You need to do things differently than you have been doing them. You need to change your autopilot.

There’s really no magic to becoming rich. 80% of the wealthy rose from poverty or the middle-class. They adopted habits and behaviors of the rich and successful and incorporated them into their lives. If you walk in the footsteps of the wealthy, you will arrive at the same destination.

Luck is common among all self-made millionaires. It is the byproduct of persistence. Most surrender to the unending obstacles and pitfalls that confront everyone pursuing success and wealth. But the few who persevere become the beneficiaries of luck. Luck is the reward for those who never surrender and never quit.

Humans are goal oriented. We are also creatures of habits. Sometimes these two characteristics can conflict with each other. When it comes to habit change, it is a mistake to pursue a habit to achieve a result. An example would be exercising for 3 months to lose 30 pounds. Usually this is behavior that is event driven, such as an upcoming wedding, a contest, looking good for the summer etc. Once the goal is achieved and you lose the weight, what normally happens? You stop exercising regularly. Before you know it, you’ve gained the 30 pounds right back.

Instead, you should pursue making exercise a habit rather than a means to an end. Exercise should not be tied to some result but, instead, to becoming a new permanent behavior. In order for new behavior to become a habit, it must be repeated for 18 – 254 days. Exercise habits are harder to form, so they will trend more towards the 254 than the 18. When you focus on the desire to change your behavior, rather than to achieve some end result, you have a much better chance of that behavior sticking permanently and becoming a habit. Once a habit is formed, it never truly goes away.

The wealthiest and most successful individuals share 4 common traits:

1. They Don’t Follow the Herd
2. They Engage in Constant Growth Through Daily Self-Improvement
3. They Are Persistent and Relentless – They Never Quit
4. They Have More Rich Habits Than Poor Habits