Develop the Habits to Create Opportunity Luck, Achieve Consistent Success, and Build Wealth
“Success travels in the company of very hard work. There is no trick, no easy way.” John Wooden
Success requires relentless hard work, laser-like focus and a strong belief that what you’re doing will pay off down the road. You have to grind it out, doing things you don’t necessarily enjoy. That’s the grind part of success. Passion gives you the fuel to grind it out. Passion puts you in motion and keeps you in motion. It comforts you as you grind your way to success.
40% or more of our daily activities, thinking and the choices we make are habits (Duke study 2006). Most of the habits we take with us into our adults lives, we learned from our parents, our teachers or our environment. This is a good thing if kids are learning good success habits, what I call Rich Habits, but this is a very bad thing if kids are learning bad failure habits, what I call Poor Habits. Unfortunately, most kids are not being taught good habits at home. Worse, our schools are not stepping up to the plate to teach in school what is not being taught at home. [Read more…]
I was walking out of the gym early one morning and passed another early morning gym rat in the parking lot. He looked at me and said “gettin’ it done early – good job”. I immediately felt good about myself. My gym friend had reminded me that I was “gettin’ it done early.”
Over the past 7 years I’ve been “gettin’ it done early”, ever since I learned from my Rich Habits research that that’s what self-made millionaires do. They wake up 3 hours or more before they actually began their work day. I now look forward to “gettin’ it done early.” Robin Sharma, famous author, leadership expert and a mentor to Fortune 500 CEOs, likes to call it the “5am Club”.
It only took me 3 weeks to develop this daily habit and it’s changed my life. I’ve written 5 books, become a bestselling author and increased my income by 75% since I adopted this “gettin’ it done early” Rich Habit. If you want to succeed in life, you have to do what successful people do. “Gettin’ it done early” is what they do.
Dreams = The Starting Point For Creating the Blueprint For Your Life.
Goals = The Construction Workers That Build Your Ideal Life According to Your Dreams.
Habits = The Tools the Construction Workers Use. Good Construction Requires Good Tools.
I think it’s clear – Habits are the foundation for constructing the life of your dreams.
While it’s true that 86% of the self-made millionaires in my study either liked or loved what they did for a living, the more interesting statistic is how much of their work they were passionate about. It caught me by surprise, so I thought I’d share that stat with you. This 86% indicated that they were only passionate about 25% of their job. The other 75% of their job, was a grind. But the 25% of the job that they were passionate about, that they loved, enabled them to tolerate that 75% of the job they did not like. This is an important statistic because it shines a light on just how powerful passion can be. Having passion for what you do allows you to persist through other aspects of your job that are not that exciting and interesting. That 25% of passion makes it all worth while.
There is only one entitlement we are given in life – time. We are all entitled to the same amount of time every day – 24 hours. What separates those who achieve and succeed from those who struggle in life is how each group uses those 24 hours. Which group do you fall into? “Yes” to the following questions means you’re on the path to success in life:
You’ve got 24 hours. How will you invest the next 24 hours? Are you processing success or failure into your life on a daily basis through your habits?The greatest risk we all take is not how we invest our money. It’s how we invest our time. Make a habit of investing your time wisely.
One of the common threads amongst all of the self-made millionaires in my study is that they took action. They made a decision to pursue their dreams and wishes and then built goals around those dreams and wishes. Goals are action steps that you have the capability of performing. By capability, I mean you have the skills and knowledge necessary to accomplish those goals.
Each day you hold back from pursuing some dream means another day is lost. We are all given the same amount of time – 24 hours in a day. If you have a dream pursue it today. Begin with baby steps. Something small that does not consume much time. Commit to pursuing your dream with just fifteen minutes a day for the next two weeks. Fifteen minutes is all it takes to get the momentum started. If you don’t start today, that someday could become never.
