Archives for March 2016

Most of us have seen the Wizard of Oz. The focal point of that movie is the yellow brick road. Dorothy must follow the yellow brick road in order to get to her destination – the City of Oz. But that road is fraught with all sorts of dangers and obstacles she must overcome. That same road is also where Dorothy magically finds the help she needs to succeed in her journey to Oz.

The path you take in the pursuit of each of your dreams is very much like that yellow brick road. You will face all sorts of problems, obstacles and dangers that you must overcome. What keeps you moving forward is a clear picture of your destination. You must be able to see your own personal City of Oz which awaits you at the end of your journey.

If you are pursuing a dream, what clear, specific thing do you see at the end of your journey? Most don’t have a specific picture of what awaits them. When you cannot clearly visualize the end, it is impossible to complete your journey. If you can’t see the end clearly, you will get lost along the way. You’ll get distracted. The end, your destination, must be definitive, clear, specific and something simple for your mind to anchor itself on to. For me, my end, my destination, is becoming a specific person – JC Jobs. JC Jobs is the main character in my books Rich Habits and Rich Kid. JC represents the future version of me. He is very specific to me. I see him clearly every day. I know what awaits me at the end of my journey. I know exactly what my end looks like.

Before you set out in pursuit of your dream, make sure you are very clear about what awaits you at the end of your journey. That end needs to be very clear, very specific and very personal. Being rich, is not an end. A desire to travel, is not an end. Wanting to retire some day, is not an end. They are too vague. They lack specificity. While you can have multiple City of Oz’s during your lifetime, or just one City of Oz, in either case your City of Oz must be something specific that you desire.

Here are some examples of destinations to help you:

• I want to be a full-time author.
• I want to be a full-time speaker.
• I want to own a house by the beach.
• I want to have $2 million in savings or retirement.
• I want to be a CPA, Attorney, Neurosurgeon, Astronaut, Priest, etc.
• I want to sell my company for $3 million.
• I want to pay off my mortgage to my home.
• I want to sell 1 million books.
• I want to lose 20 pounds.
• I want to run a marathon.
• I want to become a professional tennis player.
• I want to be able to bench 300 pounds.
• I want to get rid of my high blood pressure, diabetes, or beat my cancer, etc.

When you are clear about your destination, no dangers, no obstacles, no problems, no uncertainties and no doubts will be able to stop you from reaching it. Clarity gives you laser-like focus. When you are able to see your City of Oz, almost nothing can stop you from reaching your destination.

Have you ever noticed that there are some people who seem to glide through life? The fact is, these people are gliding. Life is just easier for them. But there’s more to this than meets the eye.

Each one of us has in-born talents. These are natural abilities that are hardwired into our DNA. We’re born with certain innate talents. But most never uncover their innate talents. As a result, life is a struggle. They choose a profession, career or job that isn’t suited for them. The byproduct of making a living doing something you’re just not naturally good at is mediocrity or, even worse, unemployment.

For some individuals, it takes many years to get good at a particular task, while for others it takes almost no time at all. You see it all the time in sports. There are those who spend hours and hours and years and years hitting a tennis ball, or dribbling a basketball or pitching a baseball. Then someone comes along and in a fraction of the time they are either at your level or way beyond your level. No matter how hard you work, there are prodigies out there who make you feel inferior. It’s frustrating.

Those who pick up certain tasks easily, or seemingly glide through life, have tapped into their innate talents and when they spend the rest of their lives practicing and perfecting these talents, their lives are happy, fulfilled and they make more money.

We are all born with certain talents, certain strengths. Life wants you to engage in those activities you are naturally good at. If you want to glide through life, you have to find your inner talents and then devote your life to perfecting them. You must focus on your strengths and avoid your weaknesses if you want to succeed in life. When you focus on what you’re good at, life rewards you with money and happiness. When you don’t life punishes you with poverty and unhappiness. Your only job is to find out what you’re good at and then devote yourself to it. How do you find what you’re good at?

You must experiment. Devote yourself to novel things. Things you never did before. Keep pecking away until you find something that comes easy to you. Anything that comes easy to you will fill you will motivation and passion. You’ll simply want to engage in that activity over and over again. When you tap into an innate talent, the emotional part of the brain is activated and infuses you with passion. Passion is the beacon, the guiding light in the darkness, that shows you the path of your true calling in life. When you find and pursue your in-born talents and strengths, life becomes infinitely easier.

Who am I? Have you ever asked yourself that question? Most haven’t, so you’re in good company. But a few have asked themselves that question. We call them successful people.

Successful people, at least from my research data, are fanatics when it comes to self-assessing exactly who they are. They have come to terms with their strengths and weaknesses. They are tuned in to what motivates them and what deflates them. They know what they like and what they don’t like. They figured out which types of people pump them up and which drag them down. Successful people know their potential and their limitations.

Knowing yourself acts like a GPS, steering you in the right direction and helping you avoid paths that will only get you lost in life. If you really are serious about succeeding in life, you have to figure out who you are. You need to ask yourself some fundamental questions:

• What am I good at?
• What am I bad at?
• What do I like doing?
• What do I hate doing?
• Who do I like and why?
• Who do I dislike and why?
• What comes easy to me?
• What comes hard to me?
• Do I have any hidden talents?
• Who inspires me and why?
• Who drags me down and why?
• Am I positive?
• Am I negative?
• What are my best attributes?
• What are my worst attributes?
• When am I most focused?
• When am I most distracted?
• What are my good habits?
• What are my bad habits?
• What do I procrastinate on?
• What am I fanatic about?
• What makes me happy?
• What makes me sad?
• What time of day am I the most energetic?
• What time of day am I the most sluggish?

You can see where I’m going. You want to make a list of as many questions as you possibly can and then answer them honestly. This helps paint a picture of who you truly are.

Now what? This little exercise enables you to identify your strengths and weaknesses. Take a good hard look at your strengths. Write them down on one sheet of paper. Then devote the rest of your life to perfecting your strengths and avoiding your weaknesses.

We all have talents that we are born with. Think of them as your DNA Talents – talents that are hardwired into you from the moment of your conception. Innate talents are skills that come easy to you. Where others are forced to toil for 7, 8 or 9 long, hard years to get good a something, such as playing the piano, you’re somehow able to master the piano in just a few short, painless years. Well, that’s an innate talent. That’s life’s way of telling you – play the piano for a living. This Know Thyself exercise helps you find out what you should be focusing your efforts on and what you should be avoiding like the plague. If you focus all of your efforts on those things that you’re naturally good at in life, you’ll realize enormous success in life. Life rewards those who use their talents and their strengths.

In my five-year study on the rich and poor, I took a lot of notes on the 356 people I interviewed. I asked both groups 144 questions. One of those questions was about being rich or their desire to be rich. Most people in both groups did want to be rich. I asked why. Here are some of the responses from both groups:

• “I want to be free from the stress of constantly worrying about money”
• “I want to be free to do what I want to do”
• “I want to be free to travel wherever I want”
• “I don’t like my job. Getting rich means I no longer have to do this work”
• “I want to be happy”
• “I don’t want to have to pay rent anymore”
• “I want to be free from all of my debt”
• “I don’t want to have a mortgage anymore”
• “I want to help my family financially”
• “I’m tired of living in a shack in a crappy neighborhood. I want a nice home for my family in a nice neighborhood”
• “I want to be able to send my kids to the best private schools and college. I want my kids to have a better education so they can be successful”
• “I don’t want to work anymore”
• “I want to be able to do more fun things”
• Many wanted to be able to live in the following places: by the ocean, on the water, on a lake, in a gated community, in a warmer climate, by a ski resort, in NYC, in Florida, etc.

When I studied these responses, I began to see a common theme – Freedom. Money buys you freedom. Freedom from worry, freedom from debt, freedom from poverty or freedom from work. It buys you the freedom to do the things you want to do in life. It buys you the freedom to help others, to explore, to pursue things that interest you. Freedom puts you in charge of your time. Getting rich sets you free. Who doesn’t want to be free? That’s the real WHY behind most everyone’s desire to be rich.

In my latest book, Change Your Habits, Change Your Life, I highlight the three common traits of every self-made millionaire. Here they are:

1. Daily Growth
2. Focus
3. Persistence

What’s most interesting about these three traits is that they are inherent in every individual. Everyone is born with them. Unfortunately, very few ever unleash these in-born traits. Our education system has a way of suppressing them. By the time most young adults finish high school, these traits are in full retreat, replaced, instead, by a reprogramming that turns off their entrepreneurial fire and forcing them to, instead, redirect their efforts towards securing a job. That reprogramming typically instills in our children the mistaken belief that the purpose of education is to help them find a solid job after high school or prepare them for college so that they can pursue some career job. In short, our education system programs our kids to be an employee, rather than an entrepreneur or business owner.

But, while these in-born traits are suppressed in most, they never actually go away. They resurface whenever you pursue something you are passionate about. In my research, I saw this re-birth first hand. Many of the self-made millionaires in my study followed the same time-worn imprudent educational system reprogramming – finding a job or pursuing a career.

But somewhere along the line, these traits begin to resurface. Many of the self-made millionaires started their side hobby or side business while working full-time. It was always something they were passionate about, something that they loved doing. When they engaged in that side hobby or side business more and more, they began to feel alive for the first time in their lives. They soon became fanatic about learning everything they could about their passion. This fanatical desire to learn more turned on the focus switch. Once that focus switch was turned on they found themselves engaging in their passionate side-hobby or side-business every day. Now emotionally committed to their passion on a daily basis they let nothing stand in their way. Every obstacle became something to be overcome. Every mistake became a learning experience. Their desire to overcome those obstacles and learn from those mistakes gave birth to the persistence trait. They soon found themselves persistently pursuing their passion on the side, all while working full-time. All three traits: Daily Growth, Focus and Persistence, joined together, like a symphony. Over time, their side hobby or side business eventually began to make money. The more they pursued their side hobby or side passion, the better they became at it and the more money they began to make. Once their passion made them enough money, they quit their full-time job and pursued their passion full-time until, one day, they looked back and realized they were rich.

What I learned from my research is that you will almost never become a millionaire following the employee-centric path programmed into you by the education system.  You must pursue something that inspires you, that you are passionate about. The money, the wealth, is just a byproduct of enjoying what you do. It’s almost a secondary consideration, getting rich, when you are engaged in your passion. Doing what you love breaths life into these three in-born traits: Daily Growth, Focus and Persistence. Release your inner success traits today. Find something you love. Devote just 20 minutes a day to it. In time, it will transform your life.

In my five year study of the rich I got to know the substance of their lives very well. They have a lot in common. Below is a snapshot of a typical millionaire from my study:

• We’re really rich. We are worth at least $3.2 million. 16% of us are worth more than $5 million. We make at least $160,000 a year. Half of us make close to $500,000 a year.
• We’re not young. 80% of us are 50 years of age or older.
• It took us a long time to accumulate our wealth. On average, it took 32 years to get rich.
• We like our jobs. 86% of us like what we do for a living. 61% of us pursued some dream or some thing we were passionate about. Those of us who did pursue some dream became millionaires in only 12 years and we have a net worth of $7.4 million.
• The richest among us had success mentors who taught us what to do and what not to do.
• We read every day to learn. 88% of us read every day to increase our knowledge for our job. 85% of us read a minimum of two books a month. 63% of us listen to audio books or podcasts while we’re commuting to work, exercising or working in our backyards. We don’t read for entertainment. We consider that a waste of time.
• Most of us are self-made. We inherited nothing from our parents. 31% of us were raised in a poor home. 45% of us were raised in a middle-class home. Only 24% of us inherited money from our parents.
• We have many good habits and few bad habits. 73% of us got our success habits from our parents.
• We’re competitive. 63% of us played sports in high school.
• We’re in good health. We exercise almost every day. 76% of us exercise at least 30 minutes a day, 4 days a week. We like to jog, run or bike. We watch what we eat every day. We don’t eat much junk food. We don’t go to fast food restaurants. We don’t eat candy. We don’t get drunk. We don’t do drugs. We floss every day. We sleep at least 7 hours a night. We don’t smoke.
• We like to mentor others. We like to help others succeed in life.
• We’re charitable with our time and money. 72% of us volunteer 5 hours or more a month at local non-profits. We also give money to these same charities.
• We all have financial advisors. We bounce everything off our CPA. We also have attorneys. We like to pick our investments ourselves and then bounce them off our financial advisors.
• We’re happy.
• Same house, same wife and same car. 64% of us own modest homes. We’ve owned our home for at least 20 years. Very few of us get divorced. We drive old cars. Most of the time we buy good used cars. We hardly ever lease a car.
• We plan our day. 81% of us keep a to-do list.
• We vote. 83% of us vote at every election.
• We don’t spend a lot of money on vacations. 96% of us spend less than $6,000 a year on vacations. 41% of us spend less than $3,000 a year.
• We wake up early every day. 44% of us wake up at least 3 hours before our work day actually begins.
• We’re the boss at work. 91% of us are decision makers. We’re one of these: small business owner, CEO, senior executive, CPA, attorney, doctor, financial advisor or salesman.
• We’re frugal.
• We went to college. 68% of us went to college. 56% of us worked our way through college. 25% of us went to graduate school.
• We’re not afraid to take risks. 63% of us took a risk in order to become rich. 27% of us failed at least once in business.
• We work a lot. 73% of us work an average of 58 hours a week.
• We love to pursue goals. 80% of us are focused on one major goal at any given time.
• We don’t get mad or angry.
• We hang out with other successful people or people who are upbeat and optimistic and have something on the ball. We don’t hang out with negative people or people who complain all the time. We avoid them like the plague.
• We hardly ever gamble. 84% of us never gamble.
• We believe in the American Dream. Our parents instilled that in us. We are living the American Dream.
• We obey the laws. 99% of us have never been arrested.
• We built teams to help us succeed. 84% of us have a team of individuals we rely on every day.
• We are savers. 94% of us have been saving 20% of our income from the first day we started working. All of us have retirement savings.
• We have more than one source of income. 65% of us have 3 streams of income. 45% of us have 4 streams. 29% of us have 5 streams.
• We don’t watch TV. 67% of us watch less than an hour of TV each day.
• We’re optimists.
• We don’t lie, we’re honest.
• We weren’t exceptionally smart in school. 77% of us were either C students or B students in school. But we got smart after school. We self-educated ourselves. We never stopped learning our entire adult lives.