Develop the Habits to Create Opportunity Luck, Achieve Consistent Success, and Build Wealth
According to a University of Scranton New Year’s resolutions study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology in 2014, just 8% of those who set New Year’s resolutions stick to them.
New Year’s resolutions are nothing more than habit change.
Why is habit change so hard? [Read more…]
You wake up in the morning, meandor into the kitchen, see the coffee maker and you make coffee.
You finish eating dinner, you see the TV, you pour yourself a glass of wine, beer or some alcoholic beverage and begin watching TV.
During your commute to work, you notice the yellow McDonald arches, you pull in and order a breakfast sandwich.
We all develop habits that are triggered by things in our environment.
These triggers eventually become unconscious, meaning you are not consciously aware of them. But, your subconscious is all powerful, and it notices them. Once your subconscious notices an Environmental Trigger, it spurs you on to engage in the habit.
Some of those Environmental Habits are good, some are bad.
If you are unhappy with your life, if your life is not going in the direction you desire, there are obviously many reasons for this. Some of those things are outside your control, but many are completely within your control.
One of those things that have an enormous influence over the status of your life is your daily habits.
The good news is that you have 100% control over your daily habits, meaning you can dramatically improve the circumstances of your life simply by changing your habits.
But changing your habits requires awareness. You must become aware of the habits you have, in order to be able to determine which ones are negatively affecting your life. Those that are, are bad habits.
In my book Rich Habits, I offer a powerful strategy that allows you force awareness and help you identify which habits are good and which habits are bad.
Once you are able to identify your bad habits, then you can take control of your life by eliminating those bad habits that are, in large part, responsible for your unhappy life.
How do you take control of your habits?
One way is to alter your Environmental Triggers in order to eliminate bad habits and forge good habits.
How?
Change Your Cell Phone Reminders
You can change the sounds your cell phone makes and those sounds can become triggers, reminding you to engage in a good habit. The theme from the movie Rocky can serve as a reminder to stop watching TV, get off the couch and exercise.
You can set your cell phone reminders to anything that serves to remind you to engage in a particular new, good habit.
Post Pictures Where You Can See Them Every Day
Every day, millions wake up, head for the bathroom, gargle and brush their teeth. The bathroom mirror is the first thing many of us see in the morning.
Pictures are effective in forming new habits, but not so effective in eliminating old, bad habits.
If you want to stop eating, place a picture on your bathroom mirror of the figure you desire to have. This will act as a trigger to exercise (new habit), and exercise is one of those keystone habits that affect other habits, such as eating junk food.
You can also download a picture to your cell phone and make it your background picture, something you cannot avoid seeing every day.
Remove Environmental Triggers
If you have the habit of watching TV after eating your dinner, which triggers sitting on the couch and drinking alcohol, put a sign on your dinner table that says “Read” or “Exercise” of “Go For a Walk”.
If your kitchen cupboard is a trigger to snack on junk food, then remove all of the junk food and replace it with some healthy alternatives.
If McDonalds or Dunkin Donuts is a trigger to eat junk breakfast food, then change the route of your commute to avoid seeing those yellow arches or that big donut sign.
Depending on the study, 40% or more of your daily activities are habits. Since habits are a major factor in determining the circumstances of your life, changing them must become a priority, if your life is not what you desire.
You are 100% in control of your habits. But only if you are aware of them and take action to change your habits.
The wealth gap is widening around the world.
The rich get richer and the poor get left behind.
But why does this happen?
According to Tom Corley, the gap is really a parenting gap, not a wealth gap.
In today’s episode, we’ll discuss 10 critical habits that the self-made wealthy learned from their parents.
This will help you understand the lessons that you should be teaching your children to help them grow up to be successful.
And if you haven’t yet learned these lessons yourself, it’s not too late to do so.
10 critical habits the wealthy learn from their parents
Links and Resources:
Michael Yardney’s Mentorship Program
Some of our favourite quotes from the show:
“We know that mentors, models are really important in life because we learn a lot of our habits, the things we do on a regular basis, from things we see, things we hear, things we experience as a child.” –Michael Yardney
“Clearly, when you make money doing what you love, it leads to a different sort of resilience, it lets you get through the difficult times because all businesses have their ups and downs and challenges. It leads you to your true calling in life. –Michael Yardney
“You don’t have to be born wealthy. Most successful people today, we’re not born that way.” –Michael Yardney
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Did you know that you put your pants on the same way every day? The same left or right leg goes in first. The same thing with your shoes. You put the same left or right foot into the first shoe you put on.
Habits are unconscious thoughts, behaviors or emotions that exist for one purpose – to free up your conscious brain, so you can think.
Did you know that every day many of you engage in some habits that are actually dangerous?
You wake up in the morning and the first thing you do is reach for a bagel to butter to eat with your coffee. Or, right after dinner, without thinking, you spend hours sitting on the couch, watching TV.
Dangerous Habits take time to impair your health, your finances, your job, or your relationships. The effects of Dangerous Habits take many years before they negatively affect your life.
Awareness is the key to putting an end to dangerous habits. That is why in my books, Rich Habits and Change Your Habits Change Your Life, I highlight the importance of spending three days writing down all of your behaviors, thinking and emotions. You need three days in order to see a pattern that occurs during different times of the day. That repetition = a habit.
Only when you make yourself consciously aware of your dangerous habits, by seeing them on paper, can you put an end to them.
What are some Dangerous Habits?
Become aware of your habits. Eliminate Dangerous Habits. Then, live long and prosper.
The conscious part of your brain is the neocortex, or outer layer of the brain. It’s only been around for about 200,000 years. The conscious brain is limited – it can only focus on one thing at a time. It is incapable of multitasking.
The subconscious parts of your brain, the limbic system and brain stem, have been around for millions of years. It is highly evolved, powerful, versatile and able to multitask to an amazing degree. Intuition (gut feelings), controlling emotions, keeping your organs functioning simultaneously, memory formation and many, many other things, performed all at once.
Because the conscious brain is limited in what it can do, it likes to offload tasks and behaviors to the subconscious brain, which it knows to be all powerful.
Habits are automated behaviors and processes that have been offloaded by the conscious brain to the subconscious. This novel solution to cognitive overload, sets your conscious mind free. Once a behavior becomes a habit, the conscious mind is set free.
When you think of habits, think of them as your friend – they exist to set you free.
Habits give you freedom to think. Freedom to daydream. Freedom to create. Freedom to make decisions. Freedom to problem solve.
When you forge Rich Habits, over time, they create freedoms everyone desires:
Even better, when you forge Rich Habits, you can pass on those habits to your children, and set them free.
Old habits die hard. The keys to habit change are Awareness and Tracking.
Awareness
Awareness = Knowing what habits you currently have or don’t have. Some of the habits you have are good habits and some are bad habits.
Make a list of the bad habits you would like to remove. Also, this is a good time to make a list of some good habits you would like to adopt.
I listed many of the good habits in my books Rich Habits and Change Your Habits Change Your Life. If you don’t have my books, here’s a good list from SUCCESS Magazine:
16 Rich Habits https://www.success.com/16-rich-habits/
Tracking
Tracking = a system or process that makes habit change possible.
Because habits are sticky, you need some process to help you in your quest to remove bad habits and add good habits:
After about a month, the neural connections behind old bad habits will begin to weaken and the new neural connections behind new good habits will strengthen. Depending on the complexity of the habit, it could take anywhere from a few weeks to six months before an old habit dies or a new habit is formed.
Keep it simple. Focus on no more than three old bad habits and three new good habits.
Good luck and let me know how you are progressing.
According to a 2013 Associated Press survey, 80% of America’s adults were struggling with unemployment, poverty or near poverty. That’s a lot of unhappy people.
Unhappy people tend to have unhappy thoughts. Happy people tend to have happy thoughts.
Cognitive psychologists call this tendency to see the world through either a negative or positive lens, mood congruency.
According to the latest science, negativity causes tunnel vision, limiting creativity and inhibiting your ability to think clearly. When the lens through which you view the world is negative, you see nothing but problems and become blind to opportunities and solutions.
If you’re struggling financially, a negative mental outlook acts like gasoline, fueling the flames of negativity and perpetuating a life of financial struggle.
Conversely, a positive mental outlook enhances creative problem solving. It gives you the mental tools to lift yourself up in order to overcome your obstacles.
But how do you flip the switch on your mental outlook?
Gratitude is the gateway to optimism and a positive mental outlook. Gratitude forces you to become aware of the good things about your life: my car started today, I was able to feed my family, I have a roof over my head, I’m healthy, I’m alive, I have a loving family, etc.
When you focus on the good that is in your life, instead of the bad, you force your brain to shift from negative to positive.
If you make gratitude a daily habit, eventually your positive mental outlook will overpower your negative mental outlook.
Gratitude changes the lens through which you view your world, from negative to positive. And when that happens you’ll begin to see solutions to your problems. Ideas will pop into your head that will help you climb your way out of your financial worries.
Expressing gratitude every day is not some pseudo, new age B.S. Gratitude is the gateway to optimism and a positive mental outlook. It’s the means to transforming your life from one filled with limitations to one with no limits.
On January 1, 2016, Jaylon Smith, widely regarded as the #1 outside linebacker in college football and considered a top draft pick for the NFL, tore both his ACL and LCL – ligaments that attach the knee to the thigh bone. Even worse, there was significant nerve damage. Nerve damage that might be permanent.
Taring either the ACL or LCL is bad, but taring both, at the same time, while damaging the nerves that run from the knee to the thigh bone, well, most never recover from something like that.
But Jaylon Smith was different.
“I am a leader. I am the best outside linebacker in football. Nothing’s changed. I’ll be OK.”
The Dallas Cowboys drafted Smith in the 2016 draft, taking a huge gamble on a linebacker that might never play again.
Following a very complicated knee surgery, Smith underwent nearly a year of intensive rehab, while Dallas patiently stood by.
Fast forward – today, Smith is the leader of Dallas’s defense. He may be the best outside linebacker in the NFL.
Smith never doubted he would play football again. He never wavered in his belief in himself as the best outside linebacker in football. That was his identity. That’s what he saw when he looked in the mirror. And that belief in who he was, his identity, healed his ligaments and his nerves.
If I were to ask you who you see yourself to be, would you have an honest answer?
If you don’t have a clear vision of who you are, you have an identity crisis.
We all face adversity in life. But, adversity will break you if you don’t have a clear vision of who you are.
However, for those who look in the mirror and know exactly who they are, adversity will only make you stronger.
Those who succeed in life, overcome adversity because they have a clear vision of who they are. Their identity is their GPS, constantly moving them forward to the realization of their dreams and their goals.
Who make better property investors – women or men?
That’s the discussion I have today with Tom Corley in our monthly Rich Habits, Poor Habits Podcast
Up till now the answer may have depended on who you asked (or what gender they were) but neuroscientists have uncovered evidence suggesting that, when the pressure is on, women bring unique strengths to decision making and make less-risky decisions under high-stress situations.
According to the neurobiologist Ruud van den Bos, men under stress experience a huge spike in cortisol, which degrades their decision-making ability.
Women experience a smaller spike, which creates urgency but doesn’t impede decision-making.
Every pundit and analyst in the business world has repeatedly pointed out that today’s business world is continually getting more stressful.
The more stressful things get, the better that women (on average) will become at making decision than men (on average).
So, the conclusion I have come to is that when the going gets tough, she gets smarter and you get dumber.
And since disruptive innovation means the going is always getting tougher, if you’re not hiring and promoting women, you’re only proving how dumb you are.
But back to property investment… Who make better investors?
When it comes to property, men have a higher tendency to gamble and are more easily manipulated while women are usually more cautious, seeking low-risk and long-term sustainable capital growth.
Riskwise found that property marketers often use enticement by appealing to men’s visual senses.
For example, it’s common practice for female models to be hired to stand beside professional sales people at property expos.
A study of real estate agents who hired models in the past several years is revealing.
Typically, the models increased the traffic to their booth by 50 to 100 percent, with a similar increase in the rate of high-quality sales leads, many of which converted into transactions.
It was noted by these agents that even a short absence of the model resulted in an immediate and significant decrease in traffic to their booth.
And you know those so-called free educational seminars which are designed by real estate spruikers to sell off-the-plan, and often low performing, new properties?
Women are more likely to recognise that they are not the client at a free seminar and, in fact, the seminar organiser likely works for a property developer and has a contractual obligation to sell the properties for the highest possible price.
Men, on the other hand, are more likely to be swept up in the hype and believe they are the client, and that the organiser of the free seminar will truly act in their best interests.
Are women really better property investors than men? And if so, why?
RiskWise research shows women are more aware of risks and seek tools to manage it; men tend to ignore the risks.
Women’s interest in risk and mitigation strategies is 38 per cent higher than men. In fact, studies have shown men are overconfident and have a higher tendency to gamble.
Of course this is a concern in the property market, where high-risk ventures can have devastating consequences.
Are there differences in the money behaviours of men and women?
Links and Resources:
Michael Yardney’s Mentorship Program
Some of our favourite quotes from the show:
“We can’t make the big jobs in government or business any less stressful, but we can ensure that when the pressure rises, there’s a better balance between taking big risks and making real progress.” Michael Yardney
“Gambling is a poor habit. It’s one of the habits that hold people back because they don’t recognize that it’s a tax for people who can’t do maths.” Michael Yardney
“They come to the party with different talents, different skills, but if they combine them, work well together, boy have they got unlimited opportunities.” Tom Corley
PLEASE LEAVE US A REVIEW
Reviews are hugely important to me because they help new people discover this podcast. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please leave a review on iTunes – it’s your way of passing the message forward to others and saying thank you to me. Here’s how.
As I’ve stated many times – Relationships are the currency of the wealthy.
In my Rich Habits Study, one of the common attributes of the wealthy was that they surrounded themselves with positive, upbeat, enthusiastic, success-minded people.
Building these relationships, I learned, took many years – on average, about three years per relationship.
While that might seem like a long time, in reality, the time invested was spread out over many years.
In a paper published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, Jeffrey Hall, a professor of Communications Studies, actually conducted a study to determine how many hours it took to forge a single friendship. According to his research findings, it took about 80 hours.
If you were to spread that 80 hours out over 156 weeks (3 years X 52 weeks a year), the investment required to create a friend, is about 31 minutes a week.
So, how do you go about forging a friendship with another success-minded individuals?
However you do it, your interactions must be consistent and regular.
Over time, your investment in your new friend will pay off.
Friends open doors that are otherwise closed. Friends help fund your dreams. Friends encourage and support you in your dreams, goals and initiatives. And friends invite you into their inner circle, exposing you to even more success-minded individuals, with whom you can forge new friendships.
