There’s a right way and a wrong way to pursue goals.

The wrong way is to wing it by setting random goals for a year. This doesn’t work because these types or goals are actually wishes or things you would like to happen. They aren’t actually goals at all.

You see, goals are your construction crew for your dreams. So, the right way to set goals is to start by defining a dream you would like to realize. Once you have your dream defined, then you can build specific goals around that dream.

Think of a dream as a picture of something you desire. Maybe it’s an additional $2,000 in income a month. Now, take that dream and define what specific actions you would need to take in order to generate an additional $2,000 a month.

Do you have the knowledge and/or skills to take those actions? Do you have the right training, licenses, degree, etc.? If no, then you need to first develop the knowledge and/or skills necessary before you even attempt to pursue those goals.

Once you have the knowledge and/or skills, that it is time to mobilize your construction crew and engage in the daily activities that will allow you to achieve each goal.

Think of each goal as a rung on a ladder. As you achieve each goal, you climb your ladder. You realize each dream when you reach the top of the ladder.

Then you move on to the next dream and repeat this goal-setting process.

Dream by dream, you build the life of your dreams, using goals as your construction crew.

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“They’re just lucky. Everything they touch turns to gold.”

How many times have you heard someone say that?

Those who realize consistent success in life are perceived to be endowed by the gods with some magical power or some type of perpetual good luck. Everything they do just seems to work out in their favor all the time, over and over again.

But, when you peel the onion, as I have been doing since 2004, you begin to understand there is something much more fundamental at work – habits.

Habits are repetitive routines. Often repetitive daily routines.

When those habits are the right habits, meaning, habits that give you the Midas Touch, guess what? Those repetitive habits are going to produce repetitive success.

So, what type of habits give you the Midas Touch?

Calculated/Educated Risk Habits

• Doing Your Homework – Studying everything about investments that require your time or money, before comitting to the investment, minimizes the risk of failure and increases your chances for success.
• Seek Expert Feedback – Seeking feedback from experts helps open you eyes to pitfalls and opportunities.

Persuasion Habits

• Enthusiastic Optimism – Optimism is is infectious. It acts like a magnet, attracting others to your cause or mission.
• Speaking – Speaking engagements enable you to get out in front of many people at one time in order to get your message out.
• Writing – Writing a blog or contributing to the media helps attract the “right” individuals to you.
• Hello Calls – Making regular Hello Calls to people who matter is a very powerful way to build relationships with the right people.

Growth Habits

• Read to Learn – Focused reading every day for 30 minutes or more on topics directly related to what you do for a living improves your knowledge-base, transforming you into a Virtuoso in your field. Virtuosos receive a premium for their service or products.
• Practice – Deliberate and Analytical Practice of two or more hours every day perfects and improves your skills, transforming you into a Virtuoso in your field.

Charity/Networking Habits

• Volunteering – Many community-based non-profits are run by influencers – successful people in the community. These influencers can put you in touch with other influencers: celebrities, CEOs, leaders in finance, politics, etc. These influencers can open doors with one email, one text, or one phone call, fast-tracking success. Volunteering for one of these local non-profits allows you to meet and forge relationships with the successful people running these organizations.
• Networking- You can also find successful people on local, community-based business organizations. typically, the individuals who run these organizations are successful local business leaders. Joining one of these organizations puts you directly in touch with these successful people.

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When you think of self-made millionaires, what immediately pops into your mind?

Do you see a well-dressed individual surrounded by a posse, jet-setting from one exciting place to the next in private planes, exotic cars and yachts?

Or do you see someone sitting all alone in boxer shorts and a tee shirt behind a desk, computer or stack of books at 5 am in the morning?

I’ve been studying entrepreneurs since 2004. The Dreamer-Entrepreneur path to building wealth happens to be the fastest and most rewarding of the four paths to riches. The average Dreamer-Entrepreneur in my Rich Habits Study accumulated $7.4 million over a twelve year period.

While it may be the fastest and most rewarding path to accumulating wealth, it also happens to be the hardest, riskiest, most stressful path.

At best, the entrepreneurial journey towards success is insanely frustrating, where nothing seems to move the needle, despite superhuman efforts.

At worst, it’s a daily walk through hell – one riddled with hurdles, let downs, mistakes, failures, problems, disappointments, rejections and financial struggle. Every day the entrepreneur must pivot in order to survive. It takes enormous physical and mental endurance.

It’s not a life you would wish on your worst enemy.

What keeps the entrepreneur in the game is their belief that what they’re doing will pay huge dividends down the road. It’s believing, with unfailing faith, that there will eventually be a light at the end of the tunnel; that one day they will turn the corner.

While passion and a love for what they do is the source of every entrepreneur’s energy, motivation and enthusiasm, belief and hope is what enables entrepreneurs, and their loved ones, to survive the journey of nothingness, hardship and struggle.

So, the next time you see a self-made millionaire, don’t envy them for what they have. Envy them for their ability to endure the hardship.

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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. “No’s” are the equivalent to a yield sign – they slow you down during your journey:

• Are you reading to learn every day, 30 minutes or more?
• Are you exercising 30 minutes or more every day?
• Are you pursuing at least one big dream every day?
• Are you pursuing goals every day?
• Are you minimizing “Time Wasting Habits” to one hour or less every day? TV, Non-Dream-related Facebook, Twitter, Internet use = a Time Waster.
• Are you getting at least 7 hours of sleep each day? Sleep deprivation impairs the brain, creativity and decision-making.
• Do you get up early every day to pursue your dreams and goals? Make the first three hours of the day your Growth Time. That’s when you pursue your dreams, goals, reading, exercise, etc.
• Are you building strong relationships with other success-minded people every day? One influencer can open up doors that are closed to everyone else. Devote time to building relationships with influencers. They are not only the fast track to success, they also make success possible.
• Do you accomplish 70% or more of your to-dos every day?
• Do you express gratitude every day? Gratitude is the gateway to a positive mental outlook. Most of the millionaires in my Rich Habits Study had a positive mental outlook. Positivity expands your ability to focus. It also increases creativity, enabling you to solve seemingly intractable problems.
• Do you practice good etiquette every day? Poor etiquette can derail relationships with influencers. It can also become a stop sign to opportunities.
• Do you seek feedback every day? Feedback is critical in learning what to do and what not to do. Those who consistently seek feedback are able to pivot, making success possible.

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.

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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.

Surprisingly, this 86% indicated that they were only passionate about 25% of their job. The other 75% of their job, was a grind. But that 25% enabled them to tolerate that 75% of the job they did not like.

When you pursue a dream, passion is almost always the thing that spurs you into action. What keeps you going, however, are habits.

Habits put you on autopilot in the pursuit of success and this is critical because the pursuit is always a grind. That small, fractional 25% of passion keeps you motivated long enough in order for you to create the habits that will take you the rest of the way along your journey.

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% is a small amount but it’s a small amount that goes a long way.

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One very important by-product of my Rich Habits research has been the effect it has had on my children. As I’ve written many times, when parents forge Rich Habits, those Rich Habits consciously or subconsciously infect your children.

Well, my youngest has taken the Goal-Setting Rich Habit to another level.

My youngest informed me the other day that she is pursuing a specific job-related goal. In an effort to keep her stay focused on the achievement of the goal, she came up with a novel incentive. She is refraining from SnapChat until she reaches her goal.

By depriving herself of SnapChat, something she very much enjoys, she has created a powerful incentive to help her focus on the achievement of her goal.

We don’t truly appreciate what we have until it is taken away.

A Deprivation Incentive involves making a very specific sacrifice until you achieve a very specific goal. The reward for achieving the goal is the reinstatement of the thing you sacrificed.

The deprivation could be SnapChat, food, beer, TV, Facebook, candy, etc.

Deprivation Incentives only work when the thing you’re sacrificing is important to you or something you enjoy doing on a daily basis.

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The circumstances we are born into do not define us. We have the power to script our own lives. But this actually requires a script. You can’t wing it in life, hoping to get lucky.

You need to develop a blueprint of your future life. That blueprint gives you clarity and direction. You feel like you are in control of your destiny when you know where you are going.

• What is the perfect work you would like to do?
• How much money do you want to make?
• What amazing house do you want to live in and where is this house?
• What type of exotic car do you want to drive?
• Where would you like to go on vacation?
• How much do you want to weigh?
• What time do you want to wake up and go to bed?
• What books do you think you need to read?
• What type of successful people would you like to associate with?
• What does your neighborhood look like?
• What amazing dreams are you going to pursue?
• What goals do you have?
• How successful do you desire to be?
• What mad skills do you have in the future?
• What unique, special knowledge will you have?
• How many people have you helped because of your wealth and success?

Develop your blueprint today. When you iron out the details of your life, you remove all of the wrinkles.

My mission is to share my unique research in order to help others realize their dreams and achieve their goals. If you find value in these articles, please share them with your inner circle and encourage them to Subscribe. Thank You!

Those who accumulate enormous wealth, irrespective of which path to wealth they choose, ALL share one common trait …. persistence. They just don’t quit in pursuing their dreams or their goals.

But persistence is not some genetic lottery win, some superhuman power bestowed upon a blessed minority.

To an independent observer, watching from afar, it appears as if successful, wealthy people are endowed with extraordinary powers of discipline and relentlessness. The word they use to describe those extraordinary powers just happens to be Persistence.

In reality, persistence is a conglomeration of certain habits that puts the pursuit of success on autopilot. The individual possessing these habits, typically would not describe themselves as persistent. They’re just engaging in daily habits. To them, these habits are nothing extraordinary. They are no different than brushing their teeth, combing their hair or taking a shower every morning.

Persistence Habits are the key to success in that they automate persistence. They make you persistent without the sweat.

So, what are these Persistence Habits?

Below are some of those persistence habits I uncovered in my five-year study on the daily habits of the rich:  [Read more…]

Getty Images

Unless you were born into a rich family, building wealth can be very hard — depending on the path you choose.

Many people look at multi-millionaires and desperately want to know: What’s their secret? How did they get there? What does it take?

Those are the things I wanted to know back in 2004, when I began my “Rich Habits” study, in which I spent five years interviewing and researching the daily activities, habits and traits of 233 wealthy individuals. All of them had at least $160,000 in annual gross income and $3.2 million in net assets.

During my research, I found there are four predominant paths toward accumulating wealth. The “Savers-Investors” path is the easiest, while the other three involve much more risk.

1. The Saver-Investors path

Just less than 22% of the millionaires in my study chose to take the Saver-Investors path. Not only is it the easiest way to build wealth, but if you start early, it almost always guarantees a lot of money.

The Saver-Investors in my group reached their first $1 million around their mid-to-late 30s, and accumulated an average net worth of $3.3 million by their mid-50s.

2. The Dreamers path

3. The Company Climbers path

4. The Virtuosos path

Link to Actual Article: There are 4 main paths to becoming a millionaire—and this is the easiest one, says money expert https://cnb.cx/2nOmlpO

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Recent Media Coverage Courtesy Business Insider

7 bad habits that will keep you from getting rich, according to a man who studied over 200 millionaires

Tanza Loudenback

Sep. 27, 2019, 12:10 PM

Some habits inhibit your success. Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images

• Thomas C. Corley spent five years studying millionaires and gathered his insights in several books, including “Change Your Habits, Change Your Life.”
• Corley interviewed 233 Americans with at least $160,000 in annual gross income and $3.2 million in net assets — 177 of whom were self-made millionaires— and 128 Americans with $35,000 or less in annual gross income and $5,000 or less in liquid assets.
• Through these interviews, he was able to identify the daily behaviors and habits that contributed to or inhibited a person’s success.
• The habits that worked against building wealth included overspending, engaging in negative self-talk, maintaining toxic relationships, and unhealthy eating and drinking behaviors.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Habits are daily, often unconscious, behaviors that either contribute to or inhibit our success.

Thomas C. Corley, a certified public accountant and certified financial planner, spent five years studying millionaires and gathered his insights in multiple books, including “Change Your Habits, Change Your Life.”

Corley interviewed 233 people with at least $160,000 in annual gross income and $3.2 million in net assets, 177 of whom were self-made. He also interviewed 128 Americans with $35,000 or less in annual gross income and $5,000 or less in liquid assets.

Through these conversations and further analysis, he was able to identify two types of habits: those that helped people build wealth (“ rich habits“), and those that worked against them. The latter habits have the power to cause financial, emotional, and mental destruction in a person’s life, he says. To achieve success, one must identify these habits and replace them.

“Adopting one rich habit has the effect of eliminating many poor habits. That’s why the rich habits are so powerful. Each one you adopt is like a double or triple in baseball,” he writes.

Below are seven habits that won’t lead to wealth, according to Corley.

1. Overspending

You simply can’t get rich spending more money than you make, whether it’s buying a car or house you can barely afford or racking up a credit-card bill.

“Ninety-five percent of the poor in my study did not save and most accumulated debt to subsidize their standard of living,” Corley wrote. True wealth comes from saving and investing a portion of what you earn, no matter the size of your salary.

2. Reading only for entertainment, or not at all

Reading with intention is a top habit of millionaires.

In Corley’s study, 92% of people with minimal assets did not read to learn. “Success requires growth. That growth comes from reading and educating yourself on a daily basis,” he writes.

3. Toxic relationships

It’s hard to sever ties with people who may be holding you back. But if you’re serious about setting yourself up for a rich future, it has to be done, Corley says.

He found that only 4% of the low-income people he studied associated with “success-minded” people.

“You are only going to succeed in life if you surround yourself with the right type of people,” he writes. That is to say, people who are encouraging, positive, curious, and helpful.

4. A single stream of income

Many of us rely on one job to make money, but that’s not how future millionaires operate.

Sixty-five percent of the rich people in Corley’s study had at least three different streams of income set up prior to making their first $1 million. This not only supercharges earning potential, it acts as a safety net against job loss.

“Poor people have one income stream. Their eggs are all in one basket,” Corley writes.

5. Engaging in negative self talk

“I’m not smart or educated enough.” “It’s not my fault.” “Life is a struggle.”

These are examples of negative self-talk, Corley writes. These internal conversations fill us with doubt and act as a directive for our actions.

“When you allow negativity to rule your thoughts, you are programming your brain for failure,” he writes. “You’ll have no chance in life at breaking out of your current financial or life circumstances. These negative thoughts will become beliefs that act like computer programs.” 

6. Having no plan

You don’t need resources beyond your own imagination and determination to make a plan for the future. The plan — what you want to accomplish and where you want to be in 10, 15, or 20 years — is the first step to achieving any type of success, especially financial success.

“Ninety-five percent of the poor in my study had no life plan,” Corley writes. “Without a blueprint, without long-term goals, we are like leaves on a fall day, floating in the air aimlessly.” 

7. An unhealthy lifestyle

Unhealthy lifestyle habits — like excessive drinking, unhealthy eating, and minimal exercise — don’t lead to wealth, according to Corley.

“Poor health habits create detrimental luck,” he writes. “This is a type of luck that is a byproduct of poor habits, poor behavior, and bad decision making.”

Link to actual article: 7 bad habits that will keep you from getting rich, according to a man who studied over 200 millionaires https://www.businessinsider.com/bad-habits-that-wont-make-you-rich?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=topbar&utm_term=desktop&referrer=twitter via @businessinsider

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