Archives for November 2019

The financial planning group I am part of is very successful. Almost everyone in our group is what you’d call high achievers. It’s not an accident that so many of us are succeeding within out financial planning group. One of the drivers for this is the mentoring we receive from the two leaders of our group.

The two principals of our group have figured out what to do and what not to do. In an effort to help their reps, they run spring and fall training sessions. What makes those sessions so special and educational is the fact that the principals always share at least one or two mistakes they’ve made over the years.

One of the principals really does a very entertaining job sharing his mistakes. And, some of the mistakes are downright funny. But, funny or not, they are always a learning event for all of us.

When I was interviewing the rich and poor people for my Rich Habits Study, I was fascinated with the mistakes both groups willingly shared with me. I was very fortunate. From those interviews, I was able to learn from the horse’s mouth, what to do and what not to do.

Mistakes are teachers, for those who want to improve and succeed. They are dead ends, however, for those who quit on themselves, surrendering to their mistakes.

Learning from mistakes really only sticks when you get up off the ground and try again. When you quit, the learning is lost or forgotten.

Mistakes teach you what doesn’t work and force you to pivot, or make adjustments, until you figure out what does work.

When you think of it, knowing what not to do is like a quarterback throwing a 50 yard pass completion – it gets you half way down the field.

Knowing what to do, gets you down the rest of the field, allowing you to score.

Learning from others mistakes is the fast track to success. That is why I am such a huge advocate of finding mentors or coaches. Because mentors or coaches or typically Virtuoso’s at what they do, they can save you an enormous amount of time and money, by showing you what works and what doesn’t work.

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!

The aviation industry was one of the first industries to institutionalize checklists as part of their industry business model.

Today, ground crews are required to complete checklists whenever a plane comes in and complete another checklist before a plane departs.

Likewise, pilots must complete multiple checklists before, during and after a flight.

Why?

Checklists institutionalize success. They reduce the risk of mistakes that can lead to failure.

Checklists are, in effect, mandatory success habits. They insure against failure and put success on autopilot.

The use of checklists also happens to be a Rich Habit.

Back in 2007, when I was wrapping up my Rich Habits Study, I was trying to forge some of the Rich Habits I discovered during the study. In order to ensure I followed my Rich Habits, I used checklists almost on a daily basis. Oftentimes, I embedded them into my To-Do List.

Here’s an example of my daily checklist:

• Ran today
• Read to learn 60 minutes today
• Wrote 1,000 words today
• Lifted weights today
• Made Happy Birthday Calls today
• Made Hello Calls today
• Returned all phone calls today
• Did not drink any alcohol today
• Ate < 1,800 calories today
• Did not curse today
• Expressed Gratitude today
• Returned all emails today

I modified my checklist for certain things, like lifting weights, which I do once every three days. I’ll just write n/a next to checklist items that aren’t applicable for that particular day. You’ll notice that most of the items on my checklist are Rich Habits I am trying to incorporate into my life. In this regard, the checklist becomes your accountability partner or reminder system to help keep you on track.

My Rich Habits checklist helped me go from 212 lbs, in July of 2007, down to 174 lbs by February 2008, thanks to the running, reduced alcohol consumption and calorie restriction.

My Rich Habits checklist reduced my blood pressure from 140 over 102 down to 118 over 78, thanks to the daily running I was doing.

My Rich Habits checklist enabled me to write 4 books, thanks to the requirement that I write 1,000 words every day. The royalties and paid speaking engagement fees that resulted from my books, are now two very important additional streams of income I didn’t have before. The vast majority (65%) of the self-made millionaires in my Rich Habits Study had three or more streams of income, so building revenue streams is important for financial success.

My Rich Habits checklist helped me to forge stronger relationships with other success-minded or successful people, thanks to the Happy Birthday Calls, Hello Calls and staying on top of my phone calls and emails.

The truth is, I no longer need to rely on these checklists. After about six months, the Rich Habits became my habits. And, once they became habits, I found myself engaging in them almost every day, without needing a checklist as for external accountability or a reminder tool.

Create your own Rich Habits checklist and devote yourself to it for six months. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at the progress you’ll make.

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!

What scares you?

My biggest fear is poverty.

When I was nine years old, my father’s business burned to the ground. He spent the next 18 months in court fighting insurance companies. Eventually he ran out of money for legal fees and the insurance companies essentially won.

Somehow, my Dad was able to keep us in our home, but it wasn’t easy. On many occasions we’d see real estate agents walking around our property, showing it off to interested buyers. The problem was, we weren’t selling. At least, not willingly. Our house had been through several near-foreclosure emergencies, which put all eleven of us living in our home, on a knife’s edge.

I suppose that fear of poverty has been following me since I was nine years old.

That fear drove me to go to college. I had no business going to college. My family couldn’t afford college tuition. So, I worked as a janitor during my college years and used that money to pay my tuition.

That fear drove me to become a CPA,  a two-year commitment to intense study, in order to successfully complete a 22-hour, three day exam (at the time, in 1986, it was a 22-hour exam). Studying to become a CPA, I reasoned, would help me to become more expert in money and finance and also help me make more money.

That fear drove me to go to graduate school at night for a Master’s Degree in Taxation. It took me three years, going to night school two days a week. I felt that getting an M.S. in Taxation would help me become a Virtuoso in taxes and enable me to make more money for me and my growing family.

That fear drove me to become a Certified Financial Planner, once again, so I could become more savvy with money and, once again, to help me hone my Virtuoso skills.

Most importantly, that fear drove me to devote five years to studying the daily habits of 361 rich people and poor people. This has become my Opus X, or highest achievement in life, all thanks to fear.

As I sit here writing these words, I find myself grateful for my fear of poverty. That fear lead me to the Rich Habits and opened my eyes to the Poor Habits.

For the first time in my life, I now know what to do and what not to do.

I am not one of the millionaires in my study yet, but I can tell you this – I am most definitely no longer one of the poor people in my study.

Successful people use fear as fuel to supercharge everything they do. Unsuccessful people get used by fear. They give into their fears, preventing them from making moves that could one day improve their lives.

Fear can either act as a springboard to great achievement, or it can become an anchor, pulling you down into the abyss of failure and poverty.

Use fear. Don’t get used by fear. Never let fear be an anchor.

The only thing to you should truly fear, is giving into it.

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!

Each one of us inherits 23 chromosomes from our Mother and 23 chromosomes from our Father. Residing on each one of those 46 chromosomes are genes. It is estimated that humans have approximately 23,000 genes. So, one chromosome can be home to literally hundreds of genes.

Each gene is like a computer command that directs the RNA within a specific cell to manufacture a specific protein needed to help the cell function. Different genes command RNA to make different proteins, so multiple genes are needed to keep just one cell functioning properly.

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is the technical name given to your 46 chromosomes. Those 46 chromosomes, in actuality, represent an instruction manual that tells RNA in each cell to manufacture the various proteins necessary to keep the cells in your body running smoothly.

Interestingly, an individual gene can be turned on or off by something called methylation. Methylation is the process of creating enzymes that make genes active or inactive.

What triggers methylation?

Many things, in particular – Habits.

The simple act of forging a new habit can have profoundly beneficial or harmful effects on your health and well being.

Good habits, such as reading to learn, is an example of a habit that turns on certain good genes. These good genes, once activated by your reading habit, instruct RNA to produce proteins that help grow and strengthen brain cells that are being called into service as you read. Reading, in effect, stimulates genes to help maintain and grow brain cells.

So long as you keep reading and learning, those genes will keep churning out proteins that help strengthen brain cells, which, in turn, boosts your IQ.

Bad habits, or time-wasting habits, such as sitting on a couch watching Netflix for hours at a time, is an example of a habit that keeps good genes toggled in the off position.

How?

This TV watching, time-wasting habit, in effect, keeps those learning genes inactive due to your lack of mental activity. Without these good genes working to maintain and strengthen brain cells, the brain cells and their synapses weaken.

In other words, your brain cells become impaired by your time-wasting habits. This can result in a lower IQ, at best, or Alzheimer’s, at worst.

When you have bad habits, good genes can’t do their job. We can see this manifest itself in the form of various disorders such as obesity, Type II Diabetes, heart disease, dementia, and all sorts of other preventable diseases.

You are your habits, right down to your genes.

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!