With 100 billion cells – each with up to 20,000 connections to other neurons – your brain is an incredible organ. You can likely think more thoughts than all the molecules in the universe. Your capability is endless. But in your lifetime, you’re unlikely to achieve anything close to your true potential.
Why’s that? Well, you didn’t get the manual, and you’ve had to learn by intuition. The problem is, that’s just not good enough if you want to be successful.
The Four Goals
We share four fundamental goals: a need to be fit and healthy, to have great relationships, to enjoy what we’re doing, and to achieve financial independence.
Give yourself a quick audit in each of those areas, right now. Mark yourself between one (low) and ten (high) for each.
How did you do?
Regardless of where you’re at, we’re about to look at the habits you need to cultivate in order to improve those scores – the “million-dollar habits.” The good news is that anyone and everyone can learn these habits, including you.
Your self image
How you see yourself on the inside – your self-image – affects how you perform outside. Positive and productive inside equals positive and productive outside. If you see yourself as unpopular or insecure, your outside persona will reflect the same.
To overcome any negative self-image aspects, fill your mind with positive images of yourself performing at your very best, and hold them there. Then relax. When you have to perform later, your subconscious will remember!
How to have great relationships
As much as 85 percent of your happiness will come from your relationships. So it makes sense to develop good habits to create great relationships, doesn’t it?
Develop acceptance. Everyone wants to be accepted unconditionally. If you’re able to make everyone you meet feel valuable and important, you satisfy that need – and not only that, but you’ll also be welcomed. A simple smile goes a long way when you meet someone.
Work on raising self-esteem – not just yours but that of others, too. How? Start each day by being thankful for the good things in your life. Appreciate being alive, your family and friends, and your good health.
Compliment people on their traits, their looks, their qualities, their possessions, and so on.
Listen attentively. Unfortunately, most people aren’t good listeners
How to become financially independent
If you want to become a millionaire, you need to think and act like one. Most self-made millionaires are incredibly frugal. They save and invest regularly. Set an amount you can afford – at least 10 percent of your income – and stick to it. If you get unexpected money, add that to your savings, too.
Insure against risk. What would be the worst thing that could happen? Determine that – and then take steps to ensure it doesn’t happen. You shouldn’t rely on luck or hope. Instead, plan, organize, and insure. Get life insurance for your family. Insure your home against fire and damage.
Your mini concepts
In each area of your life, you have a mini self-concept. Unfortunately, once you’ve developed that, you always behave in accordance with it. So although you have the potential to be, for instance, a great linguist, if your self-concept is telling you you’re terrible at languages, you’re likely never going to become the multilinguist you crave to be.
Your mini self-concept holds you back. If you truly want to achieve more in a particular area, the key is to increase your mini self-concept in that area. But how exactly can you do that?
Well, you need to reprogram yourself by examining three parts of your self-concept – your self-ideal, your self-image, and your self-esteem.
Get rich slowly
Most fortunes are built on the concept of compound interest. As your money accumulates, it grows even more. Thomas Stanley and William Danko, the authors of The Millionaire Next Door, say it takes most millionaires 22 years from the time they become serious about their financial lives to make their first million. They save, and they save some more. They invest carefully and selectively. Their wealth grows and compounds.
Your self ideal
Your self-ideal is the ideal image you have of your best self. It’s a combination of your hopes and dreams together with the qualities and virtues you wish you had. High performers have a clear picture of who they want to be. When you’ve developed your own positive self-ideal you move faster toward becoming that person.
Your self esteem
Your self-esteem is the emotional component of your self-concept and perhaps the most important part – it’s how much you like yourself. Your whole life revolves around it. Every positive experience raises it, and every negative experience lowers it.
The gap between your self-ideal and your self-image also affects it. When your current performance is consistent with your ideal, your self-esteem goes up. When it’s inconsistent, it drops. Having a very clear self-ideal improves your performance, makes your performance closer to your ideal, and, as a result, boosts your self-esteem.
Everything is up to you!
You may be a product of past choices, decisions, and actions, but your future will be determined by the choices, decisions, and actions you make from now on. To be the future you you want to become depends on getting those right – and developing the million-dollar habits to get you there.
Reprogram yourself for success
Humans have a problem. We’ve all developed our own unique self-concept that acts as the main program of our subconscious. We’ve recorded everything that’s ever happened to us, every feeling we’ve ever had, and every emotion we’ve ever felt. All of these influence how we behave. This self-concept we’ve created determines our effectiveness and performance.
How to do what you love
With your well-being and relationships sorted, it’s time to look at doing the things you love – specifically at work.
You have almost limitless opportunities available for work. In the US alone there are over 200,000 different jobs – so think about what you’d love to do, and don’t just accept the first job that comes along. Think about the types of jobs available, and try to find something that’s easy for you to learn and do. That’s the job where you’ll perform best and probably where you can earn the most money. Keep evaluating that choice throughout your career.
The right habits
If you want to be a high performer, develop the right habits.
- Work hard in order to turn yourself into the person you want to be. Your past habits don’t matter one bit. Forget your past experiences, and decide that your future will be different.
- Start strategically planning your life. Your goal is to become the best possible you in all aspects.
- Set yourself clear long-term goals, assess where you are now and where you want to be at a particular date in the future, and map out how you’re going to get there in the time you have available.
- Set yourself daily goals. Write down what you want to achieve in a notebook – not on your phone, tablet, or computer. The simple act of writing enforces your desire to achieve those goals.
