A Deeper Look Into Our Habits

"Successful people are simply those with successful habits."

 - Brian Tracy

Last week, I disclosed some results from a study that compared the habits of the rich and poor. I wanted to spend some time going over these results and giving everyone more insight into the numbers and what this all really means. 

"I maintain a daily to-do list" 
The rich have the tendency to have a set plan for the day and follow the plan as closely as possible. Many of us might have one or two things to do for the day, and we might get lucky if we accomplish one of those things. 67% of the rich complete at least 70% of their daily tasks. 

"I love reading"
Although 86% of the rich love to read, they don't like to read for pleasure. 88% of the rich read self-improvement books at least 30 minutes a day. The rich heavily focus on improving their skills, their business, their finances and their happiness. Only 2% of the rich read self-improvement books more than 30 minutes a day. 63% of the rich actually listen to audiobooks during their commute to work, whereas only 5% of the poor listen to audiobooks. The rich strategically use their time to improve, even if it's in the car. 

"I do more than my job requires"

A job is just a job - right? Well, the mental aspect of what we do many hours a week is crucial for our daily lifestyle. 86% of the rich work an average of 50 hours or more a week, compared to 43% of the poor who work as much. Yet, when surveyed, only 6% of the wealthy individuals found that they were unhappy because of work. 

"I focus on my goals every day"
Goals are one of the key differentiators between the rich and poor. Remember - a goal is not a wish. It is not something that you hope will happen but something that you need to make happen.  Interestingly enough, 67% of the rich put their goals in writing.  The wealthy set daily, monthly and annual goals. 

"I watch reality shows on TV"
Looking deeper into this comment, I found out that 67% of the rich spend one hour or less a day watching TV! No wonder they don't watch Keeping Up With The Kardashians. The rich don't watch TV because they're against it, they would just rather use their time doing something more productive and they don't think much about watching TV. Instead, they created a daily habit of reading. 

"I play the lottery regularly"
The rich decided not to play the lottery, not because they don't want to risk their money on the jackpot, but because they would rather not rely on luck. Besides, most people that win the lottery lose their money within a few years after hitting the jackpot. Instead, the rich spend their time building their knowledge and taking other risks with their businesses, purchasing businesses, taking over investments and managing risks. 

In the end, no matter what you want to do in life, many of what we succeed or fail to do will be determined by our daily habits. Where are you spending your time? With who? Are there any habits you need to get rid of or be more consistent with? Share your thoughts.

Don't forget to share this blog so you can encourage others: family, co-workers, friends. Give them something to get motivated! You never know what they might be going through. A few words of encouragement can go a long way. 

Are Your Habits Making You Rich Or Poor?

"Bad habits are like a comfortable bed, easy to get into but hard to get out of"-Anonymous

What did I do last week? What did I accomplish? How did I spend my time? These are questions I ask myself at the end of every week. For the last few years, I made it a habit to always evaluate my days and weeks, never keeping my eyes off of my goals and dreams. However, not everyone asks these questions on a consistent basis.

A few months ago I wrote a blog called Do You Have What It Takes To Be Wealthy?, discussing a study done about successful people. The study carefully examined the habits of successful people and it compared them to the habits of the poor. Your daily habits will determine your success in life. Thomas Corley spent five years studying the lives of both rich people (defined as having an annual income of $160,000 or more and a liquid net worth of $3.2 million or more) and those of poor people (defined as having an annual income of $35,000 or less and a liquid net worth of $5,000 or less). Below are some of the results of Corley's study.

"I maintain a daily to-do list"

• Rich people who agree: 81%
• Poor people who agree: 19%

"I love reading"

• Rich people who agree: 86%
• Poor people who agree: 26%

"I do more than my job requires"

• Rich people who agree: 81%
• Poor people who agree: 17%

"I focus on my goals every day"

• Rich people who agree: 62%
• Poor people who agree: 6%

"I watch reality shows on TV"

• Rich people who agree: 6%
• Poor people who agree: 78%

"I play the lottery regularly"

• Rich people who agree: 6%
• Poor people who agree: 77%

Next week we'll go over these results in a lot more detail. It's important to study the habits that might be keeping us from achieving some of our goals. The purpose of this study is not to come up with ways to get rich, but to compare how rich and poor spend their time and energy. Becoming rich might not be your goal, or my goal, but achieving certain financial goals, dreams, or aspirations might. 

Ask yourself these questions from the study. Which comments do you agree with? 
Share. 

Don't forget to share this blog so you can encourage others: family, co-workers, friends. Give them something to get motivated! You never know what they might be going through. A few words of encouragement can go a long way.

It's OK to ask for help...

During the recession of 2008 I was without a job. I couldn't pay rent and I didn't have much money in the bank. I felt like I was running out of options but I continued my life pretending that I can handle it all and that I would get out of this hole on my own. Eventually, I decided to swallow my pride as the burden was too heavy. I ended up staying for a few months with my sister and later with my brother. I slept on the couch for months until I got back on my feet. 

Do you feel comfortable asking others for help? It might be something embarrassing such as asking for money or asking to sleep on someone else's couch, but it could also be as simple as asking for a ride, advice or just asking someone to talk to you. We sometimes feel as though asking is a form of weakness, that it might expose our failures and our faults. We might also get caught up with thoughts such as, "what will they think or say about me" or "they'll probably tell me no, or give me crap for asking." 

The truth is, most successful people didn't get to where they are now without a little help, a little push, from someone else. In fact, if you ask me, I think asking for help is a sign of confidence and a strength to have. It not only eases the burden of trying to do it all, but it obviously speeds up the process or resolves the challenge. Swallow your pride. Get rid of the negative thoughts that asking for help is bad. Don't be afraid about what others will say.

Is there something you need help with? Have you thought about asking but you haven't gotten the courage to do it? What's stopping you?

"What would you d if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and walk out on me? Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song and I'll try not to sing out of key. I get by with a little help from my friends."

- The Beatles

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."

- Dr. Seuss

Don't forget to share this blog so you can encourage others: family, co-workers, friends. Give them something to get motivated! You never know what they might be going through. A few words of encouragement can go a long way. 

You Think Your Job Is Tough? This Is Absolutely The Toughest Job In The World

Time to time I hear people complain about how tough their life is. I hear people saying how they have to balance a job while going to school full-time and how tough everything is at work. I hear how tired people are because they are working 10 hour days and how much their back hurts because of the physical labor that they do. If you think your job is tough, watch this video and then read the rest of this article.

Almost everything we do and everything we think about is about "me" or "I." "I  have a million things to do" and "I am stressing out because of everything that is coming up and everything that I am doing." Those are only a few examples. I am definitely guilty of this selfish pursuit. I want to continue to grow professionally and personally, I am pushing to become the best at my job and I am always busy with all the things I want to accomplish.

However, we owe most of our success and most of who we are to our mothers. Mother's Day is coming and this is only one day that we try to go out of our way for our mothers. This day is only celebrated once a year. Yet, I'm sure your mother celebrated you almost every day from the moment you were born until the day you left the house.

You don't have to wait until Mother's Day to call her. You don't have to wait until Mother's Day to tell her how much you love her. You definitely don't have to wait until Mother's Day to give your mom a present. What if your mom would have said, "I'm not going to get you some new socks until your birthday or Christmas"? Mother's are at work every single day and every single hour. Make every day a Mother's Day.

Nick - The Man With No Arms, No Legs and No Limits

A good friend gave me a book for Christmas. The book was called Life Without Limits by Nick Vujicic, a man who has lived with no arms and no legs all of his life. The book was very inspiring and made me think constantly about myself. After finishing the book I looked for videos on Nick on YouTube and read a few more articles about him. After watching a few videos, I was impressed by how much Nick would smile.

Nick lived a rough life during his youth. He was teased frequently by other kids and called names such as "freak" or "alien." Nick grew up watching other kids play basketball, surf and go on dates with girls. At age 8 he contemplated committing suicide since he believed at that time that his life was already pre-determined: he couldn't do anything, he wouldn't get married and he would always need others to help him because of his disability.

However, Nick's attitude was impressive. He relied on God to remain positive and used his huge heart to get through some tough times. He learned how to swim, how to surf, how to use a computer and type, how to run a business and how to speak in public. Now, Nick goes throughout the world motivating other people and preaching how life can be lived without limits. He speaks to children about bullying and about loving themselves and each other.

Many times we are angry about the things that we don't have or the things that we do have that we don't like. We'll hate ourselves because we feel we're ugly or we're fat, we'll convince ourselves that we're not smart enough and we'll believe that we're not capable of achieving success. Yet, we forget the things in our lives that should matter. We forget that we have the blessings of our family, of our close friends, of the music we love, of the hands that allow us to hold our babies, of the lips we possess to kiss our mom on the cheek, of the dirty little car that has more than 200,000 miles but is still going, of the home that provides us a bed to rest, of the food we eat every single day and of the heart that allows us to forgive and love with no limits.

You are better than you think. You are beautiful. You are strong. You are smart. You can accomplish anything. The only limits you have are those you are setting for yourself.

"Whether you think you can or you think you can't - you are right."

- Henry Ford

"You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude towards what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering change rather than allowing it to master you."

- Brian Tracy

Don't forget to share this blog so you can encourage others: family, co-workers, friends. Give them something to get motivated! You never know what they might be going through. A few words of encouragement can go a long way. 

What Would You Do If Everything Was Possible?

One of my favorite stories is a story I read in an article four months ago. The story was about a seven year old girl who was fascinated by the game 'catch.' She began playing catch with her dad, trying to count how many times they could catch the ball without dropping it. At one point they reached 50 catches and the girl and her dad were excited because they just beat their old record.

One day though, the focused little girl requested a game of catch in order to break their previous record of 50. The little girl wanted to get to 100! The dad chuckled a bit because he knew how much trouble it took them to get to 50. A few days later they reached their goal of 100. The next day the little girl said to her dad, "Dad let's go for 300 in a row!" The dad tried to convince his daughter that maybe they should try 125 or 150 because 300 was a stretch. Despite the push-back, the father agreed and a few days later 300 catches became their record. However, the daughter wanted to keep going. Challenging herself, she now wanted to go for 500. The dad said nothing this time but thought to himself, "You got to be kidding me!" Surely enough, after a few days, they reached 500 catches. The little girl didn't stop there.

"Dad," she said, "let's now go for 1,000 in a row!" The father at this point believed that this was impossible. Embarrassed to say anything to his believing daughter he unfaithfully agreed to try to get to that impossible goal. This time, in less than 24 hours, they reached 1,017 catches!

Earlier this week I wrote about fear and how fear prohibits us from reaching goals or trying things for the first time. Many times, we are the ones who limit ourselves and we are the ones who convince ourselves that things are impossible. What if you didn't set any limits? What if you stopped using the words 'I can't'? What if you truly believed that everything in this world was possible? Are you the one limiting yourself?

"Everything is impossible until somebody does it"

- Bruce Wayne (Batman) 

"Nothing is impossible. The word itself says 'I'm possible!"

- Audrey Hepburn

Don't forget to share this blog so you can encourage others: family, co-workers, friends. Give them something to get motivated! You never know what they might be going through. A few words of encouragement can go a long way. 

What Would You Do If You Weren't Afraid?

This week I saw a very inspiring speaker. She was a young black female that left the audience speechless. After she was introduced, she took the stage, didn't worry about the microphone and began her short speech. She made great eye contact and spoke clearly to her audience. She was very powerful. Her goal was to convince the audience to volunteer for a youth group. I was so moved by her words that I signed up myself as a volunteer (and later as a coordinator) for the youth group. This person was only 8 years old.

So many times do we get filled with fear. The girl that influenced me to volunteer had no fear. No fear of public speaking. No fear of making mistakes. She wasn't even nervous. As adults, we fear too much. Have you ever asked yourself, 'what would I do if I wasn't afraid?' Fear keeps us from pursuing our dreams, taking risks and eventually getting ourselves out of a hole. We sometimes don't want to speak up, don't want to confront others and we just continue to hurt ourselves. We let fear overpower us.

Time and time again, I hear people saying why they can't play the guitar. Most of the time they say "my fingers don't stretch that far" or they make up excuses such as "I'm just not musically talented." I added a video to this blog to show you that anyone can learn how to play guitar. It doesn't matter the size of the fingers (or the size of the person), it is something that can be learned.

What would you do if you weren't afraid? What would you do if you didn't care if you were embarrassed or ridiculed? What would you do if you weren't afraid of trying or failing? If you have read a blog like this before, then why are you still afraid? You are the one stopping yourself. Where there is a will there is a way.