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Those who struggle with poverty, while growing up, see the world as a very different place than those raised in the middle-class or in wealthy households.

In my Rich Habits Study, 41% of the 177 self-made millionaires were raised in poor households. Yet, somehow they managed to break out of their poverty as adults.

Ironically, according to my research, being poor actually endows you with certain advantages over the middle-class and the wealthy.

More Willing to Take Risks

One of the common denominators among all of the self-made millionaires in my study, was the need to become comfortable with taking risk. Growing up poor forces you to take risks in the pursuit of wealth. Overcoming the fear of taking risks, therefore, becomes a habit.

With respect to my Rich Habits self-made millionaires, the fear of taking risk resurfaced only after they accumulated their wealth. At that point, the fear of losing their hard-earned wealth motivated them to hire wealth advisors, insurance agents, CPAs, Estate Planners and other financial advisors to help them preserve their wealth. So, becoming rich actually lowered their tolerance for taking risks, risks which could potentially decrease their wealth.

Desire to Change is Great

Poverty can either beat you down or make you stronger. For the self-made millionaires in my study, it made them stronger. That’s why they were in my study – poverty motivated them to achieve.

Their desire to become successful and rich drove them to transform themselves. This desire to change motivated them to learn what they needed to know in order to succeed. It also forced them to develop and perfect superior skills in order to earn more than their competition.

Superior Work Ethic

A hard work ethic is a prerequisite to success. Those who are raised in poverty, have no choice but to work hard. Thus, the poor develop a hard work ethic. When you are able to combine that hard work ethic with your dreams and goals, what a powerful combination!

If you grow up in an environment of comfort, you might be less willing to do the hard work success requires.

Failure Doesn’t Scare You As Much

One of the downsides of failure, is that failing at something can put you in the poor house. When you grow up poor, you don’t fear poverty as much, because it is something you are familiar with and something you survived. Therefore, failure does not frighten you as much and, in fact, emboldens you to take risks.

Poverty Removes Rose-Colored Lenses

When you grow up poor you see things through a much different lens. You know life can be very hard when you are poor. Things can and do go wrong. You know that because you experienced that growing up in poverty. The experience of poverty allows you to see things as they really are and not allow yourself to be blinded by unrealistic rose-colored optimism.

Being anchored in reality, allows you to see potential pitfalls ahead of time, which enables you to navigate and pivot around those pitfalls. Those who are not raised in poverty, might see things as they wish them to be and be blind to reality, until it hits. And when it hits, it’s always a surprise, leaving you ill-prepared to deal with that reality.

Comfortable With Failure and Setbacks

Those who struggle with poverty become familiar with failure and setbacks. Consequently, when things go wrong, as they often do in the pursuit of wealth, those raised in poverty don’t raise the white flag and surrender. Rather, they see failure and setbacks as normal and something that can be overcome.

Accustomed to Sacrifice

Growing up poor means you are unable to possess the things non-poor people take for granted. Poverty forces you to become accustomed to doing without. This actually is a great advantage. The pursuit of wealth always requires sacrifice. Sometimes for many years. If you’re accustomed to sacrifice, it’s less painful and more tolerable.

Frugality is a Habit

The poor have no choice but to be frugal with their spending. They forge the frugality habit at a very young age. And, as you know, habits are hard to break. This frugality habit, therefore, follows the poor into their wealthy adult lives.

Growing up poor is not necessarily a disadvantage. Poverty forces you to develop certain traits that can actually be leveraged to your advantage, helping you in the pursuit of your dreams and goals.

You hardly ever hear anyone talk about goals in a negative context. Goals are almost always perceived to be good. But as I learned from studying wealthy and poor people since 2003, not all goals are Good Goals.

So, how do you know when a goal is a Good Goal or a Bad Goal?

Good Goals have 12 things in common:

1. Good Goals create long-term benefits, that pay dividends for many years. These benefits very often take many years before they show up in your life.
2. Good Goals create a unique type of happiness, known as fulfillment. Fulfillment is a type of long-term happiness. It greets you in the morning and lulls you to sleep at night.
3. Good Goals force you outside your comfort zone. They force you to learn what to do and what not to do. Good Goals make you grow as an individual.
4. Good Goals force you to create good daily habits; habits that stay with you the rest of your life.
5. Good Goals keep you moving forward. They get you from point A to point B. Point B being a better place, such as rising from poverty to the middle-class or from the middle-class to millionaire class.
6. Good Goals make you smarter. They boost your IQ by challenging you to think your way through problems and obstacles. That learning results in the creation of new synapses in the brain. The more synapses you have, the higher your IQ.
7. Good Goals attract and build relationships with the right kind of individuals. They force you to associate with can-do, optimistic, success-minded people.
8. Good Goals improve the quality of life for you and your family.
9. Good Goals allow you to maintain or improve your relationships. They don’t force you to isolate yourself from the ones you love.
10. Good Goals allow you to maintain good health or improve your health.
11. Good Goals expose you to more opportunities.
12. Good Goals boost your confidence. The more goals you pursue and achieve, the more confident you become.

Examples of Good Goals:

• Become an Expert – Eighty two percent of the professionals in my five year study on the wealthy were niche experts or virtuosos at what they did for a living. They devoted time on the side, every day, to developing an expertise in a specific area within their industry. Virtuosos have more value and, thus, make more money. Even better, because they make more money, they don’t have to work as many hours.
• Start a Side Business – Forty eight percent of the business owners in my study started their business while working for someone else. It is possible to grow a side business while still maintaining your full-time job. Not only does a side gig create supplemental income, it could eventually give you the freedom to leave you job and devote yourself full-time to your business.
• Improve the Way You Look – Thirty nine percent of the wealthy in my study lifted weights three days a week. Lifting weights to build a stronger, healthier body will improve the way you look. Healthier people have a better quality of life and fewer sick days, which translates into more productivity, more money and a longer life.
• Become a Speaker – Twenty three percent of the millionaires in my study were also speakers. Joining Toastmasters or some similar speaker organization in order to develop your speaking skills will benefit you in the long term. Being a good speaker sets you apart from the competition and could eventually lead to paid speaking engagements, creating an additional revenue stream.
• Become a Writer – Eighteen percent of those wealthy individuals in my study wrote for industry magazines, newsletters, blogs, etc. Becoming a good writer stamps you as an expert on the topics you write about which opens the door of opportunity for promotions at work, new job opportunities or eventually getting paid for articles or books you write.
• Lose Weight – Setting a weight loss goal often involves a daily regimen of exercise, healthy eating and encourages a healthy lifestyle. It may also motivate you to moderate your consumption of alcohol or to quit smoking. When the weight eventually comes off you enjoy the compliments, feel healthier and are noticeably happier.
• Saving/Investing – Opportunities knock for many, but go unanswered when you don’t have the money to take advantage of them. When you decide to live below your means, you are able to save money. When you are able to save money, you are able to invest that money or take advantage of opportunities that present themselves.

Bad Goals have 3 things in common:

1. Bad Goals Solve Some Immediate Need.
2. Bad Goals Create No Long-Term Benefit When Achieved.
3. Bad Goals Borrow From Your Future.

Examples of Bad Goals:

• Win the Lottery – Becoming rich by gambling in any way is a bad goal. The odds of winning the lottery are remote and costs you money that could otherwise be saved or invested prudently for future wealth creation. Seventy-seven percent of the poor in my study gambled on the lottery regularly. The mortgaged their future savings for a shot at instant wealth.
• Buy a Bigger House – Unless this is a need (i.e. expanding family), buying a bigger house is a bad goal. Bigger houses require more upkeep, higher utilities bills and more in interest that you pay to the bank. A bigger house means that house owns more of your future income.
• Buy a Boat or Luxury Car – This is another example of a bad goal. Boats and luxury cars are costly to won and costly to maintain. Plus, the money you spend to own them could be have been used to fund your retirement plan or build assets that create a revenue stream down the road.
• Take an Exotic Vacation – While traveling to exotic locations can have some educational benefits, saving your hard earned money just to spend it on an expensive vacation means not having that money to build future wealth.
• Destroy Your Competition – When you focus on destroying your competition as a means to increase your market share, rather than improving upon the products or service you offer, you ultimately hurt your business model. Engaging in competitive warfare often accomplishes only two things: reduced profits and enemies.

When the achievement of a goal does not improve your life for the long-term, it’s a bad goal. Goals pursued to own more stuff or to create some immediate, momentary pleasure are almost always bad goals.

Be very careful of the goals you pursue. Not all goals are good goals.

When was the last time you played the lottery?

If the answer is “this morning”, you might want to keep reading.

The media likes writing stories about lottery winners because the masses like reading about their stories. For those who consistently play the lottery, the stories offer a sort of validation.

But when you peel the onion, the fantasy about winning the lottery is really all about a mindset that embraces instant gratification, instant rewards and instant wealth, without enduring any of the hardship pursuing wealth actually requires.

If you look carefully at any of those lottery-winner stories, one thing you would notice is that hardly any of the winners are CEOs, senior executives, successful entrepreneurs, successful professionals or other successful types.

Why?

As I learned from my five-year study on the rich and the poor, successful people don’t play the lottery because they don’t have a lottery mindset.

What is the lottery mindset?

It is the idea that there is a shortcut to wealth; that it is possible to become instantly wealthy by virtue of random good luck.

The problem is, those who have the lottery mindset are not living in reality. The lottery mindset is a fantasy with odds that boggle the mind.

In the 25-year history of the Iowa Lottery, for example, only 110 people won $1 million or more. That equates to about 4 millionaire-lottery winners a year. In 2006, there were 50,529 millionaires in Iowa. If you do the math, only about .0079% of all Iowa millionaires are, therefore, lottery winners. Not a very promising path to wealth.

But this lottery mindset is not just about playing the lottery. It’s about embracing uneducated risk and speculating with your money.

People who frequent casinos, have a lottery mindset. The recent masses jumping on the bitcoin bandwagon, have a lottery mindset. People who invest in start-ups they know little to nothing about, have a lottery mindset.

The lottery mindset brainwashes you into believing that there is an easier path towards wealth. One in which you are not required to do the requisite heavy lifting, that success requires.

Those with a lottery mindset do not pursue their dreams. They do not set goals. They do not step outside their comfort zone, experimenting and learning new things. They do not engage in daily self-improvement as a whetstone in developing expert knowledge or skills.

The demographics of those who buy into this get rich quick lottery mindset are typically poor people who see the lottery as the only available means by which they can level the playing field and become rich. Winning the lottery is the result of random luck, of which the rich have no advantage over the poor.

The lottery mindset brainwashes you into believing that there is an easier path towards wealth. One in which you are not required to do the requisite heavy lifting, that success requires.

But according to my research, there is no easier path. Wealth is a byproduct of success and success is a byproduct of doing certain things every day that help move you closer and closer to success.

In my most famous books, Rich Habits and Change Your Habits Change Your Life, I share the habits many millionaires have in common. For those who haven’t read any of my books, here’s a quick overview of seven of those Rich Habits:

#1 Success Requires Goal-Driven Actions/Behaviors

Goals are the construction crew self-made millionaires use to build their financial empires. In my research, these self-made millionaires created goals around their dreams and then spent as many as twelve years pursuing those goals.

#2 Success Requires the Pursuit of Some Dream

One of the three paths to wealth that I uncovered in my research was the pursuit of a dream. In the context of wealth creation, dreams are ideas that you can monetize. Dreamers are typically entrepreneurs who are very passionate about their dreams and fanatically spend every available moment thinking and taking action on their dreams.

#3 Success Requires Sacrifice

Typically, this sacrifice involves the expenditure of time, especially in the early stages, which limits how much time you are able to spend with close family and friends.

#4 Success Requires Practice

In order to succeed you must become a Virtuoso at what you do. This means you must practice what you do every day. There are two types of practice: Deliberate Practice, which requires daily repetition and Analytical Practice, which requires third party feedback, as in a coach or mentor.

#5 Success Requires Relentless Persistence

One common refrain from all of the self-made millionaires in my study was that it would take death or some long-term disability to stop them from the pursuit of success. Their fanatical obsession in turning their dream into a reality imbibes them with the Rich Habit of persistence.

#6 Success Requires Daily Study

Reading to learn thirty minutes or more every day in order to gain critical career-centric knowledge was a common attribute among the self-made millionaires in my study.

#7 Success is Fueled by Aerobic Exercise

Aerobic exercise increases the myelin sheath around the axons of brain cells, which helps boost your IQ. Aerobic exercise also increases the flow of oxygen into the brain, which helps clean and strengthen brain cells. Lastly, aerobic exercise produces greater neurogenesis – the birth of new brain cells in the hippocampus portion of the brain. Due to this aerobic exercise Rich Habit, the self-made millionaires in my study had vastly superior cognitive abilities, which helped them solve problems, be creative and overcome obstacles.

There are no shortcuts in life to accumulating wealth. That’s the real secret to becoming rich, if there is one.

The lottery mindset is either a cop-out for those who are unwilling to do the heavy lifting success requires or a Hail Mary pass for those mired in poverty and feeling helpless.

You’re not helpless. Poverty can be overcome. I know. I interviewed 72 self-made millionaires who were raised in poverty and who overcame that poverty by forging habits that eventually led to success and wealth.

Has your hot water heater ever broken down? Has the roof of your home ever leaked? Have you ever had a major car problem? Do you have kids that go to college and the tuition must be paid before you send them off to school?

When you face one of these common problems, what’s your initial reaction? If you’re like most, thee problems create what we call stress. And stress makes you unhappy.

When you are poor or struggling financially, these problems and the unhappiness they create can linger for days, weeks or even months. Because you lack the money to immediately solve the problem, you must either borrow the money to fix the problem, apply some band aid solution which makes the problem go away temporarily or live with the consequences of not solving the problem.

Rich or poor, everyone faces common problems.

I spent the past 12 years studying the rich and the poor (Rich Habits Study) and found that there were 12 frequent big problems almost everyone has to contend with:

1. Health Problems
2. Financial Problems
3. Family Problems
4. Neighbor Problems
5. Home Repair Problems
6. Car Problems
7. Addiction Problems
8. Job Problems
9. Relationship Problems
10. Death or Disability Problems
11. Time Management Problems
12. Weather Problems

These are all common, modern day problems almost everyone, rich or poor faces. And these problems create unhappiness for everyone. The big difference between the rich and the poor, is that the rich are able to easily overcome and eliminate most of these problems and thus, eliminate the unhappiness these problems create.

When I analyzed my study data, I discovered that, out of all of these modern day problems, the rich really only struggle with four of these problem areas:

1. Family Problems
2. Health Problems
3. Time Management Problems and
4. Weather Problems.

If you do the math, that’s only 33% of life’s problems that the wealthy have to contend with. Or, looking at it another way – being rich eliminates 67% of life’s major problems. Being rich, therefore, eliminates 67% of life’s unhappiness.

Let’s delve into this in a little more detail.  [Read more…]

The food manufacturing system in most industrialized countries has institutionalized obesity.

GMO-enhanced farming, cows and poultry fed antibiotics, the mass-manufacturing of processed foods and finally, the delivery systems for those unnatural foods (supermarkets and fast food restaurants) makes obesity possible.

U.S. food policy has created a system that encourages the judicial use of antibiotics on farm animals and the manufacture of flour, sugar and vegetable oils to support the food needs of its growing population.

Even worse, there is very little education within the medical community surrounding nutrition. Medical students receive an average of just 19 hours of nutrition education over their four-years of medical school. This means doctors are not technically proficient in dealing with this obesity epidemic.

But, all is not lost. Some are fighting back and trying to put a stop to the institutionalization of obesity, not through fat-shaming, but through education and support. In study after study surrounding obesity, habits, it turns out, are the key to eliminating obesity.

In my Rich Habits Study, I discovered certain behaviors, that when habitualized, improve health and help decrease obesity:

1. The 300 Habit – Exercising aerobically 300 minutes a week. If you jog, this is about 30 miles a week. If you bike, this is approximately 75 miles a week.
2. The 1,500 Habit – Eating 1,500 calories of healthy, non-processed food a day. Think vegetables, yogurt, nuts, fish, low-sugar fruits, etc.
3. The Hybrid Habit – Exercising aerobically 200 minutes a week and eating 2,000 calories of healthy, non-processed food a day. By blending both elements of Habits #1 and #2, this Hybrid Habit moderates the extremism required by those two habits. 
4. Intermittent Fasting – With intermittent fasting, you eat just one meal a day. Intermittent fasting forces your body to produce ketones after 10-12 hours of not eating. Ketones are manufactured from fat by the liver when glucose is absent from your diet. As the liver manufactures ketones, fat cells naturally shrink. Additionally, intermittent fasting changes your stomach and resets your appetite thermostat. Many who engage in intermittent fasting report that they feel full faster and with less food.

There are an abundance of studies since 1959 that all say the same thing – diets don’t work. Research has shown that 95-98% of dieters fail to lose weight and 67% of dieters who do lose weight, gain back more than they lost.

You must, instead, forge habits that can be sustained in the long-term. Once you forge good healthy habits, you automate good health. There’s no thinking, discipline or willpower required.

Once your healthy behavior transforms into habits (about 90 days), they then come under the control of your limbic system and become unconscious automated behaviors. Good health habits turn you into a health zombie.

“Experience is always the hardest teacher because the test is given first and the lesson is given afterwards.” John Maxwell

Making mistakes helps us learn what works and what doesn’t work.

Mistakes are like scar tissue on the brain. We rarely forget the mistakes which cost us a great deal of time, money or damage one of our long-standing relationships.

Instead of ruminating about what we do that is wrong, however, we should instead take a page out of the book of the most successful entrepreneurs from my Rich Habits research – the Self-Made Dreamers.

There were 119 Self-Made Dreamers in my Rich Habits Study. These were individuals who devoted their lives to a dream. Sometimes, however, that dream was a nightmare. Especially in the beginning.

The early part of every Dreamer’s journey is riddled with mistake after mistake. The real fear is the fear of failure – too many mistakes and you run out of money, which means you run out of time.

So, the Dreamers in my study took their mistakes very seriously. They went to great lengths to figure out what they did wrong. Through this arduous mistake analysis, they gained knowledge from their mistakes. With this new knowledge, they went back at it.

Eventually, they got it right, meaning they figured out which actions produced the results they desired. Then they did something that cemented their ultimate success – they documented exactly what worked and what didn’t work.

This is called a Process. And, as I found in my study, successful entrepreneurs become successful entrepreneurs because their studious analysis of their mistakes give rise to processes that became integrated into the very heart of their business.

Every time a new workable process is discovered, these Self-Made Dreamers meticulously document every detail of it. And then, everyone who works with them, is then required to follow each new process.

These tried and true processes become organization-wide habits.

The self-made millionaire-Dreamers in my study continued this experimentation-driven, process-finding approach until they had a wealth of proven processes that solidified their business model and, eventually made them multi-millionaires. The average Self-Made Dreamer in my study accumulated $7.4 million over 12 years, following this formula for success.

Successful entrepreneurs don’t hate their mistakes. They love their mistakes. After all, if it wasn’t for those mistakes, they’d never stumble upon the processes that help them transform their dream into reality.

So, if you’re an entrepreneur, love your mistakes. Mistakes are what dreams are made of.

In my book Rich Habits, I shared one of the many Rich Habits that related to the relationships we keep:

I Will Surround Myself With Positive, Upbeat, Success-Minded Individuals.

According to my Rich Habits Study, the basis of the research behind my book, 93% of the 177 self-made millionaires in my study said they intentionally surrounded themselves with success-minded people. Even more interesting, 90% of those 177 millionaires said they avoided associating with toxic people.

Toxic people are typically those with a negative outlook on life. They are pessimistic, negative types who possess bad habits, limiting beliefs, they gossip and create havoc with their relationships.

Jim Rohn has a famous quote related to this: “’You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

The point Rohn was making is that those who surround you, your inner circle, influence the circumstances of your life in ways you may not fully comprehend.

Everyone has an Inner Circle. Inside this circle are family members, friends, colleagues at work, and other significant others who you interact with frequently.

You Inner Circle is something that has evolved over time, meaning it was not something you intentionally created. As a result, individuals who have slipped into your Inner Circle may not necessarily share your dreams, goals, ambitions, desires, beliefs, habits, thinking, work ethic, etc.

In fact, some of those residing in your Inner Circle may actually be toxic, meaning they can negatively impact the pursuit of your dreams and goals. They can infect you with their negative beliefs, bad habits, poor work ethic, etc. They can de-motivate you.

In short, these toxic Inner Circle members can de-rail your pursuit of success. And, because they will drag you down and de-motivate you, these toxic Inner Circle members should never be privy to your dreams, goals or aspirations.

The only people who you should share your dreams, goals and aspirations with are individuals who are the opposite of toxic. Individuals who can actually help you in the pursuit of success.

For this very reason, it is critical for you to intentionally build another Inner Circle, or rather a Winner Circle.

You Winner Circle will be comprised of individuals who are upbeat, highly motivated, enthusiastic and possess a positive mental outlook. These are can-do types who will become your biggest cheerleaders.

Your Winner Circle members will encourage you in the pursuit of your dream. They will help keep you motivated about the goals behind your dream. They will have good habits which infect you, helping your dreams and goals become a reality. They will lift you up and keep you going.

Your Winner Circle are the only people with whom you will share your dreams, goals and aspirations.

Be careful who you share your dreams, goals and aspirations with. Be very selective. 

The pursuit of success isn’t easy. It is filled with obstacles, pitfalls and problems. It requires relentless persistence. Many who pursue success, unfortunately fail and I believe it is, in large part, due to the fact that they are surrounded by too many people telling them to quit; to give up the fight.

You therefore need to surround yourself with people, your Winner Circle, who will help you navigate those obstacles and pitfalls and who can also help you find solutions to problems. You need to surround yourself with people who encourage you to keep fighting on and to never, ever quit.

If you are pursuing success, build a Winner Circle and only share with them your dreams, goals and aspirations. Never share your dreams, goals and aspirations with anyone who might discourage you from that pursuit.