Million Dollar Habits
By Brian Tracy
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
_________________________________________________
Introduction
You Are What You Do
Chapter-5
The Habits of People Who Become Millionaires
Chapter-6
The Habits That Get You Paid More and Promoted Faster
DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to my three fine brothers- Robin, Dalmar and Paul –
each of them remarkable in his own way, each of them possessed of fine qualities,
buttressed by great habits, and destined for wonderful things.
INTRODUCTION
You Are What You Do
“Habit my friend, is practice long pursued, that at last becomes the man himself.” (Evenus)
Thank you for reading this book. In the pages ahead, you are going to learn a proven and practical series of strategies and techniques that you can use to achieve greater success and happiness in every area of your life. I am going to share with you the so-called “Secrets of Success” practiced by every person who ever achieves anything worthwhile in life. When you learn and practice them yourself, you will never be the same again.
The Great Question
Many years ago, I began asking the question, “Why are some people more successful than others?” This question became the focal point of a lifelong search, taking me to more than 80 countries and through many thousands of books and articles on the subjects of philosophy, psychology, religion, metaphysics, history, economics, and business. Over time, the answers came to me, one by one, and gradually crystallized into a clear picture and a simple explanation.
It is this: “You are where you are and what you are because of yourself. Everything you are today, or ever will be in the future, is up to you. Your life today is the sum total result of your choices, decisions and actions up to this point. You can create your own future by changing your behaviors. You can make new choices and decisions that are more consistent with the person you want to be and the things you want to accomplish with your life.”
Just think! Everything that you are or ever will be is up to you. And the only real limit on what you can be, do and have is the limit you place on your own imagination. You can take complete control of your destiny by taking complete control of your thoughts, words and actions from this day forward.
The Power of Habit
Perhaps the most important discovery in the fields of psychology and success is that fully 95% of everything that you think, feel, do and achieve is the result of habit. Beginning in childhood, you have developed a series of conditioned responses that lead you to react automatically and unthinkingly in almost every situation.
To put it simply, successful people have “success habits” and unsuccessful people do not. Successful, happy, healthy, prosperous men and women easily, automatically and consistently do and say the right things in the right way at the right time. As a result, they accomplish ten and twenty times as much as average people who have not yet learned these habits and practiced these behaviors.
The Definition of Success
Often people ask me to define the word “success.” My favorite definition is this: “Success is the ability to live your life the way you want to live it, doing what you most enjoy, surrounded by people who you admire and respect.”
In a larger sense, success is the ability to achieve your dreams, desires, hopes, wishes and goals in each of the important areas of your life.
Although each of us is unique and different from all other human beings who have ever lived, we all have four goals or desires in common. On a scale of one to ten, with one being the lowest and ten being the highest, you can conduct a quick evaluation of your life by giving yourself a grade in each of these four areas.
Healthy and Fit
The first goal common to all of us is health and energy. We all want to be healthy and fit, to have high levels of energy and to live free of pain and illness. Today, with the incredible advances in medical science, the quality of our health and fitness, and our lifespan, is largely determined by design, not by chance. People with excellent health habits are far healthier, have more energy, and live longer and better than people who have poor health habits. We will look at these habits, and how we can develop them, later in this book.
Excellent Relationships
The second goal that we all have in common is to enjoy excellent relationships, intimate, personal or social, with the people we like and respect, and who like, love and respect us in turn. Fully 85% of your happiness will be determined by the quality of your relationships at each stage, and in each area, of your life. How well you get along with people, and how much they like, love and respect you, has more of an impact on the quality of your life than perhaps any other factor. Throughout this book, you will learn the key habits of communication and behavior that build and maintain great relationships with other people.
Do What You Love
The third goal that we all have in common is to do work that we enjoy, to do it well, and to be well paid for it. You want to be able to get and keep the job you want, to get paid more and promoted faster. You want to earn the very most that is possible for you at each stage of your career, whatever you do. In this book, you will learn how to develop the habits of the most successful and highest paid people in every field.
Achieve Financial Independence
The fourth goal we all have in common is to achieve financial independence. You want to reach the point in life where you have enough money so that you never have to worry about money again. You want to be completely free of financial worries. You want to be able to order dinner in a restaurant without looking at the right hand column to decide how hungry you are.
Developing “Million Dollar Habits”
In the pages ahead, you will learn how to develop the “Million Dollar Habits” of men and women who go from rags to riches in one generation. You will learn how to think more effectively, make better decisions, and take more effective actions than other people. You will learn how to organize your financial life in such a way that you achieve all your financial goals far faster than you can imagine today.
One of the most important goals you must achieve to be happy and successful in life is the development of your own character. You want to become an excellent person in every respect. You want to become the kind of person that others look up to and admire. You want to become a leader in your community, and a role model for personal excellence to all the people around you.
In each case, the decisive factors in the achievement of each of these goals that we all hold in common is the development of the specific habits that lead automatically and inevitably to the results that you want to achieve.
All Habits Are Learned
The good news about habits is that all habits are learned, as the result of practice and repetition. You can learn any habit that you consider either necessary or desirable. By using your willpower and discipline, you can shape your personality and character in almost any way you desire. You can write the script of your own life, and if you are not happy with the current script, you can rip it up and write it again.
Just as your good habits are responsible for most of your success and happiness today, your bad habits are responsible for most of your problems and frustrations. But since bad habits are learned as well, they can be unlearned and replaced with good habits by the same process of practice and repetition.
George Washington, the first President of the United States and the General in command of the Revolutionary Army, is rightly called “The Father of His Country.” He was admired, if not worshiped, for the quality of his character, his graciousness of manner, and his correctness of behavior.
But that is not the way George Washington started off in life. He came from a middle class family, with few advantages. One day, as a young man aspiring to succeed and prosper, he came across a little book entitled “The Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation.” As a teenage boy, he copied these 110 rules into a personal notebook. He carried it with him and reviewed them constantly throughout his life.
By practicing the “Rules of Civility,” he developed the habits of behavior and manners that led to him being considered “First in the hearts of his countrymen.” By deliberately practicing and repeating the habits that he most desired to make a part of his character, George Washington became in every respect a “self-made man.” He learned the habits he needed to learn to become the kind of man he wanted to become.
The First Millionaire
During the same period, Benjamin Franklin, who began as a printer’s apprentice and went on to become the first self-made millionaire in the American colonies, adapted a similar process of personal development.
As a young man, Benjamin Franklin felt that he was a little rough, ill mannered and argumentative. He recognized that his attitudes and behaviors were creating animosity toward him from his associates and coworkers. He resolved to change by rewriting the script of his own personality.
He began by making up a list of 12 virtues that he felt the ideal person would possess. He then concentrated on the development of one virtue each week. All week long, as he went about his daily affairs, he would remind himself to practice that virtue, whether it was temperance, tolerance or tranquility, on every occasion that it was called for. Over time, as he developed these virtues and made these habits a part of his character, he would practice one virtue for a period of two weeks, then three weeks, then one virtue per month.
Over time, he became one of the most popular personalities and statesmen of the age. He became enormously influential, both in Paris as an Ambassador from the United States during the Revolutionary War, and during the Constitutional Convention, when the Constitution and the Bill of Rights for the United States was debated, negotiated and agreed upon. By working on himself to develop the habits of an excellent person, he made himself into a person capable of shaping the course of history.
You Are in Complete Control
The fact is that good habits are hard to form, but easy to live with. Bad habits, on the other hand, are easy to form, but hard to live with. In either case, you develop either good or bad habits as the result of your choices, decisions and behaviors.
Horace Mann said, “Habits are like a cable. We weave a strand of it every day and soon it cannot be broken.”
One of your great goals in life should be to develop the habits that lead to health, happiness and true prosperity. Your aim should be to develop the habits of character that enable you to be the very best person that you can imagine yourself becoming. The high purpose of your life should be to ingrain within yourself the habits that enable you to fulfill your full potential.
In the pages ahead, you will learn how your habit patterns are developed, and how you can transform them in a positive way. You will learn how to become the kind of person who inevitably and relentlessly, like the waves of the ocean, moves onward and upward toward the accomplishment of every goal that you can set for yourself.
“We first make out habits, and then our habits make us.” (John Dryden)
CHAPTER 5
The Habits of People Who Become Millionaires
“The beginning of a habit is like an invisible thread, but every time we repeat the act, we strengthen the strand, add to it another filament, until it becomes a great cable and binds us irrevocably in thought and act.” (Orison Swett Marden)
Your goal should be to earn as much money as you possibly can over the course of your career, to achieve financial independence and to eventually become a millionaire. This is the most common financial ambition of Americans, and it is eminently achievable if you develop the right habits. Fortunately, becoming a millionaire has never been more possible in all of human history than it is right now, today, here in America, under our economic system.
Five Million Millionaires
In the year 1900, there were only 5,000 millionaires in America. By the year 2000, there were more than five million millionaires. In addition, there were deci- millionaires, centimillionaires, and more than 300 billionaires and multibillionaires. Almost all of these millionaires and billionaires are first generation wealth, that is, they began with nothing and accumulated their fortunes in the course of a single working lifetime.
Millionaires come from every conceivable background. Some are well educated, and some are not. Some graduated from the finest universities. Others dropped out of high school. Some come from families that have lived in America for many generations. Others came to America as immigrants with no friends or contacts, no skills and not even the ability to speak English when they arrived. They all had one thing in common. They started with nothing and passed the magic million-dollar mark as the result of doing certain things in a certain way, over and over again. They learned and practiced the Million Dollar Habits that we are explaining throughout this book.
Self-made millionaires have been interviewed and studied exhaustively, hundreds and even thousands of times, both individually and in groups. Some of the very best research on millionaires was conducted by Thomas Stanley and William Danko and summarized in their book The Millionaire Next Door, which has gone on to sell almost three million copies.
Every newspaper and magazine seems to have an article or story about one or more men or women who have become financially successful in different fields and occupations as the result of doing certain things in a certain way. And what others have accomplished, you can accomplish as well, if you just learn how.
Think Like A Millionaire
I wrote earlier that, “You become what you think about most of the time.” If you sincerely want to be rich, to achieve all your financial goals and to retire as a selfmade millionaire, one of the smartest things you can do is to develop the habits of thinking and acting that have enabled hundreds of thousands, and even millions of other people to become millionaires. These habits of financial success are learnable, as all habits are, by practice and repetition.
The first discovery about the thinking patterns of self-made millionaires is that they have the habit of thinking in terms of financial independence most of the time. From an early age, or at a certain point in life, they become focused on achieving specific financial goals. They then discipline themselves to make whatever sacrifices are necessary to achieve those goals. They organize and reorganize their entire financial lives, their earning, investing, insuring and spending activities, in such a way that they are all coordinated and helping them move toward hitting those specific financial targets.
Accumulate or Spend
Most people have the opposite habits with regard to money. Instead of thinking in terms of accumulation, saving and financial independence, the majority of people think of spending and enjoying every penny they can get their hands on, and whatever else they can borrow from friends or put on credit cards. In 2002, almost 1.5 million Americans declared personal bankruptcy as the result of borrowing and spending far more than they could ever repay.
At a certain point in life, each person comes to a crossroads. One road leads in the direction of earning, saving and accumulating, while the other road leads in the direction of earning, spending and getting into debt. As a fully responsible adult, you must decide which road you are going to take. And no matter what road you have taken up until now, you are free to choose the road that you are going to follow from this day forward.
Take Charge of Your Financial Life
The starting point of achieving financial independence and becoming a self-made millionaire is for you to accept complete responsibility for your financial life. Many people never do this. They instead go through their days, and their money, trusting to luck, with the idea that somehow, sometime, someone else will come to the rescue. They buy lottery tickets, gamble and think about making a killing in the stock market. And they worry about money all the time.
The fact is that serious money is long-term money. Most wealthy people organize their financial lives in such a way that their net worth increases about 8-10% per year on the amount of money that they have working. They do not look for getrich-quick schemes or easy money. They are patient, persistent and farsighted. They discipline themselves to save and accumulate money over many years. They do not speculate, take risks, or look for fast ways to make money quickly and easily. As a result of these habitual ways of thinking about their money, each year their wealth grows. Eventually they pass the million-dollar mark, and usually keep on going.
Develop A Millionaire Mindset
The business philosopher Jim Rohn once wrote, “Becoming a millionaire is not that difficult, but it is not the most important thing. The most important part of becoming a millionaire is the person that you have to become to accumulate a million dollars in the first place.”
This is a wonderful insight. In order to become wealthy, you must develop a completely different mindset from the average person who worries about money most of his life. You must develop a completely different character, personality and set of habits if you are to achieve your financial goals, and then hold onto the money once you acquire it.
My financial advisor once told me, “The first million is extremely difficult to acquire, but the second million is almost inevitable.”
When you become the kind of person who can earn and accumulate a million dollars or more, you will also be the kind of person who can earn the second and third million as well. Even if something unfortunate happened, and you lost all your money, you would be able to make it back again fairly quickly because you would have become the kind of person who can become a millionaire. And once you become that kind of person, you never lose it.
The First Habit Of Millionaires
Perhaps the most easily identifiable habit of self-made millionaires is the habit of frugality. Wealthy people are careful with every penny and every dollar. They allocate their funds carefully and with great deliberation. They never buy new when they can buy used. They never buy if they can lease, and they never lease if they can rent. They never rent or lease if they can borrow. They know that, as the English saying goes, “If you take care of your pennies, the pounds will take care of themselves.”
For example, most self-made millionaires do not buy new cars. They wait until a good quality car is about two years old before they buy it. Even then, they have the car thoroughly checked out by a reputable mechanic. Once they feel confident that it is an excellent buy, in good condition, they buy the car and then they drive it for five or ten years before replacing it.
Most new cars drop 20% in value as soon as you drive them off the lot. After two years, many cars have lost 30% - 50% of their value. They are still in excellent condition, and often they are still covered by factory warranties. When you buy a good quality used car, you can save many thousands of dollars, all of which can be saved and invested and allowed to grow at compound interest toward your ultimate goal of financial independence.
Save Your Money
Self-made millionaires develop the habit of regular saving and investment from an early age. As the multimillionaire W. Clement Stone once wrote, “If you cannot save money, the seeds of greatness are not in you.”
George Classon, in his best seller, The Richest Man In Babylon, wrote that the key to financial success is to “pay yourself first.” He recommends that you save at least 10% of your income, off the top, before any other expenditure, for the entirety of your working life.
Human beings are creatures of habit. We very quickly adapt to almost any external condition or circumstance. If you save 10% off the top of your paycheck, and discipline yourself to live on the other 90%, you will soon adjust your lifestyle downward slightly so that you are quite comfortable on the lesser amount. In no time at all, living at this level becomes a habit and you stop thinking about it.
Many people are deeply in debt and the idea of saving 10% of their income, off the top of each paycheck, is too difficult for them even to consider. In this case, which is quite common, I recommend a gradual process where you begin by saving 1% of your income and living on the other 99%.
For example, if you are earning $2000 per month, make a decision today to save $20 per month, or 67 cents per day. You can then live on the other $1,980.
Go down to the bank and open up a separate account, your “financial independence” account. Money that goes into this account only flows only one way- inward. Once you put money into this savings/investment account, you never, ever take it out or spend it for any reason. It has only one purpose: to enable you to achieve financial independence as soon as possible.
Once you have become comfortable living on 99% of your income, increase your monthly savings rate to 2% off the top. Within one year, you will find yourself living quite comfortably on 10% of your current income. Continue this process until you are saving 15% and then 20% of your income, off the top. You will not even notice the difference in your standard of living because it will be so gradual. But the difference in your financial life will be absolutely extraordinary.
Take Complete Control of Your Financial Life
By developing the habit of thinking more carefully about your income and savings, you will soon find yourself spending less and less on your day to day expenses. You will find yourself paying down your debts, and not incurring new debts. You will find yourself delaying or deferring expenditures, and finally not even buying those items at all.
Meanwhile, the habit of saving money out of every paycheck will cause your financial fortress account to grow. In a year, you will have a few hundred dollars. In a couple of years, you will have a few thousand dollars. In ten to twenty years, you will have a several hundred thousand dollars.
As your financial accumulation account grows, develop the habit of adding every additional, unexpected amount of money that comes to you to this account, to make it grow faster. If you sell something from around the house, get a bonus at work, or receive an income tax refund, instead of spending it immediately, as unsuccessful people do, instead put it into your financial fortress account.
Activate the Law of Attraction
Here is an extraordinary discovery. When you begin to save money, and you feel positive and happy about your growing account, these positive emotions imbue that money with a form of energy that begins to attract more money into your life, and into that account. Old friends will pay you back debts that you had forgotten a long time ago. You will have opportunities to earn additional amounts of money that had not occurred to you. You will sell things that you had had for a long time that you thought had no value. And as you add these amounts to your account, your account will develop even more positive energy, and attract even larger amounts of money.
I had heard about this concept for many years, but I was always broke and there was never anything I could do about it. Then, about two years after I got married and started my own business, I ran out of money. I had been able to buy a house with my lifetime of savings, but now I had to sell the house to get the cash, and then move to a rented house.
At this point, my wife Barbara demanded that I turn over to her $10,000 from the proceeds from the sale of the house. After some arguing I gave in. She took the money and deposited it in another bank account to which I did not have access. No matter how many financial problems we had in the months ahead, she refused to even consider the possibility of spending that money. This was her security blanket.
The most remarkable thing happened. From that day forward, we were never broke again. Even though it was the midst of a recession and businesses were going bankrupt all around us, we were never again out of money. Every week, every month, business came in, the bills were paid, opportunities opened up and exciting possibilities seemed to be attracted into our lives. Within a couple of years, we were able to move out of the rented house and buy a beautiful new home in a lovely neighborhood. Two years later, we were able to buy a home that cost five times as much on a beautiful golf course, overlooking two lakes with the ocean in the distance.
Learn to Love Saving Your Money
In Chapter One, we described habits as “conditioned responses to stimuli.” With regard to this, there is a special habit that financially successful people learn or develop over time. It is the habit of responding to incoming money in a particular way.
When we are growing up, we are encouraged to save money from our allowances. However, as children, we look upon money as a tool with which to buy candy, toys and other things that make us happy. As a result, we naturally begin to look upon saving as a punishment, something that hurts us and deprives us of the candy, toys and enjoyable things we desire. At an early age, most people begin to associate savings with pain, with sacrifice, with loss of pleasure, satisfaction and happiness.
As adults, this negative habit is manifested in our desire to spend money as soon as we make it. Many people in their late teens and twenties look upon every paycheck as an opportunity to go out and spend as much money as they can. This is why it is generally known in the restaurant business that they will be the fullest at the middle and at the end of the month, on paydays.
People very early begin to associate spending with happiness and saving with pain. Since the basic human motivation is to move away from pain toward pleasure, from discomfort toward comfort, and from dissatisfaction toward satisfaction, most people develop the habit of associating spending with enjoyment and saving with unhappiness.
Rewire Your Thinking
Your job is to reverse the wiring on this habit. It is to detach the wires from one set of attitudes and reattach them with a different set of attitudes. Your job is to begin thinking in terms of pleasure whenever you think of saving and accumulation, and pain whenever you think of spending and getting rid of your money.
The Law of Emotion says that, “Whichever emotion you dwell upon will grow, just as a fire would if you put more fuel upon it.” The more you think about the pleasure and enjoyment that you get from seeing your financial fortress account growing, the more motivated you will be to spend less, save more, and grow that account. In no time at all, at the end of each month, instead of worrying about the amount of money you have relative to your bills and payments, you will instead be reviewing the amount of money that is accumulating in your bank account.
Most people who become financially successful develop the habit of thinking in terms of the pleasure and satisfaction they get from saving, investing and growing their money. Most financial failures on the other hand get most of their pleasure out of thinking of ways they can spend their money as quickly as they acquire it.
Look Rich or Be Rich
Thomas Stanley and William Danko, in The Millionaire Next Door, explain that most self-made millionaires drive used cars, live in average neighborhoods, wear average priced clothes and watches and are very careful with their money. In addition, very few of them buy boats, recreational vehicles, second homes, personal airplanes or invest in expensive vacations. Stanley and Danko point out that there are “Those who look rich, and those who are rich.” Your job is to be one of those people who are genuinely rich, rather than those who spend a lot of money but who have very little in the bank.
Truly wealthy people develop the habit of “getting rich slow” rather than “getting rich quick.” To assure this, they have two rules with regard to money. Rule number one: Don’t lose money. Rule number two: If ever you feel tempted, refer back to rule number one, “don’t lose money.”
People who become wealthy spend much more time thinking about their finances than people who remain poor. The average adult spends 2-3 hours each month studying and thinking about their money, usually at bill paying time. The average self-made millionaire, by contrast, spends 20-30 hours per month thinking, studying and planning his finances. Since the very act of focusing on your money will dramatically improve the decisions you make with regard to it, people who invest more time planning their finances invariably make better decisions and get better results.
Practice Wedge Theory to Become Rich
Here is an excellent technique that you can use that I teach in my “Financial Success Seminars.” It is what I call “Wedge Theory.” It is guaranteed to make you financially independent faster than you can even imagine.
Parkinson’s Law says that, “Expenses rise to meet income.” This means that, because your income increases gradually, your expenditures increase gradually as well to match your income. No matter how much money you make, your expenses eventually arise to consume it all, and a little bit more besides. Over time, you develop the habit of always spending whatever you earn or receive.
Sometimes I ask my audiences this question, “If I could wave a magic wand and double or triple your income, would that solve your financial problems?”
Then I wait and watch their faces. Almost immediately, people raise their hands, smile and nod. They all agree that if they could double or triple their current incomes, that would solve all their financial problems.
Then I ask a follow-up question, “Going back to what you earned in your first job, is there anyone here who has already doubled or tripled their income?”
After a short pause, virtually everyone in the audience raises their hands. Everyone has already doubled and tripled their incomes from their first jobs. Many have increased their incomes five and ten times from the first job they took when they left school. And it hasn’t done a bit of good. They still have financial problems because they have become subject to Parkinson’s Law, “Expenses rise to meet income.”
Save Half of Your Future Increases
Here is how “Wedge Theory” works. When you ask a person to save a certain amount out of their current income, they will almost always agree that it is a good idea, but they will also claim that it is not possible. To save out of your current income will mean reducing your standard of living. It may mean moving to a smaller place, driving a smaller car, eating cheaper foods, or not going out as often. Since human beings are creatures of habit, even if they can mentally agree that saving is a good idea, the actual reduction in living standards that it requires is so unacceptable that they are not able to discipline themselves to take the first step.
In wedge theory, it is different. Instead of cutting back on your current lifestyle, you resolve to save 50% of every increase you receive from your work from this day forward. This is something you can do because you don’t yet have the money built into your daily way of life. It is much easier for people to commit to saving money that they have not yet received than it is to get people to agree to save money by cutting back on their current standard of living.
By practicing some of the other techniques and methods taught later on in this book, you will be able to increase your income by 5%, 10% and even 25% per year. To become wealthy, you must develop the habit, starting today, of saving fully 50% of these future increases. You can still spend the other 50% on whatever you like, but you must agree to save half of the money that you don’t even have yet. This should not be hard for you.
Depending upon your age, and the rate at which your income grows, by saving 50% of your increases in the years ahead, you will soon acquire an enormous amount of money. And the more money you acquire, the more money you will attract to yourself. By disciplining yourself and developing the habit of saving half of your increase for the rest of your career, you will pay off all your debts, build an enormous financial fortress and eventually become financially independent.
Develop the Habits of Wealthy People
With regard to your growing bank account, millionaires develop a series of other habits to assure that they don’t lose money, and that their money grows steadily over time. One of the best habits you can develop is the habit of getting good financial advice before you do anything with your growing account. Ask around and find a financial advisor who is already financially successful by investing his or her personal money in the areas that he or she recommends to you. Your ability to choose excellent financial advisors can be the critical factor in making good investment decisions.
Develop the habit of investigating before you invest in anything. The rule is, “Spend as much time investigating the investment as you spend earning the money that you are thinking of investing.”
Fast financial decisions are usually poor financial decisions. Develop the habit of taking your time, of moving slowly, of finding out every detail of the business or investment before you ever think of writing a check. Never allow anyone to pressure you into an investment decision. Never allow yourself to feel that a financial investment decision is urgent and must be made immediately. A wealthy man I worked for once told me, “Investments are like buses; there will always be another one coming along.”
Sometimes, the best investments are the ones you never make at all. Make a habit of thoroughly understanding the investment before you ever think of parting with your hard earned money. If there is anything that you do not understand, or which seems too complicated for you, do not put your money in that area at all.
Warren Buffet, one of the richest men in the world as the result of his investing acumen, refused to invest in any of the high-tech or dot com companies during the boom of the 1990’s. Everyone accused him of being out of step and old fashioned. He simply replied that, “I don’t understand these businesses and therefore, I will not put any of my money into them.” He turned out to be right, and all the others turned out to be wrong.
Never Trust to Luck
An important habit for financial success is the habit of insuring properly against any risk that you cannot write a check to cover. It is amazing how many people have spent years accumulating money and then lost it all because they did not have proper insurance policies in place. Develop the habit of using what I call “worst possible option” (WPO) thinking. Always ask yourself, “What is the worst possible thing that could happen in this situation?”
Whatever it is, make provisions to ensure or guard against it. Never trust to luck.
Hope is not a strategy. Wishing is not a strategy. Only careful planning, organizing and insuring constitute a strategy for your financial life.
Be sure that you have sufficient life insurance to cover your family and all their financial needs if something should happen to you. Be sure that you have adequate fire and damage insurance for your home. Check and upgrade your policies on a regular basis to make sure that they cover “replacement value.” Insure your automobiles for damage and liability. Be sure to have adequate health insurance that covers you for any emergency, and for long-term care.
No one likes to spend money on insurance, but it is one of the smartest things that you can possibly do on your road to financial independence. By insuring properly, you will never be caught off guard by an unexpected accident or emergency. An additional benefit of being fully insured is that it gives you a feeling of calm confidence that allows you to think more clearly and be much more effective in everything else you do.
Cover Your Assets
As you begin to accumulate money, develop the habit of protecting your estate from unnecessary taxes and frivolous lawsuits. Invest in the services of a lawyer who specializes in wills and estate planning. Set up a family limited partnership, under the direction of a good lawyer, and transfer your assets into the partnership so that they cannot be seized in a lawsuit, or taxed away if something were to happen to you. As the old saying goes, “A stitch in time saves nine.” Small actions that you take in planning, investigating and insuring your assets can save you an enormous amount of money on your road to financial independence.
Do Your Homework
In addition to the habits discussed above, another important habit that wealthy people develop is the habit of carefully considering every expenditure before they make it. This involves getting as much information as possible on the various prices and costs involved in any financial decision. The power is always on the side of the person with the best information.
Develop the habit of negotiating more effectively to get higher prices when you sell and lower prices when you buy. A good negotiator can save or gain 10%, 20% and more on every financial transaction. Each dollar saved or gained is additional money that you can put away to accumulate and grow in your financial fortress account.
Develop the habit of asking for higher prices when you are selling and asking for lower prices when you buy. Ask for lower interest rates. Ask for better terms and conditions. Ask for immediate payment when you sell and ask for deferred payment when you buy. Ask repeatedly. Ask pleasantly. Ask courteously. Ask expectantly. Ask confidently. But don’t be afraid to ask. Ask for what you want, and if you don’t get it, ask for something else.
Get Rich Slowly
When people make a lot of money quickly, as the result of success in the stock market, a business breakthrough, a show business success or an invention, the story gets into the newspapers and magazines. But this is precisely because great financial success in a short time is so unusual.
Most great fortunes are built slowly. They are based on the principle of compound interest, what Albert Einstein called, “The greatest power in the universe.” In fully 99% of cases where people become wealthy, it is over a long period of time, and it is based on slow, incremental growth as the result of compound interest.
Every dollar that you save, properly invested and protected, has the ability to grow 5% - 10% each year. As your money grows, it compounds on itself, and grows even more. According to Stanley and Danko, it takes the average millionaire 22 years to accumulate a million dollars from the time he gets serious about his financial life. They get rich slowly, by gradually increasing their earning ability, saving more and more from their income, and investing it carefully and intelligently so that it grows and compounds over the years. You must do the same.
The Pursuit of Happiness
The philosopher Aristotle concluded, in his Nicomachaen Ethics, “The ultimate end or purpose of all human life is the achievement of personal happiness.”
Becoming financially independent as the result of developing Million Dollar Habits is a great goal in itself, but it is not the most important thing. It is the person that you have to become, in terms of courage, character, thoughtfulness, and persistence that is most important. As the result of becoming financially successful over a long period of time, you will feel truly happy and satisfied with yourself, and with every other part of your life.
This is the most worthwhile goal of all.
Action Exercises:
Make a decision today that you are going to accumulate more than a million dollars in the years ahead. Write it down as a goal, make a plan, and then do something toward achieving it every single day.
Conduct a complete financial analysis on your life; determine your net worth, your income and expenses, and your future possibilities.
Open a special financial fortress account and begin putting money into it at every opportunity; never spend this money on anything except investing and growth.
Get your financial life organized, with proper estate planning and insurance, with a family limited partnership to protect your assets.
Begin saving a fixed percentage of your income each month; practice the wedge theory and save 50% of every increase from this day forward.
Investigate before you invest; learn every detail of the business, and be sure you thoroughly understand how your money is to be used and how it will be returned.
Practice frugality in all expenditures; never buy new if you can buy used, never pay full price if you can negotiate something better, delay all major expenditures until you have had ample time to think about them.
“Go out and buy yourself a five-cent pencil and a ten-cent notebook and begin to write down some million dollar ideas for yourself.” (Bob Grinde)
CHAPTER 6
The Habits That Get You Paid More and Promoted Faster
“The individual who wants to reach the top in business must appreciate the might of the force of habit – and must understand that practices are what create habits. He must be quick to break those habits that can break him – and hasten to adopt those practices that will become the habits that help him achieve the success he desires.” (John Paul Getty)
Confucius once wrote, “He who would rule must learn to obey.” The most successful executives, entrepreneurs and managers are usually excellent as employees on their way up. They learn or develop the habits that enable them to make a significant, valuable contribution to their companies and organizations, and as a result, they get paid more and promoted faster than the people around them. This should be your goal as well.
Most self-made millionaires are entrepreneurs who start and build their own successful businesses. But many self-made millionaires are salespeople and executives of successful businesses who do an excellent job, make an excellent contribution and get paid extremely well, both in the form of cash and stock.
Only about 1% of the population has the temperament and combination of abilities necessary for successful entrepreneurship. But fully 99% of the population has the ability to work well in a specific job or occupation. Since you will probably spend 95% of your life working for someone else, on average, it is absolutely essential that you learn how to make yourself valuable, and then indispensable. This is the key to your success at work.
Your Choices Are Unlimited
There are more than 100,000 different jobs and job categories in the United States alone. There are an unlimited number of things that you can do to earn a good living and to achieve financial independence. You must therefore develop the habit of thinking about the work that you would most love to do. Instead of accepting whatever job or position comes along, you should be continually thinking about your ideal job, exactly as if you could design it personally in every respect.
The highest paid and most successful people in our society do what they love to do, as much of the time as they possibly can. You should continually be standing back, examining yourself objectively, and then practicing the habit of focusing on your special talents and abilities.
Each person is born with the ability to do one or more things in an exceptional fashion. Just as you have multiple intelligences, you have multiple abilities as well. You will only really be happy and successful when you find the kind of work that taps into the unique talents you have today, or which you can develop tomorrow.
The Ideal Job For You
Dr. Victor Frankl, the founder of Logotherapy, wrote that there are four types of jobs that you can do. The first of these jobs are hard to learn and hard to do. This type of work would include a task like accounting or bookkeeping for a person who has no natural skill in that area. It would be hard to learn, and no matter how many years you did it, it would be hard to do. Many people find themselves in jobs or careers where they are mismatched in terms of their natural abilities and what the job requires. Their work is always hard and seldom satisfying. Don’t let this happen to you.
The second type of job that Frankl identified was a job that was hard to learn but easy to do. This may be a skill like typing with a keyboard or flying an airplane. It takes tremendous dedication and concentration to learn, but once you have mastered it, it is quite easy to do, hour after hour. Unfortunately, this type of job can become boring and unchallenging over time. It seldom causes you to stretch your capabilities and grow your talents.
The third type of job you might find yourself in is a job that easy to learn but hard to do. Physical labor falls into this category, like digging a ditch. It’s easy to learn to do a physically difficult job, but it is always hard to do, no matter how long you do it. Think about chopping wood!
The fourth job category, and the most important, are those things that you find easy to learn and easy to do. You learned it so easily, and do it so naturally, that you almost forget when and how you learned it in the first place.
As you can imagine, the jobs and tasks that are easy to learn and easy to do are the best indicators of your natural talents and abilities. This is where you are the most likely to do the best job, get the best results, and to be paid the very most.
Throughout your life and career, you must be continually analyzing your activities to identify the things that you learn and do easily, and from which you get the best results and rewards. This type of work for you is the key to career success.
Focus on Contribution
Even if you are running your own business, as we teach in our Entrepreneurial Coaching Programs, your most important responsibility to yourself is to identify the few things that you do the most easily, that you enjoy, and which make the greatest contribution to your work or to your company. Your job is then to organize your workday and your work life so that you spend more and more time doing more of the things that you do best and get the best results from. This is the key to entrepreneurial success.
The fact is that the quality of your thinking determines the quality of your life. The more time that you spend thinking about who you are, in terms of your natural talents and abilities, what you most want from your work, the better decisions you will make and the more you will accomplish. This way of thinking is essential in your choices of a job, a boss, an industry and a career.
Before you take your first job, or when you change jobs in the course of your career, stop for a moment and draw a line under the past. Imagine that you are starting over, with all the knowledge and skill that you have accumulated to this date. Look around you at all the opportunities that are open to you, and then take your time in choosing the right job or business for you at your current level of knowledge, skill and development. Invest your time and your life carefully. They are all you’ve got, and they are irreplaceable.
Seek Opportunity Versus Security
People are always asking me how they can make more money in their current jobs. I ask them what sort of jobs they do, and what sort of companies they work for. They often tell me that they are working in an industry where sales are flat or declining, or they are working for a company that is not growing. Sometimes they are doing a job where the pay is largely fixed, and in which there are few opportunities for advancement or higher income. In these cases, I have to tell them that they are in a situation that has a limited future, and only an unsatisfactory present.
Look around you in the current job market. What are the businesses and industries that are growing in sales and popularity? What are the products and services that are selling well? What are the companies with increasing profits and rising stock prices? What are the states or regions of the country that have the most companies and industries that seem to be prospering?
If you sincerely want to become a millionaire over the course of your lifetime, you must be prepared to make important changes, including moving geographically from one part of the country to another if necessary. You must be prepared to leave a job or industry if the prospects for that industry are declining. You must be honest with yourself.
Many people have totally changed their lives, dramatically increased their incomes, put their careers onto the fast track, and moved rapidly toward financial independence, by making major changes in where they were working or what they were doing.
Ignore the Past and Focus on the Future
There is a concept in accounting called a “sunk cost.” These are defined as money that has been spent and which cannot be recouped. They are funds that are gone forever in a company or business, like last year’s advertising. They cannot be retrieved. They have no value. They are sunk, as in a deep ocean.
You have sunk costs in your career as well. You may have invested weeks, months and even years in getting an education or acquiring experience in a particular field. But the market has changed and there may be no demand for what you are capable of doing. No one is willing to hire you or pay you very much to do it.
Just like investing in a company that was not successful, many people have invested an enormous amount of time and money in the development of talents and skills for which there is no existing or future market. But they have a hard time facing this fact, or admitting it to themselves, or others.
Practice Zero Based Thinking Regularly
One of the most important habits you can develop is the habit of “zero based thinking.” In zero based thinking, you put every one of your previous decisions on trial for its life on a regular basis. You ask this question, “Is there anything that I am doing today that, knowing what I now know, I wouldn’t get into again today, if I had to do it over?”
Apply this question to every part of your life, and especially apply it to your job, position, career and current situation. If you were not now doing what you are currently doing, would you get into it again today, knowing what you now know about this area? Asking and answering this question takes a good deal of courage.
The fact is that in a world of rapid change, you will always have situations that, with your current knowledge, you wouldn’t get into again today if you had the choice. These situations will almost always be the primary causes of stress or dissatisfaction in your life. They will cause you the most aggravation and frustration. If you stay in a zero based situation long enough, it can even make you physically ill.
If the answer to this question, “Is there anything that I’m doing that I wouldn’t get into again today?” is “yes”, then your next question should be, “How do I get out of this situation, and how fast?”
Often you can change your entire life by simply having the courage to face up to the fact that your previous decision has not turned out to be as good as you originally thought. There is nothing wrong with this. You are not perfect. Everyone makes decisions that they later regret, based on new information. This will happen throughout your life. The only question is, “How long are you going to stay in a situation that you know is not right for you?” It is not possible for you to be successful and happy in your career or job if, knowing what you now know, you wouldn’t even get into it again today if you had it to do over.
Getting The Ideal Job For You
Once you have decided what it is that you most enjoy doing, and which you have the potential to do extremely well, and you have decided the part of the country and type of business you would like to work in, the next step is for you to begin the process of “informational interviewing.” Instead of applying for a job in a particular company, you merely seek information about what is going on in that company and industry. You can even position or imagine yourself as a “reporter” in the process of gathering information to write a story.
You begin your search by calling up a decision maker in a company in an industry in which you would like to work and saying something like this, “I am doing some research on this business (or industry) and I would very much like to get a few minutes of your time to ask you how you see your business evolving and developing in the future.”
You will be amazed at how open people are to talking to you about the company or business they work in. After you have spoken to people in several companies, you will have assembled an excellent information base that will enable you to determine first of all, whether you want to work in that industry, and second of all, which particular company you would like to work for.
Many years ago, new in town, and having no experience in the business, I conducted this process with the top four companies in the industry. Within one month, I received job offers from all four companies, and accepted the one with the best reputation and the toughest hiring standards. This method really works!
Remember, your time is your life. Choose your job with care. You are going to be exchanging a certain amount of your life for that job, and your time is more important than the money that you will receive. Money can be replaced, but time spent is gone forever.
Take the Time To Choose Well
In taking a new job, choose your boss with care. One of the fastest ways to move ahead rapidly in your career is to work for an excellent boss. An excellent boss is invariably someone who is competent and capable, positive and constructive, and under whom you can learn and grow at a rapid rate. Almost every successful person can tell you of a boss that he had at a certain point in his career that became a key factor in his subsequent success.
On the other hand, some people fall into the habit of taking whatever job is offered to them when they need a job, and working for whichever boss they happen to get. They take whatever work assignments are given to them and accept whatever hours or working conditions are offered. Instead of being self-reliant and selfdetermined, they become reactive and accepting. Instead of seeing themselves as responsible and in charge of their own careers, they begin to see themselves as passive agents, merely doing what they are told to do. This is definitely not for you.
Two Habits For Rapid Advancement
Over the years, I have been invited to speak to graduating classes of business students. They invariably ask me for advice on how to get ahead in the world of work. I will tell you what I tell them.
There are two habits that you can develop that will help you get ahead faster than any success secrets you will ever learn. These habits will serve you well as an employee, as a manager or executive, or as an entrepreneur and business owner. They are simple, easy to learn and incredibly powerful.
To begin with, remember that the normal hours of work are simply averages, and they are for average employee. They have nothing to do with you. Instead, you should develop the habit of starting earlier, working harder and staying later.
If the workday starts at 8:30 am, you should be at work and busy by 8 o’clock. You should work steadily all day long. If the workday ends at 5 o’clock, you should continue working until 5:30 or 6:00, or even later. The simple act of starting earlier, working harder and staying later, will increase your productivity by anything from 50% to 100%. The people who are in the best position to help you get ahead will soon notice these work habits. They will give you an edge over any of your coworkers.
Develop the habit of asking for and accepting more responsibility. As soon as you feel that you are on top of your work, go to your boss and tell him that you want “more responsibility.” Tell him that you very much like your job, and you want to make an even more valuable contribution to the company. You are not asking for more money or for special recognition, you simply want “more responsibility.”
Fast-Tracking My Career
Many years ago, I went to work for a large company that had about 200 employees. I was the low man on the totem pole. I was stuck in a tiny office in the back with a desk, a chair and no pictures on the wall. I was given a variety of small tasks to work on which changed from week to week.
After a couple of weeks of this, feeling a little frustrated, I went to my boss, the Chairman of the company, and told him that I was caught up with my work, and that I wanted more responsibility. The fact is that I like to work, and I was bored. I wanted to be busier and more active. My desire for more responsibility was perfectly selfish.
I remember that my boss nodded and smiled and told me that he would think about it. But nothing happened. Therefore, every couple of days, when I met with my boss, I would end the conversation by saying, “By the way, I would really like more work to do, more responsibility.”
Finally, about two weeks after I began this campaign, my boss asked me if I would take care of something for him that was outside of my basic job description. I thanked him very much, took it back to my office and began work on it.
And here’s a habit that I developed that changed my life. As soon as I received the additional responsibility that I had been asking for, I developed the habit of doing the job quickly and well. I got it done fast. I worked late into the night, and over the weekend to get this job finished in an excellent fashion and get it back to him.
He had given me the additional responsibility on a Friday afternoon. By Monday morning I had it complete and got it typed up so that it was on his desk when he arrived that day. Later on, in passing, he mentioned that he hadn’t needed it done immediately, but he thanked me for getting it done so quickly.
Keep Asking For More
Later that week, he complimented me once more on how well and how quickly the job had been done. I used this as an opportunity to immediately ask for more responsibility. Soon he gave me another job, and then another, and then another. In every case, whatever he gave me to do, I grabbed it like a fumble in a football game and ran for yards. I took the job and immediately went to work on it, completing it quickly and getting it back to him long before he needed it. This did not go unnoticed.
In addition, I began observing some of the tasks that took up his time, and without asking, I began working on them and completing them as well, so they were done when he got in. I answered correspondence, dealt with client service problems, visited customers and gathered information to save him time. This did not go unnoticed either.
Your Chance Will Come
Then one day, a major project came up. He asked me if I was interested in taking charge of it. It was in an area in which I had never worked before, but I immediately agreed. I then threw my whole heart into doing the job quickly and well.
After that, I was given another project, and then another, and then still another. By the end of one year, I had three divisions of the company working under me. I had moved into the second largest office in the building and had a staff of 23 people. I was operating businesses that were generating many millions of dollars worth of sales and profitability.
By developing the reputation as being the “go-to guy” in the company, the one who got things done faster and better than anyone else, my star rose and rose and rose. My income doubled and tripled. I received bonuses and special incentives that enabled my to buy a new house and a Mercedes.
Some time later, I was hired away by the president of another major corporation at triple what I was earning in my current job. I later learned that my boss had ended up paying me more in salaries and bonuses than he had ever paid an employee in the course of his 25-year career. And I earned every penny of it by asking for more responsibility, and then getting the job done quickly and well. You can do the same.
Take Initiative and Get The Job Done Fast
Remember I talked about the importance of the qualities of action-orientation, and taking initiative. In every job, in every area, in every field, these qualities cause you to stand out favorably from everyone else around you. Whether you work for someone else or you run your own business, the qualities of taking responsibility and getting the job done fast will do more to help you to get paid more and promoted faster than any other two habits you can develop.
In Larry Bossidy’s best selling book Execution, based on his many years of running Fortune 500 corporations, he writes that the most valuable people he has ever met in business are those rare few who have developed the habit of fulfilling their responsibilities and getting the job done that were hired to do. In every study of successful people in business, this single characteristic seems to stand out. All successful people, in any job, in any organization, are those who take responsibility and move quickly to fulfill those responsibilities and get the results required of them. In business, results are everything.
Don’t Waste Time
One of the most important habits you can develop, which will help you in any job, is the habit of working all the time you work.
According to Robert Half International, the average employee works only 50% of the time. The other 50% of working time is largely wasted. It is spent in idle chitchat and conversation with coworkers, coming in late, taking extended coffee breaks and lunches, and leaving early. It is dribbled away with private phone calls, reading the newspaper, personal business and surfing the Internet. Only 50% of the time for which the average person is paid is actually spent on work-related activities.
What is even worse is that, when the average employee is actually working, he or she does the tasks that are fun and easy rather than the jobs that are hard and important. Most people “major in minors” and work on low priority activities. When you discipline yourself to focus on high priority tasks and to make every minute count, you will immediately separate yourself from everyone else, and take full control of your career and your future.
Resolve to work all the time you work. Start a little earlier, and when you get in, go to work immediately. If someone wants to talk to you, you say that you would like to chat with him or her, but not right now. Right now, you have to get “back to work!”
Keep repeating to yourself the mantra, “Back to work! Back to work! Back to work!” Tell your coworkers that you can socialize with them after work, if you have the time. And then get back to work.
Be A Hard Worker
Imagine that a management-consulting firm is going to come into your company and do a survey one year from today. In this survey, they are going to ask everyone in the company to rank everyone else in the company in terms of who works the hardest, all the way down to who works the least hard. Imagine that your goal is to come out on the top of this survey. Every single day that you are at work, imagine that you are being watched with hidden cameras. At the end of the month or the year, a vote is going to be taken on the hardest working person in the company. Your job is to be sure that you win this vote.
There is nothing that will bring you to the attention of people who can help you faster than developing a habit for hard, hard work. In every study of successful people, whether they are athletes, executives, entrepreneurs or self-made millionaires in any field, the most obvious habit they have is that they work much longer and harder than their coworkers.
Join the Elite
There have been many studies about wealth and poverty in the United States, and worldwide. These studies try to explain income distribution and are often used as the basis for welfare payments, unemployment compensation and levels of taxation.
Again and again, these studies show that the highest paid people in America work about 60 hours a week. The lowest paid people in America, the ones at the poverty line, work fewer than 25 hours per week. The highest paid households in America have two or more people who work long, hard hours. The most impoverished households in America are those that have perhaps one wage earner who works only a few hours per week.
There is a direct relationship between how hard you work and how much you are paid. There is a direct relationship between how hard you work and how rapidly you are promoted. There is a direct relationship between how hard you work and the value of the contribution that you make to your company. People who work longer hours are invariably more valuable, paid more and promoted faster than people who do not.
The Key To Career Success
Andrew Grove, the Chairman of Intel, was interviewed in Fortune Magazine some time ago. He was asked what he felt to be the biggest changes that had taken place in the world of work in the last decade. He answered that, “In my estimation, the two most important changes were these: First of all, every person today is now the architect of his or her own career. Each person has to see himself or herself as completely responsible for everything that happens to them, especially for their own work habits, and their own training and development. No one could rely on a company taking care of them throughout their careers.”
His second observation was even more important. He said that today, the key to success in any job today is to “add value.” At one time, you could get a job, reach a certain level of accomplishment, and then coast for months and even years on your previous achievements. Today however, you must be looking for ways to add value every single day. Your company no longer cares what you might have accomplished in the past. The main question today is, “What have you done for me lately?”
Gary Hamel and C.K. Prahaled, two of the top strategic planners in the world today, in their book Competing for the Future, write that the key to competitive advantage for companies is to project forward five years and identify the core competencies and skills that they will be need to be market leaders at that time.
By the same token, one of the most important habits you develop is the habit of looking forward 3-5 years and identifying the additional skills and competencies you will need to be to the top of your field at that time. What are the trends in your industry? What are the skills possessed by the highest paid people in your industry today? Where is your industry going, and what will you have to be absolutely excellent at doing 3-5 years from now if you want to earn an excellent income? These are the key questions that determine the direction of your career.
The Race is On
Peter Drucker writes that, “The only skill that will be important in the 21st century is the skill of learning new skills. Everything else will become obsolete over time.”
We say that, “Whatever got you to where you are today is not enough to keep you there.” Tom Peters says that, “Whatever you are doing well today, you will have to be doing it vastly better one year from today if you want to keep your current position.” The race is on, and you are in it.
Continually look for ways to add value, to contribute more than you are contributing today. Never forget that you are a “knowledge worker” and the value of your work is not determined by the hours that you put in, but by the results that you get out.
Make a habit of focusing on the most important and valuable results that you can accomplish in your position. Keep looking forward and identifying the additional skills and abilities that you can develop that will enable you to add more value by getting even better and more important results. This is the way to put yourself on the side of the angels, and to put your career onto the fast track.
Look Like A Winner
One of the most important Million Dollar Habit you can develop, which can have an inordinate effect on how fast you move onward and upward, has to do with your personal appearance and image. You must develop the habit of dressing like a person who is going somewhere in life.
Human beings are intensely visual. We are inordinately influenced by the external appearance of other people. Some surveys suggest that we form our first impression in the first four seconds of meeting a person, and we finalize our conclusions about that person in the first 30 seconds. After we have made a judgment and come to a conclusion about a person, our mind then strives to justify the decision we have already made. Something quite abrupt or shocking has to occur for us to alter our first impression. This is the way our minds work.
Sometimes people say that, “People should not judge me by the way I look on the outside.” This is a nice idea, but the fact is that you judge everyone you meet by the way they look on the outside, usually within 30 seconds.
One of the rules for success is that, “Everything counts!” Everything helps or hurts. Everything adds up or takes away. Everything is either moving you toward a goal of your own choosing or is moving you away from that goal. Everything counts! This rule is as applicable in the way you look as in any other area.
In the image that you project, everything counts, as well. If it doesn’t help it hurts. One of the smartest things that you can do is purchase a couple of books on personal image and then select your clothes, your grooming, your make-up and your accessories so that you look like the kind of person who is competent, efficient and trustworthy.
Human beings tend to be incredibly perceptive. And we are very much influenced by the external appearance of a person. By taking the time and effort to dress well and to look the part of a capable person, you open doors for yourself that might otherwise remain closed to you.
What Every Company Wants
Business owners and executives want to be proud of their staff. Many people work hard and do a good job, but are passed over for promotion, year after year, because of their external appearance. They are often overweight and unkempt. Their hair is too long or poorly cared for. Their clothes and accessories are ill fitting do not go with their other clothes. Their shoes are unpolished or mismatched to their clothes or position. As a result, the people around them, especially their superiors, immediately discount their value and ignore their opinions.
In chapters Seven and Eight, we will talk about building a business and about sales and marketing. In those chapters, I will explain the importance of positioning and branding in selling a product or service. Both of these concepts are applicable to you personally, and in your work life as well.
Here’s an exercise for you. Imagine taking a picture of yourself as you show up for work in the course of the week. Imagine circulating that picture to others and asking the question, “What kind of a person is this?”
How would people who don’t know you describe you by looking at a photograph of you the way that you normally appear at work? Would they say that, “This is an excellent, well organized, high performing individual?” Or would they say something else?
Look at your workspace or desk, your briefcase or car. Ask, “What kind of a person works in an environment or situation like that?” Would an objective third party observer say that, by looking at your work space, that you were a “highly efficient, productive and well organized person?” Or would they say something else?
An Outside Evaluation
Here’s another exercise. Imagine that an outside firm of consultants was to interview all of your coworkers and ask them this question: “What words would you use to describe that person?”
What words do people use to describe you in your absence? Based on their experience with you, with your character and your work habits, how do people talk about you to others when you are not there? How would you like them to talk about you? What words would you like them to use? What words would it be helpful to your career if everybody used them when they described you to others?
Finally, how could you develop the habits of walking, talking, dressing, working and behaving in such a way that others describe you in the most positive and flattering way. Would it be helpful to you if people were to say that, “He/she is extremely competent, efficient, honest, friendly, helpful and gets things done quickly and well?”
How could you change or restructure your appearance and work habits so that, sometime in the future, these are the words that people use when they think and talk about you? What steps could you take immediately to begin creating these works in people’s minds?
Be A Good Team Player
One of the most important habits you can develop in the course of your career is the habit of working well with other people. Your ability to be a good team player early in your career, and a good team leader later in your career, will do as much to increase your value to your company as any other habit or skill that you can develop.
In times of economic turbulence and large-scale lay-offs, researchers have found that the last people to be let go from any organization are the most popular and helpful people. The people who are kept on the longest, irrespective of economic conditions, are always the ones who are liked the most and who get along with the greatest number of people. Your job is to be one of those people.
Sometimes I ask my audience members, “How many people here work in customer service?” Very few hands go up. I then go on to point out that, “Everyone is in the business of customer service. Everyone is in the business of serving customers, no matter what you do in your organization.”
Focus On Customer Service
Develop the habit of seeing everyone around you as a customer of some kind, and simultaneously see yourself as a customer service specialist. A customer can be defined as “Anyone who you depend upon for your success at work, and anyone who depends upon you for their success at work, or in the outside world.”
By this definition, you have several different customers. First, there are your external customers. These are the people who buy and use the product or service that your company produces. Satisfying these people is absolutely indispensable to your success. Those people who are the most vital to serving customers of the company are always the most valuable and appreciated.
You also have another set of customers, within your organization. These are your boss, your coworkers and your subordinates. You depend upon each of these people for your success, and to a certain degree, each of them depends upon you. The more and better you serve your internal customers, the more productive and valuable you will be to your company.
Your Best Customer
Begin with your boss. He or she is your most important customer. This is because you can fail to satisfy every other customer in your organization, but as long as your boss continues to like and support you, your job will be safe. On the other hand, you can please every other person inside and outside of your organization, but if you do not satisfy your boss, your job will be in jeopardy. Your boss is therefore your number one customer.
Here is an exercise. Draw up a list of everything that you feel that you have been hired to do. Take this list to your boss and ask your boss to organize this list on the basis of his or her priorities. Ask him or her to choose your number one, most important output responsibility. Then have him choose your second most important task, and so on.
Very few people do this with their bosses. The first time you approach your boss with this exercise, he or she will be both flattered and somewhat amused. But if you persist in working through this list of tasks, and organization of priorities, with your boss, you will both emerge from the meeting with a much better understanding of your true priorities at work.
From them on, develop the habit of always working on your boss’s number one task. If your boss asks you to do a new job, immediately ask what order of priority does the new task have in comparison with the other work that you are doing. Make it clear that your primary aim is to work on what your boss considers to be the most important and valuable use of your time.
Help Others to Be Effective
If you have a staff of your own, perform the same exercise with them. Have each of them draw up a list answering the question, “Why am I on the payroll?” Go over these descriptions with each of your staff members and help them to organize their lists by priority. From then on, do everything possible to assure that each of your staff members is working on what you consider to be the most important thing they can be doing to make the most valuable contribution possible to your organization.
Your coworkers are also your customers, because you depend upon them for certain things. You should always be looking for ways to help them do their jobs more effectively. By the Law of Reciprocity, they will then look for ways to help you do your job even better.
In a book on Power and Influence in Organizations written some years ago, the author concluded that power in an organization was based on what he called, “managed dependencies.” This referred to people whom you could influence, but over whom you had no control. They were not dependent upon you for their jobs or their incomes. These were people who were independent of you, but whose help and cooperation you required if you wanted to be successful in your position.
Make up a list of all the people within and without your organization whose assistance, help, cooperation and support you need in order to do your job the very best possible. You should then make a habit of cultivating these people and looking for ways to help them to be more successful in fulfilling their responsibilities as well.
Sowing and Reaping
In Chapter One, we said that the Law of Cause and Effect is the granddaddy law of western philosophy, the iron law of the cosmos. The biblical version of this law is the Law of Sowing and Reaping. This law says that, “Whatsoever you sow, that also shall you reap.” In the world of work, this means that, whatever you put in, or do for others, will eventually come back to you. Note that the Law of Sowing and Reaping has a specific order. First, you sow. Then, you reap. Many people try to reap before they sow, or without sowing at all. But this is not the way the world works.
First, you look for ways to help other people. Then, almost automatically, people will be predisposed to helping you when the time arises. One of the great rules for success is this, “The more you give of yourself without expectation of return, the more that will come back to you from the most unexpected sources.”
Develop the habit of looking for ways to put in more than you get out, to sow more than you reap, to go the extra mile, and to always do more than you are paid to do. If you always do more than you are currently being paid to do, you will be setting yourself up to be paid more in the future. Look for ways to add value continually.
President of Your Own Company
One of the most important habits you can develop to succeed in your company is the habit of viewing yourself as self-employed. See yourself as the “President” of your own personal services corporation. Act as if you owned 100% of the shares of the company you work for. Treat the company like it belongs to you, in every respect. By developing the habit of seeing yourself as self-employed, you take complete responsibility for yourself, your company and your career. By taking complete responsibility, and seeing yourself as the President of your own business, you change your personality and your character. Your attitude improves and your actions become more focused, efficient and deliberate.
In a study done in New York some years ago, they discovered that only 3% of employees see themselves as self-employed. These 3% always seem to be the ones who are paid more and promoted faster. They are the ones who take personal responsibility and personal initiative. They are action oriented in looking for ways to contribute more value to their companies. They seek out additional training experiences to increase the quality and quantity of results that they can get in their jobs.
When you view yourself as the president of your own company, as completely self-responsible for your own job and your own results, you quickly come to the attention of the people who can help you the most. Doors of opportunity will open up for you. You will be promoted to positions of higher responsibility and authority. You will be more respected and esteemed by the important people around you. You will eventually leave everyone else behind.
Be Positive and Cheerful
Perhaps the most helpful decision you can make is to develop the habit of being a pleasant, positive person. Refuse to criticize, condemn or complain. Do not engage in gossip or gripe sessions with your coworkers. Imagine that everything that you say at work will be repeated and published on the company bulletin board. Guard your tongue. Instead, look for something good to say about everyone.
Always be cheerful and friendly. Be patient and easy going. Be polite and courteous. Be thoughtful and considerate. Be the kind of person that everyone likes to have working for them, or likes to work for or with.
In our modern business world, it is always the people who are competent, capable, likable and pleasant who are paid the most and promoted the fastest. Make it a habit to look for the good in every person and situation, and to keep focused on helping other people, and adding value to your company. These habits will help you as much or more than anything else you could possibly do.
Action Exercises:
Determine what you find easy to learn and easy to do, and what you most enjoy doing at work; find a job doing more of that.
Identify your unique talents and abilities, and dedicate yourself to becoming absolutely excellent in those areas.
Develop the habit of continually asking for and accepting more responsibility for results, and then move quickly when you get an opportunity to perform.
Work all the time you work; when you start earlier, work harder and stay later, you quickly separate yourself from all the others.
Focus on satisfying your customers at work, both inside and outside of the company.
Develop the habit of working well with others; always be looking for ways to contribute, to help others to do their jobs better and faster.
Get the job done fast! The faster you move, the more energy you have, the more you get done, and the faster you will be paid more and promoted to higher levels of responsibility.
“Work is an extension of personality. It is achievement. It is one of the ways in which a person defines himself, measures his worth and his humanity.” (Peter Drucker)
