I am your constant companion.
I am your greatest helper or heaviest burden. I will push you onward or drag you down to failure. I am completely at your command.

Half of the things you do you might as well turn over to me and I will do them – quickly and correctly.

I am easily managed – you must be firm with me. Show me exactly how you want something done and after a few lessons, I will do it automatically.

I am the servant of great people, and alas, of all failures as well. Those who are great, I have made great. Those who are failures, I have made failures.

I am not a machine though I work with the precision of a machine plus the intelligence of a person. You may run me for profit or run me for ruin – it makes no difference to me.

Take me, train me, be firm with me, and I will place the world at your feet. Be easy with me and I will destroy you.

Who am I?

I am Habit.

(Author Anonymous)

One of the strongest determinants of our life’s success or failures is our habits. They are the internal forces that control most of our thoughts, emotions, behaviors and results. Ninety percent of all our thoughts and actions are habitual. In other words, they are set on automatic pilot and we think and act subconsciously and repeatedly in that same way, everyday.

Since our thoughts and our actions create the results we experience in our lives, then the quality of our life is truly determined by the habits we have programmed ourselves with. If you are constantly broke, it is because of your money habits. If you are constantly unhappy, it is because of the habitual way you perceive the world and the way you talk to yourself. If you are achieving mediocre results in your life, it is again because your habits are programmed to keep you mediocre.

If you want to change your life in any area, you have to change those habits that are creating those specific results. No matter how many goals you set or how much you believe that you can achieve it, if you don’t change your habitual daily actions, you life will never get better.

The Habits of Success

After working helping so many people achieve their life’s goals, I have realized that what truly separates ordinary people from extraordinary individuals are the habits they have developed.

Successful people have different habits from mediocre people. Happily married people have different habits from couples that constantly argue and fight. Healthy people have different habits from those who are constantly tired, sick and fatigued. Rich people have different habits from those who are always broke.

Here is a non-exhaustive list of the differences in habits I have observed between highly successful and mediocre individuals.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize the habits that different people exhibit. It just takes a curious mind and an observing eye. You can start doing the same thing.

If you want to improve the level of your wealth, start by observing the habits displayed by wealthy people and contrast them with the habits of friends who you believe to be unwealthy.