1) There’s always enough.

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Regardless of how you feel when you look around you, you are standing smack-dab in the middle of a MOUNTAIN of riches. Once you change your mindset to accept this belief, the ideas that make you rich will flow naturally and start to smack you in the face.

2) You can’t do it alone.

This was a game-changer for me. When I first partnered up with Bradley Will, I had less than a dollar to my name. I went from sleeping on my friend’s couch (actually, the floor) to having my first 5-figure month the first month after I loosened up a little bit and trusted someone else to make it happen with me.

3) Don’t get stuck on “how”.

In life, there are at least a dozen, probably closer to a million ways to get from where you are to where you’re going. So don’t get stuck on the way. You may be trying to speed down the interstate during rush hour traffic. Or maybe you’re trying to cross a bridge that’s been demolished since you started off. Don’t worry about how you’re getting there, and never get attached to the path. Just know where you want to end up and take whatever (ethical) path you find to get there.

4) You don’t know anything.

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Socrates is historically famous for saying, “I am the wisest man in the world, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing“. I don’t care who you are, what you’ve accomplished, or how well educated you are. You know absolutely NOTHING in comparison to the collective intelligence of the living human race. You know even less when compared to all of the humans (and other animals) who have lived before you. Step aside from your ego for a moment and realize where you fit in in the bigger picture. Once you accept that you really do know nothing, your mind will become open to learning and your heart will become curious again, like the child you once were who molded you into who you are today.

5) Success is Nearly Impossible (without the aid of a mentor).

This was a big one for me. When I first started blogging (and even before that, when I stepped out and decided I was ready to start my first business), there wasn’t a soul on Earth who I could learn from. I was so set in the fact that I’d learned everything I needed to know, it wouldn’t matter if Tony Robbins showed up at my door – I was convinced I’d already learned it all through the hours of great internal conversation I’d had while reading the likes of Napoleon Hill and Stephen Covey. Look, I’m not saying that your collection of Self-Help books is worthless – in fact, it might be one of your most valuable possessions. But nothing beats one-on-one coaching and mentoring from someone who’s already achieved the results that you want.

6) Always keep the end in mind.

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There’s a big difference between living in the future and keeping the end in mind. Living in the future means that you’re consumed with an image of where you’re going, so much so that you’re not even aware of what’s going on right now. This is bad, because all you have is this very moment, and you can’t possibly get somewhere without being able to look around yourself and acknowledging the tools and situations that will get you to the end result. That being said, keep the end in mind. This can be very useful, especially when dealing with a tedious task you don’t want to do. Remind yourself of where you’re going and why it is you’re doing what you’re doing, and allow the pleasure of the end result to carry into the act, so much so that you can learn to love any tedious chore.

7) There’s only one person you can control (and even that can get pretty hard.)

It doesn’t matter what you do. If you’re in business, your success is determined by how much service you provide to others. How much positive change can you create in others’ lives? With that in mind, it’s easy to consume yourself with wanting to change other people. If only he would just be a little less lazy, or… if only she read the instruction manual that came with my product (then she wouldn’t want that refund)! Look, it’s tempting, I know, but there’s only one person you can control (and if your mental energy is going into wishing that other people would change, you’re doing a bad job of controlling that one person, because it’s you). It’s not up to your customers to change. It’s not up to your friends or family to be different. Love them for who they are, and find ways that you can better serve them. If your customers are confused by your product because they don’t read the instruction manual, find a way to make the instruction manual more prevalent and effective. Initiate live trainings and webinars, if you must. But one thing is for sure: you can’t control other people, and you’re only wasting your energy and transforming yourself into an unconscious buffoon through your efforts.

8) Your To-Do List is your best friend.

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If you’re like me, you’ve got a lot to do. Even worse is, you’ve got people constantly calling you, emailing you, facebook chatting with you, tweeting at you, texting you, and launching a full-scale barrage on your success. If you fall victim to these distractions, it’s not their fault, it’s yours. Take the time to write a to-do list every day (I prefer to do mine at night before bed, but you can also do it in the morning). Don’t overwhelm yourself, but choose the 6 most important tasks for you to accomplish that day. Look at your free time and schedule where these tasks fit in. You’ll soon discover that you don’t have time for distractions, and the email and phone calls can wait until you’re available (the investor really isn’t going to be mad if you’re busy at work on your business. I promise).

9) Their opinion doesn’t matter.

It doesn’t matter what you do. Whether you’re a crazy Online Business Owner and Success Coach like me or a Yo-Yo Enthusiast like Michael Montgomery, your friends and your family are going to judge you. Of course you don’t want to start a family feud or flip your best friend the middle finger, but, at the end of the day, they are where they are for a reason, and they can’t help you get where you want to be. One of my mentors always says that you can’t give what you don’t have, and this is a classic example. Success requires passion, it requires confidence, and it requires guts. Your friends and family think they’re trying to protect you but, really, they’re just trying to keep you where they’re comfortable.

10) Money comes easily and effortlessly.

Ahh… doesn’t that sound nice? Well guess what: it’s the truth. Whether you’re convinced that you’re worth $250/week or $250/hour, you will easily find a way to attract the amount of money you deserve into your life. Take it from me; I still have difficulties getting my head around this from time to time. But the truth is, when I’m worried about money or don’t know how I’m going to pay for something, all I have to do is remind myself that money comes easily and effortlessly, and open my eyes up to the abundance of ways to find that which I seek. Money is just an idea – it is simply an agreement of value we’ve decided to give pieces of paper and small coins. By changing your idea of money, the money in your life changes too.

11) Thoughts are Distractions.

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Your mind is likely the most powerful, but certainly the most mysterious and intricate tool on Earth. Your mind can be used to translate your emotion into great poetry, and it can also be used to draft up the business plan that will make you a billion dollars. But, more often than not, your mind is generating noise that keeps you in a state of unrest, unproductivity, fear, paranoia, and pain. Your mind is a powerful tool, so use it as such. You don’t leave your chainsaw running all day; likewise you need to find the “Off” switch on your brain. For most people, this can easily be accomplished through Deep Breathing Meditation. For others, it may take a bit more work. For all of us, it’s an ongoing journey, but the truth be told is this: most of your life requires only a small fraction of the thought you put into it, and by bringing your senses into the moment and allowing the noise from your mind to quiet down, you will only find yourself more peaceful, more productive, and more capable of using your mind’s greatest powers – when you need them.

12) Plan your Perfect Day.

This exercise is life changing. In fact, before you do it, you probably won’t have a clue what you’re working for. You can think you need a lot of money, but how much do you really need? You won’t know until you know what you want your day-to-day life to be like. Take some time to reflect, to visualize, and to meditate on exactly what your perfect day will be like. What time do you get up, what does your bedroom look like, and what kind of mood are you in? What’s the first thing you do in the morning? What kind of meals do you eat? Where do you work and what do you do? What’s your family life like? Get into details on all of the important parts of your life, and then determine how much this daily life of yours costs. How many hours do you work in this day? Divide how much your daily life costs by how many hours you work to determine how much you will set yourself to make every hour.

13) Kaizen.

Kaizen is Japanese for “improvement”, but it means so much more to those who grasp it. Kaizen is the practice of continuous daily improvement. This means reading and learning more every day, squeezing out that extra pushup or shaving those 5 seconds off your mile, loving more and laughing harder every day. Essentially, to practice Kaizen is to dedicate yourself to life – all things in the Universe are constantly growing and changing, and by growing yourself, you are going along with the flow of life – as opposed to the other option, which is to become stagnant and dead.

14) Financial Planning is the Key to Long-Term Success.

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I am laughing at myself as I write this, because I know how many times I could have made dramatic improvements to my life – had I only soundly planned my finances. Too many times we get “in the money” and assume that we don’t have to carefully budget ourselves out. Financial decisions are reduced to “I can afford it” or “I can’t afford it”, and left largely to emotion. It took a 21 year old to teach this 23 year old the way, but I’m glad he did. Here is my suggestion for a sound financial future:

1. Automatically put 10% of all income to savings. This may sound crazy and difficult, but it is absolutely one of the keys to a good life. By putting 10% of all income to savings, you have enough saved for a rainy day – like last summer, when I found myself homeless on a friend’s couch for the third time – or for a major purchase that you have carefully planned out and will make dramatic improvements in your life.
2. Automatically put 10% of all income to a separate charity account. In order to attain financial abundance, you must program your subconscious mind to believe that you are already rich. The easiest way to do this is by practicing giving. 10% is a great place to start, but give as much as you can, and not just to charity – actively seek opportunities to use what you have to help others out. Expect nothing in return but, ironically, the Universe has a way of working itself out, and you will open yourself up to new streams of abundance through the act of giving.
3. Automatically put 10-40% of all income to an investment account. Investing is the hardest one to grasp, yet the most important. Through making sound investments, you can take what you’ve earned today and live off of it – repeatedly – for the rest of your life. It’s tough to turn down the Lamborghini, but when you compare the opportunity of having that pleasure today with the long term benefits of saying no and investing in Real Estate or other hot opportunities, investing is a sure winner, every time

15) Find Something to be Passionate About.

This is the big winner, and I’m not talking about the cliche “follow your passion and expect your dream to come true”. In fact, I believe the whole “follow your passion to get started” thing is an easy cop-out. You can easily get started on the path of making a career out of your passion, but what support system do you have to tell you when to keep on going? How do you know when you’ve finally failed and it’s time to give up? The truth is, you can never fail until you decide to give up, so anyone who’s going out there and following their passion needs to add this on: “Continue following your passion until your dream is fulfilled, and the only possible way you can fail is by quitting”. This also goes above just “choosing your path” or getting started. Like any job or effort to make change in your life, some parts of your journey to success are just straight up going to suck. Like when Martin Luther King Jr. got shot in the head, you can’t plan every turn in your movement. But that doesn’t mean to give up. Stay focused on the passion, remember why it is that you’re doing what you’re doing, and find something to be passionate about right now. The other option is, of course, to be bored and hate what you’re doing… but there’s an easier way to do that: get a job.