Success is a sausage – here are the ingredients

Many people love to eat sausage because it tastes so good.

But, if you ever witnessed how sausage was made and the ingredients that went into it, you’d likely cringe.

Most people feel the same way about success as they do about sausage – they want it.

They’d like to be able to live in mansions, have yachts, go on exotic vacations, fly in private jets, own expensive cars, buy expensive jewellery, have a house on the ocean, etc.

But, if you ever walked in the shoes of the average successful person, during their journey to becoming successful, you’d have second thoughts about success.

Why?

Because if you really knew what goes into creating success, it would make you cringe.

The Ingredients of Success

1. Long work hours 

The Dreamers/Entrepreneurs in my Rich Habits Study worked an average of 61 hours a week, for twelve years.

Weekends and vacations were almost non-existent.

Those long work hours impacted everyone in the Dreamer’s immediate orbit.

Family and friends are hit the hardest by their absence.

Often one spouse must take up the slack and raise their children, almost as if they were a single parent.

Close friendships whither on the vine, due to those long work hours.

2. Financial stress 

Until the dream begins to pay off, making ends meet can cause almost intolerable stress.

Only the strong can survive that stress and that includes the spouses.

In the early going, getting a steady paycheck is near impossible.

Weak marriages will almost certainly fall apart, due to this stress.

3. High risk 

Dreamers have to put everything they own on the line.

Their homes, retirement plans, and savings become the assets that breathe life into their dream.

When a Dreamer runs out of assets, they have no choice but to turn to debt in order to continue to finance their dream.

The lucky ones are eventually able to secure Lines of Credit to keep them afloat.

The unlucky ones are forced to rely on credit cards or loans from family and friends to survive until they thrive.

If they thrive.

Pursuing a dream is a gamble.

There’s absolutely no guarantee that the dream will ever pay off.

Many fail.

In fact, 27% of my Rich Habits Study failed at least once.

Failure can mean bankruptcy.

Sometimes that bankruptcy is followed by divorce.

4. Massive habit change 

Successful people forge daily habits which help them grow, improve and become the best at what they do.

But, forging good habits, in the beginning, is hard work.

You need discipline and a strong reserve of willpower.

5. Waking up early 

The average wealthy individual in my Rich Habit Study began their pursuit of success by waking up at 4:30 in the morning.

6. Daily reading to learn 

Reading helps you to increase your knowledge base, making you more valuable to everyone you serve.

But, it’s not easy devoting hours every day to reading to learn.

7. Daily practice 

Practicing three or more hours every day to maintain and improve your skills, isn’t easy.

8. Daily exercise 

Exercise not only keeps your body healthy, but it also helps strengthen and improve brain cells.

Daily exercise helps extend the life of all cells in the body by keeping telomeres healthy and long.

Daily exercise feeds the body with oxygen, which helps boost cognitive ability.

Daily exercise increases the ability of the mitochondria (fuel plants inside every cell) to convert glucose/ketones into ATP (fuel).

Daily exercise helps your blood and lungs sweep away waste, bacteria and virus-infected cells.

It’s not easy to exercise 30 minutes or more every day.

9. Daily Relationship Building 

It’s hard work to build and maintain relationships with Influencers who can help fast-track success.

When you see how the success sausage is made, most will turn and run because it's just too hard.

This is a good thing.

It means there is less competition since very few will do what it takes to become successful.

About Tom Corley Tom is a CPA, CFP and heads one of the top financial firms in New Jersey. For 5 years, Tom observed and documented the daily activities of wealthy people and people living in poverty and his research he identified over 200 daily activities that separated the “haves” from the “have nots” which culminated in his #1 bestselling book, Rich Habits – The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals. Visit the website: www.richhabits.net