What Self-Made Millionaires Do That Most People Don't: 52 Ways to Create Your Own Success

by Ann Marie Sabath

How will I accomplish becoming a self-made millionaire?

Laura believed in herself enough to achieve her millionaire status at the age of fifty-one.

Laura is often quoted as saying, “I've made others millions of dollars. I can make you millions, too.”

Many times, the only way Laura has been able to explain or describe that “magic of believing” was through God working in her life.

Change “I am too tired to go to the gym” to “I will muster up the energy to work out for thirty minutes.”

ACTION STEP: FIGURE OUT EXACTLY WHAT YOU WANT, WRITE IT DOWN, AND THEN “ACT AS IF” YOU HAVE RECEIVED IT.

Mark McCormack's book, What They Don't Teach You at Harvard Business School,

Let's face it: It takes a strong and confident person to stand up to the unpleasant

situations that life deals you or that you unknowingly invited into your life.

It also takes a lot of willpower to face those unexpected challenges. A take-control approach is not for the weak of heart. Perhaps that is why it is one of the attr...

Sarian ...

As shared in her biography, Welfare to Millionaire: The ...

Sarian began by taking responsibility and let go of the past.

Show me a person who is late and I will show you someone who will never make it to self-made-millionaire status. Sound a little harsh? Perhaps it is. Sometimes, however, the truth hurts.

“When you are five minutes

early, you are ten minutes late.”

Though that is fine, it is not a substitute for continuing to learn. People who strive to be successful minimize their non-learning time.

Instead they use their time productively to better themselves in order to ensure their learning curve continues its journey north. Hobbies are acquired, passions are discovered, reading books and hands-on exploration take place.

Lifelong learners continue to accumul...

87 percent of these individuals devote thirty minutes or more a day to reading.

Rather than doing so for entertainment, he found they read books to both acquire and maintain knowledge.

Corley found that self-made millionaires read three types of books: biographies, self-help or perso...

Think about it: Reading thirty minutes a day would be equivalent to reading the equivalent of thirty books a year....

speed is between two and three hundred wor...

According to the Pew Research Internet's Group Poll, however, the average adult in the United States reads a mere five books a year.2 Hmmm. A few books to go to...

Make what you may consider “down time” up time. If it is your learning style, listen to a podcast or audio book on the way to work. Prepare

to use your time wisely as you wait for that doctor who could use a time management course. You will begin using what used to be wasteful time as part of your thirty daily minutes of lifelong learning. Choose to read, listen to, and experience from others based on what you strive to be. If you want to be great, read about accomplished people. If you want to overcome a challenge in your life, read about people who did just that. Lifelong learning exercises your mind. Besides boosting brain power, you will be mastering one success secret.

Learn Something New Every Day

One way successful people get their creative juices flowing is by learning something new every day.

Some gather new information related to their areas of expertise. Others take ti...

These go-getters schedule time on their calendars to challenge both their mind and body. It may be as simple as listening to a podcast, reading th...

Reading Self-made millionaires read for different reasons than the average American. The average American reads for pleasure and also to de-stress whereas most self-made millionaires choose topics to make their heads and minds rich. Although some read mystery and other nonfiction books written by their favorite authors, the majority of them focus on three areas of interest: self-improvement, biographies, and history, as shared in Secret 13 (Be a Lifelong Learner). One reason for these typ...

Most self-made millionaires, however, do not hold on to things. Instead, a trait that they possess is minimalism. They keep their lives simple by following the “quality rather than quantity rule.” They recognize that “less is more.” That includes making fewer decisions about what to wear, what to buy, where to go, what to eat, and so forth. Fewer things mean fewer decisions.

Do you use the same mug,

Identify who you are rather than what you have.

an essential secret for creating their own success was to identify individuals who had the necessary emotional intelligence and professional skills to be part of their team.

behavior profiling, such as DISC.

Four Ways to Build a Great Team Recognize that the sum is greater than the whole. That includes knowing that an organization is only as good as each team member. Keep your lines of communication open. Let team members know from the start that they have access to you. When there is something that can be done better, communicate it tactfully as a “teachable moment.”

Catch them “doing it right.” Your team members will enjoy working with you when they are acknowledged. A compliment goes a long way. Differentiate on business versus in business roles. Remind your organization's rainmakers that they should spend the majority of their day working on business rather than working in business. Those in-business tasks should be delegated to their teams who have in-business responsibilities.

Successful people recognize that they create more time in the day for themselves through their art of delegating.

Recognize that anything you have done three times should be delegated.

Individuals are miserable in their current jobs, yet stay in them for fear of not finding another one. They do not want to risk failure by not finding a job that may be better suited for them.

People often stay in unhealthy relationships rather than learning how to make better the relationships they have. They do not realize that a healthy relationship is not about the other person's habits changing.

It begins with how they react to the other p...

[W]e think faster than we talk. The average rate of speech for most Americans is 125 words per minute. Words race through our brains at speeds higher than 125 words per minute. . . . When we listen we ask our brains to receive words at an extremely slow pace compared to its capabilities.

Whether it was asking a question about something you do not understand or asking for a favor, successful people do not give it a second thought. They just ask!

The Instant Millionaire by Mark Fisher.

Put yourself in the place of the person who you are asking for help. If you would not think twice about helping someone who made the

same request, then what are you waiting for? Ask!

Pay it forward. Do unsolicited favors for others and expect nothing in return. People benefitting from your generosity will appreciate it. They will also be more willing t...