Success Habits for Dummies

Discover the ultimate success habits for a healthy and prosperous life

Whether we like it or not, a big part of what we do in life is governed by habits. Even more importantly, habits can lead us to think and feel in certain patterns. Since habits are so powerful, it's worth paying attention to the ones that are most effective. Inside, bestselling author Dirk Zeller provides tried-and-true advice on creating, building, and cultivating winning habits to achieve success. 

Success Habits For Dummies is a gold mine of startling insights and practical pointers on achieving success. No matter what your station in life, it can quickly put you on the road to the success you want and deserve. With wit, warmth, and loads of practical wisdom, Dirk Zeller helps you:

• Discover how habits determine 95% of a person’s behavior  
• Get to know how the people who achieve most in life take deliberate steps to ensure their goals are met
• Make a practical plan to perform at your maximum potential
• Maintain a growth mindset that makes you capable of change

Everything that you are today, and everything that you will ever accomplish, is determined by the quality of the habits that you form. By creating good habits and adopting a positive behavior, you too can become successful and live a prosperous life.

Dirk Zeller is recognized internationally as one of the premier speakers and coaches on sales, success, time management, and peak performance. Dirk's proven systems and strategies take ordinary performers and transforms them into extraordinary performers. Zeller's strategies on wealth and success enable anyone to achieve financial independence in their life.

Introduction 1

About This Book 2

Foolish Assumptions 2

Icons Used in This Book 3

Beyond the Book 3

Where to Go from Here 3

Part 1: Principles and Formulas for Success 5

Chapter 1: Success is a Habit 7

What is Success? 8

What isn’t Success? 9

The Only Thing That’s Important: What Success is to You 9

The Different Categories of Success 11

Creating the Habit of Success 14

Establishing a Consistent Process of Success 16

Staying on Track to Your Success 20

Chapter 2: Success Leaves Clues 23

Ask a Successful Person to Be Your Mentor 25

Approaching Success Like Preparing a Recipe 28

Chapter 3: Discipline: The Magic Habit 35

Discipline is a Reward, Not a Punishment 36

Deciding Where to Focus Your Discipline 39

The Keys to Success 40

Mastering the Law of Sowing and Reaping 43

Part 2: Putting Together Your Success Plan 49

Chapter 4: Tapping into Personal Motivation 51

The Benefits of Being Motivated 52

What Motivates Most People 52

Personalizing Your Drivers 55

The Three Categories of Motivation 56

Diving Deeper into Your Behavioral Style 58

Understanding and Motivating Yourself as a Dominant 60

Understanding and Motivating Yourself as an Influencer 62

Understanding and Motivating Yourself as a Steady 64

Understanding and Motivating Yourself as a Compliant 66

Choosing Other Types of Motivation 67

Chapter 5: Goals: The Power Source of Achievement 73

Understanding the Power of Goals: We Become What We Think About 74

Overcoming the Barriers to Goal Setting 75

Harnessing the Power of Paper 77

Establishing Your Fabulous 50 79

Labeling and Balancing Your Fabulous 50 84

Creating Your Success Tournament 86

Increasing the Speed to Achievement 89

Pinpointing Your Resource Needs 92

Chapter 6: Dealing with Adversity and Setbacks 95

You Will Learn More from Your Failures than Success 96

The Power of Persistence 100

Protecting Your Attitude 105

Part 3: Achieving Optimum Health 109

Chapter 7: Here’s to Your Physical Health 111

We Only Get One to Live In 112

Creating Your Health Team 113

Taking Care of Your Mental Health 115

Dealing with Health Events 117

Eat for Success 120

Let’s Get Physical 124

Rest is Required 126

Chapter 8: Developing the Right Mental Attitude 129

Determining to Be Positive 130

Cultivating Your Self-Esteem 133

Comparison for Encouragement 136

Developing the Habit of Personal Reward 138

Chapter 9: Tapping into Your Spiritual Side 139

We are All Spiritual Beings 140

Improving Your Success by Developing Your Spirituality 143

Growing Spiritually 147

Part 4: Success Through Relationships 153

Chapter 10: Developing Valuable Friendships 155

What We Learned in Kindergarten Still Applies 156

Creating Friends through Personal Connection 158

Developing Your Likeability 163

When Disagreements Arise 166

Chapter 11: Developing Your Most Important Friendship 171

Committed Personal Relationships are Not Automatic 172

The Value of the Institution of Marriage 175

Commitment is the Key Ingredient 177

Communicating Creates Oneness 179

Compromise for Harmony 183

Cling to Commitment 185

Chapter 12: Having a Successful Family 189

Being a Successful Parent 190

Little Habits to Create Big Success 195

Building Your Child’s Character 201

Honoring Your Father and Mother 206

Chapter 13: Building High-Quality Business Relationships 211

Providing More Service Than You are Paid For 212

What Makes a Great Employee 215

What Makes a Great Employer 218

Building Customer and Client Relationships 223

Part 5: Success with Wealth and Money 227

Chapter 14: Achieving Financial Success 229

The Search for Financial Freedom 230

Wealthy People are Different 233

The First Step: Define Your Wealth Number 236

Understanding the Different Types of Wealth 244

Chapter 15: Becoming Master of the Board 249

Personal Wealth is the Board Game of Life 249

Debt: Your Foe or Friend? 255

Chapter 16: Crafting Your Wealth Plan 263

Realizing Your Market Value 264

Fighting Against Human Nature: Wants Become Needs 264

Pay the Most Important Person First: You 269

Guaranteeing Your Retirement Success 275

Part 6: The Time and Success Connection 283

Chapter 17: Setting Your Habits for Time Management Success 285

Getting to Know Yourself 286

Following a System 289

Overcoming Time-Management Obstacles 291

Secondary Defenses: Minimizing Damage When Calls Get Through 294

Maintaining Your Motivation as You Press Ahead 297

Making Decisions: Just Do it 298

Keeping Motivation High 304

Chapter 18: Time Equals Money 305

Why Your Hourly Rate is Important 306

Calculating Your Hourly Income 307

Boosting Your Hourly Value through Your Work Efforts 308

Making Value-Based Time Decisions in Your Personal Life 310

Chapter 19: Creating the Success Habit of Time-Blocking 315

Focusing Your Energy with the 80/20 Theory of Everything 316

Getting Down to Specifics: Daily Prioritization 323

Blocking Off Your Time and Plugging in Your To-Do Items 326

Assessing Your Progress and Adjusting Your Plan as Needed 331

Part 7: The Part of Tens 335

Chapter 20: Ten Personal Characteristics to Improve Success 337

Perseverance 338

Doing More than You are Paid For 338

Lifelong Learning 339

Gratitude 339

Positive Attitude 340

Integrity 340

Persuasion 341

Patience 341

Concentration 342

Self-Confidence 343

Chapter 21: Ten Measures and Models of Success 345

Playing Your Game 345

Keeping Up with Daily Habits 346

Staying on Top of Your Physical Health 347

Serving Others 347

Maintaining Business Savvy or Entrepreneurial Spirit 348

Working toward Security 348

Building Self-Confidence 349

Looking for Self-Improvement 350

Staying Mentally Tough 350

Creating a Legacy 350

Chapter 22: The Ten Biggest Wealth Success Mistakes 353

Starting Too Late or Not Early Enough 353

Lacking Clarity for Your Future 354

Not Having a Written Wealth Strategy Plan 354

Carrying High-Interest-Rate Consumer Debt 355

Not Using “Good Debt” Wisely 355

Not Having a Rainy-Day Fund 356

Poor Estate Planning 357

Going Alone without a Wealth Team 358

Being Timid When Opportunity Arrives 360

Not Remaining Married to Your First Spouse 361

Index 363 

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