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9 Beliefs of Remarkably Successful People

The most successful people in business approach their work differently than most. See how they think--and why it works.

I'm fortunate enough to know a number of remarkably successful people. Regardless of industry or profession, they all share the same perspectives and beliefs.

And they act on those beliefs:

1. Time doesn't fill me. I fill time.

Deadlines and time frames establish parameters, but typically not in a good way. The average person who is given two weeks to complete a task will instinctively adjust his effort so it actually takes two weeks.

Forget deadlines, at least as a way to manage your activity. Tasks should only take as long as they need to take. Do everything as quickly and effectively as you can. Then use your "free" time to get other things done just as quickly and effectively.

Average people allow time to impose its will on them; remarkable people impose their will on their time.

2. The people around me are the people I chose.

Some of your employees drive you nuts. Some of your customers are obnoxious. Some of your friends are selfish, all-about-me jerks.

You chose them. If the people around you make you unhappy it's not their fault. It's your fault. They're in your professional or personal life because you drew them to you--and you let them remain.

Think about the type of people you want to work with. Think about the types of customers you would enjoy serving. Think about the friends you want to have.

Then change what you do so you can start attracting those people. Hardworking people want to work with hardworking people. Kind people like to associate with kind people. Remarkable employees want to work for remarkable bosses.

Successful people are naturally drawn to successful people.

3. I have never paid my dues.

Dues aren't paid, past tense. Dues get paid, each and every day. The only real measure of your value is the tangible contribution you make on a daily basis.

No matter what you've done or accomplished in the past, you're never too good to roll up your sleeves, get dirty, and do the grunt work. No job is ever too menial, no task ever too unskilled or boring.

Remarkably successful people never feel entitled--except to the fruits of their labor.

4. Experience is irrelevant. Accomplishments are everything.

You have "10 years in the Web design business." Whoopee. I don't care how long you've been doing what you do. Years of service indicate nothing; you could be the worst 10-year programmer in the world.

I care about what you've done: how many sites you've created, how many back-end systems you've installed, how many customer-specific applications you've developed (and what kind)... all that matters is what you've done.

Successful people don't need to describe themselves using hyperbolic adjectives like passionate, innovative, driven, etc. They can just describe, hopefully in a humble way, what they've done.

5. Failure is something I accomplish; it doesn't just happen to me.

Ask people why they have been successful. Their answers will be filled with personal pronouns: I, me, and the sometimes too occasional we.

Ask them why they failed. Most will revert to childhood and instinctively distance themselves, like the kid who says, "My toy got broken..." instead of, "I broke my toy."

They'll say the economy tanked. They'll say the market wasn't ready. They'll say their suppliers couldn't keep up.

They'll say it was someone or something else.

And by distancing themselves, they don't learn from their failures.

Occasionally something completely outside your control will cause you to fail. Most of the time, though, it's you. And that's okay. Every successful person has failed. Numerous times. Most of them have failed a lot more often than you. That's why they're successful now.

Embrace every failure: Own it, learn from it, and take full responsibility for making sure that next time, things will turn out differently.

6. Volunteers always win.

Whenever you raise your hand you wind up being asked to do more.

That's great. Doing more is an opportunity: to learn, to impress, to gain skills, to build new relationships--to do something more than you would otherwise been able to do.

Success is based on action. The more you volunteer, the more you get to act. Successful people step forward to create opportunities.

Remarkably successful people sprint forward.

7. As long as I'm paid well, it's all good.

Specialization is good. Focus is good. Finding a niche is good.

Generating revenue is great.

Anything a customer will pay you a reasonable price to do--as long as it isn't unethical, immoral, or illegal--is something you should do. Your customers want you to deliver outside your normal territory? If they'll pay you for it, fine. They want you to add services you don't normally include? If they'll pay you for it, fine. The customer wants you to perform some relatively manual labor and you're a high-tech shop? Shut up, roll 'em up, do the work, and get paid.

Only do what you want to do and you might build an okay business. Be willing to do what customers want you to do and you can build a successful business.

Be willing to do even more and you can build a remarkable business.

And speaking of customers...

8. People who pay me always have the right to tell me what to do.

Get over your cocky, pretentious, I-must-be-free-to-express-my-individuality self. Be that way on your own time.

The people who pay you, whether customers or employers, earn the right to dictate what you do and how you do it--sometimes down to the last detail.

Instead of complaining, work to align what you like to do with what the people who pay you want you to do.

Then you turn issues like control and micro-management into non-issues.

9. The extra mile is a vast, unpopulated wasteland.

Everyone says they go the extra mile. Almost no one actually does. Most people who go there think, "Wait... no one else is here... why am I doing this?" and leave, never to return.

That's why the extra mile is such a lonely place.

That's also why the extra mile is a place filled with opportunities.

Be early. Stay late. Make the extra phone call. Send the extra email. Do the extra research. Help a customer unload or unpack a shipment. Don't wait to be asked; offer. Don't just tell employees what to do--show them what to do and work beside them.

Every time you do something, think of one extra thing you can do--especially if other people aren't doing that one thing. Sure, it's hard.

But that's what will make you different.

And over time, that's what will make you incredibly successful.

by Jeff Haden

10 Steps to Detect and Stop Secret Self-Sabotage

It's a little known - yet much denied fact - that people treat you the way you secretly ask to be treated. Your unspoken request that determines how others behave toward you is extended to - and received by - everyone you meet.

What is your invisible inner life? It's the way you actually feel - as
opposed to the way you're trying to appear - when meeting any person or
event.

In other words, your invisible inner life is your real inner condition.
It's this state of internal affairs that communicates with others long
before any words are exchanged. These silent signals from your inner self
are what a person receives first upon meeting you. The reading of them
determines from that point forward, the basis of your relationship. This
unseen dialogue that goes on behind the scenes whenever two people meet is
commonly understood as "sizing one another up." But hëre's the point of
this introduction.

We're often led to act against ourselves by an undetected weakness that
goes before us - trying to pass itself off to others - as strength. This
is secrët self-sabotage. It sinks us in our personal and business
relationships as surely as a torpedo wrecks the ship it strikes.

Any person you feel the need to control or dominate - so that he or she
will treat you as you "think" you should be treated - will always be in
control of you and treat you accordingly. Why? Because anyone from whom
you want something, psychologically speaking, is always in secrët command
of you.

It would nevër dawn on any person to want to be more powerful or superior
to someone else unless there was some psychic character within him or her
that secretly felt itself to be weaker or lesser than that other
individual.

Any action we take to appear strong before another person is actually read
by that person as a weakness. If you doubt this finding, review the past
interactions and results of your own relationships. The general rule of
thumb is that the more you demand or crave the respect of others, the less
likely you are to receive it.

So it makes no sense to try and change the way others treat you by
learning calculated behaviors or attitude techniques in order to appear in
charge. Stop trying to be strong. Instead, start catching yourself about
to act from weakness. Don't be too surprised by this unusual instruction.
A brief examination reveals its wisdom. Following are ten examples of
where you may be secretly sabotaging yourself while wrongly assuming
you're strengthening your position with others.

1. Fawning before people to wïn their favor.
2. Expressing contrived concern for someone's well being.
3. Making small talk to smooth out the edges.
4. Hanging onto someone's every word.
5. Looking for someone's approval.
6. Asking if someone is angry with you.
7. Fishing for a kind word.
8. Trying to impress someone.
9. Gossiping.
10. Explaining yourself to others.

The next time you feel yourself about to give in to any of the above
behaviors, give yourself a quick and simple internal test. This test will
help you check for and cancel any undetected weakness that's about to make
you sabotage yourself.

Hëre's what to do: Run a pressure chëck. Here's how:

Come wide awake and run a quick inner scan within yourself to see if that
remark you're about to make, or the answer you're about to give without
having been asked for it, is something you really want to do. Are you
about to speak because you're afraid of some as yet undisclosed
consequence if you don't?

Your awareness of any pressure building within you is proof that it's some
förm of fear - and not you - that wants to do the explaining, fawning,
impressing, blabbing, or whatever the self-sabotaging act the inner
pressure is pushing you to commit.

Each time you feel this pressurized urge to give yourself away, silently
but solidly refuse to release this pressure by giving in to its demands.
It may help you to succeed sooner if you know that fear has no voice
unless it tricks you into giving it one. So stay silent. Your conscious
silence stops self-sabotage.

Special Summary: In any and every moment of your life, you are either in
command of yourself or you are being commanded.

Excerpted from Design Your Destiny, Copyright 1999 - Guy Finley Published by Llewellyn Publications

Have faith my confused and polarized fellow Americans during this dysfunctional time in our history; the remainder of the free world figured us out a long time ago!

Life gives you the experience THEN teaches you the lesson.

The Facts of Life in America: 2015

Average Income in the United States

Income by Education Levels Income 2010 Income 2015
Average Annual Income $48,016 $50,500
High School Dropout $28,016 $23,492
Some College $43,854 $36,804
Associates Degree $49,970 $42,820
Bachelor’s Degree $68,728 $56,432
Master’s Degree $78,541 $72,824
Professional Degree $99,130 $91,220
Doctoral Degree $96,830 $87,448

Income is the consumption and savings opportunity gained by an entity within a specified timeframe, which is generally expressed in monetary terms. Income per capita has been increasing steadily in almost every country. Many factors contribute to people having a higher income such as Education, globalization and favorable political circumstances such as economic freedom and peace.

Statistic Verification Source: OTEXA, D&B Hoovers, ITMF Research Date: August 4th, 2015

Out of every 100 people starting working between 18-25, by age 65:
1% will be considered wealthy
4% have adequate capital stowed away for retirement
3% will still be working
63% are dependent on Social Security, friends, relatives or charity
29% are dead

*Pay attention here: Out of every 100 men & women in the United States who begin their working career between the ages of 18-25, 92 out of 100 will be dead or dead broke by the time they reach 65.

Retirement Statistics Data
Average retirement age 63
Average length of retirement 18 years
Average savings of a 50 year old $42,797
Total cost for a couple over 65 to pay for medical treatment over a 20 year span $218,000
Percentage of people ages 30-54 who believe they’ll not have enough money saved for retirement 80%
Percentage of Americans over 65 who rely completely on Social Security 36%
Percentage of Americans who don’t save anything for retirement 38%
Number of Americans who turn 65 per day 6,100
Percentage of population that is 65 years of age or older 13%

Americans older than 50 account for:
77% Percent of all financial assets
54% Percent of total consumer demand
77% Prescription drug purchases
61% All over-the-counter drugs
47% Auto Sales
80% All luxury travel purchases

Amount Needed in Savings for Retirement
Monthly income needed 20 Years 30 Years
$1,000 $166,696 $212,150
$2,000 $333,392 $424,300
$3,000 $500,087 $636,450
$4,000 $666,783 $848,601
$5,000 $833,479 $1,060,751
$6,000 $1,000,175 $1,272,901
$7,000 $1,166,871 $1,485,051
$8,000 $1,333,567 $1,697,201
$9,000 $1,500,262 $1,909,351
$10,000 $1,666,958 $2,121,501

The above sums assume your portfolio will earn a 6 percent annualized return during the course of your retirement and endure 2 percent annual inflation erosion.

Retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours. Many people choose to retire when they are eligible for private or public pension benefits, although some are forced to retire when physical conditions no longer allow the person to work anymore (by illness or accident) or as a result of legislation concerning their position. In most countries, the idea of retirement is of recent origin, being introduced during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Previously, low life expectancy and the absence of pension arrangements meant that most workers continued to work until death. Germany was the first country to introduce retirement, in 1889.

American Family Financial Statistics Data
Average American family savings account balance: $3,950
Percent of working Americans who are not saving for retirement: 40 %
Percent of American families who have no savings at all: 25 %
Average amount saved for retirement: $35,000
Average American household debt: $117,951
Average American family home value: $160,000
Average amount owed on home mortgage: $95,000
Average American household annual income: $43,000
Average credit card debt: $2,200
Percent of American workers who postponed retirement age this year: 24 %
Percent surveyed who are very confident about having enough money for retirement: 18 %
Percent of American adults who don't have a bank account: 7.7 %
Percent of American adults who have an emergency fund to fall back on: 38 %

Savings accounts are accounts maintained by retail financial institutions that pay interest but cannot be used directly as money in the narrow sense of a medium of exchange (for example, by writing a check). These accounts let customers set aside a portion of their liquid assets while earning a monetary return. For the bank, money in a savings account may not be callable immediately and therefore often does not incur a reserve requirement freeing up cash from the bank's vault to be lent out with interest.

American net worth Statistics
Age Range Median Net Worth Average Net Worth
Less than 35 $14,200 $73,500
35 – 44 $69,400 $299,200
45 – 54 $144,700 $542,700
55 – 64 $248,700 $843,800
65 – 74 $190,100 $690,900
75 or more $163,100 $528,100

Statistic Verification Source: U.S. Federal Reserve Research Date: 7.9.2014