8 Timeless Keys To Wealth and Success
Estimated reading time: 6 Min
In 1997 Michael Jeffreys interviewed 15 motivational gurus for his book ‘8 Secrets to Success’ that provide a timeless guide to wealth and success.
The experts he talked with included Brian Tracy and Dr Wayne Dyer.
From his interviews he distilled “Secrets” to Success that they all agreed on.
I believe everyone wants to learn if there are practical clues to being successful.
Today MJ’s guidelines still stand up to scrutiny although I prefer to call his “secrets”, “keys” instead because they are really not secrets!
Successful people incorporate these keys in their mindset.
Key 1: Take 100% Responsibility For Your Life
In today’s society, many of us develop the habit of blaming everybody from our parents to the government for any failures.
Blaming something or somebody outside themselves is, in effect, allowing others to control your life.
This habit makes a person a victim.
Those who don’t buy into a victim mentality and take responsibility for their own actions have a far greater chance of learning how to be rich and successful.
Someone else’s opinion of you doesn’t have to become your reality unless you allow it. You have control and you decide.
Key 2: Live Your Life On Purpose
What separates motivational thinkers from the rest of us is that, in the main, they strongly believe they’re doing what they were put here to do.
People who feel they have a purpose and design their life with their purpose in mind are highly motivated and more creative than those without a purpose.
Those without purpose tend to avoid problems rather than strive to achieve their goals.
When you live life on purpose, your main focus is achieving what you want so for the entrepreneur (for example) this means finding a cause you believe you can build your business around.
Key 3: Be Willing To Pay The Price
Success requires being willing to pay the price for your dreams.
Wanting a big house, a luxury car and a million dollars in the bank is all very nice, and most of us want these things – but are you willing to pay the price to be rich and successful?
Are you passionate enough to put in the time it takes to learn what you need and then carry out the necessary actions?
This is one of the major differences between those who achieve what they want and those who don’t.
Key 4: Stay Focused
Every day we’re bombarded with hundreds of tasks, phone calls, messages, emails all competing for our time.
Focusing is an essential part of doing what it takes.
It requires giving up some things in the present in order to invest your time in something that will pay off big-time later.
Focus requires getting organised, task management and motivation.
Living life on purpose requires focus.
Focus is far easier for those who take responsibility for living their life on purpose.
Key 5: Become An Expert In Your Field
One striking factor all successful people have in common is how seriously they take their profession.
They strive to be the best at what they do and constantly look for ways to improve.
This mean they are willing to take the risk of making mistakes!
If someone followed you around all day with a video camera, would you be proud of the resultant recording?
Make the decision today to work at being the best in your field by finding out what the “best” in your field are doing then learn to do what they do, and improve on it.
Key 6: Write a Plan For Achieving Your Goals
Successful people write down their goals (their aspirations or intentional outcomes) and create a scheduled action plan for how they are going to achieve them.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that they put dates against their goals; but they do figure out priorities for their goals and tasks.
A longer-term goal that isn’t written down is merely a wish or a fantasy.
Trying to reach your goals without a plan is like trying to drive from London to Lisbon for the first time without a map.
Here is a guide on planning and achieving goals.
Key 7: Perseverance
“Never, ever, ever give up”
Winston Churchill
When you’re fully committed to achieving your goal, giving up is not an option.
True commitment is very powerful.
You must be willing to do what it takes to make it happen.
It’s obvious that you will never discover how to be rich and successful if you give up trying.
This does not mean there won’t be any setbacks!
But it means that every time you fall, you must get up and try again.
Commitment and perseverance… both awesome forces.
As someone once said, “inch by inch it’s a cinch”.
Never give up!
Keep on going like a dripping tap, and eventually, sooner or later, you’ll get there.
Jack Canfield and Mark Hanson were turned down by 30 publishers when they submitted the first “Chicken Soup for the Soul” book.
Instead of giving up, they stayed focused on their goal and did four or five interviews per day for radio, TV, and newspapers, five days a week for a whole year.
Eventually, a small publisher decided to take a chance, and as you probably know, it became a best-seller that spawned an entire series that sold more than 10 million copies.
They simply refused to give up; they just kept going.
Key 8: Don’t Delay
None of us knows how much time we have left to accomplish our dreams, and we all know we don’t have forever.
The clock is always ticking, and sooner or later our number comes up and we’re gone.
We can’t manage time but we can manage what we do with it.
Successful achievers know this too, and they don’t view it as a “negative”.
Achievers use it to “spur them on”.
They go after what they want as soon as they can, as energetically and passionately as possible, for as long a time as they have.
Summary: 8 Keys To Wealth And Success
Achieving wealth and success is not about secrets, but rather adopting specific habits and mindset shifts.
These 8 key principles include taking full responsibility for your life, living with purpose, and being willing to pay the price for success.
Focus, expertise, goal setting, perseverance, and making the most of time are also essential.
Ultimately, success is determined by values, beliefs, and a commitment to taking action— right now because there is no other time…
The past is passed.
We lived the past in “the now” of that time; it can’t be lived again.
Right now is the only time we know we have for certain.
When we achieve our dreams it’ll be in “the now” of that time.
Now is the moment to figure out what we want.
Now is the moment to figure out how to get there.
Now is the time to take the first step.
Now is the time we take the next step.
Now is the time we arrive…
Make the most of now, there is no other time!
If you have any questions, please reach out, add a comment or contact me.
If you think others might find it useful, please share.
😉
Richard
Great article. Be willing to pay the price is so true. So many people today want instant gratification, and want things given to them. This reminds me of a saying, “Don’t wish it were easier, wish you were better”. If it was so easy, everyone would be doing it.
I actually just heard the phrase the other day, “inch by inch it’s a cinch”. It was followed with, “yard by yard is hard”. That phrase has stuck in my mind, as sure as one that I’ll remember.
Don’t ever give up! ?
Hi Willow
Thank you for your thoughtful comment.
A challenge is that most people already intellectually ‘know’ the 8 points in my post; unfortunately most people don’t walk the talk, they just put lip service to the ideas. I would love to find good ways to encourage people to take the ideas properly onboard.
Best wishes
Richard