Million Dollar Habits: 10 Simple Steps to Getting Everything You Want in Life by Robert Ringer - book review

Summary and takeaways from the book.



"Success is matter of understanding and religiously practicing specific, simple habits that always lead to success".


ISBN: 978-1626363984
Published: January 2, 2014
Pages: 236
Available on: amazon


"Success is matter of understanding and religiously practicing specific, simple habits that always lead to success".

The author rightly claims that "habits can be developed by anyone who is willing to put forth the necessary effort".

"success is not dependent upon one's being blessed with superior intelligence or special skills, nor does formal education, hard work, or luck play a major role in an individual's climb toward success".

This is a positive message. Success is an outcome of your habits.

The author talks of 10 major habits that contribute to success.

Reality Habit

People have illusions about reality. They develop mental models in school, and never change them. This is where the expression '50-year old with high school mindset' comes from.

People take the intellectually lazy way out when making decisions. "when it comes time to take action, we often suppress our intellect and allow our emotions to guide us".

"Truth is abhorred by the masses". Instead, they try to make true that which they love—a self-delusive practice that virtually guarantees frustration and failure.

They have beliefs which cannot be challenged or explored or questioned.

"Unfortunately, most people live in an unreal world; i.e., they create a world in their own minds based on the way they would like it to be rather than the way it actually is".

"positive results rarely find their way to people who harbor a faulty perception of reality". They fail and fail. Then they develop a fantasy based model of life and use it to fit reality. Some examples are conspiracy theories, hidden factors, secret dark forces, evil capitalists etc.
People's approach to life is: "I have abandoned the search for truth, and am now looking for a good fantasy".

Attitude Habit

Author recommends us to have right attitude when facing challenges. Explore all alternatives.

Morality Habit

Have clear values: that you can articulate and share with others.

Avoid little white lies and exaggeration.

Avoid omissions.

Good People Habit

Brevity: keep your explanations short. Don't bore people or waste their time.

Simplicity Habit

Avoid Overcommitment

Don't dilly dally and get nothing done.

Division of labor: dont do everything yourself. Delegate. Don't expect one person to do everything.

Drain People Habit

Cut off people who achieve nothing or are dysfunctional.

Self Discipline Habit

Cultivate self discipline and look for discipline in others. This extends to discipline regarding time, money, attention, commitment etc.

Action Habit

Probably the most important habit. All other habits mean nothing without habit for action. There will be no results without action.

The biggest obstacle to action is "Waiting for Something to Happen".
"If you want something to happen, make it happen.

Conditions are never right at the right time; the timing is always wrong
".

Summary

Checkist for Habits of Success
Assess from these habits if there is likelihood of success or not.
Reality Habit Do we suppress our intellect and allow our emotions to guide us or
Beliefs which cannot be challenged or explored or questioned or
Looking for a good fantasy or
Attitude Habit Explore all alternatives or
Morality Habit Have clear values that you can articulate and share with others or
Avoid little white lies and exaggeration. or
Avoid omissions. or
Good People Habit Brevity: keep your explanations short. Don't bore people or waste their time. or
Simplicity Habit Avoid Overcommitment or
Don't dilly dally and get nothing done or
Division of labor or
Drain People Habit Cut off people who achieve nothing or are dysfunctional. or
Self Discipline Habit Cultivate self discipline and look for discipline in others.
This extends to discipline regarding time, money, attention, commitment etc.
or
Action Habit The biggest obstacle to action is "Waiting for Something to Happen". or






Related articles

Needham Question
Obesity



External Links