Using the Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires

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There are characteristics common among men and women who started out with nothing and achieved great financial success. Characteristics that are responsible for their success. They are traits anyone of average intelligence can develop if he or she is willing to pay the price.

It is estimated that today every 58 minutes someone in the United States or Canada becomes a millionaire. And the rate is accelerating. When self-made millionaires are studied, however, it is found that they are not necessarily smarter than the average person.

It is found that most self-made millionaires did not complete college. According to a study, between 68% and 75% of them did not complete college or never attended in the first place. Many of them got poor grades in school. Some of them even dropped out of high school and went to work to help support their family.

It is also found that 80% to 90% of self-made millionaires came from a working class background. They did not come necessarily from a background that would open up opportunities for them. Most started with no opportunities at all.

I believe that one reason why people of average intelligence tend to be more successful is that they do not fall into what we call the intelligence trap. This is what people fall into when they think that they know it all, they stop learning. Consequently, their peers, who are continually asking questions and learning, move ahead of them.

Mr. Brian Tracy, in his extensive study of one particular group of achievers, the self-made millionaires, learned that they possess seven basic qualities and characteristics responsible for their success. To make it easier for us to remember these seven qualities, or keys, according to Mr. Tracy, he used the acronym SECRETS. So, let's spell out these keys to learn what Mr. Tracy found in these secrets:

* Sense of Purpose: All men and women who achieve a high level of success in life are intensely goal-oriented. They have what Charles Garfield, in his work on peak performance, calls "a sense of mission". They are extremely focused on what they are doing. They have a clear vision of the person they want to become and what they want to accomplish.

* Excellence, more specifically, the making of the commitment: It means making a decision, at some point in their life, that you are going to be the best at what you do, or do it to the best of your ability. They do not just finish their work, they finish it to the best of their ability. If you do not love your work enough to want to be the best at it, get out of that work and find something else. One of your greatest responsibilities in life is to find the work that is meaningful to you. We can never be happy or have high self-esteem and be enthusiastic about ourselves unless we are doing our work in an excellent fashion.

* Contribution: This refers to the contributions we make to our jobs, to our families, to our customers, to our friends, to our environment, and ultimately to our world. Peter Drucker says in his book, The Effective Executive, that a focus of contribution is the hallmark of personal and professional effectiveness. The great turn-on, the great motivator, for self-made millionaires, comes from knowing that what they are doing for others is valuable, and that it is enriching, ennobling, and enhancing the lives of others. All self-made millionaires concentrate continually on increasing the value of what they are doing for others.

* Responsibility: This means taking 100% acceptance for your life, for everything that happens to you. Losers make excuses; winners make progress. Losers blame others; winners accept total responsibility for their lives. Everything that will ever happen to you is up to you. Everything that you are today is your responsibility. It is not your family's; it's not your spouse's or children's. It is not the government's; it is not your boss'. It is yours.

* Effort: Every single study has revealed that there are no shortcuts to success, no substitute for hard work, and that the sooner you get your shoulder to the wheel, and put in those extra hours and develop those talents, skills, and abilities, the sooner you will become successful.

* Time Management: You never get time; you always have to make time for the things that are most important. Manage your time effectively by doing it NOW, setting priorities, concentrating on one thing at a time, and keeping your life in balance.

* Stay with it: In everything you do, stay with it, apply your drive. A quality that ties in closely with persistence is courage, the willingness to take risks. Persistence and courage are functions of your belief in yourself. Thomas J. Watson, the founder of IBM, said it very well many years ago when he stated, "Do you want to be successful? Then double your failure rate." The more times you fail and learn from those failures, the faster you achieve success.

So, the secrets of success suggest that we never stop learning; that we read, listen to audiocassettes; view DVD’s; attend seminars. Do all you can to become a perpetual learning machine. You are the most valuable and precious asset you will ever have. Invest in yourself by working on yourself, every day.

Remember: When you maximize your potential, everyone wins. When you don't, we all lose.

About the Author

Etienne A. Gibbs, MSW, Management Consultant and Trainer, conducts seminars, lectures, and writes articles on his theme: "... helping you maximize your potential." For more information visit www.maximizingyourpotential.blogspot.com, or email him at eagibbs@ureach.com.