Success Secrets of Self Made Millionaires (2) By Bayo Ogunmupe Developing a clear sense of direction through the crystallization of your dreams into clear, specific written goals is the second secret of success. The greatest discovery in human history is that: You become what you think about most of the time. The factors that, more than anything else, determine what happens to you in life are: what you think about and how you think about it most of the time. Great people think about their goals most of the time, resulting in their continually moving toward them. What you think about most grows and increases in your life. Here is a seven step formula for setting and achieving goals. You can use this formula to become a millionaire. First, decide exactly what you want in each area of your life, especially your financial life as a millionaire to be. Second, write down your goals clearly and specifically. An amazing miracle happens between your head and your hand which makes the goal indelible in your subconscious when you put your goals in writing. Third, set deadlines for each goal. Give yourself a target to aim at. Fourth, make a list of whatever you can think of doing to achieve each goal. Always apply creative problem solving in sourcing for ideas to achieve your goals. Fifth, organize your list into a plan of action. Determine the order of priority in the execution of your plan. Start executing from the most important. Sixth, take immediate action on your plan; never procrastinate. Seventh, do something everyday that moves you a step closer to your goal. This commitment to daily action will make you a big success in anything you wish to accomplish. For your action exercise: Always think on paper, that is to say, always write down your dreams on paper in order to impress them into your subconscious. Sit down and create your goals and your plans to achieve them. This exercise alone will make you a self made millionaire. Seeing yourself as self employed is the third secret of success. You are the captain of your soul and the master of your fate. Take hundred percent responsibility for what you are now and everything you will ever be. Never make excuses or blame anyone for your shortcomings and refuse to criticize others for anything. If there is anything in your life you don't like, change it. You are in charge of your life. The biggest mistake you can ever make is to think is that you working for anyone other than yourself. See yourself as self employed if even you are working for a company or government. When you see yourself as self employed, you develop an entrepreneur mentality, the mentality of a responsible self starting individuals. This is the mindset of the self made millionaire. He takes high levels of initiative and he is result oriented. The fourth secret of success is: Do what you love. Doing what you love is one of the secrets of success, because you no longer see your work as a burden, you see it as a labour of love. Doing what you love means you are engaged in a job that fascinates you, that holds your attention, that is a natural expression of your talents and abilities. Self made millionaires, if they won a million dollar cash, would continue doing what they are doing. They would only do it differently or at a higher level. They love their work so much that they wouldn't even think of leaving it or retiring. The great leader does what he loves as work and dedicates himself to it. Take Wole Soyinka as an example. He devoted his life to Literature, writing novels, poetry, drama, acting plays, translating folklore to English; he never applied to be vice chancellor of a university. When road safety became a distraction he resigned as chairman. Which was why he won the Nobel Prize in his field in 1986. James Peebles, Professor Emeritus at Princeton University, USA, won the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics after 55 years of teaching and research, whither such excellence and perseverance in Africa? That is my opening remark on the fifth secret of success: a commitment to excellence. The quality of your life will be determined by the depth of your commitment to excellence, no matter your chosen field or career. It is our lack of commitment to excellence that is responsible for our failure to discover a World Health Organization accepted cure for a human ailment since the beginning of time. Nor are we able to manufacture our own cars like Japan and India. Which is why you should resolve today to be the very best at what you do. Set a goal to join the top 10 percent of your field. Virtually, all great people are recognized as being extremely competent in their chosen professions. Here is a good code for success: Your life only gets better when you get better. And there is no limit to how much better you can become. There is no limit to how much better you can make your life. You cannot become good at everything. You must identify the one skill that can help you the most and then throw your whole heart into developing that skill. Working long and hard is my sixth secret of success. Self made millionaires practice the '40 Plus' formula. This formula says you work 40 hours per week for survival; over 40 hours for success. If you only work 40 hours a week, all you will ever do is survive. You will never get ahead. You will ever remain a mediocre. The average working week today is 35 hours. Self made millionaires work an average of 59 hours per week; many work up to 80 hours a week at the start of their careers.