Have you ever had one of those rare moments when you don’t fully realize the true significance of a moment until the moment has passed? I had one of them recently when I had an opportunity to sit down and chat with a man who I’ve admired in business since I found out who he was about six months ago. He’s excelled in pretty much every industry he’s touched from music to network marketing. He’ll be the first to tell you himself that he didn’t excel in those arenas because he was an extraordinary person. He worked very hard for his success. However, what is truly extraordinary about him is his thirst for and commitment to the growth and transformation of something that we all possess and have the ability to change at any moment.

Before I share some of the insights and nuggets from my conversation with a person of wealth, let me help create some perspective for you by sharing a contrasting story. About a week prior to this vision-stretching session with my new mentor, I met a woman at an event where I was presenting some information about my business. At the conclusion of my talk, the woman shared what she described as a bad experience with a similar business because it required more work than she realized in order to have success. It required hard work. I thought to myself, the business she’s referring to was one that I actually made a decent amount of money with and helped to put me on track to becoming a full-time entrepreneur. We had two totally different experiences with the same business. That got me thinking further…but I didn’t connect the dots fully until later.

That day with my new multi-millionaire mentor, whose name is Edwin Haynes, I learned that he had very humble beginnings, including a learning disability that made him read slower than normal. That means that it required him to work harder to read, which of course at the time he hated. Today, not only is he an avid reader, he’s an author. Clearly, the hard work paid off right? But I believe it wasn’t just his work ethic that got him to where he is. All the books that I’ve read over the last fifteen years like Think and Grow Rich, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind and The Top 10 Distinctions Between Millionaires and the Middle Class all point to one critical determining factor to our success – mindset.

Have you ever wondered why or how two people who grew up in the same circumstances, sometimes even the same households, go on to lead opposite lives of wealth and poverty? Is it really because one was more capable of attaining wealth than the other?

Mr. Haynes talked about his struggle with overcoming what he calls programming, or conditioning. His programming, like many of ours, told him to do the things the people around him were doing. But then he realized that there was a whole world of success outside of the box he grew up in and it required him to do something different to get out of it. It was uncomfortable and it required him to stretch himself beyond what he believed was possible for himself. But he persevered anyway.

What really became clear to me that day was that success is a choice. Living your most abundant life possible is simply a decision you make. Living a life of greatness is not about whether or not someone is capable, because I believe God put that ability in all of us. Many of us just suffer from a belief deficit and quite frankly, stinking thinking. The good news is, we have the ability to change our belief and our mindset at any time.

I mentioned before what I thought was extraordinary about Mr. Haynes is his thirst for and commitment to the growth and transformation of something that we all possess and have the ability to change at any moment. That is mindset. He’s constantly elevating himself to new levels because he continues to invest time, money and energy into his own personal growth and development, which begins and ends with the proper mindset.

My day with Mr. Haynes was my way of investing in my own personal growth and development. It cost me time, money and energy. But was it worth it? Absolutely! The nuggets I learned from that conversation elevated my mindset, which in turn has motivated me to increase my work ethic, contributing to increased results. They’re all connected.

Here are some of the biggest takeaways from our conversation that I hope will inspire you in some way as well.

1. It costs more to be broke than it does to be rich/wealthy. If you’ve ever been severely challenged financially you know this to be true with the consequences of late fees, bad credit, etc. Mr. Haynes wasn’t just talking about being broke financially though. What about being broke from a time standpoint or worse, being broke from a purpose or passion standpoint? What does it cost you to not be operating in your purpose? Is it worth working hard to be able to live and walk abundantly in your purpose?
2. The mind doesn’t know the difference between the truth and a lie. Tell yourself what you want to believe. Our minds are one of the most powerful computers on the planet. And just like a computer, it has programming that we have the power to rewrite. Instead of feeding it with what is, feed it with what you desire. If you don’t believe in subconscious mind power or the power of suggestion, just read any of the books I mention above and see for yourself.
3. Success principles always work, just like the law of gravity. We cannot escape the laws of success any more than we can escape the laws of gravity. Commit to studying these principles and then execute them in your life to test it out. What do you have to lose? Or better question, how much do you stand to gain?