Habits consist of behaving, consisting of thinking. Thinking, behaving, and habits decide success or failure. Thinking, behaving, and habits are the cause; success or failure is the effect. Controlling your thinking, behaving, and habits, you control success. If you believe thoughtfully, giving behaviorally, persisting habitually, you are on the success track.

Habits

The successful person is the individual who forms the habit of doing what the failing person doesn't like to do.
- Donald Riggs

Habits are daily behaviors, determining success and failure. Habits begin mentally, progress emotionally, then behaviorally, and finally environmentally. For example, successful people habitually envision their goals, feeling confidently, behaving motivationally, succeeding environmentally. In contrast, failing people habitually envision their obstacles, feeling diffidently, behaving curbingly, failing environmentally. Therefore success and failure are really mental habits, expressing themselves in physical reality.

Rene Descartes, one of the most important Western philosophers, stated "I think, therefore I am." In other words, thinking is being. You think yourself into being successful.

Persisting

The secret of every man who has ever been successful lies in the fact that he formed the bait of doing those things that failures don't like to do.
- A. Jackson King

Failures don't like to persist, especially during challenging conditions. They like to take the easy way out - by getting out. To persist, your inner motivation (bait) must be greater than outside hindrances. Your inner motivation must be strong enough to persist your behavior through outside obstacles. Oftentimes, behavioral persistence creates environmental resistance. Yes, people in your environment will attempt to dissuade you from persisting - the greater the goal, the greater the dissuasion attempts. This is human nature, and should not be taken personally. Like attracts like; distinguishing yourself from peers repels them.

However, if you continue to persist, achieving your goals, you attract like-minded people. Positive-minded peers arriving, your negative-minded peers depart. Positive environment arriving, your negative environment departs. Persistence, initially causing resistance, finally overcomes resistance.

Giving

The man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed.
- Henry Ford

You have three choices. You can meet, surpass, or disappoint others' expectations. Each choice leads to a particular circumstance. In meeting others' expectations, your needs are met. In surpassing others' expectations, your needs are surpassed. In disappointing others' expectations, your needs are disappointed.

Business success, just-getting-by, and failure depend on the extent that you meet your customers' expectations. The more you give to your customers, the more your customers give to you. The less you give to your customers, the less your customers give to you. Indeed, giving is getting.

Believing

Self-trust is the first secret of success.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Of the many secrets of success, self-trust is principal. Without self-trust, the other secrets become useless. Self-trust is the absolute belief that you can accomplish a particular goal. Absolute belief causes you to act boldly, molding your environment to your liking.

The following New Testament story makes this point. One day, Jesus' disciples were boating. Suddenly, the disciples saw a human figure walking on the water to them. Initially, they thought the figure was a ghost and panicked; but realizing the figure was Jesus, they were relieved but awestruck. Then Jesus commanded one of his disciples, Peter, to leave the boat and walk to him. Absolutely believing that he could walk on water, Peter walked on water to Jesus. Indeed, Peter was doing the impossible, until he began doubting his ability to walk on water. Doubting, he quickly sank in the deep water (Matthew 14:22-36).

Whether you think this story is fact or fiction, it reveals a universal principle. Believing, you rise; doubting, you fall.

In summarizing, we see the importance of believing, giving, and persisting habitually. The extent of these determines your life direction - determines whether you succeed or fail. You direct your life, otherwise life directs you. And you may not like the way life directs you. So choose: (A) Habitually believe, give, and persist your way to your goal, or (B) Let go and let life take you wherever it may.