how to become a millionaireSuccess is not defined by how much money you make. Before anybody reached their first million, they had to define success for themself. This is a challenging lesson to learn. We believe our work habits are perfect now. No one considers themself lazy.

Success and Work Ethic Go Hand in Hand

Success starts when you realize other people have deadlines affecting others ability to work. Success starts when you acknowledge you are a part of a machine. The machine needs to keep running, whether you are overpaid, underpaid, tired or energetic.

Whenever you don’t double check and triple check your work or you make somebody else do it for you, you’re taking up their time to review your work. Successful people will get a list of things to do from their employer.  They’ll look at that list and they will double and triple check it while they make the changes to make sure everything is done properly before they send it back.

The problem is, most people never develop these work habits.  Most people are always multi-tasking. Multi-tasking leads to rushing through assignments and not taking enough time to make sure the jobs done right. I see the fall all the time.  I tell my clients to do a certain thing, and when I look at the work, I see they’ve forgotten half of the details.

I tell them again, this time making sure they take notes and they have to go back and do it again.  Thus wasting their time and my time.

Time is Limited

We’re all given the same amount of time in a day to complete our work. The reason successful people double and triple check things is because they realize, if someone else has to check it more than once, they’re taking up time that can be used on other things.

For instance, you’re handed a project from your boss.  Your boss marks the corrections that need to be changed. You make adjustments and send the work back to him. Your boss hands back more corrections.  You make some corrections and forget other ones, or don’t double or triple check it, and realize something might not have been right.

Your boss has now spent two or three hours fixing work that should have been turned in correctly the first time. You’re only one employee. He’s got maybe fifteen to thirty other employees. You see how the time adds up?

Time is the only thing you can’t get back. In order to be successful, you need to dot your I’s and cross your T’s, and make sure you do everything correctly.

Successful People are Always Looking to Improve

When you develop these strong work habits your bosses will stop and take notice. When you’ve developed strong work ethic you’ll be making their lives a lot easier. But, it’s not enough to just to have the skill set. Once you’re on the radar people expect you to be constantly improving.

Think about how much technology has improved in the last fifteen years, ten years, even five years. Imagine if Apple just decided five years ago they’d made the best iPhone. You can make calls in the subway. Their app store had fixed all of the glitches. They’re the number-one selling cell phones on the planet.  They’re on top. Why improve?

Three years later the Galaxy came out and while not everyone is a fan of Samsung’s new phone, the larger screen and specialty camera were big draws for consumer savvy patrons. If Apple had stopped developing Samsung would have pushed them out of the lead. Instead, Apple matched Samsung pound for pound offering a larger screen for those who were interested and a smaller screen for those who didn’t want the larger screen.

They’ve created a watch to appeal to people of all financial markets, and they still have the best app store available with iTunes. When you continue to improve and push yourself to be better you set yourself up for daily success.

So when you get assigned something, it’s important to do it right, to do it correctly the first time.  It’s important to take notes as you’re getting an assignment. If someone tells you they want something in there and then you forgot, it just shows that your work habits are not the work habits of a millionaire.

In order to become a millionaire, you need to be able to complete your work on time. Even if you’re just waiting tables you can put these habits into practice. Being a waiter is demeaning. It feels beneath you because it’s no one’s dream job to wait on strangers hand and foot.

Yet if you do a good job, if you work hard to improve yourself daily it could lead to bartending, which could lead to owning your own bar.  Everyone starts from the bottom. Pay your dues, network, and decide what you want to do and before you know it you’ll be doing it. It all starts with a good work ethic.