Are your daily habits crushing your chances of success?

In the field of personal growth and achievement, one of the pioneers is the writer Napoleon Hill. In the early 20th century, at the request of businessman and philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie—who was then the richest man in the world—Hill set out to write about success and the philosophy behind personal achievement.

Mr. Hill interviewed over 500 people, including Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, John D. Rockefeller, William Wrigley Jr., and Charles M. Schwab. The result was, Think and Grow Rich, one of the best-selling books of all time.

In it, Hill sets forth a series of principles that highlight the power of personal beliefs and the role they play in the success formula.

Welcome to the Innercise where we use proven psychology and the latest in neuroscience to help you break free of old patterns and habits that no longer serve you.

Here are 4 insights that capture the importance Napoleon Hill put on good habits.

Keep them on hand and revisit them whenever you need some inspiration to stay on track with your daily routine.

1. Master the negative habits which stand between you and success.

2. Develop the positive habits you’ll need in order to succeed. That is, the positive habits that will lead to sound health, peace of mind, and a positive mental attitude.

3. Acquire the habit of thinking before you speak. Make sure that what you’re going to say will benefit you and not injure others.

4. Adopt the habit of having a good-hearted laugh every time you become irritated or angry. Begin each day with one minute of hearty laughing; this will change the chemistry of your brain and start you off with a positive mental attitude.

If ever you feel held back by your cravings . . . and allow them to have the upper hand then this Innercise is for you. Watch the video with John Assaraf or keep reading!

Have you ever tried to stop drinking coffee or wine. . . but less than a week later you got sucked right back into your old habit again?

This is a common occurrence that happens to all of us.

You may be in a “habit loop,” and the parts of your brain called the basal ganglia—which also plays a key role in the development of emotions, memories, and pattern recognition, and the prefrontal cortex (where decisions are made) need to be reprogrammed.

You can retrain your brain to develop different neural pathways and daily habits for success. Habits have an internal or external trigger (the time of day, a person, place, or thing), which creates an automatic behavior that produces some kind of a neurological reward that’s associated with the behavior.

Once triggered, if you replace the unwanted habit with an empowering habit, you can interrupt the behavior and still be rewarded. While at the same time you develop habits for success.

Try this Innercise to release destructive habits and to strengthen new, constructive habits.

We call this Innercise, “The Daily Opportunity.” 

1.  Choose a habit you want to release and identify what is triggering this habit.

2. Place a sticky note next to the trigger (i.e. where you hang your coat, your coffee mug, the pantry, your refrigerator) and starting today, interrupt your habit with a habit you want to encourage. You could go for a walk, drink a glass of water, take a few moments to stretch your body, read a chapter of Napoleon Hill’s book, sit in meditation, or daydream . . . .

3. Anytime you are triggered, repeat the alternate behavior until it becomes a new and improved habit. Your brain will still receive a reward, which will strengthen your constructive neural pathways.

After you try this, please let us know how it worked for you or share one of your reasons why you must achieve your goal in the comments below.

And share this terrific, scientific information with your friends on social media.

What’s next?

Ready to take a deep dive into the neuroscience and neuropsychology behind goal achievement? Learn how to achieve your goals faster and easier using neuroscience in our free video training series on mastering your mindset and emotions for financial success.

By retraining your brain for success, you’ll stop standing on the edge of your potential, and you’ll start fulfilling more of what you’re capable of achieving.