Let’s face it: Highly successful people do things differently than others. One of the things they do better than most is they ask themselves amazing questions. Today, you’re going to learn nine of the best questions I have heard them ask over the last 35 years of advising successful people and 40 years of researching them.
Transcript: 9 Questions Highly Successful People Ask.
Hi, my name is Annette Bau (bah oo), your host of the Wealth Inside and Out® Podcast. I’m a Certified Financial Planner™ and founder of The Millionaire Insider®.
For over 30 years, I have been advising and researching the top 1% of Millionaires.
I am passionately obsessed with money, mindset, and the intersection of self-worth and net worth and how the two connect and allow us to live fulfilled and wealthy lives on our terms.
From Humble Beginnings…
Growing up in the Midwest, I had a dream. I began investing $25 a month 35 years ago, and today have a multimillion-dollar net worth.
And, I teach the tried-and-true principles that only someone with over three decades of experience advising millionaires would know. This podcast is different – it’s about much more than money. We talk about mindset, success, money blocks, worth barometer, and all aspects of money and topics from practical manifestation, along with real-world how-to, and everything in between, with the goal of making your journey easier and more fun.
Think of this as coffee, actually, matcha tea, learning real-world, common sense, money, and life advice from a BFF that you can start applying today. If you want to create a financially free life you love, you are in the right place, my friend.
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I want to welcome you to 9 Questions Highly Successful People Ask.
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9 Questions Highly Successful People Ask
Before we dive into the questions, I want to provide just a little bit of background.
I had the pleasure of speaking on the same stage as Stephen R. Covey. He authored the book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
I was fascinated to hear him share that he was going to title the book The Seven Habits of Successful People. He didn’t because he was more focused and interested in people being highly effective than successful. And he felt most people equated success with money.
I thought that was insightful. And, I would agree that individuals who develop habits of highly effective people can have more fulfilling lives. Individuals who develop habits of highly successful people may be more focused on success and money than other aspects of their lives.
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Habits and Traits
Some of the most important daily habits, guiding principles, and traits of highly effective people were to:
- Win-win solutions
- Personal mission statement
- Make time management a priority.
- Seek first to understand and then be understood.
- Begin with the end in mind. As a result, you will be focused on where you want to go and what you want to achieve.
- Create an environment that fosters trust.
- Put First Things First. As a result, you make time for the important things in life.
- Sharpen the Saw
All of those are powerful and important and I think so many times when we hear success, we envision money, right? It’s kind of like if you’re successful you have money.
While money is part of the equation, it’s not the entire equation.
I was watching this talk show and they were going on and on about this successful person we were going to meet.
Clearly, from the standpoint of money, he was super successful. But from health and weight, not so much. I just remember he walked out, and he was 300 pounds overweight. He was so large they had to take a commercial break and bring in a chair that didn’t have arms because he couldn’t fit into the chair.
For over 30 years, he built a successful business and made a lot of money, but he had failed to make his health a priority.
I have seen so many scenarios where wealth without health is the end result. And it is a miserable existence.
It is never ideal when you’re living day to day because your health is so bad you don’t know if you’re going to wake up tomorrow. Not very good for our mental health.
It is not fun. As one millionaire shared with me, if I had realized the outcome, I could have made time for 30 minutes of exercise each day.
So painful to hear but so true. You have to decide what long-term goals are important to you and then create a plan to make them a reality. There is no free lunch, my friends, so please make that a priority.
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Fulfilled and wealthy people do things differently.
They develop a skill set to achieve their goal. And prioritize what’s important. For most, it’s fulfillment, health, and wealth.
They get enough sleep. Seven to eight and a half hours of sleep each night. And the good news, actually great news, is that you can make decisions to live a fulfilled and wealthy life and to take the action that will allow you to make it a reality.
Anyone can. You have just got to do it.
Before we dive into the questions, I heard this piece of advice from Richard Branson, who’s a billionaire. I thought it was appropriate for people who are effective and successful. He said, “Listen deeply and always act with empathy.”
And I think that’s such a great insight. It’s not a question, but it’s something we can all apply in our journey to live fulfilled.
So powerful.
The 9 Questions Highly Successful People Ask
#1. Why?
Begin by asking, “Why am I here?” Then, ask, “What am I supposed to achieve in my lifetime? Why do I matter?”
Mark Twain summed it up well. He said something to the effect that the two most important days of our lives are the day we’re born, and the day we figure out why. To live fulfilled, you need to know “your why.”
Your why is your passion and your purpose.
If you’re not clear in your why, I encourage you to complete the handwriting exercise from my book, The 7 Principles of Becoming a Fulfilled & Wealthy Millionaire.
At the end of chapter one, in the section titled, How to Release Mental Blocks and Core Beliefs.
You can use that exercise for a lot of things, and part of that exercise is writing out a question you have in search of the answer.
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The Exercise
First, write out the question with your dominant hand.
For most people, that’s their right hand.
Sample questions include: “Why am I here? Why do I matter?”
Once you write out the question, then with your nondominant hand, answer the question.
Continue to answer the question until the answer appears or you have another question.
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This is a powerful exercise for getting answers.
#2. What do I really want?
Not kind of want, but really want.
We want to achieve a goal because of how we believe we’re going to feel when we achieve it. And when you’re really clear on what you want, it’s easier to do the work to get there.
When we’re not clear on what we want, pebbles can come our way and deter us. But when we know what we want, a boulder could come in our path, and it doesn’t derail us.
When we don’t feel like doing what we need to do at the moment, but we are clear on what we want and the ultimate feeling we’re aiming for, it’s a lot easier to do the work.
#3. What does a fulfilled life look like to you?
A lot of people say, “I want to be happy.”
The problem with being happy, or really any emotion, is that sometimes you’re going to be happy and sometimes you’re not.
When you create a fulfilled life, it’s not governed by your emotions, but more of a calling, a purpose, and a direction that is larger than you and how you’re feeling at that moment.
I really encourage you to identify what a fulfilled life looks like. It’s amazing what happens with your life and the choices you make when you get clear on that.
#4. What emotion will my goal bring me?
You want to figure out the feeling you want, and then each day, work at creating that feeling.
For example, is peace of mind a top priority? When do you feel peace of mind? Or, when you’re meditating, praying, or practicing yoga?
What about security? When you have a certain amount of money in the bank, how will you know?
I encourage you to get clear on what it is you want to feel when you achieve your goal.
What will that experience look like?
By getting clear on your goal. It makes it so much easier to show up consistently and do what you need to do to achieve it.
#5. Will this thought bring me closer to my goal?
If the answer is yes, keep thinking about it.
But, If the answer is no, change the thought until you get to a yes. As a result, you will think better thoughts and generally get better results.
Once you have the right thought, you have got to take action, because that’s what’s going to produce the results.
When you’re thinking the wrong thoughts, it causes you to do things or not do things that you need to do to achieve your desired result.
#6. Will this action propel me closer to a fulfilled life?
It is important to ask this question. If you get a yes, a really strong yes, then keep doing it. But if you get a no, figure out what action will propel you to create a fulfilled life.
What type of morning routine do I need to live fulfilled?
This is such an easy question to ask and is so important.
That’s why truly successful people are fulfilled and wealthy. They get clear on what they want and then consistently execute to achieve it.
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For example, highly successful people ask:
- When am I at my best?
- How much sleep do I need? As a result, am I operating at my best?
- What do I eat?
- How much water do I drink?
- Am I consistently executing?
- Are my relationships healthy?
- How many hours do I work?
These are the questions that will help you get clear on what you need to be doing to live fulfilled. And by continuing to ask these questions and improve how you show up, your life will be more fulfilling.
Tips and Reminders
Ideally, you’re getting adequate sleep; seven to eight and a half hours a night.
Remember, you are awake 30 minutes to 90 minutes every night. So, you have got to factor that into the amount of sleep you are getting.
There isn’t much research on the amount of water you ideally need. That said, most performance experts agree that 50% of your body weight in ounces is ideal. If you exercise, then you need to drink more.
You also need to make sure you are not drinking too much water. The second most common cause of death when hiking the Grand Canyon is drinking too much water. And the first is not drinking enough water.
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It is important to eat healthy fat, lean protein, and organic vegetables.
If you don’t have blood sugar problems, you can eat complex carbohydrates. A moderate amount is generally recommended in your diet.
#7. When are you at your best?
- What does your best life look like?
- Do you have a good work-life balance?
- Are you executing your goals and activities effectively?
- What do you need to do to achieve your goals?
#8. How can you leverage this task and save time?
What do you need to do to get the task done in the least time possible?
We are not aiming for an A plus.
I’m a perfectionist. And in my role as a financial planner and money manager, I need to be. That requires A work.
One of the things I’ve started doing in other areas is B work, and really, even a B minus. In college, I was the student who wanted the lowest grade. So, if I was getting an A I wanted an A-, a B, a B-.
It wasn’t how it is now with my kids where you get more points for a plus than a minus.
The reality is that B- work in many areas is fine. That is above average.
The problem is that some of us who are perfectionists just want to have everything perfect. As a result, we are less effective and often overworking ourselves.
It’s just an unrealistic expectation. Perfection is not the goal.
Some other great questions include:
- What resources can you leverage to achieve your goal?
- How can I delegate this task?
#9. What if?
And then one of my favorite questions is, “What if, I…?
- Created a plan?
- Consistently took action on my plan?
- Completed this specific task?
- Considered this?
- Came up with a solution I haven’t thought of?”
Some of the what-ifs I’ve heard from fulfilled millionaires are fascinating.
So, use that handwriting exercise I shared with you earlier and see what comes up.
You’re going to be so glad you did.
There you have it.
Recap: The 9 Questions Highly Successful People Ask.
1. Why am I here?
2. What do I really want? Not kind of want, but really want.
3. Next, What does a fulfilled life look like to me? For example, is what my family or friends want or what I want.
4. What emotion will my goal bring me?
5. Will this thought I’m thinking bring me closer to my goal? If not, what thought will? As a result of thinking better thoughts, you will feel better and take more action.
6. Will this action propel me closer to a fulfilled life?
7. When am I at my best? For example, what daily routine allows me to operate at peak performance?
8. How can I leverage this task and save time? As a result, you will likely get more done.
9. What if? And then fill in the blank.
So there you have it!
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Thank you so much for joining me for The 9 Questions Highly Successful People Ask.
I’m Annette Bau (Bah oo), your host.
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Bye for now.