MILLIONAIRE SUCCESS HABITS
According to society’s rules, I wasn’t supposed to become a success. I barely got out of high school, I was in special edu- cation until 10th grade, I had no money, I didn’t have a men- tor, I didn’t know anybody rich, and I sure as heck wasn’t wise enough to read books on success like you are today. And one of the things that almost sentenced me to a life of self-doubt and mediocrity was being told to work on my weaknesses. About 10 years ago I wrote my first book, entitled Totally Fulfilled . When I first decided to write it, the only reason I did so was because I wanted to share my passion for helping others. As you may have figured out, I write books exactly the way I talk. A lot of times they’re not perfect as far as grammar and structure, and I tend to digress, but they deliver the message and lessons I want to share fast and compellingly. I’ve learned that I have the ability to deliver simple yet effective strategies, sparking people to action so they can transform or even transcend their circum- stances. But no, I definitely am not an English major. As I sat down to write my first book, all these thoughts about my lack of writing skills started to fill my mind. I began to think things like, “You barely graduated high school, there is no way you can really write a book.” Or I would tell myself, “Your ADD won’t allow you to focus that long; it’s impossible.” But what made me move forward was my conviction that I had a message to deliver to the world. So I wrote my first book. Not without some difficulties and episodes of self-doubt, but I got through it. When I was done, I knew it would need an editor to go through it and clean up some of the mess that I was sure I had creat- ed through my lack of formal grammar and writing skills. So I found someone I was told was one of the best editors in the country, and I took a plane to meet her. We had a nice meeting, and I explained my desires and my passions and the fact that I knew the manuscript needed some cleaning up. I left her with this task, and I couldn’t have been more excited to get the man- uscript back and get it published. However, two days later I got a call from her, and I remember to this day what she said: “Dean, this isn’t a book. This is a two-hundred-page conversation. You don’t need an editor; you need a complete rewrite.”
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