April 13, 2018 6 min read

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It seems that regardless of how well the typical American household does, as far as income goes, happiness fails to keep up. Has this happened to you? Looking back, did you notice that when you were younger, it didn't take much for you to feel contented and happy?

What separates people boils down to "software." That's right. People who have overcome and attained peak levels of personal success, happiness and purpose simply chose to install different software. They chose to program their minds in such a way that they are able to achieve a higher degree of success and happiness.

Here are 5 daily steps that will have you reprogramming your mind toward success in anything.

Related: 10 Mistakes Intelligent People Never Make Twice

Step 1: Stop wishing and hoping. Start planning and acting.

There's a big difference between hoping, wishing and planning. People with hopes have a vague, overarching idea of what lives they should be enjoying. They think someway, somehow, these things will happen, but they simply don't know how to get from point A to point B. They content themselves with the fact that things can change.

People who engage in wishful thinking, on the other hand, take things one step further. They are able to visualize certain things that need to happen for them to achieve certain things, which is definitely a step in the right direction. The problem is, they don't have a concrete plan of action or a series of steps that would take them from where they currently are to where they wish to be.

Planning is all about setting up concrete action that you can do now that will change your reality in the future. They take you from point A to point B because they break down that journey into specific steps that require specific actions. This is the power of planning. Successful people plan. Unsuccessful or mediocre people simply content themselves with hoping and wishing.

Related: Make Plans, But Remember That Success Comes to Those Who Execute

Step 2: Push for three daily wins, at least.

Now that you are focused on setting up goals the right way, I have some good news for you. You might think that your goal is too big, too ambitious or too grand. Well, think again. The truth is, there is no such thing as an impossible goal. Increase your daily wins, and the impossible becomes possible.

Think of it this way.

By thinking the impossible and breaking it down into doable portions, you get to what would seem like an impossible dream. Let's face it, if Walmart founder Sam Walton had told the world early on that he was going to build a multibillion-dollar industry, people would have probably ignored him. Instead, he had the goal of becoming a large retailer. He took one small daily step and he stuck to it. Consequently, Walmart just got bigger. The rest, as they say, is corporate history.

Related: 5 Entrepreneurs Who Started With Nothing - and 3 Lessons to Learn

Step 3: Stop making excuses, blaming and justifying.

Let's face it, life is rough. Life can be unfair, life can be hard. Things fall apart. What are you going to do? Are you going to wish that things aren't the way they are? Well, anybody can play that game. Anybody can look at reality based on how they think things should be. The problem is, we live in a world where things simply are.

So, take it like a champ.

The first step to making a dent in your personal reality is to get used to the fact that things fall apart. Get used to the fact that things oftentimes are disappointing. By simply allowing yourself to accept reality for what it is, instead of fantasizing about human nature in such a way that you could be "rescued" from your daily circumstances, you're making a tremendous step forward. You are looking at reality straight in the eye and resolving to deal with it as it is.

Related: 6 Habits That Turn Dreams Into Reality

Step 4: Shoot for the moon once every day.

If you want to hit the moon, aim for the sun. The truth is, the more you try to do the "impossible," the sooner you become unstoppable. When you become unstoppable, you achieve greater and greater goals.

Business tycoons like Jeff Bezos of Amazon and sports legends like Michael Jordan weren't born great. In the case of Michael Jordan, he didn't get much encouragement playing basketball in high school. People thought he was a mediocre basketball player at best. Still, he chose to take daily steps to push his basketball skills to the limit.

As important as it is to hit your three daily wins every day, you also need to try to do them in such a way that they can lead to something big.

Related: How Big Goals Supercharge Entrepreneurial Motivation

Step 5: Congratulate yourself.

According to my upbringing, it's always bad form to brag. It's always a bad idea to boast about yourself. While there's a lot of good reasons for this kind of thinking, I've allowed myself to confuse this thinking with the tendency to avoid all sorts of self-congratulation. I view any situation where I allow myself to feel good about my accomplishments as necessarily bragging. I got so scared of being cocky or being viewed as prideful and conceited that I never got around to congratulating myself. Big mistake.

An iron rule of life is, to get more of something, incentivize it. You need to encourage it. Blocking yourself from congratulating yourself robs you of the power and resolve to succeed. By simply choosing to feel good about what you managed to achieve, you lay the groundwork for further progress. At the very least, you replenish your personal emotional batteries so you can get the energy you need to keep pushing forward.

Program yourself in terms of superlatives. "I am the best," "I deserve the best," "I can do the best." Superlatives are awesome because they are very malleable. The reality is "the best” to you may not be the best for somebody else. It might be horrible to somebody else. Still, you are entitled to what you think is “the best.”