Promise #9 for the New Year: To Become Wiser by Reading ETR Every Day

You are a very busy person. And so I appreciate the fact that you take the time each morning to make reading ETR a priority. The single most productive thing I do each day is the work I do writing ETR. It’s energizing because it gets me thinking positively first thing in the morning. It’s enlightening because it gives me new ideas and helps me achieve my goals by reminding me to do those things I know I need to do but won’t get to without a little prodding. ETR should work the same way for you.

The main purpose of ETR is to get you to spend 10 minutes every morning thinking about what’s most important to you … becoming healthy, wealthy, wise, and happy! Getting the right start every day is very, very important. It’s all too easy to begin the day in a sluggish manner, not really wanting to do any serious work, looking for the easy things to do, and avoiding the jobs that will really change your life. ETR helps you get into gear, emotionally and intellectually, by providing you with two or three ideas each day — ideas about making money or enjoying more success or achieving better health — that have worked for me.

A good idea — however small or familiar — can transform your life. It can make you much richer, healthier, wiser, and happier. Consider one example, an idea I swiped from Steve Covey’s “Seven Habits of Highly Successful People” (and which, I’ve been told, Covey borrowed from someone else): Give priority to “important-but-not-urgent” work. This one good idea has made the most profound difference in my life.

Since I’ve worked it into my goal-setting and daily-task-list habits, I’ve:

* increased my income by 50%

* bought over a million dollars worth of productive real estate rental properties

* wrote, directed, and produced a feature-length film

* expanded ETR’s circulation to more than 75,000 readers

* doubled my knowledge of wine

None of these claims is exaggerated. All of these wonderful things happened to me simply and solely because I read about Covey’s idea and incorporated it into my active, daily working life. You’ve been reading about this in ETR. And I don’t know if you have made this idea a constant and important part of your goal and task setting — but if you haven’t, I strongly recommend that you go back and reread the messages where I explained how to do it. (See Message #230, Message #285, and Message #491)

After you’ve reread them, get to work! You can buy Covey’s book at any bookstore for about $25 (and it would be well worth it). But by reading ETR, you not only get the best ideas from him — ideas that have proven themselves to work, mind you — you also get dozens of other good ideas every week, each of which could be just as good as or better than that one. By reading ETR every morning, you get the best ideas from a host of other books too — such as Napoleon Hill’s “Laws of Success,” Robert K. Kooper’s “The Other 90%,” Harry Beckwith’s “Selling the Invisible,” Thomas Stanley’s “The Millionaire Mind,” and Brian Tracy’s “Focal Point.” (I try for at least one good new book each week.)

Plus all the best ideas from periodicals like Leadership Strategies, the Harvard Business Review, Inc., Fortune Small Business, The Organized Executive, and many others. Most importantly, ETR gives you a lot of great ideas you won’t find anywhere else — proven strategies, techniques, and solutions that have worked for the many successful people I know — the business owners, artists, doctors, mechanics, professors, publishers, and poets. I am certain that ETR can help you achieve your goals. I say that not because I believe I have all the answers or because I think I have a better sense of how to succeed than you do, but simply because reading ETR every morning gives you the discipline and stimulation to come up with your own solutions and pave your own personal way to success.

Many very important and successful people use ETR to keep them going. Here are a few examples: “I must have 30 books piled up waiting to be read. Not to mention a half-dozen magazines and newspapers in my in-box. But I read every single word of Early to Rise every day. It gives me ideas that help the rest of my work go better. I am inspired. And I get insights that help me get more done. Plus, it’s entertaining. I wouldn’t miss it.”

— Bill Bonner, president, Agora Publishing

“We all need someone to make us stronger. A competitor to push us to greater endurance. A teacher to show us a better way. A mentor to inspire us. A coach to help us focus. ETR is all things to me, in one easy-to-follow daily program. And every day, in business and at home, I am wealthier for it. Thank you, MMF.”

— Julia Guth, executive director, The Oxford Club

“One Tuesday early in April, I read one of MMFs ‘action briefs’ urging me to contact three influential people in my field. That action brief alone was worth $20,000 dollars to me, as I followed his advice and am now working for one of the men I contacted — at a higher salary than I might have imagined. You won’t find New Age b.s. in Early to Rise. What you get is real-world advice that works. If you follow it properly, MMF’s advice will lead to a better lifestyle — for you and your family — very quickly.”

— SW, writer

“I first heard about ETR through a friend. He was so excited about this new service I had to check it out for myself. He was right on about its value. MMF’s advice about the most powerful way to grow a business was right on target. By following just that one strategy, I expanded my customer base and added a new product line. This alone will result in a 20% increase in my revenue this year. This is the best wake-up call for anyone who wants to succeed.”

— Alan Serinsky, president, VitalMax Vitamins

“I’ve been employed in the field of marketing for many years, but it wasn’t until MMF taught me the secrets of writing (and reviewing) promotional copy that I produced some really great results. In fact, one project brought in over $400,000 in sales in less than 30 days.” — Sandy Franks, marketing director There are many, many others posted on the ETR website. The point is this: No matter where you are in your career or how much success you’ve had so far, ETR can help you do more, get more, know more, and enjoy more.

Here are a few reminders of the kind of intellectual stimulation ETR gives you every morning:

* Four easy steps you can take to triple (or maybe even quadruple) your chances of accomplishing any great goal. (Message #737)

* Two quick and easy ways to “rescue” yourself from a conversation that’s wasting your time … and going nowhere. (Message #749)

* A 4-step plan to make sure you’re never late for a business meeting again. (It’s easier than you think … and your business contacts will love your for it!) (Message #735)

* The 4 “P’s” you must consider if you want to guarantee business success. (This is the system Harley-Davidson used to go from failure in 1985 to a roaring success just a few years later.) (Message #730)

* What signal to look for to know exactly when to turn bullish on the stock market. (This is the signal used by Richard Russell, the editor of Dow Theory Letters, to average 11.9% profits in stocks in the years between 1980 and 2001.) (Message #742)

* A nearly foolproof way to use compounding to help your children or grandchildren turn their allowances and chore money into a small fortune by the time they celebrate their 30th birthdays! (Message #744)

* 5 positive ways to point out an employee’s shortcomings, motivate him to make improvements, and boost your company’s productivity and profits in the long run. (Message #745)

* A simple 5-step technique you can use to banish stress in less than 2 minutes. (Message #745)

* The 2 steps you must take if you want to become a great leader. (Message #741)

* A 6-step approach to “maximum” health. (These simple actions will increase your vitality, reduce your chances of getting sick, and help you rid yourself of any physical problems you currently have. (Message #756)

* The most important line of copy in your marketing e-mails … and how to use it to boost your response rates. (This tip can “force” 60% of the people on your list to at least open your marketing e-mails!) (Message #752)

* 2 easy ways to get your employees to help you save time … maybe even hours … each and every week. (Message #742) That’s just the beginning. Take a look at the ETR Archives (http://www.earlytorise.com).

You’ll find hundreds of useful ideas … maybe more than a thousand … and every year we give you hundreds more. Any one of these ideas could change your life. One of the main reasons ETR has worked for so many people — and the reason it can work for you — is that it comes to you on a daily basis. This day-after-day emotional nudging can have a giant impact on your future if you let it. It can spur you to do those things you’ve always secretly known would bring you the success you still covet.

If you want to implement the “Seven Habits” ideas, you can take a 3-day workshop from Covey’s publishers that will cost you $1,495. But that’s not necessary. You’re already doing something even better than that — if you don’t mind my saying so — by spending five or 10 minutes each morning reading ETR and then another few minutes sometime during the day putting one of the ideas you find there to work for you.

To show my appreciation to you for making ETR a priority in your life, I have put together four new special reports as a “thank-you” gift, click on each of the links below to download (you may have to download Adobe Acrobat to view):

1. A copy of “The 10 Most Important Discoveries I’ve Made About Becoming Wealthy.” Here are 10 really important truths about making money — specific things I’ve done to make millions — that will work just as well for you. http://www.earlytorise.com/pdfs/10most5.5×8.5.pdf

2. A copy of “Living Rich.” This is my personal guide to having a multimillionaire lifestyle on a normal person’s budget. http://www.earlytorise.com/pdfs/LivingRichprem.pdf

3. A copy of “Fake It Till You Make It: 30 Days to Sounding Like a Wine Snob.” http://www.earlytorise.com/pdfs/WineSnob5.5×8.5.pdf

4. A copy of “MMF’s Personal Productivity Secrets — How to Accomplish All of Your Most Important Goals.” Most people thwart their own success simply because they don’t understand how to get the “important” things done. http://www.earlytorise.com/pdfs/PersonalProd5.5×8.5.pdf

Plus, you’ll continue to receive all the other benefits of ETR — such as the ETR Archives (access to past messages so you can reference virtually any business or wealth-building topic), my recommended reading list, and our Speak Out forum (where you can communicate with me personally about some of the ideas we’ve discussed). I hope you enjoy them. And, once again, thank you.

[Ed. Note.  Mark Morgan Ford was the creator of Early To Rise. In 2011, Mark retired from ETR and now writes the Palm Beach Letter. His advice, in our opinion, continues to get better and better with every essay, particularly in the controversial ones we have shared today. We encourage you to read everything you can that has been written by Mark.]