If you want to be wealthy and successful, then just model after the successful and wealthy people and the way they think and behave. As any success coach will tell you, the successful and wealthy people get where they are because of certain fundamental believes. Some people call this system “The millionaire mindset”. The followings are some of the fundamental points of their belief system.

There is no such thing as failure. The outcome of everything is only results. Most people have been programmed to fear failure. Because of this fear of failure, many people impose limitations on themselves by thinking certain things can’t be done or is beyond them thus not doing anything to be successful.

On the other hand, the wealthy and successful people don’t see failure as failure. Successful people know that if they try something and it does not give them what they want, they have had a learning experience, not failure. With the earlier experience, they then take new actions and get new results until they are successful.

There must be a commitment to succeed. The wealthy and the successful believe in the power of commitment. They believe that there will be no great success without commitment. If there is no commitment in whatever one does, then how one be able to work on it until it is successful?

Take responsibilities. This is a great attribute the wealthy and successful people have in common. They operate from the belief that they are the ones who create their own world and their own destinies. They know that no one owes them a living. They will say, I am responsible for myself and whatever I do. So they do not shirk responsibilities.

Wealthy and successful people believe that no matter what happened, they have created that outcome. If you do not believe you are creating your own world, then you are at the mercy of circumstances. You are then living your life based on chance and it will always be a roller coaster ride, usually downwards.

Everything happens for a reason and a purpose and it serves us. Successful and wealthy people are able to focus on what is possible in any situation and what possible positive results that can arise from that situation. No matter how grave the situations are they only think of positive possibilities. They think that everything happens for a reason and it serves them. They believe that every adversity contains an equivalent or even greater benefit.

People are their greatest resource. They have a tremendous sense of respect and appreciation for people. They have a sense of common purpose and unity and thus relish in teamwork. They believe that there is no long lasting success without cooperation and team bonding with a similar purpose. Their success reflects the amazing things that can be achieved when we respect each other rather than manipulating one another.

I read about Ted Haggard’s confession of homosexuality and use of methamphetamines, just as you probably have. And I had reactions to it just as you probably do. The first reaction I had was a sense of vindication tinged with that luscious feeling of revenge that the hypocrisy of gay bashing was once again being brought to light.

And while that vindication may bolster the just cause of equality for all human beings, revenge is sweet for only a few short moments. I recognize that underneath my righteous indignation there is a deeper lesson about hypocrisy, at least for me.

Just as presumably Ted Haggard is both humbled and humiliated by this exposure, don’t we all have hypocrisies that would publicly humble and humiliate us if exposed? Yes, his hypocrisy had great influence over the White House, the Republican agenda, and a large Evangelical following. But don’t our individual hypocrisies also influence others as well as social policies?

If we tell our children to abstain from alcohol and drugs but hide our own chemical histories or current use/abuse, what impact does that have? We may argue that we want them to do as we say, not as we do. But couldn’t Mr. Haggard have made that same argument?

If we use an illegal substance but are glad for the arrest of street corner drug dealers, doesn’t this hypocrisy have an impact? Aren’t our prisons overflowing with people who may have touched the contents of that little plastic baggie hidden in our underwear drawer?

If we are calling an end to war with Iraq but continue to consume half of the world’s fossil fuels, much of it for jetting to distant vacation spots or filling up our SUVs, isn’t there just the teeniest bit of hypocrisy in this?

If we pride ourselves for buying organic fruits and vegetables but demand that they be available year round, hurting both local farmers as well as requiring enormous amounts of fuel to get them to the nearest Whole Foods store, isn’t there something for us to examine?

Of course, I can go on and on with this list but my point isn’t to shame us. My point is to acknowledge that all our hypocrisy causes damage. Rather than cast stones at one another, we could take the news of Mr. Haggard and look more deeply into ourselves. We could remove our own veils of hypocrisy, acknowledge our own falls from grace, tell more truths about who we really are, change whatever behaviors we don’t like in ourselves, forgive ourselves and others for our trespasses, and go about living life more consciously and compassionately. This is my take away from today’s news.

Every last one of us wishes we could turn into experts. I think it would be remarkable to have people run to you each time that they have a question. Then, you can sit down wisely, ponder over their problems, and find the ideal answer from the top of your head. Well, it may not be terribly easy to turn into an expert. It requires years of study, and years of experience. Six months working in an office will not make you the entrepreneurial messiah.

Too many of us are too scattered to become experts at a particular topic. We largely prefer to be jacks of all trades and masters of none. Not that it is a problem to try to be acquainted with only the basics of most subjects. However, the consequence of this is that we lose out on actually becoming an expert. We can repair a fuse, fill out forms, and help out others who are looking for some advice. However, few of us non-experts can reach beyond and get a level of expertise that the common folk lack.

Even experts are unable to talk intelligently about every subject in the world. A professor of History, for example, may be a walking encyclopedia when talking about historical things. He may also have a fairly good knowledge of the art of the period. However, to expect him to also be a connoisseur of modern art is expecting a little too much.

Similarly, it is unfair to expect a mortgage consultant to be exceptionally well-versed in the fluctuations taking place in the share markets. He may have a lot of information about of the current market situation. However, it is not necessary that he has to be well-versed in the various process of the markets.

And what about psychics? A lot of people claim to have psychic abilities. Yet, only a few of them have truly been successful in giving highly accurate psychic readings. So anyone who wants an exact reading goes to those experts only.

I would love to be an expert in Java or C++ or some other programming language. However, that would involve a great deal of effort — effort that I am not ready to put in at this point of time. So if I have a problem (and this is not just limited to programming languages), the simplest thing to do is to run to an expert and get him/her to help me solve it. There really is no point in hassling myself by looking far and wide for answers when there are experts that are ready to help out.