“To earn more, be more.”

I’d tattoo this mantra on my belly if that was still cool.

It’s more than just get-rich-quick advice (although it certainly works for getting rich quick). If you take the time to unpack it, this mantra will rain success on relationships, parenting, ministry, and any area you want to focus it on.

“To earn more, be more.”

Let me explain. Let’s assume some people find their identities in titles. I’ll make a confession: I often introduce myself as an “Internet marketer.” When I need to pull out all the stops and impress a banker so she’ll lend money to a dreadlocked, fresh-faced kid like me, I may use titles like “CEO” or “President.”

People who want to “be more” often carry multiple job titles. They may have business cards with extra letters at the end of their names. They can do the job of 3 or 4 people, and when they resign, they’re replaced by 3 to 4 people. They’re like renaissance men/women who choose to focus on useful areas rather than memorizing trivia (unless you want to be a professional Jeopardy player—respect).

There’s more. People who want to “be more” may also go deeper in their chosen field. They’re the salespeople who work to win Top Performer. Or they work to be #1 in their industry. Heck, why settle there…let’s be #1 in the world! (YOLO!)

Better rhetoricians summarize my last two paragraphs as the T-shaped person. This person grows horizontally into new areas (represented by the horizontal line in the uppercase T) and plunges vertically into select areas (represented by the vertical line).

“To earn more, be more.”

This is where the usual self-improvement article stops. If you read self-help, you’ll notice authors tend to describe the endpoint and let you figure out the path there.

Allow me to paint an easy-to-follow path here. In my humble opinion, one path to success is through habits. Life habits.

I’ll make another confession before I start my lecture: I took too long to realize that setting a goal without forming habits to achieve that goal is like making a wish, blowing a candle, and crossing my fingers. Stanford professor BJ Fogg helped me realize I can do better than that through his free week-long Tiny Habits email course. Spoiler alert: I’m about to summarize BJ’s course.

Some people have been taught that willpower is the only key to forming new habits. Want to make a habit of working out 3 times a week? Will yourself to do it. Want to make a habit of running every morning? Will yourself to do it. Want to make a habit waking up every day at 5:30am? Will yourself…you get the idea.

I’m delighted to discover that willpower isn’t the only way for forming new habits. That’s great news for me because no matter how hard I will myself to wake up early, I still fail several times a week. #ConfessionNumber3

BJ offers a simple method for forming new habits, and I’ll share it by using a super crude analogy that involves toilets and poop. I hope my crudeness will make my writing stick. (Pun intended, har har har.)

Remember the days when smartphones didn’t exist? Those were challenging times; I mean, without smartphones, how did people occupy their hands while sitting on the toilet? I remember an entire cottage industry formed around this (usually) daily habit: bathroom books. One of my favorites is titled, “The Original Inspirational Bathroom Book.” Because that’s exactly where I go when I look for inspiration—the toilet.

So how does pooping and reading relate to habit formation? Let’s break this down into two ingredients:

1. Anchor habits.
2. Easy access.

Dr. Fogg recommends building new habits by anchoring them to old habits. In my gross analogy, the anchor habit is pooping and the new habit is reading. Because pooping is (typically) a daily habit, it’s a great anchor for forming new daily habits. You can also form new weekly habits by anchoring to existing weekly habits like rolling your trash to the curb.

Anchoring isn’t enough. Like how the bathroom book is located conveniently by the toilet, you must also provide easy access to your new habit when you do your anchor habit. For example, if you want to write down your goal-of-the-day each morning, consider leaving sticky notes and pens by your sink. That way, you’ll remind yourself to write down your goal while you’re brushing your teeth.

BJ’s simple method can help you create habits that take you down the path of success. I’d challenge you to think about new habits you can form to achieve your New Year’s resolutions:

• Email your resume to two job opportunities while eating lunch.
• Draft a new closing technique every morning when you open your laptop.
• Write out a fresh way of complimenting your significant other on your commute home.
• Read another chapter of your marketing book when you’re brushing your teeth.
• Do 10 slow squats when you water your garden.
• Write another sentence of your book when you’re on the treadmill.
• Call a good friend when you walk your dog.

“To earn more, be more.”

BJ’s method is profoundly simple and surprisingly effective for creating habits to “be more.” Try it! And remember, the next time you hear phrases like “personal development,” “professional development,” “self-improvement,” and “lifelong learning,” realize that habits move you down the path of success. To desire success without forming habits is like making a wish, blowing a candle and crossing your fingers.