Millionaires have several characteristics in common. They see the world in certain ways and so they do things in certain ways. If you want to become very successful at anything, including making a million dollars, you need to do what the millionaires do.

1) Focus

If you are to become very successful at anything, you must have focus. Mark Fisher uses the idea of gardening a rosebush to illustrate the power of focus. If you have a branch with several buds on it and you allow them all to grow freely, you will end up with several flowers about the same size. But if you remove all the buds except the most promising one, then that one gets all the sap and nutrients in that branch and will grow to a spectacular size.

We all have lots of ideas and things to do “growing” in our minds. If you remove all the ideas and tasks that are distracting you from what you really want (the project that will make you very rich and/or successful) then your project will benefit from having all your time and energy and thought and will grow to be something magnificent.

One benefit of having this focus is that it gives you the desire to do whatever you need to do to achieve your goal, even though some things are going to be very uncomfortable for you. There will be mistakes and setbacks, obstacles and roadblocks, and you must have the attitude that there is no turning back. You must succeed, because this is what you have focused on.

2) Have a goal.

If you don’t have a goal, you won’t even know if you have been successful. You won’t know what you are aiming for, or what you want to achieve with your life. Having a goal allows you to start thinking about how you will get to it, and developing a plan of action, or at least determining the first step you can take towards it.

In order to have a useful goal, it must be specific (so you know what it is that you’re working towards), and it must be measurable (so you know when you’ve achieved it). It should also have a time frame so that you will start working on it now. This is not a deadline; it is more of a target, and if you miss your target, it’s no big deal because you can just set another one.

3) Have Faith

If you are going to really succeed at anything, including becoming rich, then you must believe that you can do it. You must commit to doing it, by being willing to do whatever it takes to achieve it. This will only happen if you believe that you really can do it. You must have faith in yourself.

Arthur L. Williams (the founder of a multimillion dollar insurance company) says that “The number one problem that keeps people from winning in the United States today is the lack of belief in themselves”. What we achieve is what we anticipate achieving. Tim Ferris, who won the national kickboxing title 6 weeks after being introduced to the sport, says that most people fail not because they lack the skills or aptitude to reach their goal but simply because they don’t believe they can reach it. I’m convinced he’s right.

4) Take Action

Nothing happens until you take action. You will never achieve anything sitting around and visualizing your goal and feeling good about it. You have to get up and do something. The purpose of spending time visualizing your goal and feeling good about it is to make you get inspired to do something in order to achieve it. Your intuition will tell you what to do, and you must be paying close attention in order to receive and interpret its messages.

As long as you take the first step towards your goal, then you will be able to determine what steps to take from there by continuing to pay attention to your intuition. You don’t have to see the whole path at once; it will become clear to you as you are moving forward. Even if you fail, you will gain insight about what to do next time.

5) Perseverance

If you are going to succeed at anything, including becoming a millionaire, you must not give up. You must realize that you are going to have obstacles and roadblocks. You will have mistakes and setbacks. You must be prepared for them, and not afraid of them. You must realize that mistakes and setbacks teach you valuable lessons that you can use to move forward towards your goal.

“Don’t quit when the tide is lowest, because it’s just about to turn”. You must realize that “you are not a failure until you fail to try”. Never give up, and you will be successful.

The first and foremost thing any successful person understands is that you must take responsibility for your life. You can’t complain, blame, or justify your current failures. Only when you take responsibility for your life can you focus, set goals, believe in yourself, take action, and never give up. If you do those 5 things, it’s only a matter of time before you succeed at anything you want to achieve, including making a million dollars.