Introduction: Getting into is difficult work. It develops the way you think, act, and work in your job, habits, and personal life. Let's review, for a moment, what that mindset involves. It involves ridding yourself of characteristics that are negative, unhealthy, and mind numbing -- and developing discipline, focus, good health, and creativity. When you work so hard to become a strategic thinker, it permeates every part of your life. You develop the habits of setting goals, thinking about how to achieve those goals, giving yourself time lines -- and then work hard, study, and let your creativity lead the way.

One of the big parts of the millionaire mindset is spending time doing things that you don't naturally do. You might pick up an instrument to learn, learn chess, join a bridge club, learn to sew, or take yoga classes. Moving outside of your comfort zone will become comfortable in both your business and personal life. All of the new characteristics that you are developing will seep out into how you act. You will become more interesting, a better friend to others, and a person people enjoy being around.

In your personal life, you will notice that those people you associate with will either support the new you, or they will drift away. That is okay. It is difficult to strengthen good life skills when you are surrounded by those who tend to discard so much of their life to wasted efforts. You will attract people who also think smart, work hard, and understand that life is about so much more than spending money. Even though your goal is to be a millionaire, and it might originally have come from simply wanting to have money to spend on anything you want, you will find that by the time you have that million dollars in the bank, you have changed. You will be a new person and if you've done a good job in the beginning of this process, you will have changed for the better.

You Private Life, Then and Now: Before a person decides to step into the millionaire transformation process, life could have looked like anything from having a fairly good job, to being homeless. But one thing that each person had in common was the fact they weren't content where they were. To take on the hard work, re-format your mental processes, and stop wasteful spending, requires a person who is ready to give up what he's been doing and make a total change.

The reasons people initially want to have a million dollars are varied; however, by the time most people do make that million dollars, they have developed such a work ethic, have sealed the habits of wisdom with finances, and enjoying the work created out of passion or need, to the point that their lifestyle automatically progresses them toward creating wealth, and they find other goals to focus upon. As the millionaire thinking envelops your every thought, you may find yourself valuing the process more than the goal. A life lived to the fullest is one of contentment, energy and with a feeling of connection with other people across the world. When you make good decisions, work hard, follow your passions, and step beyond your comfort zone, you discover so much more of life than ever before.

What the Personal Life of a Millionaire Looks Like: Wealthy people are all different. Some flaunt it, others go on living a thrifty lifestyle, and still others spend like there is no end and lose it all. The difference between the person who spent time building characteristics, and a mindset that is focused, is the outcome. If you just want a million dollars, get it, and then throw it away in unwise investments and spending, then the question is: Why did you bother? If you want to be a millionaire, not for a moment but for a lifetime, then it requires some commitments to living with discipline.

You can be disciplined and own a large home, a fancy car, a boat, and other things, but "things" take upkeep. Expensive things take expensive upkeep. If you have the character, mindset, and focus from the beginning, your spending will be done wisely, with your investments and future in mind. The millionaire who inherits his money often ends up tragically, because the temperament needed to control that wealth was not inherited with it. Those who are "self-made" millionaires know the work and thinking that it takes to amass that much money and behave in a manner that expresses an understanding of the value of that money.

Thomas Stanley and William Danko wrote a book called, The Millionaire Next Door. In their research of millionaires across America, they found that most were so disciplined that once they earned that much, they continued living mostly just as they had before. After working to earn that much money, it is difficult to change from the frugal ways it took to get there, to a spendthrift mentality. Most millionaires today live far below what they might. In other words, they don't necessarily drive a new flashy car, buy a mansion, or dress any differently than those who don't have a million. Some millionaires live lives that border on being penny-pinchers. Often, you learn of the death of a person who leaves millions to a charity and no one had any idea that person had much money at all.

That's how your personal life should look. If you've shed your bad habits, are healthy, and love your work, that's what your personality will show. Your friends will have similar values, and instead of people saying, "There goes Andy. He's a millionaire," they will say, "There goes Andy. He's a great guy." If you have developed your own business, or worked your way up in a company and dealt carefully with your money, you don't just end all the changes you've gone through to get there. It becomes a lifestyle in both your business and personal life. It is who you are -- just like wasteful spending can become a lifestyle and ruin even the wealthy. While most people will try to convince themselves why they should spend the money on something, the millionaire mindset will convince you to keep your money in your wallet. Your habits will rule your decisions and your decisions will rule your life.

Personal Success: The millionaire mindset does not really separate business from pleasure. If you are pursuing your passion in your work, your business is your pleasure. In the beginning, you may struggle to make ends meet, but if you've done your strategic planning, are spending time opening your whole mind, and continue studying and learning new things, you will get to the place where you can see over the hill. That accomplishment, in itself, will continue to inspire you to maintain the progress. Every day a millionaire gets up excited about the day, not because he doesn't have to work, but because he gets to work at something he loves. It doesn't matter what it is. There is a millionaire in every business you can name.

So what is it that makes some people a millionaire, and others who struggle their whole lives trying to get ahead? It goes back to the foundation you lay for yourself. You have to understand how your mind works, then turn your back on bad habits, and work on characteristics that are positive, healthy, and disciplined. When you have worked on how you think, then you can develop a strategic plan. Some people grow up in an atmosphere that naturally develops strategic thinking. If the parents in a home are strategic thinkers, then the children will be ahead of the game. In those families that are headed by parents who think strategically, plan strategically, and set goals, the children are usually expected to do the same. Those parents understand how the process creates a meaningful life, and that's what they want for their children.

People who think strategically do it in every aspect of their lives. How they shop, budget, play, and work are filled with decisions that rigorously follow a strategic way of thinking. Some clip coupons, others buy used cars, some even shop thrift stores, but most are thrifty. You can't continue to keep a million in the bank if you are spending it as fast as you make it. You won't feel good about yourself, if you throw away the money you have spent so much energy to make; but more than that, you will have trained yourself to be more focused on what is important in life, and have found that spending lots of money is not as satisfying as you once thought.

Another aspect of the personal life of a millionaire it how they look at money. How they spend it is one aspect, but how they invest it is another. A millionaire who intends to stay wealthy looks at all they have in a different light. The thing that is sucking their dollars away, whatever it is, has to be stopped. Interest on loans, expenses to maintain a house, a car, or a bad habit cannot continue if wealth is to be maintained. A millionaire looks at his or her personal life in the same way. Those people who suck your energy, who are negative or who continually wallow in unhealthy lifestyles are people whose relationships you have to sever. Investing in both your finances and your relationships requires thorough examination as you move through life. Becoming a millionaire is, after all, not the real goal. The real goal is being a millionaire for the rest of your life.

Summary: A millionaire's personal life will take on the same characteristics as their business life. It will be one that values good health, hard work, creative endeavors, and focus. You've heard the saying, "work hard, play hard." That sort of sums it up.

Examine yourself. If you are not a millionaire, then you have to consider that you have not developed the right mindset, habits, and passion. You can do that. Anyone can do that. You can start this minute. Stop wasteful living in every way.

Example: Jordan was a lawyer. She had college loans, an old car, and a small apartment. She wasn't happy at all. She did not like her job. It was with an older law firm that focused on contract law. It wasn't exciting, and day after day, she kept her eye on the clock waiting for the end to get out of the office. She lived near a retirement home and would stop in and visit some of the elderly which, she found, lifted her spirits tremendously. After a visit there, she felt renewed and energized. She often met family members of the residents and when they found out her career choice, they would invariably discuss the legal options of long-term care.

Jordan enjoyed that so much that when the son of a resident approached her about going into partnership with him in a new business he wanted to start that focused on legal help for the aged, she jumped at the chance. After giving notice at her job and moving back home with her parents, she spent every day with the man, working long hours, doing some strategic planning, investigation, and making decisions. She was working longer hours, for less money, yet she was happier, less worried about her debts, and energetic about the future.

Consider this:

1. Most millionaires work very hard, but they also spend time in creative modes, because it is how they keep their whole brains working and continue to think smartly.

2. Personal lives of millionaires are frequently connected to their work, because it is also their passion.

3. Millionaire thinking attracts millionaire thinkers. Surround yourself with the kind of person you want to be, the people who value what you want to value and who work hard, but enjoy what they do.

4. Millionaires are more intentional about how they spend their money, and though they may purchase higher quality items, they do it because they know in the long run it will cost them less. It's all about the bottom line for life, not the moment.