One of my favorite movies of all time is Dead Poets Society.  My guess is that you have seen it, but if not, it is inspiring.  It contains some of the best quotes of all time.  My favorite is contained in this clip – see if you can pick it out.

“Sucking the marrow out of life!”  This line taken from a Thoreau poem describes a way of thinking.  A way of living life.

But it is just a quote.  To live like this – to maximize your potential – takes intentionality.  It takes discipline.  It takes developing habits that will produce the desired outcome – abundant life.

My mentor emailed me recently a link to a Dave Ramsey blog post.  In that post, Dave sites 20 habits found in wealthy people.  I have included this list below.  As you read this list, I want you to ask yourself a couple of questions.

1. How do you stack up to this list?
2. How many of these describe you?
3. How does this actually make you feel?
4. How could living life this way help you “suck the marrow out of life?”

20 Habits that Describe the Wealthy – from richhabitsinstitute.com

1. 70% of wealthy eat less than 300 junk food calories per day. 97% of poor people eat more than 300 junk food calories per day. 23% of wealthy gamble. 52% of poor people gamble.

2. 80% of wealthy are focused on accomplishing some single goal. Only 12% of the poor do this.

3. 76% of wealthy exercise aerobically four days a week. 23% of poor do this.

4. 63% of wealthy listen to audio books during commute to work vs. 5% of poor people.

5. 81% of wealthy maintain a to-do list vs. 19% of poor.

6. 63% of wealthy parents make their children read two or more non-fiction books a month vs. 3% of poor.

7. 70% of wealthy parents make their children volunteer 10 hours or more a month vs. 3% of poor.

8. 80% of wealthy make Happy Birthday calls vs. 11% of poor.

9. 67% of wealthy write down their goals vs. 17% of poor.

10. 88% of wealthy read 30 minutes or more each day for education or career reasons vs. 2% of poor.

11. 6% of wealthy say what’s on their mind vs. 69% of poor.  (This is the one that is most interesting to me.)

12. 79% of wealthy network five hours or more each month vs. 16% of poor.

13. 67% of wealthy watch one hour or less of TV every day vs. 23% of poor.

14. 6% of wealthy watch reality TV vs. 78% of poor.

15. 44% of wealthy wake up three hours before work starts vs. 3% of poor.

16. 74% of wealthy teach good daily success habits to their children vs. 1% of poor.

17. 84% of wealthy believe good habits create opportunity luck vs. 4% of poor.

18. 76% of wealthy believe bad habits create detrimental luck vs. 9% of poor.

19. 86% of wealthy believe in lifelong educational self-improvement vs. 5% of poor.

20. 86% of wealthy love to read vs. 26% of poor.

This list inspires me.  It reminds me of what I know I should be doing.  It encourages me to do better.

I shared this list for another reason beyond to encourage you to weigh your habits against these.  When Dave Ramsey posted this list, there was an explosion of reaction.  As a result of both the positive and negative reaction he received, he edited his post to include his commentary.  I challenge you to read what he has communicated there – click here to do so.

Question: So how do you stack up to this list? As we finish the last days of this year, what would you most like to change about your habits for 2014? You can leave a comment by clicking here.