Actually you have a better chance of getting into a car accident, plane crash, or struck by lightening, than winning the lottery. 

Another interesting twist about the lottery is that where you play dictates your actual odds of winning.  Single state lotteries usually have odds of about 18 million to one and multiple state lotteries have odds as high as 120 million to one.

Because I've been to the school of hard knocks I want to share a little shortcut with you.  One surefire way that millionaires become millionaires is because they abide by the rigorous standards they set for themselves.

Long ago, I remember falling into the trap of setting my standards quite low based on a less than thrilling job I had at the time.  Although it is typical for people to go the extra mile when they work for a fair company that treats them with respect and pays a descent salary, we know that standards usually diminish when a person doesn't feel the company deserves their personal best. 

No matter what's going on around you, I don't want you to fall into that trap because you are only hurting yourself when you don't set and maintain high standards for yourself. 

Millionaires turn failures into valuable lessons because they have high standards when it comes to dealing with problems.  They rebound by identifying resources to create solutions.

High standards are like high-octane gas to the millionaire, it keeps them charging onward and upward. And this is something you can start doing now.

Just because I want you to embrace change or as you are reading this you are thinking that you would like to adopt a new way of thinking it doesn't mean it will happen overnight.  But there is a way to accomplish almost anything if you will keep an open mind.

Kaizen (pronounced ky-zen) is a Japanese term that means continuous improvement, taken from words 'Kai' which means continuous and 'zen' means improvement.

Apart from business applications of the method, Anthony Robbins was one of the people who used the kaizen principles in his personal development principles. The basis of Robbins' CANI (Constant and Never-Ending Improvement) is discussed in his Lessons in Mastery series.

Some translate 'Kai' to mean change and 'zen' to mean good, or for the better.

Robert Maurer, Ph.D. is the author of "One Small Step Can Change Your Life:  The Kaizen Way" and he describes how kaizen is the tortoise versus the hare. Dr. Maurer, is a psychologist on the staff at the UCLA medical school and research has deemed this methodology irrefutable because small steps circumvent the brain's built-in resistance to new behavior.

Dr. Maurer suggests the following steps:

*Ask small questions

*Think small thoughts

*Take small actions

*Solve small problems