Becoming a millionaire is a function of the mindset and not a product of years of hard toil and sweat.
Most rich people begin their million-dollar journeys from average backgrounds. They become millionaires based on a clear strategic plan with a positive mentality, from start to finish.
In his book, The Automatic Millionaire, David Bach sheds light on the life of a couple that kicked off their lives’ sojourn from humble beginnings and ended up with millions of savings at the bank.
He says you only need the right mentality and a crystal-clear roadmap to ‘the city of gold.’ “You can draw that plan in less than 2 hours,” Bach explains.
After an in-depth study of more than 500 arriviste millionaires, Napoleon Hill concluded that becoming rich depends more on mentality than having a budget. You don’t need bags of cash to get even more bags. Work on your psyche, and the rest automatically falls into place.
Here are ten ways the rich think differently from the commonalty:
1. The rich don’t wait for a lucky day
Rich people act on their plans. They look for ways to solve humankind’s problems and then make money out of it.
The average person has a gambler mentality. They think someone from the blues will somehow come to their rescue. Others also rely on their superiors to provide solutions to their money problems.
Millionaires believe in action and thus work steadily towards realizing their financial dreams.
2. The rich don’t get carried away by emotion
Many people settle for a happy ending of pension schemes in their careers. They get trapped in the feel-good experience of retirement packages and the satisfaction of a good home.
A rich person considers money a raw material for producing more refined products.
Great people take their time to reason out the possible outcomes of investing their money. Rich people are prepared to do the math and make decisions based on logical conclusions.
3. The rich believe lack breeds evil
In his best-selling book, How Rich People Think, Steve Siebold explains that the low-income earner perceives wealth as something to be ashamed of—to some degree.
Rich people think differently. They believe that your life is miserable without money, and you are likely to get into societal evils as a substitute for distress.
Millionaires believe that money enhances your quality of life and puts you on the sidewalks of happiness. While money is not a ticket to a blissful life, it gives you a sense of tranquility.
4. The rich do not see a lack of formal education as a limitation
…while the average person looks at the school system as a means to getting wealthy. It is okay to get an education, but it is never a path to riches.
Billionaires look for ways to find precision in what they already know and look for markets to sell that precise knowledge.
It will interest you to find that most wealthy individuals did not graduate. They decided to follow their pin-point skills-bank and emerged as world-class heroes in the end. Those that have gone through formal education are now using their products.
5. The rich do what they love
In “Secrets of the World Class,” Steve Siebold explains the psychology of champions and how it makes them win. It is about doing what you are passionate about and looking for ways to commercialize it.
If you love it, you will do it beyond your ordinary energy levels. You find a way to go beyond your limits.
You will not have to go through much physical and mental stress. You can do what you love 7 days a week and not find a reason to say, “I’m drained.”
In the eyes of the masses, you might look like you are working every second of your life. The reason great people don’t get tired is that they are enjoying every bit of their job.
6. Rich people are optimistic. The average person is nostalgic
Average people are drawn back by the tendency to look back on their past achievements. They brood on them while wishing things would be equally rosy in the present. The outcome of nostalgia is depression.
Anyone that constantly brags about past victories is not likely to get rich. Contentment with the past is the gravity that pulls down everyone with the desire to live a better life.
World-class achievers look into the future with longing. They believe that something big is in store for them. They are sure that their dreams are not empty fantasies. Real heroes work daily towards realizing their goals and aspirations.
7. The rich think self-centeredness is a good personal attribute
“One explicit virtue of the rich is that they feel happy about their lives, without getting into the hypocrisy of trying to be saviors of our planet,” Steve Siebold, the author of Secrets of the World Class, once told a business magazine in an interview on his other book How Rich People Think.
You cannot transfer positive energy to others without radiating it within yourself first. And you cannot give to others what you do not possess. Take yourself out on a lunch date before setting out to look for that specific person you can treat.
8. Rich people are not afraid to use other people’s finances.
While the masses believe that you need personal solvency to fund your projects, the rich use other people’s resources to fund their investments.
You don’t need money to execute that worthy cause. Only ask yourself if it is a viable venture. If you stay on course and do the right thing, the returns will eventually outweigh the initial investment.
9. The rich leverage on the markets’ biases
Humans are naturally emotional and driven mainly by the desire to accumulate more and more. Successful business people know this bias and use it to sway the markets.
The masses have a wrong view of the marketplace. They think that the markets are driven by reason and strategic planning. The markets are fortunately or unfortunately run by the human soft spots of passion and avarice.
Millionaires are aware of these biases and use them strategically to inform financial forecasts and investment goals.
10. The rich keep a keen eye on investing
Successful people are not afraid to take risks with their money. The ‘penny-wise’ mentality is found chiefly among average people. Rich people would rather invest the resources in their possession than save them for a rainy day.
The rich are never satisfied with what’s in the bag. They are focused on the profit in the investment. The fear of the unknown is an enemy to riches because it always ends in missed opportunities and regrets for the masses.
These are the top ten quotes from top wealthy people around the world.
Aliko Dangote
On building conglomerates
I built a conglomerate and emerged the richest black man in the world in 2008 but it didn’t happen overnight. It took me 30 years to get to where I am today. Youths of today aspire to be like me but they want to achieve it overnight. It’s not going to work. To build a successful business, you must start small and dream big. In the journey of entrepreneurship, tenacity of purpose is supreme.
Elon Musk
On Investment
I always invest my own money in the companies that I create. I don’t believe in the whole thing of just using other people’s money. I don’t think that’s right. I’m not going to ask other people to invest in something if I’m not prepared to do so myself.
Warren Buffet.
On Going long:
“[Our] favorite holding period is forever. We are just the opposite of those who hurry to sell and book profits when companies perform well but who tenaciously hang on to businesses that disappoint. [American investor] Peter Lynch aptly likens such behavior to cutting the flowers and watering the weeds.”
— Letter to shareholders for the year 1988
Mark Zuckerberg
On Business and rules.
“I think a simple rule of business is, if you do the things that are easier first, then you can actually make a lot of progress.”
Bill Gates
On success:
“Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.”
Jeff Bezos
On change.
“What we need to do is always lean into the future; when the world changes around you and when it changes against you – what used to be a tail wind is now a head wind – you have to lean into that and figure out what to do because complaining isn’t a strategy.”
Larry Page
On dreaming:
Sometimes it’s important to wake up and stop dreaming. When a really great dream shows up, grab it.
Larry Elisson
On personality:
The most important aspect of my personality as far as determining my success goes has been my questioning conventional wisdom, doubting experts and questioning authority. While that can be painful in your relationships with your parents and teachers, it’s enormously useful in life.
Steve Ballmer:
On ideas:
Any idea that turns out to be truly great can be harvested for tens of years. On the other hand, if you want to continue to be great, you’ve got to bet on new things, big, bold bets.
Sergey Brin
On success:
Obviously everyone wants to be successful, but I want to be looked back on as being very innovative, very trusted and ethical and ultimately making a big difference in the world.
Final thoughts
The journey to riches begins on the inside. You attract what you consistently wrap your mind around. If you think it is impossible, then most likely, it will turn out to be so. Great ideas are generated from the mind. It is only fair that you treat your mind well. Decide to entertain only progressive ideas and not the opposite.
