While many people dream about what it would be like to be rich, they are destined to live beyond their means and take on ever growing amounts of debt unless they adopt the mindset that makes millionaires wealthy.
The good news is that more people than ever are becoming millionaires. An analysis by the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling at Canberra University found the number of millionaire families in Australia jumped by nine times to almost 180,000 between 1986 and 1998.
In my opinion, the biggest difference between those that become wealthy and those that do not is attitude.
Instead of thinking of all the reasons why an idea won’t work, millionaires think of all the reasons why it will work. They think whatever they dream is possible. People destined never to be rich will identify the obstacles and limitations that will ensure a project never gets off the ground. Often it doesn’t happen consciously.
In my book,
How To Be Rich & Happy On Your Income I talk about the attitudes and belief systems necessary to support wealth and happiness. If you adopt these attitudes, belief systems and behaviours, your chances of becoming a millionaire will be greatly increased.
If you want to be wealthy, you have to have the guts to get out there and do it. You may not get it right first time and you will almost certainly make mistakes. That’s OK.
Even though they may seem major at the time, those early mistakes usually don’t turn out to be all that significant in the long run. But you have to START. Take the first steps (no matter how small) to transform your dream of building wealth into reality. Don’t wait until you know “everything”. That day will never come.
Just go out there and get started. NOW!
Some people convince themselves that they can’t start a project just yet because they need to finish a university degree, or they are too young, or too old, or they think they need an office before they can start.
People destined to be millionaires realise they will never learn all they need to learn to make a project succeed. They just want to know enough to tip the odds in their favour and the rest will come as they go along.
In my book,
Financial Freedom . . . starting now! – An Action Guide, I give examples of people of various ages and levels of education who have been very successful in their chosen fields. They ignored the reasons why they couldn’t succeed and just went out and achieved despite the obstacles and challenges.
For people who have grown up with an employee mentality, security is important. A millionaire’s security comes from knowing they have the ability to create value for someone else and knowing that someone else is willing to pay for it. Millionaires have confidence in their own abilities and belief in their product or service. Consequently most millionaires are entrepreneurial by nature. They are self reliant. They have the motto: “If it’s to be—it’s up to me!”
Another common thread I want you to know about is that Millionaires tend to focus intently on a project until it succeeds. Once that project is up and running they might focus on the next one, but until then, nothing diverts their attention. Millionaires recognise that in the early stages you have to nurture your project until it’s strong enough to stand on its own.
You also have to love what you do. Doing what you love to do is one of the great secrets of financial success. Find a field or endeavour that completely fascinates you, something that holds your attention and is a natural expression of your special talents and abilities. When you are doing what you love to do, you seem to have a continuous flow of excitement, energy, and ideas to do what you do even better.
A great deal of your success will flow from the quality of the relationships you develop. Successful people make a habit of building and maintaining a network of high-quality relationships throughout their lives and as a result accomplish vastly more than the person who goes home and watches television every night. Remember the saying: “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” Building relationships is about knowing who to ring when you want to put together particular types of projects or deals.
Millionaires are willing to do whatever it takes and to work for as long as it takes when they work on a specific project to make it happen. This attitude comes from the passion and drive they have for what they are doing.
Most millionaires are not workaholics. They set aside time to spend with their friends and family. When they work however, they work hard and focus their energy to maximise the returns for their efforts. Most millionaires believe it is possible to balance financial goals and an enjoyable lifestyle. After all, why else do it?
Many of the lifestyle activities of millionaires bring them into contact with people who become clients or great friends.
Researcher Thomas J Stanley who wrote the book,
The Millionaire Mind found that millionaires don’t rely on consumer goods (expensive boats, cars) to enjoy life, despite the money marketers spend on convincing people consumer goods buy fun. The lifestyle activity millionaires spend most time on is socialising with their children and/or grandchildren, followed by entertaining close friends. They also enjoy planning investments and studying investment opportunities.
Millionaires are relatively thrifty. They don't spend money unnecessarily. Dr Stanley found that 70 per cent of millionaires regularly have their shoes repaired and resoled; 48 per cent regularly have their furniture re-upholstered or refinished instead of buying new; and nearly 50 per cent buy household goods in bulk.
I have found that many people who spend up big are the people who are trying to impress others because they lack self confidence. Millionaires don’t have to impress anybody because they couldn’t care less what people think. They still enjoy the nice things in life but they don’t do it to impress other people — they don’t have to tell the world about it.
The foundation stones for financial success according to Dr Stanley’s research are:
- Integrity — be honest in all your dealings
- Discipline – apply self control
- Social skills — get along with people
- A supportive spouse
For more information about how you can achieve the mindset of a millionaire, I suggest you read the books,
Financial Freedom . . . starting now! – An Action Guide.
About Hans Jakobi
Hans Jakobi is an educator, author and investor. He is the author of six best-selling books including, How To Be Rich & Happy On Your Income which is available at:
www.supersecrets.com and the presenter of the
Super Secrets® to Wealth do-it-yourself real estate home study course. Join Hans Jakobi’s FREE Super Secrets® Online Newsletter
© 2002 Hans Jakobi. All rights reserved worldwide
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