I come from a lower-middle-class family. No one went to college. Everyone was a blue-collar worker. We didn’t about know the money mindset and thinking patterns that made people rich.
So I grew up with a worker mentality. As I grew older, I realized that mindset would not make me rich.
In my experience, the majority of the population has the wrong money mindset. This is why not everyone is rich.
Let me share 5 mindset shifts I’ve made in my life, which directly contributed to how much wealth I’ve accumulated.
No more “it’s just” thinking
It’s just…
- One more drink
- One chocolate bar
- One more hour at the club
- One day of doing nothing
This line of thinking is disastrous to your financial success. People who are rich don’t think, “It’s just.”
They are disciplined about their work, habits, and money. They don’t joke around with their time and money.
One of my favorite stories is about a friend of my father, who’s extremely wealthy. He’s a business owner and when he started out, he did everything in his business himself.
He would deliver the goods he was selling to his clients. One of his clients, who we also know, said that during those early years, he would always come to them with empty pockets and said, “Do you have something for lunch?”
The rich bastard didn’t spend a dime on lunch for YEARS! Now, you might think, “It’s just” a few bucks for lunch.
But that’s not the point. To get rich, you must do a lot of little things to accumulate wealth.
Doing more than what’s asked
Successful people always strive to exceed expectations, whether in their careers or personal life. This can mean putting in extra hours at work, taking on additional responsibilities, or going the extra mile for a client or customer.
By doing more than what’s asked, you demonstrate your commitment and dedication to excellence.
For example, if you’re working on a project, don’t just meet the deadlines, try to finish it ahead of time. Or, if you’re an entrepreneur, offer exceptional customer service or go above and beyond to deliver products or services that exceed your customer’s expectations.
If you get feedback from someone, apply it to other areas of your work too. I do this a lot with my writing. If my editor gives feedback about a particular chapter of my book, I think about how I can apply it to the rest of the book.
Look, this is YOUR life and career. People will not go out of their way to help you. They will give you instructions, ask you things, share feedback, but it’s up to you to do something with that.
Educating yourself
If you want to get rich, you need to invest in yourself. This means continuously learning new skills and knowledge that will help you advance your career or business.
By continually educating yourself, you increase your value as an employee or entrepreneur. This can lead to higher salaries, better job opportunities, and increased revenue.
There are many ways to educate yourself. My favorites are books, courses, podcasts, and YouTube videos. Anything I can learn on my own.
You can’t expect to stay great if you don’t keep learning. Technology and the economy change so fast that it’s impossible to stay ahead without continuous education.
Keep learning. And you’ll find ways to earn more and advance your career.
Surrounding yourself with winners
The old adage, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with,” is especially true when it comes to building wealth.
By surrounding yourself with winners, you’ll be more likely to adopt their positive habits and mindset.
If you’re surrounded by losers, they will only drag you down. Instead of encouraging you to work harder or get smarter, they’ll say, “Have another drink. It’s just one!”
Sure. We don’t do “just” one more drink. Instead, we learn, exercise, read, meditate, and do other things that enrich our lives.
Willing to expand the pie for everyone
Look, life is not a zero-sum game. If others win, it doesn’t mean you’re a loser.
If you want to stay where you are and never get rich, just do this. Get jealous every time you see a successful person. Think to yourself, “Why that person, and why not me?”
I guarantee you will not be a happy person. And even if you do get rich with that mindset, you will never be content.
Instead of competing with others, compete with yourself. Improve yourself and look for ways to generate more wealth for everyone. My favorite example of that is Tim Ferriss.
A lot of younger entrepreneurs and internet people don’t know this, but Tim Ferris created the entire category of “passive online income” and solo businesses. His book, The 4-Hour Workweek, is about how you can work less and earn more.
There are now millions of people who are benefiting from that philosophy. A lot of them even teach his system for starting an online business.
Instead of trying to protect his ideas or profit from them, he just lets it be.
When you have that mindset, you will aim for expanding the pie for everyone. You won’t get caught up in work or businesses that force you to compete.
Protect your mindset
Henry David Thoreau once said:
“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”
For example, I look at a big book on investing and think, “I can’t wait to dig into that.”
And another person thinks, “Ugh. Who reads books anymore?”
Our perception of things shapes our experiences and ultimately, our reality. This is why it’s essential to cultivate a mindset that gives you the life you want.
- Rich mindset
- Rich life
Once your mindset is in the right place, you must protect it. Don’t let other people or external pressure change how you view the world.
