#IWannaBeRich #ThinkingRich #RichMindset #OpenToOpportunities
The duo Calloway sang it best in 1990: “I Wanna Be Rich.”
But, Personal Finance columnist Barry Ritholtz writes that just thinking about getting rich won’t make you rich.
“What’s the main thing that separates the rich from the poor? Ask any of the financially free people, and they will tell you the same: their mindset,” Ritholtz writes in his column, also published in the April 16, 2018, edition of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Ritholtz calls this thinking, “deceptive nonsense … rampant in the marketing materials aimed at gullible and desperate consumers.”
Still, he writes, Napoleon Hill’s 1937 classic “Think and Grow Rich” sold 20 million copies. “In the context of that very difficult time (the Depression era) we can give Hill a pass for reminding Americans of their can-do attitudes and boosting their self-confidence,” he writes.
For the less cynical, people who succeed first have to believe that they can. They have to have a strong “why” that pushes them to do what they need to do.
So the message in Ritholtz’s column should be: put your positive thoughts into action.
As leadership expert John Maxwell has said, the axiom “if you can believe it, you can achieve it” may not be true in all cases. To be a great opera singer, for example, one must not only believe they can be one, but have the natural talent and put in the hard work to hone that talent. Naturally, without the God-given talent – not just the ability to carry a tune — all the belief and hard work you can muster probably will not get you to the Met.
But positive thoughts, and the desire to succeed, are vital to success. Many of us have been engrained to “settle” for security. A good education gets you a good job, which gets you a good life.
But if you indeed want more than that – if you have a dream you believe you can achieve – you have to have your head in the right place.
You also have to be open to opportunities that may be presented to you, and recognize them as such.
There may be folks out there who want more than just security, have a great mindset, but don’t really have the vehicle to get them to where they want to be. If you are among those, there are actually many such vehicles out there. To check out one of the best, message me.
Ritzholtz is correct in saying that there is a whole industry out there that involves get-rich-quick schemes that don’t include hard work.
For some things, no matter how hard you work at them, you’ll never achieve what you want.
But, most of us are smart enough to know the difference between real and phony opportunities.
Some “millionaire mindset” suggestions have value, Ritholtz acknowledges. He cites becoming goal-oriented, living within or below one’s means, using extra money to invest in yourself or the stock market etc.
“You can become rich – but only if you meet or create great demand for a real service or product,” Ritholtz writes.
To shorten his message, think of it this way: “Just thinking or (believing it) does not mean that you will achieve it,” he writes. “Doing, on the other hand, at least gives you a shot at it.”
Peter
Tag Archives: Napoleon Hill
TAKE TIME TO THINK
#TimeToThink #TakeTimeToThink #MakeTimeToThink
We’ve all seen a person sitting still, staring into space.
That person may tell you that he or she is taking time to think.
That’s not a bad thing. In fact, according to Napoleon Hill, it’s a good thing to do.
He discusses it in his book, “Lessons on Success: 17 Principles of Personal Achievement.”
“One of the ways to increase your flow of ideas is by developing the habit of taking study time, thinking time and planning time,” Hill writes.
“Be quiet and motionless, and listen for that small, still voice that speaks from within you. Contemplate the ways in which you can achieve your objectives,” he continues.
It’s best not to do this at work, lest your employer think you are, well, just staring into space.
Also, everyone has a time of day at which he or she thinks best. For some, it’s first thing in the morning. For others, it may be late in the evening. You know yourself, and the best time that good ideas seem to come to you.
For some, it may be in your sleep. If a good idea wakes you up, get up, write it down and go back to sleep if it’s the middle of the night.
So who in the world has time to think? Every minute of every day is filled with “life” – job, kids, home chores, hobbies etc. For many, there’s barely a quiet, solitary moment, let alone a few minutes.
It may require a life adjustment so that you can MAKE time to think.
Hill, who also wrote “Think and Grow Rich,” and other experts on leadership and success preach that no one can be truly successful unless he or she can THINK success.
Many believe their lives are so “full,” getting by without one crisis after another is considered a success. Most of us want to do more than just get by.
Still others revel in the chaos of life. You may know someone who isn’t happy unless he or she is miserable. Such a person also can’t stop talking about what’s wrong in life.
But experts on success encourage people to look for the positive. Appreciate the good in their lives. Embrace the thought that things are not only good, but will only get better.
If you are among those positive, optimistic thinkers, and are looking for a vehicle that will allow you not only to improve your situation, but allow you to help others improve theirs, many such vehicles exist. To check out one of the best, message me.
So take time to think. It’s best to do so in private, so people don’t presume you are just aimlessly gazing at nothing.
Think about not only where you are, but where you want to be. Cultivate the ability to dream, if you don’t have it already.
Think first about WHY you want to be successful at whatever you are doing, or want to do. Chances are, once you know why, the how will somehow present itself. When it does, you have to be looking for it.
Don’t just get by. Instead, to quote leadership expert John Addison, get after it.
“Life” will continue to consume you unless you make your own quiet time. When you do, think about what you want from life, not what life is taking from you.
Peter
TRAPPINGS OF UPBRINGING: PART 2
#thinklikearichperson
Growing up, were you often told what was NOT possible?
Did your elders convince you that the world was going to hell in a hand basket?
Were you constantly reminded of your “limitations?”
And, were you told that if you didn’t do certain things, you’d be messed up for life?
These and other things are common in “middle class” thinking, as defined by author Steve Siebold in his book “How Rich People Think.”
He talks about how we are often steered on a path of security, scarcity and pessimism, as opposed to risk-taking, abundance and optimism.
The trick to getting off that train of thought, and potentially becoming wealthy, is relearning what IS possible, believing that things will always get better and knowing that the sky is the limit to your success.
There is certainly nothing wrong with respecting your elders – parents, teachers, preachers etc. There is nothing wrong with emulating their work ethic and empathizing with their struggles. But ultimately, you may realize that some of what they taught you may not work for you. The secret to becoming rich is believing you can be. The secret to becoming rich, as Siebold points out, is to find solutions to problems, or figuring out what people want and delivering it to them.
If you have a job, and most of us do, recognize it for what it is. Especially in this day and age, it’s hardly the security blanket it once might have been. Look at it as a means to move you toward what you really want – that is, if you think like a rich person.
If you monitor how a rich person behaves, you’ll learn that he doesn’t behave that way BECAUSE he has money. He has money because he behaves the way he does.
Sure, good ideas might come from outside the box. But a familiar pattern of limitless possibilities, optimism and fearlessness are pretty standard among those who have money.
As we grow older, we realize that many of our fears are taught. Much of what we view as “evil” was handed down to us. Much of what we see on the horizon we approach with extreme caution and wariness, out of concern that we might lose everything.
To think rich, you don’t have to be rich. But if you think rich, you might become rich. Start by getting comfortable with taking calculated risks. Then, believe that the world will definitely get better, and you are going to help make it so. Then, realize the security you so doggedly sought is at least teetering, if not collapsed altogether. But, that’s OK. Rich people don’t expect entities to give them anything, Siebold writes.
Take a good look at your life. Are you completely happy with it? You just may be. Perhaps you have a wonderful spouse , a supportive family and dependable friends. With all that, who needs financial abundance, right?
But if life is not giving you what you want, and believe you deserve, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. Feed your mind with good information, inspiration and possibilities. Learn that your future can be bright no matter what else happens.
To paraphrase Napoleon Hill, learn to think and become rich.
Peter
HOW TO THINK ABOUT MONEY: PART 1
If you had all the money in the world, how would you feel?
There are all kinds of answers, and there are many books out there that try to teach us how to think about money.
Steve Siebold has written one called, “How Rich People Think.” It teaches, much the way Napoleon Hill teaches in “Think and Grow Rich,” or Robert Kiyosaki in “Rich Dad, Poor Dad,” that we have to look at how we think before we can get rich.
Sure, you can inherit a bunch of money from your late great aunt, or you can win a big lottery jackpot. But, chances are, if you have what Siebold calls “middle class thoughts” about money, you probably won’t have your fortune for very long.
Most of us have been taught that hard work, a good education and keeping your nose to the grindstone for, say, 40 years will help you retire comfortably.
But if you think like a rich person, you are not thinking about having enough money to retire, as Siebold writes. You are thinking about having enough money to make an impact on the world.
In other words, to be rich, you have to think of solutions to problems, and invent them.
Most of us were taught that if we had a job, or something else that was paying us, we had to worry about holding onto it. Rich people will try things, fail numerous times, and try something else. They don’t fear failure or loss. In fact, they don’t fear much of anything. Even if they lose their fortunes, they know they will find a way to make them back.
That may be why it’s difficult to really punish white-collar criminals. They used their genius for evil, and most of us would like nothing more than to see them lose everything. Even if they lost everything, they would find a way to make it back – hopefully in an ethical, law-abiding way this time.
Yes, we all would like to have a lot of money. Some of us believe it is not possible for us to get a lot of money. It’s possible for anyone to get a lot of money, just by thinking the right thoughts. You don’t think about who would give it to you. You think about how you can come up with the idea that people will pay you for.
Then, you think about how you can use and grow that money. As Siebold writes, middle-class people think about how to spend money. Rich people think about how to invest money.
Most of us have been taught to get a good education – get through high school, go to college, get a degree in something that will get you a good job. Rich people, Siebold says, don’t think of education in terms of degrees. They think of education as learning anything that will make them money. Some of the richest people in the world have relatively little formal education. They’ve just thought about ways to make money, learned what they needed to pull it off and gotten rich.
Do you think like a rich person? Do you think like a middle-class person? Do you think of making money via a job, or making money via an idea? Once you get money, do you think more of ways to spend it, or more of ways to invest it?
As you ponder these questions, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. You will see how some ordinary, middle-class folks got wealthy, and how you could do the same. The only difference between them and you is how they think. It’s difficult to become rich, until you first learn to think like a rich person.
Give it a shot. Think what you would do to make a lot of money, and to not just preserve it, but use it to help others. Don’t be jealous or envious of the rich. If you feel that way, remember the best way you can help the poor is not to be one of them.
Peter