They say the only thing separating a life headed for the cliff edge of poverty from a life headed towards wealth is the way each person thinks. We know this, but sometimes, in those moments of weakness when many people don’t believe they can reach a goal or run into several failures, they take the easy route of thinking that millionaires got rich through immoral and unethical methods.
We make all sorts of excuses to reach the conclusion that at least we, even if we are poor, are honest and noble. But as the saying goes, “there is no nobility in poverty”.
But a thought is only that, a thought, and it leads nowhere unless we take action. Some time ago we published 10 ways the rich think differently, and this time we look at 6 very common beliefs that have led ordinary people like you to become self-made millionaires.
1. Money does buy happiness.
If someone says money doesn’t buy happiness, it can only mean one of two things:
- They have never had a single damn euro.
- They have never been short of money.
The rich know that money doesn’t guarantee happiness, but they also know that someone who is unhappy with money would be just as unhappy, or more, without it. Happiness is a state of mind in which we appreciate what we have. And yes, there are people who don’t appreciate what they have even when they have everything.
But let’s not fool ourselves: while money doesn’t guarantee happiness, a lack of money can make you the most miserable person on the planet when you face problems that only money can solve. A lack of money forces you to work in a lousy job that can even put your health at risk. In some countries, a lack of money means you won’t be treated in a hospital and could end up dying in a waiting room. Just for not having money.
So money doesn’t guarantee happiness, but it buys freedom. As I once heard someone say: “I know money doesn’t buy happiness, but it imitates it so well…”
That said, for those who are rich today, the first goal was once never to be short of money again; for some of them, living as poor people was the springboard that motivated them to build something. Second, they decided to create their own future without depending on other people. And in many cases, the millions were simply the result of a life full of creation and passion.
2. Formal education is useless for building wealth.
It is true that to get a good job you need qualifications. The more studies, degrees and master’s you have, the better your chances of finding a well-paid job. The problem is that there is a huge difference between studying and passing exams, on the one hand, and learning, on the other. And it is true that a university degree is advisable these days, since it really can open doors at certain key moments.
The beauty of business is that you need no degree, no permission and no approval. Anyone who has run a business already knows more about business than someone who has read hundreds of books and syllabuses, as long as they have been actively self-taught.
Most billionaires are where they are because they built up very practical and uncommon knowledge that universities don’t teach, such as confidence, resilience, leadership skills, the power of persuasion, sales, the power of intuition, negotiation skills and creativity. But the most important was knowledge about money itself: a solid financial education.
*But I insist: nowadays a university degree is necessary.
(Read: Giuditta Russo, the woman who showed what happens when you study to learn rather than to pass exams)
3. They are positive and they are negative. In other words, they are realists.
I have always thought there is something much worse than pessimism: optimism that isn’t accompanied by realism. Optimism has driven more companies into bankruptcy than pessimism.
Most millionaires look at opportunities with great optimism, but at the same time they look at threats with great pessimism, imagining the worst-case scenario. They don’t call it pessimism but “realistic optimism”, which basically means knowing that risks are real and can’t be ignored. That is why advice like “never fear risk” should be taken with a pinch of salt. The truth is that you have to respect risk. And any optimistic investor knows that.
For example: if you get into a fight and 15 big men come to beat you up, being optimistic about your chances of walking away unhurt could land you in hospital. The realist knows he will end up in hospital whatever he does, and in this situation he wouldn’t be a pessimist, just a very sensible person.
(Read: success in business is predicted by your type of optimism)
4. Passion does make money.
Many billionaire businesspeople seem to be busy and working all day. Most of the middle class thinks they are wasting their lives for money, but the truth is that they spend the whole day enjoying their passion.
Steve Jobs himself put Apple before his family, and it was that commitment to the company that made it great. The secret of many of these millionaires is that they are willing to do something that others either aren’t willing to do or can’t sustain at that level of commitment.
When you see a billionaire businessman devoting 20 hours a day to his company and think, “poor man, his ‘hunger’ for money is making him miss out on the pleasures of life”, remember that when he looks at you, he thinks: “I don’t understand how that person can trade their time for money and never get out of that trap.” That is how billionaires see having a job: trading many hours of your time for a paycheck at the end of the month. And they stopped renting out or selling their time long ago. They are enjoying their passion, which is business. Specifically, their own company.
5. Their comfort zone is uncertainty, not security.
The need for security is what makes most people look for a job and stay in it, even while hating what they do every day of their lives, until the end of their days.
And the truth is that it is a false security, because your job security actually depends on someone else: your employer or boss.
Millionaires learned long ago to play on a different field. Many of them know that uncertainty creates major opportunities; some decided to start their own business the very day they were fired from their job.
The future is uncertain, so only those who can move through uncertainty will succeed.
The biggest millionaire fortunes were made precisely in times of crisis. While everyone else was going bankrupt, they were fattening their capital. Shall we debate whether that is ethical and moral? Better not. Let’s debate this instead: if you knew how to make money when everything is going down the drain for everyone else, would you do it? They know how. And that is what they do, because that is their job and their passion: generating lots of money and lifting their heads up while everyone else is burying theirs in the sand.
(Read: the 8 beliefs of successful people)
6. Expectations.
Ambitious expectations beat mediocre ones. Believing you are capable beats those who believe they aren’t. Preparing properly gives you an edge in the race to success when you are competing with people who are less prepared.
Millionaires have invested heavily in themselves, because they have high expectations of themselves. Expectations that, even if they fell halfway short, would still be a thousand times greater than everyone else’s.
They set a goal in their minds and go after it without hesitation. They may fail, but they will come back stronger. And they won’t stop until they have achieved their goal.
And it is these ways of thinking that make the difference between the few and everyone else.
Further reading
Featured image: Ben Stanfield, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr.
