Today, we are going to learn about 11 signs you will never become rich. Now, let’s begin
1. Fear of Success
Believe it or not, most people fear success as much as they fear failure. As such most people are afraid of becoming millionaires. A recent online publication about a Texas engineer who feared that she’s earning a lot of money. Convinced that she was unable to manage all the money, she approached a financial consultant for advice.
She also requested the consultant to manage the money on her behalf and recommend good ways to invest her money. The financial consultant recommended a financial plan that included maxing her 401k and savings, investments, giving to charity, tax plans, and a host of other ways to ensure a comfortable retirement.
Chrometophobia or intense fear of money is a common condition with most people. Nobody knows exactly why this happens, but it is commonly believed that the condition has something to do with upbringing.
Most people are brought up in an environment of lack of money, therefore they believe that money is associated with evil. Especially going by this African Adage, “Money is the root of all evil”. The condition doesn’t go away even when we become adults because by then our minds are already conditioned.
This affects our spending habits and our ability to become rich, which makes it difficult to save any money for the future. This happens because we are subconsciously trying to get rid of this ‘perceived’ evil called “money”.
2. Lack of Purpose
The majority of people in the world lack purpose. What this means is that most people don’t really know why they exist. The most important question is not HOW TO BECOME A MILLIONAIRE but WHY YOU SHOULD BECOME A MILLIONAIRE.
Many millionaires didn’t just start off following selfish interests and goals to buy luxury cars and expensive homes. They had bigger purposes and goals to uplift the lives of their families and communities.
Ambition is the fuel that drives purpose, therefore if you lack purpose then you will automatically lack ambition. As such the majority of people in the world lack ambition. Lack of ambition means you cannot grow inwardly and outwardly as a person. Many people who conquered the world such as Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and Napoleon, all had great burning ambitions. This is the same for people who became great athletes, boxing champions, and millionaires.
3. Hard work vs Smart Work
Most people will not become millionaires because they never learned how to work smart. You have heard it said that hard work pays off. But smart work pays off better.
In the 19th century, it took about 30 years to become rich. In the 20th century, it took less than twenty years to become rich. in the 21st century, it takes as little as six months to become rich. All this depends on the smart implementation of a simple law called leverage.
Millionaires learn how to leverage other people’s time.
Millionaires learn how to leverage other people’s money.
Millionaires learn how to leverage other people’s skills and talents.
Millionaires learn how to leverage machines and automation.
4. Life-Long Learning
For most people, learning stops as soon as they graduate college or university. Although continuous learning is a lifestyle, most people will never learn anything new to improve their lives.
For example, a computer comes with default settings from the manufacturer’s assembly line. We hardly use the computer before customizing it with our own settings and preferences, most of which involve installing custom software. Humans have many similarities to a computer but we rarely realize it. As such most people will never learn new ways to improve their lifestyles and financial well-being.
5. Lack of Consistency
Most people will not become millionaires because they lack consistency. Most millionaires and billionaires known implemented just one business idea or product and remained faithful and consistent with it for a long time.
Coca-Cola is remarkably one of the most consistent brands in the world. Known for its consistent advertising campaigns that often change, the general themes expressed in the ads do not. Coca-Cola is known for reinforcing the ideas of happiness, togetherness, and refreshment in ads across the globe.
During its 132-year history, this strategy has heavily paid off bringing a lot of money to its investors. How many companies last that long?
6. Millionaire Mindset
The biggest difference between the rich and average people is not found in their education, luck, skills, or choice of investments — it’s found in their mindset. Mindset defines how you think, speak and act. It defines your vocabulary.
Frankly, most people do not have the mindset of a millionaire. The most difficult project on earth is not to earn a Ph.D. degree, but to change your mindset. Most people have a lot of money but still, have the poverty mentality.
This is true when you consider that many people win large sums of money through lotteries but lose it all after only a couple of years. The poverty mentality is taught through our social and education system by our parents, peers, schools, and the job market.
In fact, our education system still uses the 19th-century education model which was to provide the labour market with qualified staff. That’s why most people still look for jobs after graduating college, instead of chasing the entrepreneurship dream, which although laden with risk, gives you the greatest opportunity to become a millionaire.
A millionaire mindset is the ability to make a million dollars even after losing a million dollars. In other words, losing a million dollars is nothing compared to losing your millionaire mindset.
7. ‘Shiny’ Object Syndrome
Most people will not become millionaires because they suffer from the ‘shiny’ object syndrome. Like a small child chasing after shiny objects, everyone suffers from the shiny object syndrome – a major distraction on the road to success. Most people believe that to become a millionaire one needs to have that one lucky break like winning a lottery or stumbling upon a secret formula.
In fact, most people believe that the millionaire trait is something you’re born with. Not true at all! According to Forbes, 80% of the world’s richest people in 2017 were self-made, meaning that only 20% inherited their wealth.
8. Procrastination
Procrastination is the failure to take positive action. Procrastination is perhaps the greatest enemy of success and as such, the greatest roadblock to becoming a millionaire.
Most people just drift by in life, without any particular purpose or direction. They spend many hours just drooling and daydreaming and doing nothing. As a result, they end up becoming poor.
9. Lack of Discipline
Lack of discipline is perhaps one of the greatest hindrances to financial success. The world is full of failures who simply lacked financial discipline and proper planning. There’s no such thing as an accident. Every failure is a result of an error in human judgment.
Opportunities and chances come to everyone, although not at the same time they really do, and when they come, lack of vision, financial discipline and unpreparedness greatly undermine financial success.
For example, Mike Tyson made a neat fortune in boxing during his heydays. However, due to lack of financial discipline (about that later) and a millionaire mindset he squandered it all through reckless living.
10. Lack of Focus
Perhaps the greatest hindrance to financial success is a lack of focus. Most millionaires I know are highly focused individuals. Chinese billionaire and Chairman of the Alibaba Group, Jack Ma, often says that he gets about 5,000 new business ideas every day.
Unfortunately, he is forced to turn them all down preferring to remain focused on delivering quality service to the millions of customers and suppliers who visit his online stores daily.
11. Time Management
It has often been said that “Time is Money” and it is. Most people will not even come near to becoming millionaires because they cannot manage their time. There are only 24 hours in a single day and this is the only time available to each one of us.
We are obligated to spend 8 of those hours either working, going to school, or attending college. And we are mandated by nature to spend 8 of those hours sleeping. The remaining 8 hours are to be spent at our discretion. We can spend the time either on the couch watching television, movies, playing games, or on a beer-drinking spree at the local pub. The proliferation of social media has ensured that entertainment is brought into our bedrooms.
Alternatively, we can also spend the time attending a business course or building a business that would one day make us millionaires. The difference between the rich and the poor is decided on how we spend the discretionary 8 hours.
Sanq4