Many people have probably noticed that over time, rich people become richer, and most middle-income people get more and more in debt. This is due to lifestyle in general and attitude to money in particular.
It all starts with thinking. The way you think determines your actions, and therefore their results. The thinking of a rich person and a poor person are fundamentally different from each other. The mindset of a rich person is the mindset of a winner who, despite obstacles and circumstances, achieves his goal. The thinking of the poor is the thinking of a loser, who is always prevented from showing a good result.
In stores you can find hundreds of books on motivation, rich thinking, increasing your own effectiveness, rational time management, etc. Our goal is to weed out all the unnecessary stuff and come up with simple formulas for rich thinking used by most successful people. The most complete and accessible secrets of thinking of rich people are described in the books “Think Like a Millionaire” by Harv Eker (which also contains an algorithm for changing your thinking and becoming rich) and Robert Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad. Poor Dad" and "Cash Flow Quadrant".
Let's look at rich thinking strategies, which are actually simple formulas used by successful people to get richer every day. When describing the principles of thinking, the “Poor” category will mean people of small and medium income, and the “Rich” category will mean successful entrepreneurs, businessmen and investors.
Thinking Principle #1
The rich are sure: “Everything in life depends on me”
The rich take responsibility for everything that happens in their lives. They chalk up victories and defeats, analyze their mistakes and their success. They are confident that everything that happens to them is the result of their actions, only they can make their lives better and do not wait for favorable conditions to develop.
The poor are sure: “Little depends on me”
The poor occupy a weak position - the position of a victim; for all their troubles and failures they blame anyone but themselves - circumstances, the boss, the state. If something goes wrong, instead of taking responsibility, they begin to make excuses and complain.
Until a person takes responsibility for everything that happens in his life, he will not be able to improve it. How can you improve something that “doesn’t depend on him” and that he “has no influence on”? You need to take note of all your successes and failures, analyze what was done wrong, and be sure that next time in a similar situation, if you act differently, you will win. At the same time, you should not be afraid to act - you need to leave yourself the right to make mistakes.
Let's consider this principle using the example of enterprise management: out of two employees, one suddenly “quit” without informing about it in advance, while the employer did not formalize an employment relationship with him (a very common situation).
A business owner with a poor man's mindset will blame the employee who quit, complain that he didn't give notice before quitting, and hire another employee under the same conditions.
The owner of an enterprise with the mindset of a rich person will analyze the situation, understand what he did wrong, and how to avoid it in the future: conclude an employment contract (if terminated, there will be time to find a new employee); provide a personnel reserve; introduce a remuneration formula in which the bonus portion is paid after a certain period of time, etc.
The rich do not bend to circumstances, they create them themselves.
Never complain and never make excuses to anyone.
Henry Ford
Focus on profit
The rich constantly think about safe investments to generate additional income, which in most cases is passive. The poor save money to spend it at some point. This determines the final results of these categories of people.
Let's summarize. To become rich, you need to think like a rich person, increase your level of financial literacy and increase your passive income. Only he can make a person truly free and independent of money.
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Thinking Principle No. 2
The rich work and get richer
Rich people are maximalists; they do not limit the size of their income and strive for more. Money is opportunities, and the more capital, the more opportunities.
The poor work and remain broke
Poor people are minimalists; they think, first of all, how to earn the amount necessary to pay bills and obligations, and spend everything else that remains on purchases. They can hardly imagine what an amount that is 10 times their salary is. They are accustomed to amounts that are equal to their salary. Big money scares them. They are comfortable receiving and distributing the usual amount of money. Big money means big problems, they say.
There are entrepreneurs who have their own small business or have been working for themselves for a long period of time. They know how to run a business and their business is going well. But one cannot say about them that they are rich. Perhaps they want to increase their income, but something does not allow them to do this. It is quite likely that this something is a poor person's thinking. They have practical business skills in running a business, they have the necessary knowledge, but their way of thinking can hinder their financial development. Large sums can be intimidating and can be associated with greater obligations and responsibilities.
“Getting from poverty to riches is very difficult”
Now about the environment. Her influence is very important. The environment shapes us, we learn to live in existing conditions, develop a certain way of existence, behavior, habits, which then influence us.
- “You eat today, and I will eat tomorrow” - this is about well-known studies that were carried out on children with sweets. Children from poor families eat sweets right away, while those from rich families can put them aside and eat them later. When a person grows up, he does the same thing, only not with sweets, but, for example, with money. Some find it difficult to save and invest, while others have been accustomed to this since childhood.
We can talk a lot about environmental influences. But there is an important point: people from wealthy backgrounds have access to better and more expensive education. Vicious circle. People who have received a good education in expensive, prestigious educational institutions immediately have a good start in life, which then allows them to give the same education to their own children. The offspring of poor parents are not provided with access to such luxury, says Pisarev.
Thinking Principle #3
The rich get rich
The rich know what they want from life, know what they will have to face to achieve their goals, believe in delayed gratification and act despite circumstances, doubts and go towards their goal.
The poor want to become rich
The thoughts of the poor on this issue can be described in the words of the American writer Mark Twain: “Actually, I am against millionaires, but if I were offered to become one...”. The poor, as a rule, do not have a clear goal in life, and their attitude towards money is also ambiguous. Of course, they say that they would like to have a lot of money, but a lot of money means a different way of life, increased responsibility, obligations. Changes in life are discomfort. The poor are not used to leaving their comfort zone. There are two types of problems associated with money - when there is very little of it and when there is a lot of it. The poor cannot solve problems of the first type and remain poor.
In addition, to earn a lot of money you need to act. Few people want to act after a “hard” 8-hour day of work.
There are still those who move from their desires to business and open their own enterprise. But after working non-stop for some time and facing typical problems of managing an enterprise, they begin to backslide and after a while they get hired again. To the question “why?” They answer: “Business takes too much time, besides there are big risks and unstable income, it’s easier to work for a fixed fee and not worry.”
For the most part, these are self-employed entrepreneurs who are not used to or do not know how to delegate authority and responsibility; their business could have taken off, but remained in its infancy, due to the reluctance or inability to develop it into a sustainable company in which they will be assigned the role of a managing director, not a laborer. Reason: poor thinking - the desire to become rich, but the unwillingness to act.
Practical knowledge and skills
The rich think like this: “It is important to obtain knowledge that can be used to your advantage in the future. And it doesn’t matter what source they will come from – university, media, Internet, etc.” The poor, on the other hand, are fixated on obtaining a higher education - a qualification without which they cannot see further advancement. And it doesn’t matter at all that it cannot be used in business or for making money or investing. For this reason, among large entrepreneurs and businessmen there are many who have not received higher education.
Thinking Principle #4
The rich think big
The law of unlimited needs says: the more you get from life, the more you want. The rich use this law to its fullest - from a certain point, money starts making money, and scaling success begins in geometric progression.
The poor think small
The poor are protected from using this law by fear: fear of failure, fear of losing everything. “A big organization means big problems, I won’t have time to control everything,” they think.
The amount of earnings is determined by the scale of the organization: one coffee shop will bring one amount of money, and a caffeine chain will bring a completely different amount. And you can scale your business even more, for example, through the sale of franchises. Income growth will not be long in coming.
If a company produces a product that people like locally, why not make this product global? For example, like McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Samsung, etc., they all produce products that people need not only in the city and country where the enterprise is located, but throughout the world.
Rich people don't do favors just because they want to be nice to everyone.
For them, their interests come first. And if, in order to relax, they have to refuse to perform some favor, then they will not feel remorse. This is healthy selfishness, because you can remain a darling for everyone, but lose your potential by fulfilling the endless requests of others.
Thinking Principle #5
The rich seek and consider opportunities
There is no path to success without obstacles. No matter what business you do, there will always be problems that have to be solved. The poor are afraid of problems, they are afraid of not coping, they are afraid of losing their invested funds. They focus on problems and obstacles, forgetting about the end goal and reward. They think they don't know enough to take action.
Rich people see opportunities; they know they will face challenges along the way. The rich are confident, they know that there are a million ways to make a million. If a major obstacle arises, they will find a workaround. Flexibility in achieving goals is one of the characteristics of the rich.
The poor are obsessed with obstacles
The good news is that once you take action, there will not only be obstacles along the way, but also a lot of opportunities. The main thing is not to miss them.
Improvisation, creativity, analysis, risk calculation and, of course, action. Luck occurs when opportunity meets preparedness. You need to take action and be ready for opportunities!
Don’t be afraid to start without knowing everything you’ll encounter – it’s impossible to know. The world around us is constantly in motion. Any business is a system that operates according to certain principles, be it a bread kiosk, a beauty salon or a car service. You need to study these principles and take action. Problems must be solved as they arise.
Earning money from a hobby
Poor people for the most part go to unloved jobs, which they hate with every fiber of their soul. Rich people have many hobbies and always try to make money from them. Experience shows that the richest people in the world have made their billions from activities in which they are sincerely passionate. In this approach lies the difference - in the case of a job you love, motivation is beyond the limits, in the case of a job you don’t like, it is completely absent.
Thinking Principle #6
Rich people admire wealthy and successful people
Most of the rich people they know are wealthy people. The reason is that the rich like people with whom they speak the same language. The rich feel good in the company of rich, successful people.
The poor resent wealth and success
The poor envy and resent the wealth of successful people, do not seek to get to know them and continue to move in their usual circle.
For more than 70 years, our country has lived under the motto “Freedom, equality, fraternity.” Not much time has passed since this slogan ceased to be a national idea. Many people in modern society lived during the Soviet Union and are accustomed to an economic system where all benefits were distributed equally to all members of society.
In addition, the 90s also did their job in shaping attitudes towards rich people. From that time until now, many people associate business with crime, showdowns, etc. “It’s unrealistic to open your own business,” “everyone is controlled by bandits, you’ll have to pay the roof,” “it’s impossible to earn money honestly for such an expensive car,” “all the rich are either bandits or have great connections.” These are the most common stereotypes about business that continue to live in the minds of the poor to this day.
However, in reality, everything is somewhat different, the “time of troubles” is over, the state has strengthened and brought order to the economic sphere. Of course, some systemic problems have not yet been solved, but in general, business today is a very transparent type of economic activity and most entrepreneurs are people who conduct their business honestly.
Of course, I want people to live in abundance, to have as much money as they need for a happy life. But using the principle of “selecting everything and dividing it up” the problem cannot be solved. Winston Churchill said the following words: “the disadvantage of capitalism is the unequal distribution of goods, the disadvantage of socialism is the equal distribution of deprivations.”
There is no need to strive to equalize people's incomes, because an income that suits one will not suit another. The solution to this problem is not to redistribute existing resources, but to give people the knowledge and ability to create systems that bring in as much money as they need.
Environment
A poor person can hold on to old friendships and family ties even when these relationships are dragging him down.
He despises rich and successful people, and therefore prefers to remain in his own familiar social circle, which is often as poor as he is.
A rich person clearly understands how seriously people are influenced by their environment. He knows how to break off connections that do not bring him satisfaction and benefit.
He will not keep whiners and complainers around him, but will try to select people according to his own way of thinking.
Thinking Principle No. 7
The rich declare themselves and their virtues
Popularity is money. The more people know about you and your product, the more you can earn from it. Moreover, popularity can be monetized (that is, turned into money) in different ways. The rich use this principle to become even richer.
Advertising is first and foremost an initiative. You don’t wait for a potential buyer to find you among thousands of similar companies, you take the initiative, declare yourself and invite the buyer to use your product or service.
Poor people don't like advertising and popularity.
Poor people don't like advertising. For them, advertising is one of the ways of the rich to take money from them, while they forget what they themselves receive in exchange.
Of course, there are different types of advertising, and every year it becomes more sophisticated and intrusive. Intrusive advertising causes a feeling of rejection when it feels like they want to force something on us.
Don’t be afraid or embarrassed to express the merits of your product. Everyone has advantages. Even if a product is of the same quality as a competitor’s product, its advantage may be price, speed of delivery, production, or proximity to the target audience.
At the same time, advertising must be effective, be aimed at the target audience, and there should be no double interpretation. She should not be aggressive or intrusive. People are pleased to know that they are buying and not being sold to.
Take the initiative, declare your strengths and leave room for people to make a choice. Approach advertising from these three perspectives.
Rich and poor person: what's the difference?
The biblical words that everyone will be rewarded according to their faith are perfectly suited to the realities of life. You just need to keep in mind not faith in God, but faith in yourself and in the fact that a person will have everything that he sincerely believes in. If you believe that your business will succeed and your income will increase quickly, it will happen. Believe that you will have a strong family too. Only this faith should be not only on a conscious, but also on a subconscious level.
No matter how skeptics scoff, a person is really able to control his desires and get what he wants.
Do you want to check whether you have a psychology of poverty or not? Give it a try. A beautiful car passed next to you. How do you feel about this, what do you think?
- Anger and irritation. “They’re freaks, they stole and bought expensive cars.” Oh, I wish I had one like that! It’s a pity that an honest person can’t make money on it!”
- Delight. “This is a car! I want one too and will buy it. You just need to find a good job/implement all your plans/find like-minded people who will help you move forward.”
Try not to succumb to self-deception. The first feeling that flashed through is the truth, no matter how bitter it may be. If you experience negative feelings, then, unfortunately, you are living an attitude of poverty.
Even a very good psychotherapist cannot get you out of it. Until you drive away all the “cockroaches” yourself, your life will not change for the better. First of all, acknowledge the problem. If you say to yourself: “Yes, I want money, but I still hate wealth and cannot cope with my attitudes towards poverty,” this will be the first step towards a new life.
Only then will you be able to overcome old stereotypes over time.
Thinking Principle #8
Rich people focus on solving a problem
Rich people focus their attention on the goal, and if a problem arises, they focus their attention on solving it.
The poor focus on the problem
The poor are accustomed to exaggerating the problems they face in order to feel like a victim and to gain the sympathy of others.
Most of all problems are solved in two ways: knowledge and money. Moreover, with knowledge, you can make sure that the problem does not arise at all.
The challenge is to grow above your problems, i.e. have enough knowledge and money to resolve emerging problems as quickly and efficiently as possible.
For example, an entrepreneur owns a small business. The company experienced a breakdown of expensive equipment without which production would be impossible. Restoring equipment is impossible due to objective reasons.
A big problem?
Yes, if he has just purchased or opened an enterprise, investing all his financial resources in it and is not familiar with the manufacturers of this equipment and the terms of delivery.
Not if he owns several businesses and can reallocate resources, or has sufficient capital. In addition, he may have the knowledge to solve this problem with a minimal investment of financial resources, for example, he is familiar with manufacturers or dealers of this equipment who are ready to provide it in the near future on a leasing basis. And if equipment failure occurs not for the first time, then he probably already has a ready-made routine method for quickly replacing this equipment. And the breakdown of the means of production is no longer a problem for him, but a working organizational moment.
Boasting
I once came across an interesting phrase: “If you see a businessman dressed to the nines, it means things aren’t going well for him.” Truly rich people dress simply and discreetly.
Remember Steve Jobs and his permanent black turtleneck. He claimed that such asceticism in clothing helps him not to be distracted from work, and his colleagues from being distracted from him.
If you are not a star of the pop scene and you don’t need to figure out how to shock and attract the public every time, then flashy clothes will only speak of an ostentatious demonstration of imaginary wealth, i.e. about showing off.
It is poor people who take out loans to buy an iPhone, a car, branded clothing, i.e. everything that they cannot afford, but so want to show to society.
