The last article of our course will be devoted to motivation. It's no secret that rich and poor people think differently. This is obvious: millionaires have their own worries, the poor have theirs. I would like to immediately note that with the word “poor” I do not want to offend or offend anyone. I will use this word only as the opposite of millionaires and nothing more. The same category will include people who cannot move from their place (financially), although they have adequate work and wages that are enough for a normal life.

Think like a millionaire - the main thing from the book by Harv Erek

Harv Erek is the author of the book “Think Like a Millionaire!” - earned his million from scratch, but since he did not have the knowledge to properly manage his funds, he quickly went broke. After that, he wrote a book where he compared the thinking of rich and poor people. We will now look at the most important points.

Millionaires achieve high material goals

The first difference between the rich and the poor is that millionaires always set high material goals for themselves, while poor people set goals that are much lower in financial terms.

A millionaire wants to buy himself a car for 200 thousand dollars, a five-room apartment in the city center or in an elite area. The poor person sets a much smaller goal for himself - to someday save up for a used 2012 Kia Rio and rent a room or a small apartment at least somewhere near the city (because it’s cheaper).

You might think that everyone sets goals according to their capabilities, but this is not so. A millionaire is looking for ways to achieve his goals, and a poor man is trying to realize his goals. I must say that very often, both the poor and the rich get what they wanted. The only difference is the scale of effort expended and the actual result.

A millionaire thinks about what needs to be changed or improved in his life in order to achieve his goals, while a poor man starts from his situation:

• My job brings me X salary - how many months will it take me to save up for a car?!
• Renting a one-room apartment outside the city is a good idea! This will allow me to save money, but spend more time commuting to work and back.

The poor person does not want to change anything in his life, because... afraid of losing what he has now. A rich person always strives to improve his financial situation and thinks about what opportunities might open up for him if he tries to improve or change something.

Millionaires solve problems, poor people think about the problems themselves

Have you ever noticed how different people approach problems? Some look at everything positively - “Is this really a problem?! At most, these are temporary difficulties and nothing more!”, while others turn a similar problem into a tragedy of a lifetime - “I don’t know what to do! I can't handle this! Everything is bad!".

Rich people always know that all problems can be solved - you just need to think about a solution and start acting (think about solving the problem). Poor people, on the contrary, focus their attention on the presence of a problem - “There is a problem, so I will be sad!” I don’t know why, but I remembered one simple saying: “Alcohol doesn’t solve problems, but neither does milk!” People solve problems, and if you do nothing, the problems themselves will not disappear.

Millionaires are happy for other people's success

Millionaires know very well how much effort it takes to achieve success, so they rejoice in the achievements of others. The poor see the world from their own “bell tower”, so the success of others causes them hatred and contempt, partly because compared to successful people, they feel “inferior”.

The funny thing is that this type of thinking works very well in sales. Having created some kind of sustainable popular brand, you can be sure that sales will bring huge profits. You don't have to go far - Apple has popularized its phone as an expensive device for rich people. The price of the phones strongly hints that only wealthy people will buy them. But in practice, the poor take out these devices on credit (because their financial condition does not allow them to spend such amounts), just so as not to look “oppressed” compared to truly successful people. A curtain….

Rich people are always looking for new ways to make a profit

Millionaires are always trying to find new opportunities to increase their capital - they think about where it would be more profitable to invest their finances in order to get greater profits. Poor people don't think about it at all! Literally! Why change anything if you have a job and a place to live?!

Since I myself am far from coming from a rich family (money for my education, as well as for expensive, by the standards of my family, things were taken out on credit for several years), there have never been millionaires in my social circle. Moreover, many acquaintances simply stopped developing - they received a higher education, found a job, but that was all. The flow of knowledge has stopped, and they themselves do not want to change anything in their lives (Why? There is work and housing!).

To develop or not is everyone’s business! Rich people develop constantly, poor people do not develop at all. Yes, now there will be a lot of excuses like this:

• My work takes up all my free time
• I have a family that needs to be provided for
• After work there is no energy to do anything else

Everyone has their own problems, but some solve them, while others, pardon the expression, only irritate others with their whining.

At the end of April 2020, the COVID-19 epidemic affected almost all countries - almost the entire world was sitting at home in self-isolation. In my country, people have been staying at home for a month (more in other countries, less in some countries). Let's tell everyone what you spent this month on. For self-development? Or to lie on the couch in front of the TV? There was an opportunity, but apparently the problem is not a lack of time, but that someone is a lazy person. Those who want are looking for opportunities, those who don’t want are looking for excuses!

Our lives are in our hands

When I was little, I kept thinking about one thing - “If only I was lucky and found a million!” It’s funny to think about it now, but that’s how it really happened. I’m sure many have had similar thoughts, and some still have them!

What can I say if I am still surrounded by people who dream of “finding that same million on the road” - they are waiting for a miracle! Moreover, they really sincerely believe that everything that I have achieved is pure luck (“well, you’re lucky!”). Well, yes, I was lucky that I did not sit idly by, but worked like a herd of horses. Such luck =)

And it all started, it would seem, with simple harmless thoughts - “I want to earn enough to come to the store and buy everything I want, without even looking at the price!” 9 years have passed and now, just a couple of months ago, I was standing at the checkout, and the cashier asked me - “Is this product on sale or not?”, and I realized that I have no idea how much my products cost, because . I haven't looked at prices for a long time.

A little realization of an old dream. Of course, the implementation took not 9 years, but several times less, but the fact remains that a dream appeared that stimulated the search for a solution to this problem. Then the thought appeared that “I never want to work for anyone!”, and here I am sitting at home, without bosses, my profit depends only on me, and I myself have long been a millionaire. But I was “just lucky”! =)

The entire process of achieving goals comes down to several stages:

• Setting a goal
• Searching for ways to solve the problem
• Implementation

The problem is that many people have a dream that can be achieved before the end of the week, and they make it the dream of their whole life. Most people find it very difficult to accept the fact that their life depends only on them! This leads to very "interesting" results:

• If something worked out, then “I did it!”
• If something doesn’t work out, then it’s someone else’s fault!

Did you take out a loan for a new iPhone and are now trying to make ends meet? - “Yes, it’s all Apple’s fault! Why do they release a new model every year?!”

A funny example, except for the fact that people are simply being manipulated. People without their own opinion will never achieve success, because they do not decide who to be, how much to earn, where and how to live, but their boss, the people around them and large companies (which inspire the need to buy a new iPhone) decide.

Another difference between rich people and poor people is that rich people spend money whenever possible, while poor people run after external attributes that they cannot afford. A millionaire knows the value of money very well, so he will allocate only part of his capital to buy what he needs (a car, an apartment, a personal plane). Rich people do not have debts only because they do not allow themselves to buy something for which they do not have enough money at the moment (if you want to live better, first earn money!).

Poor people, on the contrary, buy things that they cannot afford:

• A phone for a couple thousand dollars? I'll take it on credit!
• A car for 110 thousand with a salary of 3 thousand a month? Easily! (however, after a month or two these cars are sold because there is simply not enough money for winter tires!).
• Apartment in the city center? Long live the 25 year mortgage!

They want to look rich and be no different from millionaires, although they are not. All for the sake of the “wrapper”! Do not do it this way! Having debt will never allow you to grow financially - all your savings, which you could use, for example, to develop your business, you will give to banks that provide you with a loan for your unnecessary “wants”.

And loans and debts are addictive things! You try once, and next time you won’t think, “Oh, how can I solve this problem more profitably?!”, but will immediately follow the path of least resistance - “the bank will solve all my problems! I’ll go apply for a loan!” You yourself kill the motivation to think and develop - “why, if you can get into debt the old fashioned way?!” As a result, after many years, you find yourself exactly where you always were, and the people who found ways to solve their problems with maximum profit made a fortune during the same time.

Any difficulty in life should not drive you into depression, but should call for action! Do you need money, for example, to repair a car that some car enthusiast crashed into a couple of days ago? So you need to think about what benefits this situation can bring! It may well turn out that your current job cannot cover the costs - maybe it’s time to change jobs?! Or it's time to start your own business, which can bring big profits, but you were afraid to start, because... thought that you didn’t have enough knowledge and experience?!

Didn't work once? It will work out next time! If you try all the time, then each subsequent attempt to improve your life will correct previous mistakes and improve the result. Of course, if it didn’t work out once, then you shouldn’t do exactly the same thing a second time - the result won’t change!

Communicate more with successful people

It has long been proven that our environment characterizes us! Look at your surroundings - what is it like? In most cases, you will see your full reflection. Poor people are surrounded by equally poor people:

• Everyone is mired in debts and loans
• Holidays in Turkey - once a year or even once every two years
• An old, shabby car, obviously not purchased from a dealership
• A job with the same salary as the people around you
• Learning something new is taboo

Rich people (or future millionaires) are surrounded by equally rich people. It’s funny, but the poor believe that millionaires “have gotten too greedy and don’t perceive them as people at all.” The truth is a little different - a rich person can give something to a poor person (experience, knowledge, motivation), but a poor person can only give a rich person a reason for degradation.

Communication with millionaires, even those who made their fortunes in different fields, bears fruit. Successful people learn to think differently, look at problems differently, and implement their ideas positively. What can a person who is too lazy to get his ass off the couch teach?!

When you see the success of rich people, it motivates. At the same time, there is no motivation among the poor - if your salary is 200 dollars more than those around you, then you are already head and shoulders above them (they still have to grow and grow before you!). In such an environment there is no competition, and if there is any, it is so small and funny that it is not even worth talking about.

I have always been impressed by the stories of people who “I worked from dawn to dusk, and, over time, achieved unimaginable results.” If you think about it, you just need to pick up your ass and run to realize your dreams. It is foolish to believe that you will be able to find that “million on the road”. And even if this happens, then, without experience and knowledge, it will fly away in a matter of days.

Rich people think positively

Let's go back to my friends. One day I became a participant in the following conversation:

- My job pisses me off, but I get $700 for it
- Maybe you should find a job that will be interesting to you and, perhaps, bring more profit?
- No! This is my maximum! I won’t earn any more money from another job.

I'm sorry, what?! Why then is my maximum amounted to millions of actual profits, and I plan to earn even more?! People constantly drive themselves into some kind of pessimistic framework:

• I'm not worthy of a promotion!
• I will never earn that much money!
• I was not born to be a millionaire!

As long as such nonsense is in your head, your life will be exactly the way you think about it. I remember myself at the very beginning of my financial development - I was surrounded by people as poor as me (although I was probably even poorer than them). Nobody believed in me! Moreover, for a very long time they tried to convince me that I was doing something wrong and wasting a lot of time on something I don’t know. As I was often told - “It would be better if you found a normal job, you slacker!”

Then these same people had a stage of denial - “No, this is all temporary, so quit these games and find a stable job!” Now no one looks at me as a “slacker” and a person who has spent a lot of time and energy “on what I don’t know.”

I was not born a millionaire, but I had dreams and a desire to make them come true, so I didn’t even want to hear about any “I’m not worthy...” or “I’ll never...”! For some reason, I knew that my next attempt to break into the “people” would be the same one. But in reality, there was a first failure, a second, a third…. Tenth... And I still believed that next time I would succeed. Well, it can’t be that this “bad luck” lasts forever. And indeed - it cannot!

Each new attempt, correcting previous errors, gave its result, and it was so strong that at first I could not believe in the reality of what was happening (so many attempts and always failure, and then suddenly success?!). It took time to accept the new reality - it turns out that I am still “worthy” and “can”.

As it turned out, there is no luck, just as there is no “miracle with a million falling on your head.” There is only you and your desire to achieve what you want!

Small success is the key to great achievements

We said earlier that the goals of millionaires and poor people are very different, just as the ways of spending their money are different. But many millionaires were born into poor families, which is why their success stories are interesting.

If we compare the stories of the rich, we can highlight one small, but recurring feature in all of them - initially, these people set themselves ambitious (by their then standards) goals. Then they looked for ways to achieve these goals and began to implement them. Moreover, the goals could even be funny, like “I wanted to raise money for a bicycle,” and then one day - and a millionaire is already standing in front of you.

Moreover, everyone remembers their first small success and willingly talks about it. Of course, it’s impossible to forget this! The process from the birth of a dream to its implementation in real life proves to the future millionaire that all goals are achievable if you do not sit back and take action.

"I wanted! I start work! I got!" - paraphrased the phrase “He came! Saw! Won!" =)

Small success encourages you to set more significant goals, and achieving them forces you to raise the bar of dreams higher and higher. A kind of career ladder. More precisely - an escalator! Once you climbed onto it and you were carried somewhere upward.

The poor don’t understand this - they see only two components in all the stories of the rich:

• I was poor!
• …
• I became a millionaire!

The poor see only what they want to see, namely, they compare the future millionaire with themselves (hmm, I’m poor too - we have a lot in common), and then try on his shirt (which means I will also be a millionaire). But they simply don’t want to see the fact that a person has worked for years to achieve success (useless information, I work too).

The result is the following:

• All are initially poor
• One begins to develop and work both on himself and on the implementation of his plans, and the other lies on the couch and spits at the ceiling
• One becomes rich, and the second remains poor and does not understand at all why this is so and where are his millions?!

Really, where are they?! The beginning is the same, but the ending is different - how is this possible?!

Money should make money

Do you know that if all the bank's depositors come at one moment and want to take their money, the bank will go bankrupt? And all because the bank keeps a very small amount of the total amount of deposits of its clients - all the rest of the money is issued to the people who took out the loan.

A very simple scheme - money makes money. This is the rule you need to remember! If you have already started your journey on the career escalator, then it is worth thinking about how to use your income more profitably. You can either invest them in a bank at interest (preferably in some European bank), or invest them in the development of your business (speed up the process and get a profit from these investments faster).

I didn’t have to think (at least somewhere) - I’m a trader. Part of my money is in accounts with brokers, which allows me to both reduce risks and earn more in a shorter period of time. I invested my money in "free time" - more profit in less time.

Any investment must be thoughtful - all risks must be weighed and a plan developed in case of failure. Therefore, you should adhere to some rules:

• Never invest all your money in your business
• Never “keep all your eggs in one basket” - have multiple sources of income

Your business shouldn't have a negative impact on your life! If at some point you realized that you would have to sacrifice something (for example, postpone buying a car or reschedule a tourist trip), then you did something wrong. Perhaps you are trying to “swallow too big a piece” and your business is not yet ready for this - hence the extra costs.

Develop gradually! Start with small goals (like our millionaires with “bicycles”), upon achieving them, immediately set new, more complex goals that develop your business, and also immediately begin searching for the implementation of these goals.

If your income increases, your appetite will also increase. But if everything is done correctly, then at some point you will catch yourself thinking that you are sitting on the ocean shore, with your own mansion behind you, and everything in your life has worked out, because you are the very person who controls your destiny!