Last Update: March 16th, 2017.
Becoming a millionaire is not usually an accident.
Sure, you can win the lottery but the chances are 1 in 304 billion. And with modern medicine getting better and better your wealthy parents might just live longer than you do! You need a plan.
Now, I’m not pretending to be a millionaire. But I have had the privilege of growing up around a few. And my business is doing okay.
In this article I’m going to talk about some of the daily habits of the rich and successful. Hopefully you can apply them to your own business life and get closer to that magic number.
NOTE: Make sure you read to the end to see why all of this is bulls#t.
A word of caution about millionaires
I grew up in middle-class family that enjoyed both prosperous times and really difficult times. I am part of a family where my uncles and my grandfather are wealthy but my father isn’t. This strange situation gave me insights in to both the attitudes and habits of the rich and successful and those that didn’t quite make it.
I once heard someone close to me say that you can only become rich if you come from a rich family. And while it is probably statistically more probable, it is also a load of nonsense. Now, I am not going to pretend that growing up around people who have made massive fortunes does not give you an incredible insight in to how to behave and think like a successful person. It does. But it also cripples a lot of people with arrogance and laziness. And for every millionaire’s child who also became a millionaire, there is a millionaire’s child who squandered it all.
And then there are the countless number of self-made successful people. People who did it without the advantage of good advice from grandparents.
Genetic millionaires?
Becoming a millionaire is a lot like becoming a professional sports player. Sure, your genetic gifts and upbringing are a huge advantage but, for the most part, you would choose to have average genetic abilities but be hard working, diligent and smart as opposed to genetically gifted and none of the other things.
Millionaires are made by thinking and acting like a millionaire; not being brought up by one. Understanding this is possibly your biggest step.
How to structure your day like the rich
Let’s get into the juicy part of the post – what exactly can you do on a day to day basis that will help you become financially successful? Here are some things that I have noticed my family and other millionaires doing.
1. Get up early
Take 100 millionaires from around the world and I bet not one of them sleeps in til 8.30am. Most of them are up at six or seven working away while everyone else is still eating breakfast.
Getting up early is something that great athletes, history’s most remarkable saints and the world’s richest all do. Muhammad Ali would go jogging while it was still dark before starting his actual training. The Buddha and many of the Tibetan yogis would wake sometimes as early as 3am to start meditating. And most business people are up before the sun.
If you want to have both the energy and the time to fit in everything that needs to be done in a rich person’s day you need to start getting up earlier. Start small but gradually try and get moving as early as if healthy for you.
2. Exercise daily
Most of the rich people I know and have read about exercise on a daily basis. Now, whether this is a cause of being rich or a result of it I am not sure. It is a heck of a lot easier to play some tennis when you have several million in the bank.
Here’s the interesting thing; most of those rich guys and girls that play tennis and hit the gym every day also did so whilst their companies were still growing. It is not just a new-found rich person’s hobby. And the reason for this is that the more energy you expend exercising the more energy you create. People who are fit and health get sick less and they can work longer hours with better concentration than those who eat a high fat diet and just get by on caffeine.
So is it really easier to play tennis when you have millions of dollars? I’m not so sure. Most millionaires are busy as hell from sunrise to well after sunset dealing with new projects, day-to-day affairs and different commitments. They make time for exercise anyway.
3. Don’t entertain self doubt
If you are anything like me you will spend a good part of the day doubting yourself. It is something I am constantly working on. But the fact of the matter is that if you want to become a millionaire you need to start thinking like one. And they don’t waste time on thoughts about failure.
This attitude shift is probably the hardest part of becoming successful. In today’s world we are pressured into doubting ourselves on so many levels. We worry about bills, taxes, healthcare, the terrorist threat level, the economy’s stability… we doubt everything. And that doubt trickles down to ourselves. We hate risk.
Rich people hate risk as much as us but they deal with it anyway. You need to take more risks. Calculated ones. It is like bravery – bravery is said to be not the absence of fear but the mastery of it. Its not that rich people don’t have self doubt, they just deal with it better than most.
If you eat a lot of sugar and fat you will eventually feel lethargic. If you take a lot of drugs you will eventually wreck your brain. If you follow after self doubt all day you will eventually fail at what you’re doing. Often times before you even begin.
4. Exploit what works and what works for you
One of the best bits of advice I have ever been given is to exploit what is working. This means doing lots of testing and taking advantage of trends that are working at the moment.
The internet marketing world is a confusing place. You can work on developing a community, sell a blog, start some black-hat operation, or start up a trendy fashion blog. The choices and options are endless.
And within all those endless choices there is lots of room to get lost, get distracted from what is working. So if you find something that you are obviously good at and something that is making you money you should try to exploit it for as long as you can. Don’t waste hours in the day looking for something new when you have something that works.
5. Take an hour for lunch
A lot of new business people will come in to the game thinking that they can’t afford to take breaks, ever. Well you can. You are not that busy. Unless you are a surgeon, a lawyer due in court or stuck in an inflexible shift you have time for an hour lunch break.
Most of the rich people I know stop for at least an hour for lunch. Its not that they want to head off for fancy lunches and goof around; its because they recognize it as important for efficiency. If you constantly strain your eyes they get sore and you get a headache. The same is true for your concentration. You need to relax it. You need to move your legs, get the blood flowing and get some sunshine. It opens your mind and rejuvenates your spirit.
Don’t fall in to the laziness of working through lunch. Be disciplined and make the time for a proper break.
6. When you stop work, stop work
One thing I remember about my father during his successful days is that he never brought work home with him. He often got home at 7 to 7.30pm but he never did any work after that. That was family time. Rest time.
As a self-employed business owner I often fall in to the trap of working long into the night believing that I will get more work done. The irony? I rarely do. I am usually so tired that I don’t function properly or completely wiped out such that the day after is a write-off.
Don’t do it. Stop work at 5pm or 6pm and don’t do anything (including checking emails on your phone) til the next morning.
7. Make time each day for study
The great thinkers, politicians, business-people, generals, etc. of history all took time out of their day to study. Every day.
This is an extremely important point that many people overlook. Your education is not done once you finish College. It is not done once you crack your first $100,000 a year. You need to constantly learn about new methods and ideas.
The most important thing, however, is to study people’s failures. Look at what people and company’s did wrong so you can avoid those mistakes. History need not repeat itself with your bank account or product launch. Find out where others went wrong so you can avoid it.
8. Review your performance each night
I once heard Muhammad Ali say that one of the reasons he was so good was because he thought about and “felt” each successful punch for three seconds after he had done it. Scientists later discovered that this method had helped his muscles remember how to do it such that it became natural.
Similarly, I once heard a Buddhist lama say that every night he sat up in his bed before going to sleep and thought about his day. Had he done more good than bad? If so then he felt happy about that and then went to sleep. If not he thought about all the negative and lazy things and made a promise not to do them tomorrow.
This is really smart. If you want to become successful at anything you need to evaluate your performance all the time. What mistakes are you making? What are you doing right? You need to know all the time.
Why all of this is bulls$t
Here’s the truth. Becoming a millionaire is a total waste of time unless you are going to use that money to help people.
Warren Buffet (2010’s richest man in the world) and Bill Gates have convinced other billionaires to donate the majority of their wealth to charity when they die.
It was Carnegie who said that, “The man who dies rich, dies disgraced.”
He is right.
Owning a successful business is hard work. It takes a massive amount of energy and time. While other people are out having fun and traveling or seeing shows you are in your office with a coffee and a computer working hard. So make sure you are doing it for the right reason. If you do it so you can have a nice car or house or so you can impress someone you hardly care about then I have the sad suspicion that you will have a lot of regrets on your death bed.
If, on the other hand, you want to make some money so you can help those less fortunate than you, contribute to charities and genuinely make a difference in people’s lives then chances are you will feel pretty happy about what you have had to sacrifice.
If you take anything away from this post I hope it is this. I hope you will work for the benefit of others or else turn off the computer and go and spend time with your kids.
Top image © Diunos
I had a dual reaction on this post. I was looking at it and thinking I do most of that and someone needs to tell my wallet.
On the other hand, I absolutely agree with you on lunch breaks, leaving work behind and staying fit. I have fallen into that work all the time trap and what did it get me? Tired, irritable, less efficient and back problems from being too sedentary.
I have to hand it to you BT, you are not mincing words on what is bs and what is not. Makes for interesting and thought provoking reading.
Hi Kim.
First comment! Well done.
Yeah you raise a good point. I remember being at a debate once where someone said that the key to wealth was hard work and a guy stood up and said, “Are you saying that I haven’t been working hard these last 35 years as a builder?”
Its obviously not just hard work. But, for us on the internet, I think a lot of the time it is the missing ingredient.
You pointed out some great ingredients, but all this thinking and acting like a millionaire is actually nonsense unless your friends are millionaires. You cannot model someone just by doing parts of what he’s doing. You need to know other ingredients, and all this could be learned only by looking how they act, and why they do it.
So be close to them. I’ve read somewhere that your revenue is a total or close to the average revenue of the top 5 people you hang around.
BT,
I am no Millionaire, but what you said about becoming one, or even simply making your own business successful makes sense.
All of these are tactics I believe everyone should strive for. Work hard and long, but breaks and REAL relaxation are definitely necessary.
I know for a fact that after a few minutes break I come back rested and recharged with a whole lot of extra energy.
It can be a balancing act, because you need to work very hard to be successful in any sort of business where you work for yourself, but at some point still going on actually becomes counter-productive.
Thanks for a great series of powerful lessons.
Thanks Steve. Appreciate the comment.
I made A LOT of money in my early 20’s. I wasn’t an early riser, I drank beer everyday while I worked (no lie!), and I rarely took a break. I was a workaholic times 10 (lunch break – ha!), and it paid off for me.
Though to be fair, I was focused like a laser in a pitch black room. I did work out. I was always reading new material to better my business. And my self-talk was fierce. There was nothing that could hold me back from getting what I wanted. Nothing.
Today I still loathe early morning hours. (I’m going to start a movement of night owl productivity, because I swear by my 7pm-4am schedule.) I don’t drink beer while I work anymore. I don’t really work out as much. But I have gotten my workaholic tendencies back. That constant pressure doesn’t stifle me… it helps to move me forward a lot faster.
You really have to know yourself to find out how you work best, and maneuver within those confines. Though I will say that if you cut everything else out of the equation, kick-ass self-talk is the one thing you simply cannot diminish.
Dahlia
Hells yeah! I’ll join that movement. I do some of my absolute best and most creative thinking between the hours of 9pm and 2am. If I didn’t have to get up at dark-thirty some days to go into a client’s office, I would 100% embrace a midnight to 9am schedule so that I work while hubby sleeps and sleep while hubby works. 🙂
Hey Jen… I knew there were more of us out there. The only reason why I get up at dark-thirty (I’m stealing that phrase!) is because I gotta take my kiddo to school, and we do a slow, hot breakfast together every morning. But once she flies the coop, I’m going into mega-millionaire status because I’ll totally be in my time zone. 🙂
That’s really cool that you do that. My mom’s idea of a hot breakfast was typically a pop tart.
Am already a member of that movement. I work best from 7pm to 4am, sleep for a few hours and then do a few other none work related stuff like reading in the afternoons. I find that if I do it this way, am very consistent with my schedule and am very productive.
It’s cool to see that others also vibe with the late night work schedule. And I’m like you Frank… if I go to bed at 4am, I only need to sleep till 9am and I’m fully refreshed. But when I go to bed at 1am and wake up at 6am, I’m a bear. Same amount of sleep time, but it’s just out of my productivity zone.
I’d be curious to know how many millionaires/billionaires also prefer a nighttime work schedule. You always hear about the early risers, but not the late night workers.
I’ll agree that some of the best work often gets done then.
What I will say though is that it isn’t a habit you can use for your entire life. It is really bad for your body and while it might be sweet while we’re in our 20s I doubt we’ll be loving it in our 40s.
Thoughts?
BT… couldn’t reply below your response. Don’t tell anyone, but I’m rapidly hurling towards the big 4-0 as we speak. I’m talking zoom, zoom, zoom, and (knock on wood) I’m healthy on all fronts.
I’ve read it’s not ‘supposed’ to be good to do the late night thing. But I also think that when you go against your own personal rhythm, that’s when you start losing brain cells and motivation and passion for what you’re doing.
You’re probably right. For what its worth you don’t look 40 at all.
BT… You just made a fan for life. Thank you!
I concur. I spent my 20’s trying to fit into the 8-5, get up early, go to best early grind and I was MISERABLE…always tired, never productive, etc etc etc. My productivity seriously increased when I gave up trying to fit the mold (just before turning 30) and started working at the times that were best for me, not the 8-5 group. Much happier too.
Good insights in the post. But you really grabbed me in the last section. So to that I say a loud and hearty AMEN!
Thanks Janis! Glad someone read that far!
Greetings BT;
I would emphasize the following as well: Educate your self in terms of building your financial literacy. Understand your personal weaknesses and build an alliance (team up) with people who excel in your weakness. I truely believe in guiding people so that they can acheive their dreams and goals of financial freedom.
GREAT point Brian.
Its also a good idea when it comes to tax and other financial legalities. My best mate is a lawyer for a massive firm that deals with a lot of bankruptcies and says that so many were because CEOs or business owners didn’t know the financial ins and outs.
hang with people who excel in your weakness…that makes sense, of course. my good friend & business partner is smart, resourceful, resilient and just always thinking of the next Move. I’ve learned alot.
Now I want to achieve my own success. And my steps to success will take, as long as it takes….thanks for sharing.
This was a good post (as usual). I especially liked point number 4 about continuing to do what works for you. In today’s day and age it’s so easy to to get distracted, or even too comfortable with a working method, and then move on to something else when you shouldn’t.
Well said Josh. Thanks for stopping by.
Hi Ty,
I took time (distraction) to read your blog Ilearning time). Rich content. Quit second guessing yourself. You’re going to be fine, rich and a philanthropist some day, maybe not too far away for you. Believe it.
Watched Bill Gates talk about things the Gates Foundation was doing in the world. Don’t you love it that Warren Buffet gives the foundation his money to give away because they know how to do it better than he does? Makes my heart happy that there’s people in the world like Gates and Buffet…and B.Tyrant.
Unrelated. I got sucked into a J.Shoemaker scheme and now am trying to get out of it. Just emailed a plea to let me out of the contract. Reckon it’ll happen? I do wish I’d talked to you, busy or not.
Now, re. rich. I’ve got to remember to go eat lunch, get outside and walk and stay sane. Thanks for this post.
Hi Dorothy.
I truly hope I can make some difference. I promised myself I wouldn’t wait til I was wealthy to start helping so I try to donate and help out little bits here and there.
What Shoemoney scheme are you talking about? He is supposed to be pretty legit with products and things so I’d be really interested to hear.
I completely agree that there are habits of the wealthy and habits of the poor. It’s important to think positively and of abundance instead of thinking you will never have enough and you will never be successful. I’ve heard many rich people say that they didn’t know what was going to work at the time but they knew that they were on the right track. They felt that they had the right idea even though they didn’t really know what the outcome would be.
I feel that way about my own business. I just have to work on the getting up early part. It’s a struggle.
Good point and well said Miss Solomon. Keep on keeping on!
I learnt about the need of resting and disconecting from work when I was in College. I learnt it the hard way but it is helping now that I work at home.
Great post. It is curious because I am finishing a similar post about healthy habits and productivity. Different approach but same keypoints.
Once again, good job BT!
Looking forward to your post.
@BT: Is it important to wake up early or much much time per day you spend working?
p/s. Aren’t you mad on you grandparent?:)
I second that question. I’m the epitome of “not a morning person.” When I get up at 6 or 7 or even earlier (dark-thirty), I wander around the house like a zombie and don’t start anything productive until I’ve been up for hours. Then, because I got up too early, I end up in bed earlier because I’m too tired to work…so it works against me and shaves several hours off my productive work day.
Yeah, if its not working for you its not working.
I also am not a morning person and I am really screwed up with hours of operation.
People rent apartments in the evening and weekends but my clients expect me to work “normal business hours”
What ends up happening to me is the crash and burn cycle over and over. I can maintain the pace for weeks at a time but then the overwhelming exhaustion takes over.
A regular day for me starts at 7ish when my son gets up and it’s not unusual to get home after showings around 8-9 pm. Weekends end earlier. I blog in the evenings, I always seem to have trouble just crashing before bed. And I often have a lot of trouble sleeping, when I am overtired I get very anxious. I rinse and repeat this cycle over and over.
One day I’ll be a millionaire if hard work has anything to do with it 🙂
Okay, I’ve said enough about not being a morning person in response to other people’s comments, so I’ll skim over that. 😉
I think you make a lot of excellent points; however, they don’t readily translate to my life. Unless I can exercise, take my lunch hour and further my studies after the 5p-6p quitting time you named, I will not have time to complete all of my client work and personal writing projects. (That’s not an excuse..that’s just the way my life is, unfortunately…or fortunately, depending on how you want to look at it.)
If you can figure out how to cram all the stuff you mentioned I need to do into the 11- to 12-hour day you mentioned on top of 8 hours of client editing, 2-3 hours of client writing and 2 hours of personal site writing/maintenance – while still giving me time for silly things like showering and teeth-brushing – I’d love to hear it. (It may not come across, but I wrote that in my non-sarcastic, non-bitchy voice because I’ll seriously take suggestions.)
So far, I’ve yet to figure out how to do all the things I have to do (work) and all the things I want to do (lunch/exercise/etc) in any given day. If anyone’s got suggestions that don’t involve cutting clients – which I contractually can’t – I would LOVE to hear the ideas.
But…in the spirit of the post, I will force myself to take at least a half hour for lunch today and an hour for lunch tomorrow. And, if it doesn’t rain as the looming clouds suggest, I’ll get outside for a walk this evening. 🙂
If I make 2 of the changes and already have positive self-talk about my success, does that mean I get to be a $500,000-aire? I’m okay with that…
My suggestion would be to exercise first thing in the morning, before you start your work day. 30 minutes should be enough.
People who work out on a work day have reported to be more efficient on that same day (see link in my below comment), so you may well make up for these 30 minutes in the course of the day.
Plus, you’ll know from the start that you now have 30 minutes less work time than usually, so that pressure might cause you to work faster, too.
Just a suggestion, but worth a try I think.
Thanks, Lucas. Working out first thing in the morning would take the place of some of my aimless wander time.
Unfortunately, losing a half hour and hoping it will make me “work faster” is never an option. Trying to hurry through my client writing causes more mistakes and more rewrites, that result in more lost time. (And I’m contractually obligated to a certain number of editing hours per week, so it really doesn’t matter what pace I move at, the clock is what counts.) I already research and write fast, so there’s no time to shave off those tasks.
I wish that were an option though. I would be nice to just flip the switch and go double-time until I was done. 🙂
Jen. It is time you hired someone else. That is the only way forward. Outsource. I have some more about this coming out soon.
Contractually, I cannot outsource any of my client work.
Jen,
It’s all about duplicating yourself. You need to learn to delegate in order to focus on the truly productive things that you can’t delegate.
If hiring an assistant at $40k/year lets you double your money making time …
Even Henry Ford didn’t assemble all the cars himself.
The only tasks I can delegate without being in breech of contract are invoicing and email answering, but those tasks are so negligible in terms of time that I don’t even count them in my daily planning.
Unless I turn over my website to someone and say, “You’re the piper now…go forth and write the articles I want to be writing” I’m not saving any time. And, let’s face it, I’d be miserable if I weren’t writing my perky ray of sarcastic sunshine blog. That, and the promise of one day getting back to my fiction manuscripts, is the only thing that keep me sane some days…
Huh? It’s rather timely that I’m talking about this today when tomorrow’s post discusses what we could accomplish if we had unlimited time. Synchronicity…Weird.
I’d start charging more then, and working on less.
Surely you can outsource to some clients?
Just jamming ideas.
That’s the plan when some of the contracts come up for renewal.
I wish. Every single client writes it into the contract that I can’t outsource their work. The people who hire me want *me,* not whatever writer I can find to fill in. People in my shoes have lost some very lucrative contracts because of outsourcing. I’d like to not lose mine for such a bonehead reason. (I mean…come on! Do these people not *read* their contracts?)
I keep hoping there’s a better way to structure my days and there just doesn’t seem to be. :/ I did take a 30 minute lunch yesterday though. That was sort of nice.
Thanks for this great post.
I think taking breaks and exercising regularly is very important. I call this “Energy Management”.
Time is useless if we lack the energy to fill it efficiently. Breaks, healthy food, and regular exercise raise our energy levels.
I’m currently working on a blog post about energy management, so I did some background research.
There has actually been a study conducted around the issue of exercising and productivity, and the results strongly suggest that our productivity at work increases significantly on days on which we work out.
(more details about the study can be found here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1095783/People-exercise-work-days-happier-suffer-stress-productive.html)
The problem is that paying attention to breaks, food, and exercising is counter-intuitive when we want to get work done. But overcoming that inner resistance is really worth it.
One way to pull through with it is by holding ourselves accountable on a paper sheet. Set weekly goals for often you want to exercise, what kind of food you want to eat etc. and track your progress in writing.
I guess this would fit in well with your point number 8, the nightly review session. You could then write down, for example “exercised once, had 2 healthy and 1 unhealthy meal”. At the end of the week, you add the numbers up and check them against your weekly goals.
Btw: I love to use this technique for all areas of life and work.
Thanks Lucas that is a really interesting read. It can be so hard to make time for it when you’re busy but you really have to do it anyway.
I completely agree with the last section of the post. While a certain amount of wealth can provide a measure of financial comfort, it’s kind of misleading. (For example, there were probably millionares in Japan who lost everything in the earthquake/tsunami.)
If you aquire wealth in order to help others… either through financial contributions, or to retire early so you can donate the rest of your life volunteering, or even if it’s just to build the next great widget that will revolutionize people’s lives… then if something out of your control takes it all away, it won’t devistate you as the wealth itself wouldn’t have defined who you are. Rather it’s just a tool to accomplish something greater for others.
Nicely said Jon. Here’s hoping!
Thought provoking as ever BT.
I’m with the dark night workers … lOVE sleeping in … and still get heaps done … it’s just in a different chunk of the 24 hour zone.
I earn less now than I did 20 years ago … give more time probono to charities … and see myself as a very wealthy and successful person.
I don’t need a lot of money to live my life and tend to give of my time to other people and charities. I have autonomy, independence and a lot of choice about what I want to do in terms of doing and being.
Your points are all valid BT … and … I think it’s really important that we define success in life as widely as possible.
Keep up the writing mate … it provokes us all the think.
Thanks Liz. As always.
BT, excellent post. The things you mention here are something I strive to do on a daily basis, but it all seems like such a struggle at times. And! I loved how you ended the post. You deserve a RT 😉
RT my way to a million!
I really like this post. Something interesting about all of the points is that they pretty much all have to do with work. Work=success.
I think you might be right Jordan.
Screw this.
I got up at 10:30 am this morning.
I’m never gonna be rich. Bwahaha. 🙁
Thanks for letting me beat you twice at Scrabble. You’ll have to come over some time.
Man that game….
AAUUIOP
That was my draw, the whole time. lol
I think your observations are good, and the Aristotle quote is appropriate. Success is the product of effectiveness more than efficiency, and effectiveness is doing the right things repeatedly. Regarding basic habits supporting effectiveness, I recommend Steven Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” Your own recommendations mirror some if his. I would also recommend Peter Drucker’s “The Effective Executive,” which I used to read once a year just to be sure I maintained the right focus.
Focus and drive, however, seem to me to be the two most important attributes of success, whether or not you get up early or suffer self-doubt. Intelligence and luck are the trump cards. The self-made wealthy people I know have been powerfully willful, intensely focused, extremely smart and very lucky. The last two are pretty much beyond anybody’s control.
Finally, prescribing the appropriate use of wealth is surely a matter of opinion and possibly a little presumptuous. I wouldn’t hold it against any successful person if he were content to enjoy his wealth without applying it to charitable works and causes. It’s not our place to define happiness for anyone but ourselves.
Hi Rick.
Unfortunately I don’t think I’m as wise as you in regards to the last point. I feel like its a moral obligation of those with means to contribute to the world. The direct opportunity cost of buying those Bentleys is saving literally hundreds of people’s lives.
I think I’m a bit immature in this regard though.
Moral obligation? Naw.
Really, really good idea? Yaw.
Martyn has it right.
According to Martyn. 😉
Disagree that dying rich (a subjective metric anyway, how do you measure it) is a sin.
I want money so I can travel, have a place in Provence, Byron, snowy Canada and perhaps somewhere on the Riviera or in the Pyrenees.
And keep working.
Why is that sinful. Sure I’ll help people (most likely through Kiva: capital availability is better than aid) but it’s not sinful.
I get your point. Warren Buffet, who I was paraphrasing, just considers it an economic and social waste of time. Passing money on to children or using it to give yourself luxuries doesn’t do much for anybody.
That’s his view. I’m with him. Doesn’t mean you can’t have your own though.
Thanks Tim. Good to see you.
Somewhere along the line you have to decide whether to spend your money on guns or butter. Butter melts and is gone very soon, but guns (or anything solid that has another function) lasts. You don’t miss those expensive shoes when you’d rather have the money doing work in a growth stock.
Hey Tyrant,
Nice post, love the tips there are some great ideas there. I’d love to get better at getting up early to increase my productivity. Having a baby has helped with getting up, but I’m definitely not productive!
Point 3 is the biggest for me, self doubt can be crippling. I fight with this almost daily and feel like giving up, selling everything and living the quiet life. Fortunately I don’t and persistence has shown that wealth really can be created by anyone, you just have to keep going!
Cheers,
There’s nothing wrong with living a quiet life Shaun. That’s why I put in that last paragraph – some people do/get more by forgetting about money.
Interesting view for someone in your position, but I don’t disagree. I’m not out to make a squillion dollars, as you say there is no point.
Personally I would like to create a situation where I had more choice and greater flexibility to do the things I want, like spending more time with my family. I figure if I take the money aspect out of the equation by developing passive income streams early, then I have more time for the things I care about.
I agree. I just hope we don’t die before it all happens and we miss out on both.
One of your finer works here, BT thanks. I like the parts regarding excercis and long lunches, particularly. Both of these free my mind from the cage of the computer and really spawn the best of my creativity. Also with my business this is almost necessary…latching down too much could cause more harm than most people initially realize. I also want to add something about being social and making sure you tale the time to maintain good relationships and care care care about what goes on in the lives around you. Every bit helps. Thanks again.
Good point Steve. Human to human contact is something I don’t get enough of these days.
Hey BT, great post. I agree with all the points you raised, particularly regarding self doubt. Sometimes it’s difficult to see the progress I’m making and the small successes I’m achieving.
I also love your last point about not hoarding your wealth but using it. I understand that some people will disagree with you, but the reality is that we live in a world where thousands of people die daily due to preventable illnesses. We won the birth lottery just by being born in the Western world and I feel that I have a responsibility to help those less fortunate than me. Others may disagree and that’s fine – it’s a question of personal values and it doesn’t make you or I any more right or wrong than others.
Well done.
Thanks Allan. Glad you liked it.
Well I too come from a wealthy family and I was there when they did it.
A good read for those who want to fully investigate the realities of millionaires I suggest “The Millionaire Next Door” a statistical examination of self made millionaires.
Most millionaires marry once, have a modest home in an average neighborhood, the husband is self employed, the wife works full time as well usually as a teacher, or in the public service. They do not as a group give money to charity, they give stuff and time.
They tend to buy their vehicles used then later once they are rich…they tend to buy their cars by the pound.
I also know a number of rich landlords, they are extremely frugal. If they can’t afford it they don’t get it.
They work harder and spend a lot less than most of the people who make the same kind of money as they do. It is a misconception that they make more money than we do, they just do more with what they have. Most people would not even consider them millionaires because they don’t need to display the trappings of wealth.
Without a stable home life it is very difficult to get wealthy, without the support of a stable income it is difficult to take business risks.
To truly understand the frugality required for a person to become wealthy you have to listen to my dad expound on the idiocy of people who pay more for bottled water than gas, or that it costs him less than 10 cents for a pot of coffee and people pay over a dollar a cup. He’d have a heart attack at Starbucks 🙂
Form what I can tell every single day they chose to spend less than they make and not spend any extra.
Rachelle, I think that’s a sensible way to live.
I grew up not poor, but in a week to week spending type family. Took me years and years before I was able to visualize the whole year and plan accordingly, re money.
I wonder if the philosophy you describe is practiced anymore except by older people who learned it pre-WWII? Not that your father is that old, but he would have learned it from his parents.
And by the way, I enjoy your comments here at Blog Tyrant. And this has me mystified, how do you buy a car by the pound?
Well they asked everyone what kind of car they drove and found that the self made millionaires drove cars in which the weight/ price ratio was the highest. For example a minivan weighs a lot more than a sports car bit costs a lot less. So if you were buying your car by the pound you’d go for the minivan.
I can tell you also that my parents do not enjoy their money. They like having it in the bank or stock market but they don’t spend on vacations. My mom is actively suspicious of all her son in laws. Even after my husband and I have been together for 4 years she still thinks he’s trying to get me to buy new stuff so that he can take his half when he leaves me. Oh and for those who think that rich peoples kids get handouts I can assure you that asking my parents for help is soul destroying, and used as a kind of emotional cudgel. There is a price to pay for this “help”. Oh and I will never ever be good enough. I love those people but I don’t like them at all. My parents are not nice or kind. It makes me very sad
I love my stats 🙂
Yes, Rachelle, it’s sad. Sounds like you’ve broken the mold, though, so that’s good. Somewhere money becomes an idol, not to be used, but to be worshipped. My ex in-laws, and their son to a great extent, were like that.
I try not to blow mine, what little I have, because I want enough for what I want/need when the time comes. However, I would dearly love to get to where I could buy the car, or whatever, I wanted, knowing there was plenty left for unexpected emergencies, etc.
Thanks for the translation of cars by the pound. Know just what you mean. I’ve always done it, so am tickled to know the practice has a name.
Tyrant…
You have done great observation about Millionaires’ IDENTITY.
Your post sounds like this…
“Instead of getting getting Rich by money; get Rich by ,Thinking and Behavior; Money comes eventually”.
I totally agree with you!
Consider some man, who’s not rich, Start to be …
1. Get up early — get big day for work, healthy
2. Exercise Daily — Get energy, free from disease, better shape, better confidence,
3. Don’t Doubt Himself — Confidant, Optimistic
4. Focus — Focus equals power
5. Lunch Hour — Regenerate the Batteries, Free up mind
6. Stop Work, Actually Stop it — Better communication and relation with family, better family satisfaction
7. Study — Sharpen the tools
8. Review — Learn from own mistakes
This man’s life Gonna Change at any cost.
And Money will follow him in any field he is heading.
[…] I was reading a blog post about millionaire efficiency and I realized I was on board with all of it until time entered the picture. For some reason, […]
Wow, very nice post. Quite inspirational to be honest. I’ve read a few of your posts before but never commented, thought this one deserved one though 🙂
I like your ethics, i agree about helping those who need it and donating to charity when you’re in a position to do so. I also feel that the media has taken the ‘sex sells’ thing too far as it seems standard for lead ‘singers’ to prance around in their underwear in videos.
Keep up the good work, i look forward to reading more of your work in the future.
This is one of the BEST articles to date that I’ve read, Blog Tyrant. I especially love #4 – “Exploit What Works”, because I think that many of us internet marketers get far too caught up in all the junk that comes in from the 20,000 e-mail lists that we’re on… and want to jump on the latest internet marketing craze.
Also — the self-care aspects of being a millionaire (leaving your work at work, exercising in the morning, taking a 1-hr lunch break) are def. a must
WOW!!! And to think I almost skipped over this one bcuz the title just didn’t grab me…. The last line is MY NEW MOTTO!!! I LOVE IT!!!
All that you say is very valid even if people claim, they are millionaire because they are doing just the opposite of what you say. What you say is the long-term, sustainable, way of living one’s life. A life lived with lots of purpose is anyway worth many millions even if one does not have a million dollars in his bank account.
Unfortunately, the youngsters of today are fast taking up habits that are very bad for body, mind and spirit. And when your body, mind and spirit are not in their top, what would billion dollars do? They will be earned with a rat-like fast life and spent on medicines, alcohol, show-off, legal fees and children who’d abuse the money.
Hmmm….this article was a little bit uncomfortable to read, because it points out a few things I know are unproductive, yet haven’t been able to change it. But I’m inspired and starting now. I am more powerful than my habits and whims. I think its an excellent tool to review your performance each night, taking a break during the day, schedule study time. I’m on the computer from the moment I wake up until I go to bed. Not good on so many levels, not least of which is all that electrical exposure that’s toxic to our brains and body.
WOW! What a long informative post.
I agree that getting up early would surely require that one sleeps early, I think 8 hours of sleep is good for health. Making time for exercise is also necessary for sound health.
Exploiting what works and what works for one is good and I’ve noted it.
Being disciplined and making time for a proper break, creating family time, evaluate performance all the time are what I need to improve on.
Thanks so much
I love this post…very informative and inspirational. Definitely one of the best blog posts I’ve read in some time. 🙂