Change, to some it’s a dirty word. To the wealthy, it’s what makes all the difference.
If you are totally honest with yourself, you would likely admit that there are things that you do that you know are not helpful for your wealth creation.
And you also likely know a number of ways to become wealthy, whether it be property, stock investing or owning your own business.
But the question is, why aren’t you wealthy?
In my journey I have spent thousands of dollars on courses and books learning different strategies, learning how to make money from property, stock investing and even setting up my own business.
It took time for me to realise what it was that made all this knowledge valuable…
Change – It Starts With You
Ultimately, to succeed with any of these three investment options, I needed to change my behaviour to that of a wealthy person.
I had to have that discussion with myself. The look in the mirror moment. I had to honestly assess what it was that I was doing that was not working, not helping or not progressing my wealth creation goals.
These internal discussions and assessments are not easy. For some they are just too hard, the battle scars or self-realisations are difficult to handle, particularly if you come to the realisation that the biggest obstacle to your wealth creation goals is YOU.
I’ve had these moments. It wasn’t until I honestly saw the true reflection of my actions and the outcomes they were producing that I was able to make the transition to being an asset in my wealth creation strategies.
Prior to having this internal discussion, I was my own worst enemy…
In reality, wealth creation is not difficult, once you have the right information and tools.
But it does require that you know yourself, and the impact you are having on your success.
Your mindset is crucial.
If the internal dialogue you have with yourself is full of negativity then guess what, your results are going to reflect this negativity.
One of the most effective ways to start programming your mindset is to have a positive internal dialogue.
Whenever you feel the negativity creeping in, stop yourself and reflect on a positive thought. Program yourself to have more positive thoughts than negative ones, it works…
In order to be wealthy, you need to change yourself. Change is not easy for most people.
One of my favourite books is ‘Who Moved My Cheese’ by Dr Spencer Johnson. It’s a short easy read about four mice that demonstrate clearly how people manage change.
It’s such a good book I bought multiple copies and gave them to my staff to read. It changed the conversations they were having and helped them deal with the change that was occurring in our business.
So what do you need to change to stop being an obstacle in your own path? Ask yourself, how do I change my money story?
6 Things You Can Do Today to Start the Change to be Wealthy
Here are six things that the wealthy know and do that you can start doing today. Note that they can be nicely categorised into three specific traits: Sacrifice, Discipline and Action.
- Eliminate non-productive debt (Sacrifice) – This is the absolute best starting point. Start with credit card or store card debt and work as hard as you can to get rid of it as soon as possible.
Simple as that. If you have more than one, start with the smallest one first and get rid of it, helps build momentum and positive reinforcement, which helps too.
- Get Rich Quick doesn’t exist (Discipline) – Understand that ‘get rich quick schemes’ just simply don’t work.
To become wealthy it takes work and time, there are no shortcuts, understand and believe this fact, it will help you recognise the BS from the real.
- It’s too late for me (Action) – this is just an excuse. It’s never too late to start. Sure you could be a lot further down the track if you started 10 or 20 years ago, but you didn’t, get over it and start today.
There is no better time than now.
- Keep learning always (Sacrifice) – no matter where you are in the journey, there is always more to learn.
Make learning a habit, seek out new information. The reality is that no one is born financially literate, so you are going to need to learn the ‘how-to’ stuff.
The more you learn, the more advanced your strategies will become and the more likely your results will improve. Win-win!
- Start with a plan, have some goals (Discipline) – This simple step is knowing where you want to get to and have a plan to get there. What are your goals?
Spend time today to write down some goals. short term and long term. It should only take 10 minutes.
Calculate how much you need to retire. This will surprise you… Hint: It’s not as much as you might think!
- Have a money management system (Action) – Do you know where your money goes each month.
Record where you spend your money, even if for only one month, you will again be surprised at how much leaks out like a faulty tap.
Once you know where it is going, it is a whole lot easier to work on step one above, because you can allocate some of what was being wasted to clearing your debt.
We have a tool to help you with this process, you can get it here.
Conclusion
As you can see, applying some discipline, making some sacrifice and taking massive action will get you started.
Don’t put it off any longer, you owe it to yourself to have the things in life that you want, start today.
And when you start, understand that each incremental step you take, no matter how small, will be adding to your wealth.
As each step builds on the previous one, you will start to see the power of cumulative returns, and that is where the real magic happens.
Incremental gains are what lead to wealth.