What separates the rich from the poor?
It's not luck of the draw, being a straight-A student in school or a government conspiracy.
Rich and successful men have developed habits over time…
…habits they leverage to generate income and stay wealthy.
People stay poor by blaming everyone but themselves. In today's article, I'm sharing those successful habits with you.
Let's get right into it!
Poor Habits To Avoid #1 Giving In To Your Inner Child
You will never be rich if you cannot master the art of delayed gratification and resist the urge to snatch up whatever's right in front of you. Buying ‘affordable luxury' items on payday each month will ultimately get in the way of the things you really want like buying a house you can settle down in or a comfortable retirement.
The Stanford Marshmallow Experiment in 1972 tested children by offering them a small treat immediately or two treats if they waited. The researcher left the room and returned 15 minutes later, rewarding the children who did not each the marshmallow in the meantime. Follow-up studies found that children who waited longer had better life outcomes as measured by SAT scores, education attainment, Body Mass Index and more.
There's an instinct in all of us that wants to grab whatever is right in front of us. After all, the caveman who passed up food wound up a hungry, dead caveman. The world might have moved on but we still have that urge, it's just a case of fighting it.
Poor Habits To Avoid #2 Getting Caught Up In Black Friday Sales
However tempting it may be, a discount is not really a discount if you don't end up wearing the clothes you buy. Avoid the ‘bargain mentality'. Rich people save money by planning ahead and buying exactly what they want with surgical precision.
Divide the price of an item by the number of times you think you will wear it. If you buy clothes you truly love and wear almost every day the ‘cost per wear' will be far lower than something on discount you wear a couple times a year to justify the purchase to yourself.
Poor Habits To Avoid #3 Not Investing In Your Greatest Asset
I'm not going to beat about the bush – it's you, your body is your greatest asset. Being healthier and in shape will make you more attractive to business prospects, potential friends and your dream girl. A 2021 Cleveland State University study found a link between exercise and better pay with the link being strongest for those who exercised the most.
Giving your body more sleep will help you focus, meaning better results at work and you'll be able to pay more attention on dates.
As a final thought on this, they say the one thing money can't buy is time. That's not true though, is it, we all know people with healthy lifestyles live longer – so why not invest in yourself?
Poor Habits To Avoid #4 Playing Someone Else's Game…
…because you will lose. There's no way around it, if you work for a large corporation your bosses decide what success looks like for you.
If you work for yourself, you choose what success looks like and the target you aim for. You decide how much money you pay yourself out of the business takings.
Yes, it's difficult to start a business from scratch but fortune favors the bold. You don't have to quit your day job either, try your idea as an evening or weekend hobby first, then start charging and take it slow.
Poor Habits To Avoid #5 Putting No Value On Time
Rich people protect their time like a dragon hoards its gold. They know how much it's worth.
Put a value on your time and don't let it slip away. I block out my days, even the weekend, to help me make the most of every moment, whether I'm at work or with family. I'm not perfect, sometimes meetings or activities overrun, but at least by having some structure in place I'm never left wondering “where did the afternoon go?”
Poor Habits To Avoid #6 Having Too Much Pride
Here's a secret: rich people are completely shameless when it comes to getting what they want.
Coupon.org surveyed American households and found those with incomes of $100,000 or more are twice as likely to coupon as those who earn less than $35,000.
Is it obsessive to sign up to clothing company mailing lists, find out above their private sales and be the first in the store on that day? Maybe, but you'll get the items you've had your eye on for months and sometimes at a fraction of the cost.
Poor Habits To Avoid #7 Being A Brand Slave
I get it, it's an easy trap to fall into. You find something you like that fits from a brand so you assume everything else the store sells will work for you and the quality will be perfectly consistent.
The sad truth of modern clothing retailers is quality varies. Sizes change from one item to the next and no one business will sell everything you need. You have to be ruthless at identifying your own style, getting the perfect fit and identifying high-quality garments.
At the extreme end of this, wearing whole outfits bought from one business runs a risk. It looks like a store assistant guessed your sense of style instead of knowing it yourself. Don't be a living, breathing shop mannequin.
As the 1% might say, diversify your portfolio!
Poor Habits To Avoid #8 Not Buying What You Love
Buying clothes is hard and I encourage readers often to take their time. Go to different stores, try on as any varieties as possible. In essence, everyone should educate themselves before making each purchase.
Imagine that you are forced to repeat the process. Maybe you need another shirt but the one you bought (and love!) is no longer available. You will lose a huge amount of time and effort searching for another great option. Similarly, what if you compromise and buy alternative clothes you don't like as much because you can't get the original? You won't wear those shirts as often and the money will be wasted.
If you find something you truly love, come back in a month's time and buy it in other colors. You won't regret it.
Poor Habits To Avoid #9 Reading Any Book
Reading on its own isn't enough to make you a more productive, successful person. You want to make sure you're reading books that help you accomplish your goals or expand your perspectives. This can mean non-fiction books or the classics like Moby Dick: a book all about what it means to be a man and how we treat the natural world.
The ‘storytelling effect' even shows that we are more likely to remember what we learn if it's told in the form of a story.
Check out this next article here where I show you 25 books every successful man should read.
