If you are living in New York and go beyond the million dollar mark you are these days considered to be part of the middle class and I would say the same if you are living in Singapore, Dubai or even London. But for the majority of people elsewhere, reaching the seven figures level still remains a dream for many and a reality for just a few chosen ones.
The reality is that 85% of the millionaires today are self made. They didn’t receive at birth golden spoons, some of them had to face massive poverty at least one time during their lifetime and the road to the first million was paved with massive failures, a lot of work, passion, persistence and perseverance.
Still, most of them are sharing some common habits and by being surrounded by a lot of entrepreneurs, trainers and coaches I was able to identify the commonalities they share on a daily basis.
I believe that these days, anybody by changing the daily habits and having the proper mentoring can start from scratch, zero or nada and achieve the seven figures mark way faster than ever before. So here are the 25 habits of the eventual millionaires. I would say eventual because nothing is guaranteed in this world so just use them as guidelines and it is most likely that you will join this club sooner or later.
1. They have a morning routine
Anthony Robbins calls it “The Hour of Power” and Robin Sharma speaks about “The 5 AM Club”. Most millionaires I know wake up very early in the morning - 4.30 to 6.30 AM and they do some sort of sports, meditation and reading before starting to dive into the daily grind.
2. Fail forward
They are not afraid of failing and they use the process of evolution known as failing forward when they learn from the mistakes and use them as stepping stones for future successes.
3. They are grateful more than the regular people
They express gratitude on a daily basis for what they already have and by doing that they prepare themselves to receive more from what they want. They know that no matter how hard are a certain period there is always something to be grateful for.
4. They speak well about money
They know that an important element to reach seven figures and even growing from there is to make positive associations with money. So they love money, speak well about money and find ways to produce more and more money as a result.
5. Say no more than others
They say no to most of the opportunities and focus only on the few which are really important from them. They are not Jacks of All Trades and use specialised knowledge to advance in their fields of interest.
6. Plant seeds
They plant seeds all the time because they know that even one of one hundred can product the whole harvest they dream about. And if something doesn’t work, they do it better and differently.
7. They are the dumbest person in the room and are ok with that
In most cases when they have a team they are ok with being the dumbest person in the company letting the employees shine with their skills.
8. Surround themselves with the smartest people
The only way to grow is to be surrounded by people who are much better than you in what you want to accomplish. That’s why they join masterminds, conferences and events where they see and learn about new levels in what they want to achieve.
9. They don’t have excuses
They preffer having reasons to succeed instead of excuses to fail. It is as simple as that.
10. Do things one by one without rushing
They know that you can achieve more by doing less things in a slow way than doing many things in a rush and they don’t leave things not finalised until starting new stuff.
11. Live every day as the last day of their life
They know that time is the only thing which can’t be recovered once it is lost so they live every day as being the last day on Earth knowing that it is in their powers to create as much money they want in the future.
12. Warren Buffett’s 5 from 25 rule
Most apply the rule used by Warren Buffet: to put on the paper 25 ideas, work on 5 and leave the rest untouched this strategy leading to far more productivity than ever.
13. They have written goals and review them
All millionaires, without exceptions have written goals and they review them daily, weekly, monthly and yearly. They don’t limit themselves to The New Year’s Resolutions which are forgetted by most people in less than 30 days.
14. Read a lot
Most poor people have big TV’s and most of the rich ones have large libraries. The beauty of taking knowledge from a book is that you can absorb in few days what took the others months and even years to learn.
15. Don’t watch TV, they invest the TV time in crafting their skills
Maybe they watch some TV from time to time but while the majority of people watch endless programs without any meaning they invest the time in becoming better at their craft.
16. They work more and better once they achieve financial freedom
I don’t see very often the myth of rich people stop working after achieving a certain level of success. But, what I see is many of them working even harder but doing what they like in the process. For most of the millionaires I know work is just another kind of play paying big dividents.
17. Invest in new education all the time
Especially in this information age the most successful people are the ones who succeed in un-learning a lot of useless garbage and learning specialised skills that make them highly competitive. They are ready to repeat this process basically anytime.
18. Follow-up
When they are involved in sales they follow-up more than anybody else. And this is another reason for them to succeed.
19. Ask questions
They acquire new knowledge by asking a lot of questions. Basically they grow asking the right questions and the direction of them is towards how something can be done and not why something can’t be done or achieved.
20. Are not afraid of what other people are thinking about them
They simply don’t care about what other people are thinking about them.
21. They focus on the now
The past is history, the future is a mistery, all they have is just ... now so they value every day, hour, minute and second.
22. Sleep well and rejuvenate themselves
Sleeping is important because their most precious asset - the brain needs daily rest. By taking care of their brain, they make amazing steps into a better future.
23. They eat well
Besides taking care of the brain and their mind, the millionaires also are very careful about their body which is their temple and many of them are rarely seen buying and consuming fast food.
24. Sacrifice the short them comfort for the long term growth
They know that growth can’t be inside of the comfort zone so they keep them outside this area as much possible. In the process they sacrifice the short term confort for their own long term growth outside of the usual
25. They remain kids until the end of live
They don’t give up childhood no matter what and as adults remain kids surrounded by expensive toys.