Unlearning your wealth rejecting habits

  

                  By Bayo Ogunmupe

    In the world today, one in 185 million people is a millionaire. But it is true that getting rich requires years of hard work. You have to read a lot, build skills, make the right decisions at the right time. Which means you have to hone your intuition. But if that is all you focus on, you will miss the most important aspect of how to build wealth through compound growth. This compounding happens through your choices, judgment and financial decisions. It is also affected by the assets you own, often without your being aware of it.

    Understanding that you are most likely to build wealth on the back of something that grows is a necessary perspective shift.  Otherwise, being busy working on something, might make you forget things that are necessary for your enrichment. In life, getting rich is equally as much, if not more about what you did not do, as it is about what you say yes to. At the same time, it is much harder pointing to a set of wealth building patterns than it is to spot what keeps people from getting rich and rid yourself of these habits. Once you have unlearned whatever wealth rejecting habits you have, all that is left is to take action and wait for growth to set in. Here are the wealth rejecting behaviors experts have spotted in people over the years.

    One, stop telling yourself money is evil. The love of money is the root of all evil. It isn't that money is the root of all evil. Take note that, it is the people who claim money is dirty that never seem to have any. They reject money in order to keep themselves poor. Money doesn't come with any ethical flavor. It has no flavors at all. Like the computer, it is a tool without any inherent intentions. In order to judge something as ethical, or unethical humans have to be involved.Only human intentions matter in such circumstances. Thus, money is just a consequence and amplifier. Profit or riches can be a consequence of ethical behaviour or of unethical behaviour. 

    When you think someone does not deserve his money or he must be doing somethil evil; that is jealousy in disguise. With such a comment, you are the one with questionable ethics. Instead, you should be happy for them and get to work so that you too can become rich for money like water, has no enemies. It is at that point that you should focus on yourself and become rich. Two, stop playing status games. Think of the most popular person in your high school. Where is he now? Chances are he peaked early. He got stuck playing status games. The problem with status games is that they are zero sum games: the only way you win is if someone else loses.

    Politics, fame, prestige are all ranked hierarchies. For you to move up a notch another person must move one down. The India born American entrepreneur, Ravikant Wiki explains: "The problem is that to win at a status game, you have to put somebody else down. That is why you should avoid status games in your life because they make you into an angry combative person. You're always fighting to put other people down, to put yourself and the people you like up." Building wealth by making things people want, however, is a positive sum game: the more you do it, the better and richer you become. Fulfilling your dream by getting what you want depends on you playing wealth games, not status games. If you are always busy trying to look good, you will have no time and energy left to actually do good. Sometimes, doing good is a thankless job. But you will have keep doing it to succeed.

    Three, stop rejecting responsibility. Great financial rewards are the results of taking great risks. Most of the time, when the responsibility of taking a good risk comes, it isn't dangerous taking it. It will only be uncomfortable. You must stand for something, though chances are you might stand for the wrong thing. But it is rarely something you cannot recover from. Better still, don't wait for responsibility on your doorstep. Search for and take some. Four, stop wasting leverage. Working hard is a requirement of getting rich but is not the deciding factor. Good judgment garnered from experience is very important. leverage multiplies the results of your decisions. Through investing, acquisition of skills and name recognition, you accumulate leverage. These translate to money eventually.

    When someone starts working for you, that's leverage. Once your vision is sharp, you will feel comfortable focusing on specific goals. Getting rich is a game but not a hectic one. Playing it the humble way might not guarantee winning, but if you do, you are likely to succeed from a move you long forgot. And through humility, you avoid harm.