How the poor can become rich (2)

                    By Bayo Ogunmupe

    In this final part of the humble poor man's way of getting rich, we shall teach you how to unlearn your wealth rejecting habits and focus on building your leverage to attain riches. After choosing the right responsibilities and living up to them, the fourth rule is to stop wasting your leverage. Though working hard is a requirement of getting rich, it isn't the deciding factor. In the end your judgment matters more than working hard. Wealthy people are thinkers armed with courage and creativity. Thus, leverage multiplies the results of your decisions. It comes in different forms. Money is one of them. Follow money by treating it affectionately. Make money work for you. Save to invest not save to save. If you can invest N2000 into a stock that doubles in value, you will make more money in return than someone who can invest only N200.

    Treat money like your girlfriend, don't let it sleep. Get a millionaire mentor, show up, not off and aim high. Labour is another form of leverage. If I can teach you how to sell two pairs of shoes a day, you and I can sell more shoes together. The third and most powerful form of leverage is code. By code we mean software, including digital media, podcasts, newspaper articles, blog posts and videos. Thanks to the internet, you can spread these around the world at no cost, and when people use them, you get paid in money and attention. This leverage also compounds like wealth itself. In the beginning, we all play without leverage, but it isn't right to continue playing without leverage. When people struggle accumulating leverage, they waste it while wasting money on frivolities. Instead they should invest it through building podcasts, writing books or taking a writing course. If you want to be rich create leverage by investing in yourself by acquiring skills.

    You should avoid debt that isn't rewarding; that is to say borrowing to be expended on unprofitable products. Also, it is unwise to hire people to build an unprofitable venture. But when someone spends their time working for you, that's leverage. When you spend your time working, that's not. There is no multiplier effect there. Though working is our most limited resource, thus, you have to spend it well. When you spend the majority of your time building and acquiring leverage will greatly increase your chances of becoming wealthy. Of course, hard work helps, but you should do so at your own pace. However, much more important but much harder, is to let go of things that don't work and to do so as soon as possible.

    Whatever is financially unfeasible or won't contribute to a meaningful jump in your leverage immediately must go.  This means you must sharpen your self awareness guts. You must regularly check on yourself by asking: What's actually working? You must answer such questions honestly. Quitting most of the wrong projects to work on a sufficient number of right ones is the only way to build the array of assets and leverage you need. All you need to know is that it is far easier to be patient and letting a few good choices compound than to rush and be forced to compensate for a lot of bad projects. Clearing up your muddled thinking around money is one way of embracing patience.

    Once your vision is sharp, you will feel comfortable focusing on specific goals, because you know they will serve the long term game you are playing. Stop vilifying money; money isn't the root of all evil. It is the love of money that is the root of all evil. Quit status game, show up; don't show off. Take responsibility for all you are doing, your duties and their outcome. Build leverage by working as hard as you can in order to escape failure. Getting rich is a measurable game, not a hectic one. Playing the millionaire's game in a humble way is no guarantee you will win. But if you do, you will likely win from a move you made which you had long forgotten. However, you cannot be around negative, ignorant and sad people without their state of mind rubbing off on you. Moneybags identify what skills they are good at and continue to hone them.