World’s richest woman Gina Rinehart is enduring a media firestorm over an article in which she takes the “jealous” middle class to task for “drinking, or smoking and socializing” rather than working to earn their own fortune. What if she has a point?
Steve Siebold, author of “How Rich People Think,” spent nearly three decades interviewing millionaires around the world to find out what separates them from everyone else.
It had little to do with money itself, he told Business Insider. It was about their mentality.
“[The middle class] tells people to be happy with what they have,” he said. “And on the whole, most people are steeped in fear when it comes to money.”
1. Average people think MONEY is the root of all evil. Rich people believe POVERTY is the root of all evil.
“The average person has been brainwashed to believe rich people are lucky or dishonest,” Siebold writes.
“That’s why there’s a certain shame that comes along with “getting rich” in lower-income communities.
The world-class knows that while having money doesn’t guarantee happiness, it does make your life easier and more enjoyable.”
2. Average people think selfishness is a vice. Rich people think selfishness is a virtue.
The rich go out there and try to make themselves happy. They don’t try to pretend to save the world. The problem is that middle class people see that as a negative––and it’s keeping them poor, he writes.
“If you’re not taking care of you, you’re not in a position to help anyone else. You can’t give what you don’t have.”
3. Average people have a lottery mentality. Rich people have an action mentality.
While the masses are waiting to pick the right numbers and praying for prosperity, the great ones are solving problems. The hero [middle class people] are waiting for may be God, government, their boss or their spouse. It’s the average person’s level of thinking that breeds this approach to life and living while the clock keeps ticking away.
4. Average people think the road to riches is paved with formal education. Rich people believe in acquiring specific knowledge.
Many world-class performers have little formal education, and have amassed their wealth through the acquisition and subsequent sale of specific knowledge. Meanwhile, the masses are convinced that master’s degrees and doctorates are the way to wealth, mostly because they are trapped in the linear line of thought that holds them back from higher levels of consciousness…The wealthy aren’t interested in the means, only the end.
5. Average people long for the good old days. Rich people dream of the future.
Self-made millionaires get rich because they’re willing to bet on themselves and project their dreams, goals and ideas into an unknown future. People who believe their best days are behind them rarely get rich, and often struggle with unhappiness and depression.
6. Average people see money through the eyes of emotion. Rich people think about money logically.
An ordinarily smart, well-educated and otherwise successful person can be instantly transformed into a fear-based, scarcity driven thinker whose greatest financial aspiration is to retire comfortably. The world-class sees money for what it is and what it’s not, through the eyes of logic. The great ones know money is a critical tool that presents options and opportunities.
7. Average people earn money doing things they don’t love. Rich people follow their passion.
“To the average person, it looks like the rich are working all the time,” Siebold says. “But one of the smartest strategies of the world-class is doing what they love and finding a way to get paid for it.”
On the other hand, middle class take jobs they don’t enjoy “because they need the money and they’ve been trained in school and conditioned by society to live in a linear thinking world that equates earning money with physical or mental effort.
8. Average people set low expectations so they’re never disappointed. Rich people are up for the challenge.
Psychologists and other mental health experts often advise people to set low expectations for their life to ensure they are not disappointed. No one would ever strike it rich and live their dreams without huge expectations.
9. Average people believe you have to DO something to get rich. Rich people believe you have to BE something to get rich.
That’s why people like Donald Trump go from millionaire to nine billion dollars in debt and come back richer than ever. While the masses are fixated on the doing and the immediate results of their actions, the great ones are learning and growing from every experience, whether it’s a success or a failure, knowing their true reward is becoming a human success machine that eventually produces outstanding results.
10. Average people believe you need money to make money. Rich people use other people’s money.
Linear thought might tell people to make money in order to earn more, but Siebold says the rich aren’t afraid to fund their future from other people’s pockets.
“Rich people know not being solvent enough to personally afford something is not relevant. The real question is, ‘Is this worth buying, investing in, or pursuing?
