”Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts. “ – Aristotle.
As an extension to Aristotle’s quote, I would add that “you become poor, by doing what the poor do” and “you become rich, by doing what the rich do”. Now you might be wondering, what are the differences? Well I’m glad you asked, today we’ll be discussing the top 5 habits of the rich and poor. The differences are astounding, and the lessons learned today (if you act on them) will change your life forever.
1.Wasting Time
Poor people waste time watching TV. And rich people read books. The average american watches around 5 hours of TV per day! That’s 35 hours per week, and 1,820 hours annually! Conversely, 85% of self-made millionaires read 2 or more non-fiction books per month. Your time is your most valuable asset, are you going to waste it on mind numbing material, or maximize your ROI by learning something?
2. Gambling
Americans spend around 80 billion on lottery tickets annually. The odds of winning the power ball are 292,201,388 to 1, essentially zero. 77% of poor people (defined by making less than $35,000 annually or having a liquid net worth of $5,000 or less) admit to playing the lottery regularly. verses only 6% of rich people (defined by having an annual income of $160,000 or a liquid net worth of at least $3.2 million). In short, don’t be like the “poors”.
3. Poor people suffer from the “Dunning-Kruger effect”, rich people listened to Socrates.
In other words, poor people think they know everything, and rich people continuously learn. “All I know, is that I know nothing” – Socrates.
This is a mantra that rich people live by, they understand that they don’t have all the answers. And as result, they make it a point to not only surround themselves with people you know more than them, but constantly try to attain mastery themselves. They are always trying to improve. Conversely, poor people tend to be more opinionated. They gain a rudimentary understanding of a topic, and extend that to mean that they are now experts in the field. What more do they need to know? Right? In short, Don’t be poor.
4. Save = Poor, Invest = Rich
Poor people focus on just savings, while rich people invest their money. For instance, if you save $500 per month for 40 years, you’ll end up with $240,000. But if you invest that same $500 per month for 40 years, with a modest 6% return, you’ll end up with $984,286.00! A dollar saved is still only a dollar, INVEST your money!
5. Blame Others
Poor people blame others for their failures, rich people gladly take ownership. The reasoning behind this is simple. You can’t control society, “the man”, or [insert other person here]. But you can control yourself! If it’s your fault, then you can fix the issue. If it’s always someone else’s fault, then you’re paralyzed. Rich people are people of action, not paralysis. Take “Extreme Ownership” of your failures. And you’ll surely be on the path to success.