Are there traits or strategies we can incorporate into our own day-to-day lives that can give
us a better chance of financial success?
Or is it all simply due to circumstance and luck?
With so many books out there on financial success and making money, but with only a
small percentage of people at the top of the rich list, it’s reasonable to wonder what
the best advice is.
Today we’ll be attempting to find out which is the best, by bringing you some top tips,
as we look more closely at why rich people end up rich.
Welcome to this episode of The Infographics Show: Habits Rich People Have.
Before publishing his book, Rich Habits - The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals,
author Tom Corley spent 5 years observing habits of both the wealthy and of people living
in poverty.
He found there were significant differences in the daily activities and attitudes of the
two groups.
One thing Corley discovered was that the majority of successful people have a morning routine,
and Corley- himself a successful author- also adopted his own morning habit following his
lengthy research of the rich.
His routine includes waking at 5 a.m. each day; Starting with a coffee and heading down
to his basement office; Reviewing his Word List for 15 minutes, the list of words he
is committing to memory; Reviewing his Facts Summary or Study Summary for 15 minutes.
His Facts Summary is a list of important facts he feels it is important to know; He reads
for 45 minutes and writes for 45 minutes.
This ensures Corley can achieve his goals and continue to be a successful writer.
So what about other successful people in different careers?
What are their daily habits and how do they compare?
Reviewing Corley’s work as well as research by other authors, academics and business leaders,
here’s our list of 8 habits we’ve found are common to the majority of rich people.
8.
Setting goals - Setting goals helps us grow and expand, pushing ourselves to reach our
ambitions of wealth and success.
Goals need to be realistic.
If you set your goals too high, then you may never reach them, but equally, if you set
them too low, you’ll achieve them too easily and feel uninspired.
You’re much more likely to put time and energy into something that excites you, so
it’s important to structure exciting goals that make you want to leap out of bed in the
morning, ready to take the day on at full steam.
Make a list of your goals, review them everyday, and don’t be afraid of changing what’s
not working.
7.
Meditating – Meditation is no longer the pastime of religious people only.
It’s used throughout the business world to enhance productivity and achievement.
Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates, told The Huffington Post back in 2013 that
"Meditation, more than anything in my life, was the biggest ingredient of whatever success
I've had."
And Dalio is not alone.
Rupert Murdoch, Oprah, Russell Simmons, Arianna Huffington, and Tim Carrey to mention a few,
all practice meditation to enhance their performance.
Taking care of your mind will keep you moving towards your goals with minimal stress and
maximum progress.
6.
Exercising – There’s no gain in having a healthy mind but an unhealthy body.
Coupling time spent focusing the mind, wealthy people also believe in staying fit by exercising.
It takes time to make money, and millionaires are busy people, but they nearly always find
some time in their day to work out.
In his book, The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals, Corley reports that 76% of wealthy
people do aerobic exercise at least four days per week, helping to keep them in better shape
and more able to achieve their objectives.
5.
Eating healthily – You are what you eat, and wealthy people also value their health,
and structure their eating habits accordingly.
Corley found that 57% of wealthy people count calories every day, and 70% of rich folk eat
fewer than 300 calories of junk food per day.
Eating a diet full of natural food like vegetables and fruits, and avoiding processed sugars,
saturated fats, and cholesterol, can keep the doctor at bay.
There are many reasons wealthy people watch what they eat, and one reason may be the need
to feel good and to stay in peak mental performance throughout the day.
4.
Waking up early – They say the early bird catches the worm, and it’s certainly true
of the wealthy and successful, with studies showing that 90% of executives wake up before
6am on weekdays.
Here’s what The Huffington Post found out about the early morning alarm clocks of the
world’s wealthy.
Apple CEO Tim Cook wakes up at 3:45am every morning to go through email, exercise, and
grab a coffee before settling in to his workday; Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is already in
the gym by 4am to get an edge on the competition; PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi rises at 4am and is
at work no later than 7am; Starbucks Exec Howard Schultz gets up at 4:30am to walk his
dogs and exercise, and then he makes coffee to get the day going; Jack Dorsey, co-founder
and CEO of Twitter and Square, wakes at 5am to meditate, exercise, make coffee, and then
check in for his workday; LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner wakes at 5:30am, checks email, reads
the news, exercises, meditates, and eats breakfast, all before 9am; Richard Branson rises with
the sun at 5:45am to exercise and eat an early breakfast before work; and Gary Vaynerchuk,
co-founder and CEO of VaynerMedia, wakes up at 6am every single day and gets his day started
by checking his phone, catching up on the news, and then exercising.
3.
Working with a mentor – When you’re embarking on a new project, career path, or starting
up a business, a good mentor can be the difference between failure and fortune.
In an interview with American talk show host Charlie Rose, Mark Zuckerberg talked about
his inspiring mentor Steve Jobs.
“He was amazing,” said Zuckerberg.
“I had a lot of questions for him.”
He described how Jobs gave him advice about how he could build a team that was as focused
as Zuckerberg on building “high quality and good things”.
They also both believed that their life paths were meant for more than just building businesses.
They wanted to change the lives of people.
You can’t get a better mentor than Steve Jobs!
2.
Being persistent – If you set your mind to something and hope to achieve your goal,
then persistence is a very necessary attitude to maintain.
Things will get tough.
You will be faced with difficulty and opposition.
No one rich made it without being persistent.
The going may be hard, but you have to always note that the testing situations are ones
that many successful people have faced over and over again.
Persistence allows you to keep taking action even when you don’t feel motivated to do
so.
In the words of author Napoleon Hill, who wrote Think and Grow Rich, “Patience, persistence
and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success”.
1.
Remaining positive – According to Corley's observations, the wealthy individuals he studied
generally had a positive outlook on life, and were grateful for what they had.
94 percent avoided gossiping; 98 percent believed in limitless possibilities and opportunities;
94 percent enjoyed their chosen career.
87 percent were happily married; and 92 percent were happy with their level of health.
He also found consistently negative attitudes and beliefs cropping up among the poor people
he observed.
85 percent were unhappy in their jobs or careers; 53 percent were unhappy in their marriage;
78 percent believed optimism wasn't necessary in order to be successful; 77 percent believed
lying was necessary to achieve success.
So, would you stick to this list of 8 habits, or do you have other ways of hitting the top
of the rich list?
Let us know in the comments!
Also be sure to check out our other video, Google vs Apple - Which Is More Successful?
Thanks for watching, and, as always, don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe.
See you next time!