Who wants to be a millionaire? Pretty much everyone, unless they’re currently a billionaire. But becoming a millionaire doesn’t just happen overnight. It takes passion, determination, and lots of hard work, sometimes maybe even a little luck. But if you really want to become a millionaire, or even just create a better life for yourself, you have to build a Millionaire Mindset.
Rule #1 Have a Vision
You can’t arrive at your desired destination without a map and you can’t arrive at your desired life without a vision. What do you really want? What do you want your life to be like?
Take a moment to think about what you really want:
- How do you want to live?
- What’s your preferred daily schedule?
- Where do you want to live?
- Who do you want to spend your time with?
- What types of activities do you want to do regularly?
- Do you want to be your own boss?
- Do you want more free time?
Once you have a clear vision in mind, write it down and post it somewhere you can see on a regular basis. Think about your vision everyday. Let it pull you in the direction you want your life to go. As you go through everyday activities, decide if they are pulling you towards your vision or pushing you further away from your own success.
And remember, as you advance towards your vision, your vision may change. It may get bigger or you may discover something you never thought about before and pull a full 180. Know what you want but also be willing to change your goals as you grow. You probably don’t have the same goals in your 20’s as you did at 7 years old. You will probably have different goals again in your 50’s or 70’s.
Rule #2 Create S.M.A.R.T. Goals
It’s great to have big ambitions, but in order to achieve anything you need to have S.M.A.R.T. goals. How do you know you are achieving your goals if you don’t actually know what your goals are?
S- Specific- Make goals specific and narrow for effective planning
M- Measurable- Define what evidence will prove you are making progress
A- Attainable- Make sure you can reasonably attain your goals in planned timeline
R- Relevant- Goals should align with your vision and long term objectives
T- Time-based- Set a realistic, yet ambitious, end-date for tasks to ensure prioritization and motivation
Break you big goals down into smaller goals. Don’t go out and expect to make a million dollars in the 1st month, create smaller goals that will help you build to your ultimate vision over time. Climb to the top of the building one step at a time.
Rule #3 Be Productive
Having down time to relax and recuperate is important for self care but make sure it doesn’t become your “all the time.” If you come home from work everyday and just veg in front of the TV or social media for hours on end, you are not working towards your vision of a great life. Refer back to your Vision and proactively work towards it.
If you want to make more money, what are you doing about it?
- Read or take classes to increase your skills to get promoted at work.
- Make a few connections or push marketing campaigns to increase your sales.
- Update your resume and start sending it out to get a new, better paying job.
- You could create your own side hustle, like dog walking, blog writing, Uber driving, etc. to bring in some extra income.
- Build your own business.
- Open an IRA or additional brokerage account and start investing as much as possible
If you want to get into better shape, how can you do that?
- Start a regular exercise routine
- Look up meal planning and begin cooking more healthy meals at home
- Join a walking/exercise group in your community
Whatever you want to improve in your life, look for ways you can be productive and actively seek out your vision. At the end of the night, ask yourself what you did today to achieve your vision.
Rule #4 Always Be Learning
If you stop learning, you’re dying. Always be searching for new things to learn so that you can advance your mind and your abilities. Build your marketable skills and invest in yourself.
- Read books
- Take classes
- Listen to podcasts
- Go to TED style conventions
- Talk with people who are more advanced in a subject than you
- Learn how to replicate those who have achieved what you want to do
Refer to your Vision and figure out what you need to learn to achieve it. You may even learn things you never thought about, you could advance your vision even bigger than you ever imagined or even completely change your vision due to new information.
Rule #5 Stay Healthy
Your mind can’t work as well as possible if your body is not healthy. Keep your body in good working condition so that you have the energy to pursue your Vision.
- Eat nutritious foods
- Drink plenty of water
- Get enough sleep
- Exercise to keep your body strong and self-esteem up
Taking care of yourself is a crucial part of achieving your goals.
Rule #6 Find Mentors
There will always be someone who knows more and has done more than you. Seek out mentors who have already achieved your goal or are farther along the path that you want. Absorb their knowledge and implement it into your own Vision.
- Maybe there is a blogger, author, or podcaster that you can follow and learn from from a distance.
- A co-worker or more senior executive in your field.
- You might even be able to get in touch with a leader in the industry that you’re interested in. A simple email with well thought out questions can open a lot of doors.
Remember, mentors are usually busy people, most love sharing their experiences and want to help others learn, but keep your questions and conversations on point. And make sure that you actually follow up on the information they give you if you want to continue using their time; if they see you’re not serious, they will probably feel less inclined to help in the future. So be respectful of their time and your own.
Rule #7 Learn How to Manage Your Finances
In order to become a millionaire and stay that way, you better make sure you know how to manage your personal finances.
- Live on less than you earn so you can save for your freedom
- Invest the difference so your money can grow with no work from you
- Get out/stay out of debt
Many fast millionaires (i.e. professional athletes or lottery winners) think they are suddenly set for life, but due to poor money management, often lose it all and go bankrupt. Make sure you know how to handle your money while you’re on a mission to make more.
Rule #8 Wealth is Unrestricted
So many people grow up poor or lower middle class and think that’s all that’s available to them. They begin to believe that in order for some people to be rich, others must be poor. That’s not true! There is more than enough money out there for everyone to be rich. Just because you become wealthy doesn’t mean someone else can’t. The constant growth of the stock market is proof, companies don’t just take money from other companies, they create their own value and grow it. You can do the same.
- Start a business and make it successful
- Put your money in investments
- Buy Profitable assets
- Build a Real Estate Portfolio
- Diversify in the stock market
Whatever wealth means to you, it is out there and available regardless of where you came from, you just have to work for it. Some just need to work harder than others, acknowledge it and go for it.
Rule #9 Always Be Ready and Open to Opportunities
You never know when opportunity will knock. Be open to opportunities when they present themselves and be ready to jump on them. A large factor in this is making sure you have the necessary funds saved, knowledge gained, and a growth mindset to take advantage of those opportunities.
- A friend might come to you with a new job opportunity in your ideal city. If you have money saved for moving expenses, you can jump on it. (Rule #7)
- Your boss might say that a new position is opening that pays more, if you have been keeping up on advancing industry knowledge and certifications, you might have a good chance at snagging the position. (Rule #4)
- A client might come to you with a load of work in your specialty, if you have the mission to build your own business and enough savings to get your business growing, this could be your big opportunity. (Rules #4, 6 & 7)
Set yourself up so that you are ready to take advantage of opportunities that might present themselves and be willing to jump when the time comes.
Rule #10 Don’t be Afraid of Failure
If you’ve never failed, you’ve never tried something new. How’d you learn to walk? You fell down a whole bunch of times but learned what worked and what didn’t then made adjustments the next time. After lots of tries and failures, you finally did it! Most things in life are like that.
- Come up with a new idea
- Do all the research and work to start it
- Try it out
- It might not work like you thought it would or need a different way
- Make adjustments and try it again or realize it won’t work and try a new idea all together.
Of course you don’t want to fail, hopefully you put in lots of work to prevent failing, but when you do fail, don’t take it personally. Acknowledge the suck for a moment then make adjustments and try again. Failure = Learning
Do you think you are ready to become a millionaire? It may be through long term investing, growing a business, or any number of ways, but in order to build the rich life you desire, you need to adopt the millionaire mindset and make it happen!
Millionaire Mindset
Rule #1 Have a Vision
- How do you want to live?
- What’s your preferred daily schedule?
- Where do you want to live?
- Who do you want to spend your time with?
- What types of activities do you want to do regularly?
Rule #2 Create S.M.A.R.T. Goals
S- Specific
M- Measurable
A- Attainable
R- Relevant
T- Time-based-
Rule #3 Be Productive
- Don’t waste time watching TV or scrolling Social Media
- Fill your time with activities to work towards achieving your Vision
Rule #4 Always Be Learning
- Books
- Videos
- Podcasts
- Anything
Rule #5 Stay Healthy
- Eat nutritious foods
- Drink plenty of water
- Get enough sleep
- Exercise to keep your body strong and self-esteem up
Rule #6 Find Mentors
- From a distance
- In your life
- Professionals in the field
Rule #7 Learn How to Manage Your Finances
- Live on less than you earn so you can save for your freedom
- Invest the difference so your money can grow with no work from you
- Get out/stay out of debt
Rule #8 Wealth is Unrestricted
- Start a business and make it successful
- Put your money in investments
- Buy Profitable assets
- Build a Real Estate Portfolio
- Diversify in the stock market
Rule #9 Always Be Open to Opportunities
- Set Yourself up to Succeed and be willing to jump when the time comes
Rule #10 Don’t be Afraid of Failure
- Failure=Learning