Unfortunately there are far to many people who are looking for success and going about it all wrong, they think that by playing the lottery, spending oodles of money at casinos, doing sports betting or investing in get rich quick schemes, that somehow they will strike it rich and shortcut the path to success.
They are more willing to gamble away their money than they are to invest it into something that will pay them over time, because they believe there is a shortcut to success. They understand working per hour at a job, but do not have the foresight in building success one step at a time, they want it all, and they want it now.
Usually what happens to these types of people is they just get addicted to gambling and make very bad financial decisions, it is sad but true.
I have seen it many times in my life, and you probably have too. I have very close friends of mine who have spent a small fortune at casinos, and continue to do so, sometimes spending thousands weekly thinking they are going to make it big this way.
But it never happens and they just go continuously deeper in debt, and end up taking out loans to make ends meet.
A couple of times they have came to me asking for guidance to help them straighten out their finances, I obliged them, and created a very doable situation where they could pay off all of their debt in 1 years time, and still have money left to enjoy some things. But only if they quit going to the casinos would it work..
See together they make over 135,000.00 a year, and should be living a nice lifestyle, especially where we live as we have a very low cost of living here. Housing and everything else is very reasonable. With that kind of income, one should be able to amass a very nice successful lifestyle.
This never happens for them, because they gamble and spend more money than they make and just keep going further in debt every year.
They keep taking out loans to pay other loans off, each time borrowing more money for longer periods of time, but there payment goes down, so then they spend more, because they think they have solved their problems.
Twice I have helped them set up a plan to become debt free, and twice they made it about 1 month, because it was not fast enough for them.
They are always looking for a shortcut to success, and what they do not realize, or what they “Can Not See” is the plans I have laid out for them, would be the fastest way to being successful with their money and finances.
This is why people stay broke and unsuccessful. (Their Thinking)
The saying of “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer” is true because of ones thinking and in how people handle their money that they do have.
I know many people who make waaaay more money than I do, but their lifestyle is half of what mine is. I save and invest in assets that pay me, they spend and buy things that do not.
They pay huge interest on everything, because they keep taking out more loans to buy stuff, I do not…
I set goals to create more income, and then buy when I have met those goals. Impulse buying will destroy your finances.
Now my thinking was not always leading me in a positive direction, I learned the hard way myself years ago by getting heavily in debt, and working my way out. And in doing so, taught me some very valuable lessons on how to be successful financially in life and that it really was not that difficult.
You Cannot Skip the Steps to Success.
Sure everyone wants to be successful in the shortest time frame possible…Sure … why not. We all want to get to the end result with the least time and effort possible. That is just being efficient and smart.
However, there are some steps along the journey that you simply cannot avoid. Anyone who tells you otherwise is not being honest.
It is kinda like a hamster on a wheel, going round and round, never really ending up anywhere, accept in the same place you first started.
Change is the first step.
Ever heard this saying “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result”
If you never change your thinking you will always get what you have always gotten, and most likely you will get a lot more of it, whether good or bad.
This is something I learned the hard way. You can spend so much energy and money trying to find a shortcut to success only to realize that success was within your grasp the whole time, and all you needed to do to get it was to change.
The second step is to model successful people. (people you admire)
Renowned businessman Jim Rohn once said “You’re the average of the five friends you spend most of your time with.” It has also been said that in most cases your income will be very similar to your 5 closest friends.
In a narrow financial sense it is true. You do not need sociological studies to know that. People prefer to socialize with other people of the same or similar financial stature.
If you win $400MM in some kind of super lottery you will in all probably loose all of your current friends (or will socialize with them much less) and will acquire new ones. Not because you are mean spirited but simply because they will no longer have much in common with you.
They will not be able to do the things you can now do, and will most likely envy your financial windfall and try to bring you down in some way to their level. It is hard to hang out with people who’s life is going great, if your is down the shitter, and vice versa.
So think about this for a moment, when you keep the company of successfully, driven people, you tend to become a more successfully driven person yourself. The five friends you spend most of your time with will have a core similarity. Your conversations will almost always cover the same topics and you’ll almost always be doing something similar.
On the other hand, if you hang around with hopeless people; people who don’t give a damn about themselves, their family, people in general, you’ll find your attitude will in time match them.
This isn’t to say you aren’t your own person, but when it comes to relationships, we humans are greatly influenced by those closest to us — whether we like it or not. These five people affect how we think, how we act, how we feel about ourselves, and ultimately how successful we are.
Now I am not saying you just go dump all of your friends to the curb, but what I am saying is who we associate with the most does effect our core beliefs – these beliefs determine how we act, think and what we do.
Hard to have a positive outlook on life if the people you spend the most time with do not.
The third step is to set goals.
Invest your time, energy and money into things that bring you something back.
There is so much wisdom in this saying by Abraham Lincoln “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the ax.”
You need to first know the results you want in order to know the actions it will take you to get them. You want to have fixed goals in your mind, and written down and focus on the solutions and not the problems.
The Law of Attraction is the ability to attract into our lives whatever we are focusing on. That is why it is wise to focus on solutions and not on the problems. Written goals will aide you in focusing in on the solutions and not the problems.
There is something magical about written goals, when you take hand and pencil to paper, it etches it in the mind.
If you have never read the book by Napoleon Hill “Think and Grow Rich” I highly suggest you buy it and read it multiple times. That book was one of the catalyst for my own change and reshaping my thoughts. I owe much of my own success to reading that book, because of how it changed my thinking.
The other book that had a similar impact on me was “Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki. They should make those two books required reading for kids in high school.
Success starts in the mind..You have to believe you will be successful long before you ever will be. I visualize first everything I set out to accomplish, I see it complete before I ever get started, even if it is something as simple as adding a deck on to my home.
What you focus on you will eventually get, never lose sight..
The 4th step is to take action daily.
Always be moving towards your goals, taking positive steps to move your life in the direction you want it go.
Do not let life just happen to you, design your life the way you want it to be and take the actions needed to get you there.
Nothing will happen over night, give your self time, and do something everyday to bring your self closer to your goals.
The 5th step is to not let fear stop you.
Do not let fear in the door and freeze you in your tracks.
This is a huge killer in your quest for a better life, fear can present itself in many ways, from what other people think about your actions to them not believing in your goals and dreams or just plain old fear of failing.
Don’t be afraid of making mistakes, it is okay.
Either way it comes at you, kick it to the curb immediately, do not let fear creep in the door.
If old habits stop by and bring you to a bad place, move on from it quick, do not beat your self up. Keep pushing forward no matter what. Your repeated positive actions over time will empower you to over come and accomplish anything you set out to do. New habits will begin to change your life permanently for the better.
The last step is to reward yourself.
Always make sure that as you hit some of your goals, even in some of the smaller ones, take a bit of your resources to reward yourself, this will help reinforce your new successful habits.
Now do not run out and buy a new vehicle just because you paid off one loan, do something that you can reward yourself with by paying cash for it. Remember you do not want to end up where you started from. Maybe its even as small as taking some time off and doing something you love for the day.
One of the greatest feelings I have had in regards to my finances was watching my bank account grow and my debt go down at the same time, it became one of my biggest catalyst to grow my bank account and not spend all my money.
You feel pretty successful, when you know you can walk into a car dealership and pay cash for a new vehicle and know its not going to effect your finances at all, it is very empowering let me tell you.
In closing.
Please realize that there are no shortcuts to success in any area of life, so do not go wasting your time looking for one, you got to put in the work, it is as simple as that.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post them in the comments section below or just say hello, would love to hear from you.
Sincerely,
Your Friend And Partner
Richard Weberg
