Entrepreneur, best-selling author and self-made millionaire Grant Cardone wasn’t born into riches, he writes in a recent blog post. “I have worked hard my whole life to create wealth and success for myself, my family and my community. I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth.”
And while “I do not ever blame someone or fault them for being poor,” he adds, “I do not tolerate people who continue to stay in the mindset that being poor is a permanent condition.”
That’s a sentiment shared by many other entrepreneurs. And, according to Cardone, there are five specific habits that can contribute to a mentality that keeps you strapped:
Living in the past
Successful people don’t obsess over what’s already happened, he writes. “They’re always looking to the future.”
While it’s OK to reminisce about past accomplishments, “surround your environment with images of the things you want in the future,” as well. Those can serve as motivation.
Being all talk
Don’t just talk about your goals, take actions to achieve them.
That is what successful people do, Cardone writes. Whether they’re convincing others to believe in their vision, “getting attention for their products or ideas, or grinding it out day and night, the successful have been taking high levels of action before anyone knew their names.”
Map out your goals and make a plan to conquer them. Once you understand what your goals are and why you want to achieve them, Tony Robbins, self-made millionaire and entrepreneur, writes in another blog, identify specific steps you’ll need to take to reach them.
Establish a time-frame to complete the necessary steps and even try scheduling it on your calendar.
Punching the clock
Successful people don’t go to work to punch the clock, they go to be productive.
“People who struggle with money usually work for time, not production,” Cardone writes. “This means they get paid for working a certain amount of time, and after that, they quit working.
“Flip your mindset and start focusing on how you can produce,” instead of just watching the clock.
John D. Spooner, a Harvard-educated and Boston Globe No. 1 best-selling author writes in his book “No One Ever Told Us That: Money And Life Lessons For Young Adults” that being productive may indeed mean putting in some extra hours at your workplace.
But remember to take some time for yourself, too.
Having small goals
People who have “poor” mindsets are taught to be average, Cardone writes. Successful people, on the other hand, dream big.
Tom Corley, an accountant, financial planner and author of “Rich Kids: How to Raise Our Children to Be Happy and Successful in Life,” has a similar stance. He says wealthy people often benefit from “rich habits” and others often struggle because of “poor habits.”
People with rich habits, Corley writes, are positive, upbeat and optimistic. They don’t gossip, and “they inspire others by encouraging and motivating them to pursue their goals and dreams.”
Their counterparts are negative and pessimistic. They have a “poor, poor me, victim attitude. They don’t take personal responsibility for their circumstances in life.”
Talking about hump day and ‘TGIF’
“Successful, rich people aren’t always telling their co-workers every Wednesday about hump day, they’re not high-fiving on Friday mornings shouting out ‘TGIF!'” Cardone writes.
And while there’s nothing wrong with enjoying time off on the weekend, successful people don’t dread Monday mornings. Instead, they see the start of a new week as “a new chance to make their dreams a reality.”
If any of these habits hits close to home, it isn’t too late to flip the switch. “You can change, it all starts with a decision to do so,” Cardone writes. “Then, you must make a commitment to not go back.”
