The 21 Rules of the Rich (and how you can emulate them)
recently ran across this article entitled 21 Ways Rich People Think Differently Than Average People based on a book called How Rich People Think. I was immediately struck by the similarities between the writing on Bold and Determined and the thoughts of the rich elite. The 21 rules of the rich are in bold and my thoughts are underneath.
1) Average people think MONEY is the root of all evil. Rich people believe POVERTY is the root of all evil.
Average fellas are SCARED of money. You read that correctly. FEAR of money. You’ll hear average fellas say things like “I would never try and make money from this. I would never do this just for money” etc. Like money is AIDS and they would never try and get it. Everyone needs money because money is freedom.
This fear of money is a one-way ticket to average town. Everyone needs money, there is no damn reason to make excuses or justify it or be afraid of it. I want money. This is how I make my money. Deal with it. Don’t be ashamed of your need or want for money. Get out there and take it and leave the excuses for average Joe.
2) Average people think selfishness is a vice. Rich people think selfishness is a virtue.
Everyone is selfish, but there are two types of selfishness: overt selfishness and covert selfishness. You want to be OVERTLY selfish. Covert selfishness is for chicken shits. When you come right out and say “I want it my way and I’ll have it my way” you will get what you want. When you play the covertly selfish guy, also known as nice guy syndrome, you are only going to get shit on.
Nice guys aren’t nice guys, they’re chicken shits. They want the same thing overtly selfish guys want, money and women, but they’re too scared to come right out and demand it so they play nice and hope they’ll be able to manipulate that outcome. But it won’t happen, it’ll never happen. You want it? Take it. You want to eat shit? Play the nice guy game.
3) Average people have a lottery mentality. Rich people have an action mentality.
I hear these losers all the time, “if I could just win the lottery. If I could just get a chance. If my big break would come in” and blah blah blah. I don’t expect anything to be given to me. If I want it you can be damn sure I’ll go and get it. Play your stupid lottery, sit on your stupid couch in front of your stupid TV, and make your stupid excuses. Someone else is out there kicking ass and taking what is rightfully his.
4) Average people think the road to riches is paved with formal education. Rich people believe in acquiring specific knowledge.
Universities are leftist indoctrination facilities. And they are full of deluded morons. You must educate yourself. Any damn thing you want to learn about you can learn about. You don’t need to spend time in women’s studies to learn it. Every damn thing is on the internet, for free. If you want to learn about it the only thing stopping you is you. I will say it again and again: Everything you learn in college is useless if you want to be an entrepreneur and it’s up to YOU to learn your craft.
5) Average people long for the good old days. Rich people dream of the future.
Some people call it planning for the future, I like to call it visualization. Visualize the future and how you will be. Actually see yourself as you wish to be. The things we think tend to become reality (assuming you aren’t a delusional narcissist).
“Things used to be so great, but nowadays….” Forget that nonsense and mold your future the way you want it.
6) Average people see money through the eyes of emotion. Rich people think about money logically.
Money is like an extra emotion to poor people. They always have “money problems” and they’re always whining about it. For some damn reason they can’t ever have enough to pay rent and the car payment and the damn electric bill. I have been poor many times but I’ve never been so poor I couldn’t pay my bills and I’ve never been so poor I cried about it.
Forget about money as emotion, it’s just a damn game making money. Think about it like you think about your next 15 chess moves. Don’t be like these idiots living paycheck to paycheck and never having enough. Here’s a simple solution: If you’re poor…..DOWNSIZE!
…and then get to work, plan ahead, and quit spending your money on nonsense.
7) Average people earn money doing things they don’t love. Rich people follow their passion.
I don’t like the word passion, that’s a word for women’s romance novels, the correct word is obsession. Rich people follow their obsessions to the edge of the earth and beyond. Average people can’t understand this because their obsession stops at their favorite sports team or TV show or smoking pot or some other nonsense.
4 Hour Work Week is a cool little motivational book but you can’t take the title literally. If you’re going to find success in your field you are going to spend every waking minute thinking about it, you will have to be obsessed. Forget relaxing, forget taking a break, just give in to the obsession.
8) Average people set low expectations so they’re never disappointed. Rich people are up for the challenge.
“Hey man, don’t worry about it. It’s no big deal. You expect too much. Let’s just watch the game!“
I have no time for this type of person. How any man could live his life so pathetically free of any and all challenge is beyond me. You get the same types in the gym. Type A is afraid to exert any real energy and Type B will go all the way. Type B will have the physique to show for it.
9) Average people believe you have to DO something to get rich. Rich people believe you have to BE something to get rich.
“What do I have to do to get rich?“
“Be the type of motherfucker that gets rich“.
Be a damn killer and go get it.
10) Average people believe you need money to make money. Rich people use other people’s money.
I’ll tell you boys, I made my first money using NONE of my own money. Not a penny. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. If you want it bad enough, as in you are obsessed with it, you will get it. Even if you only have $12 to your name, makes no difference.
“I can’t make money because I don’t have any money“. Sounds pretty stupid doesn’t it?
“I have to make money because I don’t have any money” sounds much better.
11) Average people believe the markets are driven by logic and strategy. Rich people know they’re driven by emotion and greed.
I have no time for these people who constantly talk about logic and strategy. “I like logic. I deal with things logically.” Logic is only one part of the picture. If you look at everything logically you aren’t looking at the big picture and I’ll tell you why. Most people in the world do not think logically, they think emotionally. When you speak to them logically you are not getting through to them.
Most people in the world are dummies and they don’t think logically, they can’t think logically. But these “I’m so logical” types always assume that everyone else also thinks “logically”. If you think they think logically you are thinking like a dummy. Not everyone thinks like you, in fact most people don’t even think. They just react. They’re idiots and shouldn’t be treated like they are masterful logicians, and they shouldn’t even be assumed to understand logic. Logical thinking is only half the puzzle.
12) Average people live beyond their means. Rich people live below theirs.
Again, these people can’t pay their phone bills at the end of the month. Live like a Spartan. Have money leftover. Hell, I live like a king and I barely spend any money. I’m able to live very well because of a little word called Geo-Arbitrage. Make money in dollars, spend in baht and I want for nothing.
My monthly expenses are bare minimum. Few bucks in rent for my high rise condo with pool view, few bucks for water and electric, few bucks for internet, few bucks for gym membership, few bucks for my maid, and a few bucks to run my websites. Easy, spartan, simple and clean. If need be, all those expenses can be reduced even further. I spend less money to live on now than I used to spend on just my mortgage.
13) Average people teach their children how to survive. Rich people teach their kids to get rich.
I had average parents who taught me how to be average. They didn’t know anything about making money but they sure were adamant that college and a full time job and saving for retirement was the answer. I wasted years following that stupidity. For most of my life I’ve been a fool, and a lot of you probably have too. But it’s not too late to wake up and start kicking ass instead of licking ass.
14) Average people let money stress them out. Rich people find peace of mind in wealth.
Money is freedom, baby. I can’t say this enough. Money buys you freedom. If you have money you don’t have to take orders. When you have money you have the pleasure of saying my favorite word, “no”. I do anything I want any time I want. I don’t ask permission.
15) Average people would rather be entertained than educated. Rich people would rather be educated than entertained.
Television, magazines, celebrity websites, sports – the mark of the average. If you can’t learn or earn from it, burn it.
16) Average people think rich people are snobs. Rich people just want to surround themselves with like-minded people.
Rich people are different. After you’ve made it why would you ever want to go and hang out with losers who are jealous of you? Average people cannot hide their envy and jealousy. I have seen this look in their eyes, up close and personal, it is the most pathetic look I have ever seen and the most hateful look I have ever seen.
They made the poor decision to go and waste their life at a job and now you’re a demon because you are free and have money. You took the time to educate yourself, you took the time to make your own money, you took the chance, you did all the work and they look at you like you got lucky and they have the gall to get enviously angry at you. It has often been noted that you end up exactly like the people you hang out with, so say goodbye to the losers, be elitist and hang out with the winners.
17) Average people focus on saving. Rich people focus on earning.
How many people have told you of the wonderful benefits of saving for retirement and how you can finally live like a king when you’re 65? None of those people seemed to be living large, though. Weird, huh? Can it be that they have no clue what they’re yammering about?
I choose to live like a king right now, I’m too selfish and impatient to wait. To afford my lifestyle I had to quit my damn job and focus on earning on my own. And it was the best decision I ever made.
18) Average people play it safe with money. Rich people know when to take risks.
What I have found is that when I take big risks, the kind of risks that give me nausea, diarrhea and anxiety for days, they tend to payoff for me. For some damn reason I have been able to risk my money many times and have always made it back plus some extra. It has always been when I didn’t take a risk, when I chose to hang on to the money I had, that I burned through it and was left broke. You can never, ever make it without risking something.
19) People love to be comfortable. Rich people find comfort in uncertainty.
Average people don’t want to do any damn thing except eat snacks and watch TV. Wasting your days at a 9-5 and wasting your nights in front of the TV on a La-z-boy recliner with a bag of chips is comfortable for some, I guess, but it always made me miserable. Personally, I hate relaxing. It’s such a damn waste of time.
20) Average people never make the connection between money and health. Rich people know money can save your life.
“Well, at least I have my health“.
This saying always makes me laugh a little. What they are really saying is “my life is terrible….but at least I’m alive“. I’d rather be dead than be 65 years old and living on social security and medicare. I’d rather be dead than be old and living on a fixed income and relying on the government to give me my “pills”.
Not only does money give you peace of mind, which can save your damn life from high blood pressure and stress, but it also buys the best medical care and the best drugs.
21) Average people believe they must choose between a great family and being rich. Rich people know you can have it all.
Average people are excuse-makers. “I chose to have a family instead of going into business“. Bullshit, you chose mediocrity because you’re mediocre. Lie to yourself all you want, but I can see through those lies a mile away. If you were driven and not a liar you would let your family motivate you to give them a better life. A family isn’t a burden or an obstacle in making money, it’s an excuse to be lazy and coast at a job.
Rich people demand more out of life, and they get it. Demand more, especially from yourself, and your quality of life will go up. Demand more from your personal relationships and you will get more. Demand more from your business partners and you will get more. If they don’t want to play ball then fuck ’em, find others who want to play. It’s a big world out there and there is plenty for your taking. Be a man and take it.
Bonus #22 – Rich people all have self discipline.
The end.