Your attitude towards money has consequences for how much you have of it. It’s called the money mindset. The number of podcasts and YouTube videos on this topic is growing. How does it work exactly, and how do you adjust your attitude?
Zooming in from the sunny patio of his villa on a Spanish island, Michael Pilarczyk is living the dream. Perhaps not everyone’s dream, but certainly his. Pilarczyk is a media entrepreneur, author, and speaker, often referred to as the ‘mister mindset.’ He translated and adapted one of the most widely read self-help books of all time, ‘Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill (‘Denk Groot & Word Risk), and wrote, among other things, ‘Je bent zoals je denkt’ (‘You Are What You Think’). In Pilarczyk’s podcast, he frequently discusses the money mindset. But what exactly is it?
“It is money consciousness, being aware of how you deal with money,” answers Pilarczyk. “What I often hear is: oh, it’s about money again, well, I don’t need to become a millionaire. Or: it’s always about money and getting more of it. That’s an interpretation. You don’t have to want to become a millionaire. I’m just saying: that money is important because a lack of money adds extra worries. If you don’t want that, or you want to earn more, start with your mindset.”
Here are the most valuable 09 tips you can take if you want to train a millionaire mindset. Understand that anyone can become a millionaire. Circumstances such as intelligence, origins, and natural talents can make you a millionaire faster. But even if you miss such circumstances, you can still become a millionaire. In fact, there are many stories about janitors who are multi-millionaires. Although they were not educated, they had a millionaire mentality.
01. Find your Why
Translation:
Some people want to have a lot of money because they see on TV that being a millionaire makes you “cool” and that you don’t have to work. Social media also drives people quite crazy. But that’s not the type of people who become millionaires. In fact, most millionaires cannot be distinguished by their appearance.
If you want to achieve something, you need to know why you want it.
Finding your path to success means that you may have to get up at 4 in the morning, hear a lot of ‘no,’ and not go to parties on Friday night. If you find reasons to do it, you will. If you don’t, you will eventually give up.
Becoming a millionaire is a long-term goal. You must have a clear, specific reason why you want to become a millionaire. Will it really make you happy? Will you become a better person? Will others benefit from it?
What impact do you hope to have? What are the benefits of achieving so much money, and, perhaps more importantly, what are the downsides of not achieving it? If we let our vision and “why” involve others, the amount of inspired action we will take to achieve it increases exponentially.
Training a millionaire mindset involves not taking becoming a millionaire as the goal. Instead, you strive for a higher goal. This is your Ikigai.
02. Find your Ikigai and become exceptionally good at it
It doesn’t feel like work when you enjoy what you do. Money will undoubtedly flow to and through you if you take pleasure in what you do. Even if you currently have a job or career you don’t love, changing how you think about it can alter your entire perspective.
Instead of complaining about your job, see it as something that helps you get where you want to go. Bring life to your current position and change your mindset so that you appreciate your job because it enables you to do what you love.
If you want to become a millionaire, you need to find a way to make money. If you want to start a new business, make sure you love what you do. It will take a lot of work, and if you don’t love it, it will be easier to give up.
Finding your passion is not enough for a millionaire mindset. You must find your Ikigai. This is a Japanese concept that means doing what you love, what you’re good at, what the world needs, and what you can get paid for.
The world rewards you only when you deliver high value. A millionaire mindset means developing your Ikigai and becoming exceptionally good at it. Only the very best can command premium rates.
Read More about IKIGAI concept: What is IKIGAI and How do I find my Ikigai? In search of small happiness (6 tips)
03. Wake up early
Tom Corley, author, and financial planner, surveyed 233 self-made millionaires about their daily habits and compared the responses with those of non-millionaires. What he found was astonishing.
One of the most mentioned habits of millionaires was waking up early.
In Corley’s study, nearly half of the self-made millionaires got up at least three hours before the start of their workday. Many of them use this free time to work on personal projects, plan their days, or engage in physical activity.
If you wake up at 5 a.m. to tackle the three most important tasks of your day, you can regain control of your life. Waking up early changes the way the day unfolds. Your day will feel longer and more productive. People with a millionaire mindset understand this.
Read More: Let Money Flow Your Way: 6 Exercises For Financial Abundance
04. Learn to invest money
Working hard is not enough. A millionaire mindset involves learning to work smart. Smart money management is essential for those who want to become millionaires. That’s why every millionaire has an investment mindset. Let money work for you. This happens 24/7, without physical laboring. Moreover, money grows exponentially in the long term through successful investing.
Every millionaire has above-average knowledge of investing.
05. Change your relationship with money
Developing a millionaire mindset means you have to change how you see money. Imagine money as a person. If you dislike it, you’ll unconsciously avoid being around it. You might say, “But I love money!” and everyone claims to love money. However, many of us have limiting beliefs about money.
If someone believes that making money is difficult, they won’t recognize the various options available to earn more money. They will always remain stuck with the idea that making money is hard.
But what about people who are obsessed with making money? If you always think, “I need to make more money,” you’re pushing money further away.
Fear of not earning enough money is part of a “scarcity mindset.” If you have a scarcity mindset, you can’t become a millionaire. It’s like becoming overly clingy when dating someone. If you’re afraid of losing money, you won’t make the right decisions.
So, you have to see money as your friend, as someone who is always there to help you. This is a radical difference between a scarcity mindset and a millionaire mindset. The latter sees money as a game to make more of it. Sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose.
Try to sit down every day and examine your thoughts. Ask yourself where they come from. You will identify many limiting beliefs that are preventing you from becoming a millionaire.
06. Be grateful
Practicing gratitude is one of the best ways to change your scarcity mindset. When you learn to be grateful, it’s like changing your focus. Instead of focusing on what you lack, you focus on what you have. Before you eat, tell yourself how fortunate you are to have food on your plate. Before going to bed, be grateful for the roof over your head. Be thankful for your family and friends.
When you are constantly grateful for all the things in your life, you train yourself to be aware of your resources and how to make the most of them. This is essential for a millionaire’s mindset.
Another benefit is this: those who are grateful need less (to buy). This way, you save more money. Money that you can invest in stocks or other assets. This allows you to generate more returns and become a millionaire sooner.
Read More about “Gratitude”: Strengthen Self-Confidence: 11 Effective Methods
07. Think in terms of opportunities and solutions
If you want to develop a millionaire’s mentality, you must see solutions where others see problems. When things get challenging, and most people pack it in and go home, the millionaire’s mind knows that there is always a solution, and no matter how big the problem or challenge is, it is a blessing in disguise. Even failure has benefits that you will profit from in the future.
Developing a positive mindset is helpful. Being positive leads to a more open mind. This way, you can more easily spot opportunities. Read more about developing a positive mindset.
Read More: 8 Tips for Positive Thinking
08. Practice Meditation and Mindfulness
Many millionaires and billionaires cite daily meditation as one of their keys to success (source: Forbes.com research). Meditation allows you to be in the present, freeing your mind from futile and/or negative thoughts.
The modern world is full of distractions that hinder us from tapping into our full potential. When you meditate, you connect with your true self, which is essential in making decisions.
Oprah meditates for 20 minutes twice a day. Jack Dorsey meditates in the morning; it’s the first thing he does. Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates, said, “Meditation, more than anything in my life, was the biggest ingredient of any success that I’ve had.”
Skeptical? Try it for yourself! Even ten minutes a day can make a huge change to your life. Sit in a comfortable position, close your eyes, and breathe. Inhale deeply, hold your breath, exhale slowly. Repeat as needed.
When you let your thoughts go to the future or the past, you have no control over them. Meditation is like a gym for the mind. It allows you to focus and relax.
Another aspect of the millionaire’s mindset is to be fully present and perform actions with full conviction. Give your best, even in small activities, and you will grow exponentially.
09. Act as if You’re Already a Millionaire
You must trust yourself and your dreams. If you don’t, they won’t become a reality. So, if you want to train your millionaire mindset, start acting as if you’re already a millionaire. Be confident in yourself.
How? Pay attention to all the prosperity you already have. Your friends, family, job, the food you eat, the roof over your head, the sunset. We often forget the small things in life, and those are the things that make us the richest. Also, start acting as a millionaire would. Make decisions as if you were a millionaire. You are what you think.
Being a millionaire is about mindset. Train your millionaire mindset. Find your Ikigai and become exceptionally good at it. Learn to invest and let money work for you. Be grateful for everything you have. And live and act with full conviction.
10. You Think Before You Spend Money
You may think that millionaires don’t have to think when they spend money. And that is correct. It’s not necessary. But they do. At least, the millionaires who remain millionaires.
Of course, you have the lottery winners who lost all their money (and more). But you also have rich people like Warren Buffett, who still lives in the house he bought in 1958 for $31,500.
Your expenses have an impact on your earning capacity. Every euro you spend on something that becomes less valuable is a euro that you cannot put to work for yourself.
That’s why it’s good to ask yourself three questions before you buy anything:
- Do I really need this?
- Can I borrow it from someone?
- Can I find it cheaper elsewhere?
By the way, I would like to expand the definition of ‘really necessary’ a little further; If it makes me very happy, then I may not necessarily need it from a practical point of view, but it is good for my mindset and therefore also for me.
What I have also noticed: you often already have a solution at home. You may have to think a little more creatively, but it is easy and saves you another trip + money.
- Well, if you live in the countryside like I’m used to. Otherwise, you might just walk out the door and into the store.
11. You Always Keep Learning
There is always something to learn and as long as you continue to do so, you will continue to grow. Stagnation means decline; if you stop learning, the world doesn’t stop with you. It continues as normal and the distance between what there is to know and what you know is increasing.
Of course, you don’t have to learn all kinds of random things. Focus mainly on the things that benefit you. Idea: money!
Immerse yourself in learning more about Money Mindset, in investing, in saving, in ways to put money to work for you. You can find a good book on almost any financial topic.
12. You believe in your success
Because if you don’t do it, who will? And no, that does not mean that you should believe that from today to tomorrow, without taking any action, you will suddenly wake up successfully.
It does mean that you can have absolute confidence that you will achieve your goals. This way you remain open to opportunities that will help you further.
Of course, I’m curious: based on these ways to think and act like a millionaire; How far are you on the road to millionairehood? 😉
