Identifying and determining what exactly makes some people more financially successful than others is quite difficult.
A variety of elements need to come together in the right mix and at the right time for someone to become super rich. Where we are born, our upbringing, sheer luck — all these factors combine to make someone super successful in financial terms.
But if we must pinpoint one common strand among all financially successful people, and one that probably stands above all the factors mentioned above, it’s habits.
Our habits and character traits make us who we are and define our success or failure, to a large extent. We are nothing but the sum of all the small things that we do on an everyday basis.
Here are five common habits of the super-rich that make them who they are, and worth emulating for all of us.
Effective ‘to-do’ lists
Most wealthy people understand that procrastination is the enemy of success, causing you to squander time and opportunity. Taking a page out of 1-800-Flowers.com founder Jim McCann’s book: Create running to-do lists. One for specific tasks at hand, a general one for things to do, and a list of long-term goals.
The two-minute rule
Made popular by the productivity guide David Allen, the two-minute rule makes your to-do list manageable.
The simple rule suggests you should take up a new job that crops up in the middle of your schedule, but only if you think you can manage to complete it in two minutes or less.
Make time to think
The constant drive to succeed leads us to into a whirlpool of activity and commitments, leaving us no time to analyze or contemplate.
Our ability to come up with new ideas and our creativity suffer, as the demands of the rat race leave us stuck in a rut.
Instead, take some time every day to think deeply about the core purpose of your business and the things you need to do to achieve it.
Be selective with entertainment
No one has ever become amazingly wealthy by watching TV shows or indulging in any other form of entertainment that does not inform or enrich you.
Thomas Corley, author of Rich Habits: The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals, states that 86 percent of wealthy individuals enjoy reading, and 88 percent read for at least half an hour every day.
For the super-rich, reading is more than a means of entertainment and fun. They read to learn.
Stay in touch with friends
If you ask people about what they regret in life, very few people would say not having more expensive wine in their cellar or not having owned a jet, but you might hear many people regret not having kept in touch with family and friends.
According to a hospital study, the dying usually regret these two things the most: not keeping in touch and having worked too hard. Staying in touch with friends brings with it the advantage of building strong networks for the growth of your business, but it also keeps you in a more contented state of mind.
