According to the Tax Foundation, only 5% of American households earn enough to be considered “well-off.” According to the Federal Reserve’s Consumer Finance Survey, these 5% control 60% of the wealth in the United States.
According to my Rich Habits research, these 5% of people have 4 common characteristics:
#1 Rich people don’t follow the crowd
Humans are so eager to fit in and be part of a group that they will do almost anything to avoid standing out in the crowd. This is not a theory. This is science. Many years ago, Candid Camera decided to put this science to the test in one of their famous elevator pranks. While the candid prank is fun, it emphasizes the extent to which people blend in and become part of a crowd.
The thing is, in order to be successful and wealthy, in order to be in the top 5%, you have to separate yourself from the masses – the other 95%. Detachment from the group is a prerequisite for success. Therefore, successful people must accumulate wealth through various means and thus become an outlier:
- The general public does not save and invest 20% or more of their income—saving-investing millionaires do.
- The masses don’t spend hours a day engaging in thoughtful and analytical practices, or expanding their knowledge base – virtuoso millionaires do.
- People don’t take the time to build strong relationships with influential people, while senior executives at large companies do.
- Sheep are risk averse. They don’t risk everything they have to pursue their dreams—that’s what dreamer entrepreneurs do.
If you do what everyone else is doing, you’ll eventually become part of the 95%. If you want to be rich and successful, you have to set yourself apart.
#2 Rich people have growth habits
Greatness is an evolution. This is a by-product of daily growth. Growth Habits are daily habits that allow you to grow and evolve—to become the person you need to be in order to successfully visit you:
- Study by reading for 30 minutes or more every day to expand your knowledge base.
- Thirty minutes each day to study new or important facts learned from daily educational reading.
- Refine your skills through deliberate and analytical practice and strive to become a master at what you do.
- Focus your research on a specific niche – Niche building helps differentiate you from others in your field.
- Pursuing your dreams forces you out of your comfort zone and into your growth zone. Every dream you pursue will expose you to new information and may require you to develop new valuable skills.
#3 Rich people are persistent – they never give up
Success takes a long time. How long it takes to become rich depends on the path you choose (4 Paths to Becoming a Self-Made Millionaire). Still, each path requires a different type of persistence:
- The saver-investor path Saving and investing your income need to be consistent year after year.
- The path to the top of a large company Requires consistent work done well and building alliances with influential people within the company.
- The path of master Persistence is required to acquire master knowledge or develop master skills. The persistence part involves committing to growing your knowledge or perfecting your skills every day. It takes many years to become a master of the art. Only through perseverance can one reach the level of a master of art.
- Dreamer-Entrepreneur’s Path It takes perseverance to overcome obstacles, pitfalls, mistakes, bad decisions and failures. Entrepreneurs who never give up will never fail. We call them self-made millionaires.
#4 Rich people have more good habits than bad habits
Most habits are unknown – most people (95%) usually don’t know they have them. On the other hand, those who are successful are fully aware of their habits. They are addicted to their habits. They proactively change their habits—eliminating bad habits that could sabotage everything they want to achieve and developing good habits that contribute to their automation success.
