On X (formerly Twitter), I asked a question that got people’s creative juices flowing, big time. I ask these questions routinely, and I am always amazed at the answers – both good and bad!
“In ONE WORD, What Prevents Most People From Getting Rich?”
Some answers were spot on. Others were super creative. And a few were genuinely ridiculous.
Here are the top 15 answers I get from this question whenever I ask it.
Mindset
Mindset is a huge factor in building wealth. If you don’t believe you’ll ever be rich, then chances are you won’t. But if you do and couple that with relentless action, there’s a good chance you’ll build wealth over time.
Self-Belief
It might sound trite, but believing in yourself is often the first step to achieving extraordinary things. You need to believe that you can before you do. And trust me, most of us can do far more than we give ourselves credit for.
Themselves
Most of the time, our biggest competition is us. Our motivation and dedication. Our mindset and belief in ourselves. Remember that we can’t always control what happens around us, but we can always control how we behave and react every time.
Commitment
Commitment is a huge factor that separates the rich from the poor. The more committed we are to building a successful career – rather than just going through the motions every day, the better prepared we will be to succeed.
Fear
Many are afraid of success and what that entails. Maybe it’s the stress that comes from making a lot of money. Or it could be the fear of making mistakes while others watch. Unfortunately, fear keeps too many of us from taking the first step to becoming successful.
Indirection
When we don’t know where to go, we are left wandering aimlessly. And that has never helped get anyone rich or successful. Establishing goals for your future is important, and those goals will help you determine which direction you should head.
Overspending
Spending beyond your means is a one-way street to debt. You don’t leave enough to save and invest when you spend too much money. And that part – the saving and investing- builds wealth, not the spending.
Entitlement
The feeling of entitlement can be incredibly damaging. It makes us less determined and motivated to take the extra step and strive for something better. Think about the last time you felt entitled (or deserved something). Would you have been willing to work even harder?
Comfort
Your comfort zone is where dreams go to die. We don’t make more money when we’re comfortable (otherwise, everyone would be rich). Instead, we build wealth by stepping outside our comfort zone, saying yes to opportunities, and believing we can achieve anything.
Discipline
A lack of discipline is a wealth-building killer. When you lack discipline, you often lack work ethic and the motivation to do a good job consistently. Discipline is what keeps us going even when the going gets tough. There’s lots of money to be made there.
Greed
Greed has a way of clouding our decision-making abilities. We make poor decisions when our primary focus is on ourselves. It might work here or there, but it’s far from a long-lasting solution.
Inaction
There’s nothing that will kill your income potential quite like inaction. While we all need time to rest and relax, that can’t be all we do. Rest hard after you play hard. You can’t just do one or the other.
Focus
To build wealth, we need to be focused on what generates wealth. For most of us, that’s our full-time job, but for others, it might be a business or side hustle or investing in appreciating assets like stocks, bonds, and ETFs.
Impatience
One of the most challenging components of building wealth is patience. Building wealth takes time unless you win the lottery (hint: it won’t happen). It doesn’t happen overnight. 99.99% of those “overnight success” stories you hear about were years in the making through preparation and hard work.
Dopamine
Like with greed, dopamine chasers make bad decisions because they only chase the “Does this make me feel good?” question. To build wealth, logic and reasoning are far more important than your craving for dopamine.
