By Steve Siebold
This post summarize the book How Rich People Think by Steve Siebold.
Middle Class Focuses on Savings, World Class Focuses on Earning
While world-class thinkers understand the importance of saving and investing, they direct their mental energy toward accumulating wealth through serving people and solving problems.
While the middle class is always looking for the home-run investment that will make them wealthy, the world class invests wisely, knowing the bulk of their fortune will come from the service they provide.
Middle Class Thinks about Money in Linear Terms, World Class Thinks about Money in Nonlinear Terms
The masses waste a substantial percentage of their mental energy worrying about money, while the champions are fearlessly directing their focus to becoming wealthier every day.
Middle Class Believes Hard Work Creates Wealth, World Class Believes Leverage Creates Wealth
The wealthy strategically focus their efforts on the most profitable areas of their business while leveraging their contacts, credibility, and resources to maximize the results of every action they take.
Hard work to the wealthy means outthinking their competitors and leveraging the collective brainpower of their advisers.
Middle Class Believes Money Is Complicated, World Class Believes Money Is Simple
The masses believe making money is mysterious. World-class thinkers know money flows from ideas. They know that the more value they create in the marketplace, the wealthier they will become.
So while the middle class approaches money with the mind of an overanalytical academic, the world class approaches money like a child who doesn’t understand limitation and honestly believes he can do anything.
Middle Class Believes Building Wealth Is a Solitary Effort, World Class Believes Building Wealth Is a Team Effort
The world class knows it takes a team to build wealth, and they focus much of their effort on finding the right people to leverage their actions and ideas.
Middle Class Sees Money through the Eyes of Emotion, World Class Sees Money through the Eyes of Logic
When it comes to thinking about money, put your emotions on the shelf and let reason be your guide.
Middle Class Believes Money Is about Status, World Class Believes Money Is about Freedom
“The only thing that money gives you is the freedom of not worrying about money.”
Middle Class Believes the More Money You Earn, the More Stress You Experience, World Class Believes the More Money You Earn, the Less Stress You Experience
The people who embrace nonlinear approaches to building wealth have the world at their fingertips.
Middle Class Believes It’s Shrewd to Be Cynical, World Class Believes It’s Shrewd to Be Optimistic
Optimism is the psychological insulator that keeps them moving forward, no matter how often they fail.
“Pessimism leads to weakness, optimism to power.” —William James
Middle Class Believes Money Is Negative, World Class Believes Money Is Positive
“A man with a surplus can control circumstances, but a man without a surplus is controlled by them, and often he has no opportunity to exercise judgment.”
Middle Class Embraces Advanced Degrees, World Class Embraces Any Form of Education That Makes Them Wealthier
The most efficient and profitable way is to solve a problem no one else can solve—and sell it. The bigger the problem, the bigger the compensation. This is the cornerstone of every great fortune.
You will learn more about how rich people think and operate from observing the top performers in these companies than anywhere else I’ve found in twenty-six years of research.
“They know enough who know how to learn.” —Henry Adams
Middle Class Believes Money Is Earned through Labor, World Class Believes Money Is Earned through Thought
The rich know that creative thinking is the highest paid skill in the world.
“The real source of wealth and capital in this new era is not material things. It is the human mind, the human spirit, the human imagination, and our faith in the future.”
Middle Class Worries about Running Out of Money, World Class Thinks about How to Make More Money
Every product or service that has made our lives better has come from creative thought.
So when I say the world class thinks about how to make more money, what they’re actually thinking about is creative problem solving, not money itself.
Money flows to great ideas like water. The secret is learning how to turn on the faucet.
Middle Class Thinks about Spending, World Class Thinks about Investing
The bigger the problems you solve, the wealthier society will make you. The more people who benefit from your ideas, the more abundance you receive in return.
The more you have to invest, the more your money goes to work for you, even as you sleep.
“Old men are always advising young men to save money. That is bad advice. Don’t save every nickel. Invest in yourself.” —Henry Ford
Middle Class Focuses on Pleasurable Activities, World Class Focuses on Money-Making Activities
So while they’re working, they’re making money, and while they’re enjoying their hobbies, they’re still making money.
The majority of wealthy people I’ve interviewed over the past twenty-six years didn’t make serious money until they were doing what they loved.
Middle Class Sees Money as a Finite Resource, World Class Sees Money as an Infinite Resource
The rich understand money flows from ideas, and since ideas are limitless, money is limitless. So while the masses are directing their mental energy toward grabbing as much money as they can, the great ones are focused on creating new ideas that have the potential of generating abundant wealth.
Middle Class Earns Money Doing Things They Don’t Like to Do, World Class Gets Rich Doing What They Love
The greatest example of this nonlinear concept is the idea that passion is the real secret of getting rich.
adopt is that it’s possible to do what you love and get rich doing it.
Middle Class Has a Lottery Mentality, World Class Has an Action Mentality
The great ones know that talk is cheap and that the only way to get wealthy is to take action.
The cause of their inaction is not lack of desire but lack of empowering beliefs regarding the acquisition of money. Beliefs dictate behavior, and behavior dictates results.
Middle Class Is Waiting to Be Rescued from Financial Mediocrity, World Class Knows No One Is Coming to the Rescue
“Don’t let the opinions of the average man sway you. Dream, and he thinks you’re crazy. Succeed, and he thinks you’re lucky. Acquire wealth, and he thinks you’re greedy. Pay no attention. He simply doesn’t understand.”
Middle Class Believes Money Changes People, World Class Believes Money Reveals People
“Money will make you more of what you already are. If you’re not a nice person, money’s going to make you a despicable individual. If you’re a good person, money’s going to make you a better person.”
Middle Class Believes in Working for Money, World Class Believes in Working for Fulfillment
“When you’re doing something you love to do, the only reward you need is the experience of doing it.”
“A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do.”
Middle Class Believes You Have to Have Money to Make Money, World Class Believes in Using Other People’s Money
The great ones are aware that it’s easier to borrow ten million dollars than ten thousand, a critical nonlinear concept to know when raising capital.
The truth is you have to have great ideas that solve problems to make money.
Middle Class Believes Jobs Are the Safest Way to Earn Money, World Class Believes Outstanding Performance Is the Safest Way to Earn Money
But while the middle class is attracted to jobs for safety, the world class knows the only safety any service or product provider has lies in her ability to perform. No matter who signs your paycheck, your financial success will always be based on the level of service you provide and how many people you provide it to.
There are people with jobs who get rich, but the percentage is small. The fastest way to wealth is to work for yourself and determine the size of your own paycheck.
Middle Class Believes in Financial Scarcity, World Class Believes in Financial Abundance
The good news is love- and abundance-based thinking does the same thing, so the trick is to program yourself to believe in the never-ending abundance of money. This is backed up and proven by the philosophy stating that if money flows to ideas that solve problems, and ideas are limitless, money must be limitless.
Middle Class Believes They Aren’t Worthy of Great Wealth, World Class Believes They Deserve to Be Rich
If you are willing and able to provide world-class service to others, don’t you deserve to be compensated with world-class wealth?
Middle Class Believes Money Is Their Enemy, World Class Believes Money Is Their Friend
Start telling yourself on a daily basis that money is your friend and a positive force in your life, and your mind will go to work to help you acquire more.
Middle Class Lives Beyond Their Means, World Class Lives Below Their Means
Decide how much money you would ultimately like to spend, save, and invest every year, and map out a plan and a deadline to make it happen.
Middle Class Dreams of Having Enough Money to Retire, World Class Dreams of Having Enough Money to Impact the World
I later discovered after hundreds of interviews that it wasn’t the lack of desire that held the masses back from getting wealthy, but the lack of belief in their own ability to make it happen.
Middle Class Sees the Wealthy as Oppressors, World Class Sees the Wealthy as Liberators
“Don’t knock the rich. When did a poor person give you a job?”
Middle Class Believes Getting Rich Is Outside Their Control, World Class Knows Getting Rich Is an Inside Job
The fact is that getting rich begins with the way you think and what you believe about making money.
The only way to learn how to think like a rich person is to study them.
Knowing this, the world-class thinker is always upgrading her beliefs and philosophies on money by studying those who are wealthier.