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While associating with people all around us, do we really think that they are impacting several aspects of our life directly or indirectly? This impact is not limited to only personal life but financial life as well. Just have a close look at your associations, is it with positive & successful peoples or with negative & unsuccessful peoples.
Successful people look at other successful people as a means to motivate themselves. They see other successful people as models to learn from. They say to themselves, “If they can do it, I can do it.” Modeling is one of the primary ways that people learn.
Why Reinvent the Wheel?
Rich people are grateful that others have succeeded before them so that they now have a blueprint to follow that will make it easier to attain their own success. Why reinvent the wheel? There are proven methods for success that work for virtually everyone who applies them.
Consequently, the fastest and easiest way to create wealth is to learn exactly how rich people, who are masters of money, play the game. The goal is to simply model their inner and outer strategies. It just makes sense: if you take the exact same actions and have the exact same mindset, chances are good you will get the exact same results.
Contrary to the rich, when poor people hear about other people’s success, they often judge them, criticize them, mock them, and try to pull them down to their own level of financial life. How many of you know people like this? How many of you know family members like this? The question is, how can you possibly learn from or be inspired by someone you put down?
Dealing with Close Ones
Harv Eker was recently doing a radio interview and a woman called in with an excellent question: “What do I do if I’m positive and want to grow, but my husband is a downer? Do I leave him? Do I try and get him to change? Almost everyone asks the same question: “What if the people I’m closest to aren’t into personal growth and even put me down for it?”
Here’s the suggested way ahead to these types of questions-
First, don’t bother trying to get negative people to change. That’s not your job. Your job is to use what you’ve learned to better yourself and your life. Be the model, be successful, be happy, then maybe…yes maybe—they’ll see the light (in you) and want some of it. Again, energy is contagious. Darkness dissipates in light. People actually have to work hard to stay “dark” when light is all around them. Your job is simply to be the best you can be. If they choose to ask you your secret, tell them.
Second, keep in mind what you want while staying calm, centered, and peaceful. Yes, it’s much more difficult to be positive and conscious around people and circumstances that are negative, but that’s your test! Just as steel is hardened in the fire, if you can remain true to your values while others around you are full of doubt and even condemnation, you’ll grow faster and stronger.
Dealing with Friend or Colleague
If you are going in carpool and now realizing that one of your friends is a negative energy spreader or energy drainer. Now you have a choice! His or her talk might be putting you in an undesirable mindset at the office or at home. You can analyze a similar situation at the lunch table as well.
I have seen, many a time people take flat or house on rent in a society full of negative or unsuccessful people because rent is less there. The advantage of saving the differential amount of rent in a complete year can vanish in minutes in those localities. Your family members, your children can come under the influence of those people & many a time that cost is too high. It is better to have a safe distance from such people, who always have doubt in your growth plan and never feel happy with your progress.
Similarly avoid taking financial or investment advice from people, who are always paying their bills in EMIs & providing you suggestions of loans or debt for any investment. Personally, I had started taking good care of these points for a long time in my life.
Again, energy is contagious: either you affect people or infect people. The same holds true the opposite way around; either people affect or infect you. Let me ask you a question: Would you hug and hold a person you knew had a severe case of measles? Most people would say, “No way, I don’t want to catch the measles.” Well, I believe negative thinking is like having measles of the mind. Instead of itching, you get bitching; instead of scratching, you get bashing; and also instead of irritation, you get the frustration. Now, do you really want to be close to people like that?
Birds of a Feather Flock Together
You’ve heard the saying “Birds of a feather flock together.” In general, most people earn within 20 percent of the average income of their closest friends? That’s why you’d better watch whom you associate with and choose whom you spend your time with carefully.
Rich people don’t just join the country club to play golf; they join to connect with other rich and successful people. There’s a saying that goes “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” If you want to fly with the eagles, don’t swim with the ducks! Always try to associate with positive people and disassociate from negative ones. Good things will happen in your life once you become habitual with this logic of association.
Being rich is a right & rich people hang around with winners. Poor people hang around with losers. Why? It’s a matter of comfort. Rich people are comfortable with other successful people. They feel fully worthy of being with them. Poor people are uncomfortable with highly successful people. They’re either afraid they’ll be rejected or feel as if they don’t belong. To protect themselves they go into judgment and criticism of rich people’s financial life.
Way Ahead
Finally, it’s a choice, If you want to improve your financial life, you will have to change your inner blueprint to fully believe you are every bit as good as any rich or ultra-rich out there. Instead of mocking rich people, model them. Instead of shying away from rich people, get to know them. And instead of saying, “Wow, they’re so special,” say, “If they can do it, I can do it.”
Go to the library, a bookstore, or the Internet and read a biography of someone who is or was extremely rich and successful. Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Mary Kay, Warren Buffett, Jack Welch, Bill Gates, Ratan Tata, Dhirubhai Ambani, Azim Premji are some good examples. Use their story for inspiration, for learning specific success strategies, and most importantly, for copying their mindset to improve your financial life. (credit to ‘Secrets of the Millionaire Mind’ by Harv Eker)
“You cannot push anyone up a ladder unless he be willing to climb a little himself.” – Andrew Carnegie
