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Can continuous learning makes you rich? Basically, there are three most dangerous words in the English language. Those words are “I know that.” So how do you know if you know something? Simple. If you live it, you know it. Otherwise, you heard about it, you read about it, or you talk about it, but you don’t know it. Put bluntly, if you’re not really rich and really happy, there’s a good chance you still have some things to learn about money, success, and life.
If things are not moving the way they should, then it’s time to introspect. You might be thinking that you know it all, but the reality might be different. When “know it all” is not working then it’s time to implement “learn it all.” Things will start changing from that moment onwards.
If You Think Education is Expensive, Try Ignorance
There’s a saying that author and speaker Jim Rohn uses: “If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always got.” You already know “your” way, what you need is to know some new ways i.e. new thinking, new actions, and therefore new results. That’s why it’s very important you continue to learn and grow.
There is nothing in this world as static. Everything alive is constantly changing. Take any plant. If a plant isn’t growing, it is dying. It’s the same with people as well as all other living organisms: if you are not growing, you are dying. Similarly, if you’re not continuously learning, then you will be left behind.
Poor people claim they can’t afford to get educated due to a lack of time or money. On the other hand, rich people relate to Benjamin Franklin’s quote: “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” You might have heard this before, “knowledge is power,” and power is the ability to act.
To improve your financial life, you need to learn the skills and strategies to accelerate your income, to manage money, and to invest it effectively. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Look, if what you’ve been doing were working, you’d already be rich and happy. Anything else your mind raises up as a response is nothing more than an excuse or justification.
Every Master was Once a Disaster
Success is a learnable skill. You can learn to succeed at anything. If you want to be a great golfer, you can learn how to do it. If you want to be a great piano player, you can learn how to do it. If you want to be truly happy, you can learn how to do it. If you want to be rich, you can learn how to do it. It doesn’t matter where you are right now. It doesn’t matter where you are starting from. What matters is that you are willing to learn.
An Olympic skier shared his story in Harv’s session. He told everyone the story of how when he was a kid, he was the worst skier of all his buddies. How they sometimes wouldn’t call him to go skiing with them because he was so slow. To fit in, he went to the mountain early each weekend and took lessons. Pretty soon he not only kept up with his buddies, but he also surpassed them. He then got involved in the racing club and learned from a top-ranked coach. His exact words were “I might be a master skier now, but I definitely started out as a disaster. You can learn to succeed at anything. I learned how to succeed at skiing, and my next goal is to learn how to succeed with money!”
Nobody is Born Genius
No one comes out of the womb a financial genius. Every rich person learned how to succeed at the money game, and so can you. Remember, your motto is, if they can do it, I can do it!
Becoming rich isn’t as much about getting rich financially as about whom you have to become, in character and mind, to get rich. The fastest way to get rich and stay rich is to work on developing you! The idea is to grow yourself into a “successful” person. Remember, your outer world is merely a reflection of your inner world. You are the root; your results are the fruits.
If you grow yourself to become a successful person, in the strength of character and mind, you will naturally be successful in anything and everything you do. You will gain the power of absolute choice. You will gain the inner power and ability to choose any job, business, or investment arena and know you’ll be a success. When you are a level 5 person, you get level 5 results. But if you can grow into a level 10 person, you will get level 10 results.
If you don’t do the inner work on yourself, and somehow you make a lot of money, it would most likely be a stroke of luck and there’s a good chance you’d lose it. But if you become a successful “person” inside and out, you’ll not only make it, you’ll keep it, grow it, and most importantly, you’ll be truly happy.
BE-DO-HAVE or HAVE-DO-BE
Rich people understand the order to success is BE, DO, HAVE. Rich people understand, “If I become a successful person, I will be able to do what I need to do to have what I want, including a lot of money.”
Poor and middle-class people believe the order to success is HAVE, DO, BE. Poor and most middle-class people believe “If I have a lot of money, then I could do what I want and I’d be a success.”
Here’s something else only rich people know: the goal of creating wealth is not primarily to have a lot of money, the goal of creating wealth is to help you grow yourself into the best person you can possibly be. In fact, that is the goal of all goals, to grow yourself as a person. World-renowned singer and actress Madonna was asked why she kept changing her persona, her music, and her style every year. She responded that music was her way to express her “self” and that reinventing herself each year forces her to grow into the kind of person she wants to be. In short, success is not a “what,” it’s a “who.” The good news is that “who” you are is totally trainable and learnable.
Be the Experts in Your Field
Another key difference between rich people and poor and middle-class people is that rich people are experts in their fields. Middle-class people are mediocre in their field, and poor people are poor in their field. How good are you at what you do? How good are you at your job? How good are you at your business? Look at your paycheck. That will tell you everything. It’s simple: to get paid the best, you must be the best.
We recognize this principle in the professional sports world every day. Generally, the best players in every sport earn the most. They also make the most money on endorsements. This same principle also holds true in both the business and financial worlds. Whether you choose to be a business owner, a professional, whether you’re in commissioned sales or a salaried job, whether you’re an investor in real estate, stocks, or anything else, all things being equal: the better you are at it, the more you’ll earn. This is just another reason why being a continuous learner and enhancing your skill in whatever arena you are in is very important.
On the topic of learning, it’s worth noting that rich people not only continue to learn, but they also make sure they learn from those who have already been where they themselves want to go. Rich people take advice from people who are richer than they are. Poor people take advice from their friends, who are just as broke as they are.
Just as there are successful paths to climbing Mount Everest, there are proven routes and strategies for creating high income, fast financial freedom, and wealth. You have to be willing to learn them and use them.
(The excerpt is from “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind” by Harv Eker.)
