5 Life Lessons To Learn From Millionaires
By Pro Investivity on The Capital
Society indicates wealth to measure a person’s success. So why not learn life lessons from the ones that have been there — yes, we’re talking about millionaires.
Learning from Millionaires doesn’t always have to be about money. They provide us with lessons that we can apply in many other parts of our lives.
Lessons we’ll be covering:
- Your Surroundings Influence Who You Become
- Self-discipline Is A Must
- Reading Might Be Boring, But You Got To Do It Anyway
- Master Of One Is Better Than A Jack Of All Trades
- Time Is Always More Valuable Than Money
1 Your Surroundings Influence Who You Become
“You’re the average of the five people spend the most time with”
Jim Rohn
Being social animals, we get influenced by our surroundings. Think of children — they don’t yet know much about life. But as they grow gradually, they notice what other people are doing. As they observe others, they try the same thing themselves later on. The parents might have a habit of reading the newspaper early in the morning. The child might also grab the paper, even though he might not be able to read it.
Fast forward, why do so many young people get addicted to habits such as drinking, smoking, and drug usage? It’s because they think it’s cool. They see all their friends taking these substances. As they don’t want to be the only one to be left out, they try it as well. Once, twice, and before they know, they become addicts themselves.
Most millionaires learn about the ‘surrounding influence’ principle early in their lives. So they associate with people that inspire them, people that help them grow, people that add value in their lives.
It’s never too late to change who you start hanging out with. Do you fear you would lose your current friends? Don’t you think it’s much better to find new people to hang out now than having to regret for the rest of your life? Yeah sure, your friends will try to pull you back into the group. But their resistance doesn’t mean that they don’t love you. It’s the opposite. It’s their guilt of living their life that way. They never want to change, nor do they want you to.
“The mindset of the people in your squad is important. Negative energy spreads. Make sure your circle is positive.”
DJ Jorge Charun
2. Self-discipline Is A Must
It’s amazing to see how disciplined some people can be, and how under-disciplined some others can be.
The main reason for you to become self-disciplined is to be able to focus on what’s important to you. If you can’t focus and control yourself, then how can you expect to control what happens to you in the future?
Millionaires have mastered their discipline. They have a set routine every day. They wake up at the same time, they commit to morning habits, they try to learn on a daily basis.
Like ordinary people, even millionaires have off-days. The difference is that millionaires are aware of their situation and don’t allow themselves to revolve their life around that.
I myself had struggled to maintain a few habits such as waking up early and meditating. But I am thankful for the book Atomic Habits in reminding me of my track every now and then.
“Motivation gets you going, but discipline keeps you growing.”
John Maxwell
3. Reading Might Be Boring, But You Got To Do It Anyway
Movies vs books? Which one do you prefer?
I hope you prefer movies (I prefer movies too).
Isn’t it boring to think of opening your book even after your graduation? Weren’t you supposed to work, and leave the books behind?
It would have been so awesome if you didn’t have to read after your college life, isn’t it? Unfortunately, you can’t detach with books if you want to grow.
While trying to learn about the path to become millionaires, I found that almost every millionaire reads. According to the research of Thomas Crowley, 85% of self-made millionaires read at least 2 books per month.
Not only millionaires, but even billionaires read a lot. Let’s check out what billionaires had to say about books:
- Elon Musk — When asked about how he learned the concepts to build rockets, his reply was “I read books.”
- Warren Buffet — “Read 500 pages every day. That’s how knowledge works.”
- Oprah Winfrey — “Books were my path to personal freedom. I learned to read at age 3 and soon discovered there was a whole world to conquer that went beyond our farm in Mississippi.”
- Mark Cuban — “My wife hates that I read more than three hours almost every day, but it gives me a level of comfort and confidence in my business.”
If you would like us to recommend you a reading list, then please feel free to check these:
- 5 Must-Read Books on Finance and Investments
- 2 Books That Completely Changed My Life
- 2 More Books That Completely Changed My Life
4. Master Of One Is Better Than A Jack Of All Trades
Analyze the rich person you admire. You can most likely see that they have dedicated their lives to just one thing.
In this time, a lot of us have given in for generalization. We want to be great at many things. We want to be a great businessman, a great singer, a great inventor, a great academician, a great writer, and so on.
While trying to be great at all, we end up being average in all. We simply don’t have the time to master them all.
Instead, if you could specialize in one field and commit yourself to its continuous learning, then I’m sure the world will know your name someday.
If you want to be ordinary, then there’s no issue in being a jack of all trades. But do realize this — if you choose to be a jack of all trades, there will always be a master of one who will be able to control your life. Most likely, this will be your boss, who has expertise in ‘managing people’.
Real-life Examples
Steve Jobs was great at building hardware, but not so great with software. Contrary, Bill Gates was master with software, but not so great with hardware.
You might argue with exceptional people like Benjamin Franklin, Leonardo Da Vinci, or Elon Musk, who all excel in many fields. But we have to realize that’s why they are referred to as ‘exceptional people’.
“If one is master of one thing and understands one thing well, one has at the same time, insight into and understanding of many things.”
Vincent Van Gogh
5. Time Is Always More Valuable Than Money
What is the purpose of your life? After thinking for some time, you might come up with a unique answer. But when we boil it to the basics, you can see that the purpose of your life is to become happy, isn’t it? You want to live your life fully without having regrets in your death bed. You want to be self-fulfilled.
If you ask a millionaire about the purpose of their lives, you can find out that your purpose and his purpose come down to live your life happily.
Some of the millionaires later in their lives have expressed that they wished they had lived their lives happily. While trying to earn massive wealth and fame, they got so caught up that they couldn’t give time to what actually mattered. They were blind-sighted by their successful career.
You can always get back the money you have lost, but you can never get the time you have lost. In this fast-paced world, realize what actually matters to you. Ultimately, it’s the small things. Spend time with what you love doing, spend time with your family, follow your passion. Most importantly, spend time with yourself.
“A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.”
Charles Darwin
Conclusion
We can learn a lot more from millionaires besides money-related matters. So start using your time effectively amid this coronavirus pandemic.
Make a plan, stick to it. I’m sure you will be much better off in one year than you are today.
“Failing to plan is planning to fail.”
Alan Lakein
So which of these millionaire lessons do you think is more important? Or is there another lesson that we might have missed? Please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments! :)
Originally published at proinvestivity.com
