Steve Siebold how rich people think

Over the weekend I was poking around on Penelope Trunk’s wonderful homeschooling blog when I came across one of her posts from September titled, “Back-to-school time is for poor kids.”

The title immediately caught me off guard, because like millions of people, I remember getting ready to go back to school every September and my family wasn’t poor. At least, not on paper.

While I’d say my family was solidly middle-class—both my parents had decent jobs, we took vacations every year, went out to dinner every week, and I always attended private schools—some of my parent’s actions told another story.

According to Steve Siebold author of the book How Rich People Think, wealthy people view the world much differently than the rest of us. For example, instead of living above their means, like my parents often did, rich folks live below their means because they can afford to do what they want and still have money left over.

As I scrolled through the Siebold’s list of how differently the rich and the wannabe rich think, I couldn’t help feeling like he was exposing much of my flawed thinking.

Business Insider broke down Siebold’s insights, and more than a few of them stood out to me.

Like:

  • Average people think selfishness is a vice. Rich people think selfishness is a virtue.
  • Average people have a lottery mentality. Rich people have an action mentality.
  • Average people see money through the eyes of emotion. Rich people think about money logically.
  • Average people earn money doing things they don’t love. Rich people follow their passion.
  • Average people believe you have to DO something to get rich. Rich people believe you have to BE something to get rich.

I could go on.

Like many, I’ve been firmly caught in a good number of theses examples of “poor” thinking (earning money doing things I don’t love, reacting emotionally to money, and praying to God I win the lotto even though I don’t play) while still wondering why I wasn’t living the life I wanted.

Over the past few years, I’ve become increasingly aware of how my mindset affects my life. When I’ve harbored negative thoughts about myself and my situation, things have continued to move in a downward, more depressing trajectory. But when I’ve switched my thoughts and kept a positive outlook on life, positive things happen.

While I think the line between rich and poor is a bit more complex that how we think, I do believe that how we see ourselves and the world has a tremendous outcome on what we are able to accomplish.

Can our thinking really determine if we will be rich or poor? Please leave a comment and let me know what you think.

*Want to connect with a growing network of go-getters? Meet us over in the #GOALdiggers Facebook group!