Wealth File #6 - Admire Rich & Successful People

Rich people "admire other rich and successful people."
Poor people "resent rich and successful people."

The rich secrets of the millionaire mind include emulating people who inspire them.

The highest net worth individuals are selective on what they do, where they go, which investments to choose, which passive income streams to invest in, how they save as well as spend their money and of course, where they feel welcome.

Most of the time, poor people see other people’s success with resentment, jealousy, and envy.

Or they would say, “They’re so lucky,” or whisper under their breath, “Those rich jerks.”

If you consider rich people as bad in any way, shape, or form, then you can never be rich especially if you want to be a good person.

Why?

How can you be something that you hate?

It would be impossible.

It’s amazing to see how poor people dislike the rich and even display anger towards rich people.

It is as if they think that rich people are the ones who are making them poor.

“Yup, that’s right, rich people took all the money so there’s none left for me.”

Of course, this is a perfect line for those who look at themselves as victims.

There is a story that I would like to share, with no intent to complain, but simply to show the connection of this principle with a real-world experience.

A long time ago, when I was, should I say, financially challenged, I used to drive a clunker.

I never had problems with changing lanes during traffic.

Almost everybody would let me in.

But when I got wealthy and bought a gorgeous, new, black Jaguar, this changed and it was very hard not to notice.

Suddenly, I began getting cut off and was given the finger at times for added measure.

I even experienced having things thrown at me, all because: I drove a Jag.

One day, I was delivering turkeys for a charity at Christmastime.

I was driving through a lower-end neighborhood in San Diego and left the sunroof open when I noticed four filthy guys perched in the back of a pickup truck behind me.

Out of nowhere, as if they were playing basketball with my car, they tried shooting beer cans into my open sunroof.

Later on, the filthy guys drove past me screaming, “You rich bastard!”

They left my car with five dents and a lot of scratches.

I took this as an incident that would only rarely occur.

But, two weeks later, I was in a different lower-end neighborhood.

I parked my car on the street and left it there for about ten minutes.

I came back and there it was, the entire side of my car had been keyed.

I went to the same area a while later, but this time I rented a Ford Escort, and to my surprise, I had a smooth trip.

I do not mean to say that people in poorer neighborhoods are bad, but based on my experience most of the people there resent the rich.

Who knows, maybe it’s some kind of chicken and egg thing: Is it because they’re broke that they resent the rich, or because they resent rich people that they’re broke.

As far as I’m concerned, who cares?

Nothing changes, they’re still poor!

It’s easy to speak about not resenting the rich, but depending on how you feel, anyone could fall into the trap, even me.

Recently, I was in my hotel room eating my dinner, an hour before I was about to go on stage to teach an evening session of the Millionaire Mind Seminar.

I switched on the tube to check the sports scores and saw that Oprah was on.

I’m not a huge fan of television, but I do love Oprah.

Oprah has influenced more people in a positive way than any other person on the planet, and thus she deserves every penny she’s got… and more!

She’s interviewing Halle Berry, the actress, on the show.

They were talking about how Halle got one of the biggest film contracts in history for an actress--$20 million.

According to Halle, she didn’t care about the money, and that she struggled to get this huge contract.

I heard myself say doubtfully, “Yeah, right! Do you think I and everyone else watching this show is an idiot? You should take a hunk of that dough and give your public relations agent a raise. That’s the best sound-bite writing I’ve ever heard.”

I felt the surge of negativity forming inside me, and just in the nick of time, I caught myself, before I was overwhelmed with that negative energy.

“Cancel, cancel, thank you for sharing,” I shouted out loud to my mind, to flush out that voice of resentment.

I couldn’t believe it. Here I was, Mr. Millionaire Mind himself, actually resenting Halle Berry for the money she had worked for.

I quickly turned it around and began screaming at the top of my lungs, “Way to go, girl! You rock! You let ’em off too cheap, you should’ve got thirty million dollars! Good for you. You’re incredible and you deserve it.”

I let out a sigh of relief afterward and felt better.

It doesn’t matter what reason she has for wanting all that money, the problem wasn’t hers, it was mine.

Bear in mind that my opinions do not make any difference to Halle’s happiness or wealth, but they do affect my happiness and wealth.

In addition, having thoughts and opinions inside your mind is neither good nor bad or right nor wrong, but they can sure be empowering or dis-empowering to your happiness and success, as they enter your life.

The moment I felt the negative energy flow through me, my “observation” alarms went off, and as I’ve taught myself to do, I neutralized the negativity in my mind right away.

Being perfect is not a necessity for becoming rich, but you need to keep in mind if your thoughts are no longer good for yourself as well as for others, then you must try to focus on more positive and encouraging ideas.

You will greatly improve in a faster and easier way the more you study this book and even more if you attend the Millionaire Mind Intensive Seminar.

I know I always bring up this Millionaire Mind course but kindly understand, I wouldn’t be firm about this program if I haven’t observed the great results that have come to the lives of thousands of people.

In their exceptional book, The One Minute Millionaire, my good friends Mark Victor Hansen and Robert Allen quote the poignant story of Russell H. Conwell as he writes in his book, Acres of Diamonds, which was written over a hundred years ago: 

 I say that you ought to get rich, and it is your duty to get rich.

How many of my pious brethren say to me, “Do you, a Christian minister, spend your time going up and down the country advising young people to get rich, to get money?”

Yes, of course, I do.

They say, “Isn’t that awful! Why don’t you preach the gospel instead of preaching about man’s making money?”

Because to make money honestly is to preach the gospel.

That is the reason.

The men who get rich may be the most honest men you find in the community.

“Oh,” but says some young man here tonight, “I have been told all my life that if a person has money he is very dishonest and dishonorable and mean and contemptible.”

My friend, that is the reason you have none because you have that idea of people.

The foundation of your faith is altogether false.

Let me say clearly... ninety-eight out of one hundred of the rich men (and women) of America are honest.

That is why they are rich.

That is why they are trusted with money.

That is why they carry on great enterprises and find plenty of people to work with them.

Says another young man, “I hear sometimes of men that get millions of dollars dishonestly.”

Yes, of course, you do, and so do I.

But they are so rare a thing in fact that the newspapers talk about them all the time as a matter of news until you get the idea that all the other rich men got rich dishonestly.

My friend, you... drive me... out into the suburbs of Philadelphia, and introduce me to the people who own their homes around this great city, so beautiful homes with gardens and flowers, those magnificent homes so lovely in their art, and I will introduce you to the very best people in character as well as in enterprise in our city....

They that own their homes are made more honorable and honest and pure, and true and economical and careful, by owning them.

We preach against covetousness...in the pulpit...and use the terms...“filthy lucre” so extremely that Christians get the idea that...it is wicked for any man to have money.

Money is power, and you ought to be reasonably ambitious to have it! You ought because you can do more good with it than you can without it.

Money printed your Bibles, money builds your churches, money sends your missionaries, and money pays your preachers....I say, then, you ought to have money.

If you can honestly attain unto riches...it is your... godly duty to do so.

It is an awful mistake of these pious people to think you must be awfully poor in order to be pious.  

Conwell’s passage makes various excellent points.

The first refers to reliability or the ability to be trusted.

Of all the attributes required for getting rich, having earned the trust of others must be high on your priority list.

Consider whether or not you would do business with someone you didn’t trust, at least to a degree.

No sane person would.

It stands to reason that in order to get rich, there’s a great chance that vast many people must trust you, and there’s a 100% chance that for all those people to trust you, you must be trustworthy.

Which other characteristics does someone need to get and stay rich? Surely there are some exceptions to any rule, however predominantly, who must you be to succeed at anything?

Try some of these traits on for size: positive, reliable, focused, determined, persistent, hardworking, energetic, good with people, a competent communicator, semi-intelligent, and an expert in at least one area.

Therefore, bless the things you want.

Source: Secrets of the Millionaire Mind T. Harv Eker © 2003