13 Things To Avoid If You Want To Become Rich
If you
want to become rich, watch out. There are 13 things to avoid if you want to
become wealthy and all of them are found right where you live, in your everyday
routines.
A lot of people struggle financially and they think to
themselves oh, you know what? I cannot become rich because I don’t have enough
money. Or I don’t have enough capital. I don’t have the right ideas, or I’m not
in the right industry. Or I don’t have the right connections.
But you know what? From my experience that’s not what holds
most people back. What holds most people back is this one thing. And that is:
Ego.
That’s right, ego. Now you may be thinking no, “I don’t
have any ego. What are you talking about? I’m just struggling financially. I
don’t have money.”
No, that’s not true. You see, ego comes in many disguises.
When I was broke I had many, many of these egos that were holding me back from
becoming rich. Today, I’m going to share with you 13 of them.
Let’s see if you recognize any one of them. And if you
think you don’t have any, that is exactly the problem.
1. The Blame Ego
You see, lame people blame people. Their Blame Ego says
well it’s not my fault, it’s the government’s fault, it’s the economy, right?
It’s the industry, it’s my co-workers, it’s my parents.
They came from a dysfunctional family and that’s why they
will never become rich. Or it’s the type of friends they have so they will
never become rich. Or their supervisor is holding them back and that’s why they
can never become rich.
See the blame ego always says it’s someone else’s fault.
They’re always pointing fingers. And remember when you’re pointing your finger
at someone else, one finger pointing out, three fingers are pointing back at
you.
Do you have this ego? Do you blame other people? Do you
make excuses? If you do, then maybe the one that’s holding you back is you.
The next ego is very smart. Maybe too smart.
2. The Know-It-All Ego
See, when I was broke I thought I knew it all. I didn’t
need to read books because I knew what I was doing. I was starting all these
businesses and guess what? None of them worked.
I thought I knew what I was doing, but clearly I didn’t
know anything. And that’s the same with the know-it-all who always thinks they
know everything. They keep doing the same thing again and again, thinking
they’ve got the answer, and they expect a different result.
That’s the very definition of insanity: the know it all ego.
The opposite of the know it all is the ego that doesn’t
even want to try to do anything, ego #3.
3. The Fearful Ego
You see what holds a lot of people back is fear. Fear of
success, fear of failure, fear of making a mistake.
You think about what you need to do and before you do
something, you’re saying to yourself, “Well, what if it doesn’t work? Or what
if I lose money? And what if I make a mistake? Then what happens?
What if I don’t know what to do? What if I can’t figure
this out? The words what if, what if, what if, what if…. are always on your
mind.
But what if it does work? You see, always remember fear is
an acronym. It stands for False Evidence Appearing Real. It’s nothing more than
a made up story in your own mind. So do you have the fearful ego holding you
back?
Maybe
you’re not thinking about “what if”. You’re just happy with your current
situation. But that also could be harmful to you, depending if you have ego #4.
4. The Comfort Zone Ego
This ego says, “I’m comfortable. I’m happy where I am, I’m
content. Things are fine, you know I don’t need to be ambitious.” Well, that’s
the problem.
Your income zone is your comfort zone. Let me repeat that.
Your comfort zone is your income zone. When you get complacent, when you get
comfortable, you’re not growing. Remember: when you’re not growing, you are
dying.
So do you have this ego that is holding you back right now?
And what are you going to do about it? Will you make changes? If you step out
of your zone of comfort, you will defeat this ego.
This next ego is the one that is omniscient – all knowing –
impossible as it may seem. You can’t know everything, but some egos do.
5. The Judgmental Ego
I want you to imagine this. You are walking down the street
and suddenly you hear vroom-vroom! And you see a red Ferrari drive by. What’s
the first thought that goes through your mind?
Many people think, “Who does he think he is? So cocky, so
selfish, probably greedy. Actually you know what, it’s probably not his money
anyways, it’s his daddy’s money.” Or if it’s a female driver, they think,
“That’s a gold digger!”
All of this negativity is from judging other people. Many
people are guilty of this. But my question is how do people know what’s really
going on in other people’s lives? Could these stories be made up?
When people say, “He’s not that good. She is not that
pretty. He is not that smart,” They are judging other people. They’re
projecting their own insecurities, their own values onto other people.
How do you know that man is not a hard working man? How do
you know he’s not a good husband? How do you know he’s not a family man? How do
you know he’s someone who’s worked 20 or 30 years to get to where he is at this
point?
It’s easy to judge and come to your own conclusions before
even talking to that person. Do you see how the judgmental mind works? How
will someone become successful or rich if that’s the image that they have of
people who are successful?
So keep an open mind. Take ownership of your opinions. That
also relates to the next point – the ego that doesn’t want to take ownership.
6. The Excuses Ego
You see, you can make money, or you can make excuses. But
you cannot do both. An excuse is nothing more than a well planned lie. The
excuses ego says, “I can’t afford it. I don’t have money.”
Or “that’s too far”, or “that’s too difficult,” or “I don’t
have enough experience.” It’s always I can’t, I can’t, I can’t, or I don’t know
how.
You could have a million excuses why you cannot do
something. But you only need one powerfully good reason why you must do it.
And when you do decide to do something, accomplish it for
yourself, not other people. Otherwise, you have ego number 7.
7. The People Pleasing Ego
This ego says, “I just wanna make sure everybody’s happy.
Everybody’s okay, right?” It doesn’t want to rock the boat.
As long as everybody’s okay, then this ego is okay. This
ego tries to please people too much by always putting other people first.
There’s nothing wrong with that. But sometimes in life you have to put yourself
first.
Even when you’re flying on an airplane, you should put on
your own oxygen mask first before you help someone else. Sometimes in life you
just have to put yourself first. You have to be a little bit selfish so you can
be generous.
If
you’re always putting your family and other people first, my question to you
is, what about you? You might think you’re so selfless. But people who
constantly put others first could be selfish.
That’s the people pleasing ego at play. Work on yourself
first, so you can get to the stage where you have the energy and resources to
help others. Put yourself first, and do it for yourself. But avoid the next
ego, which gives you reasons for not doing something.
8. The Justification Ego
This ego justifies why you don’t or can’t do something:
you’re too young, too old, you’re an immigrant that speaks with an accent, or
you don’t have enough experience.
People with this ego can always come up with a reason. For
example, “It’s too late I’m married,” “I’ve got a husband/wife/kids.”
Or “I have made sacrifices for my kids. And I never wanted
it anyway.” That is a lie. When people say things like this, they are
justifying their failures. Don’t use your kids as an excuse.
Use them as fuel, as your motivation for why you must do
something, not why you can’t do something. Stop justifying.
9. The Jealous Ego
Have
you heard of sayings like this: “Oh rich people are greedy, they are selfish.”
“Oh you know what, it’s not that big of a deal anyway.”
It’s jealousy. People shouldn’t criticize others for what
they have not done or what they’re not capable of doing.
I’ve seen it on YouTube, people making judgments about
other people posting “bad” videos. I don’t care what they think. Why don’t they
go make a video themselves and upload it to YouTube? Build their own channel
and impact millions of people’s lives?
Until they’ve done it themselves, they shouldn’t let this
jealous ego hold them back.
10. The Fake Ego
Have you ever met someone for the first time and the minute
you meet, you notice this weird vibe so you don’t trust him or her? Or they
feel very fake. They’re so superficial that you don’t make a genuine connection.
Or have you ever met someone that the minute you meet, you
make that instant connection and then there’s that trust, that bond? And you feel
this person is sincere.
This is known as the fake ego. There are people who are
very good at putting on this mask. In one circumstance they can be one person,
and in another scenario they can become a different person.
And before you know it, years go by, and that fake ego
doesn’t know who they are anymore. They don’t know which one is the reality.
They’ve lost themselves.
Be yourself. Everyone else is taken so be yourself.
I would rather people hate me for who I am than love me for
who I am not. So don’t use the fake ego. You don’t need it to be successful.
Now, when I say you should be yourself, don’t show off or
become vain. Don’t do the opposite and become timid either. Many people are
shy, but there are ways to change ego #11.
11. The Shy Ego
The shy ego is an introvert who’s not good with people. He
or she doesn’t like to talk. But that’s just an excuse to stay in your own
bubble, your own shell.
Guess what? I used to be a very shy person. I was the
introvert that had no friends going through high school. I didn’t want to talk
to people because I couldn’t speak the language, and I was afraid of sounding
different.
Even now sometimes when I go to meet a lot of people, I
still have that little bit of awkwardness. It’s normal. But I don’t let that
hold me back.
I know that if I want to be more successful, if I want to
be rich, I have to get outside of my comfort zone. I have to overcome my
shyness in order to do what I do. So don’t use your personality as an excuse to
hold you back.
12. Other People’s Opinions Ego
Be honest, do you worry a lot about what people think of
you? Do you worry about how people perceive you? You know you want to do
something but you’re concerned about what will people think of your actions,
even if deep down you know that’s the right thing to do.
If you don’t do what you want, you have other people’s
opinions ego. People with this ego let other people’s opinions stop them from
doing what they know is right. Those “other” people could be family, relatives,
friends. They could even be high school buddies. It doesn’t matter.
On social media, you might have uploaded a video and
suddenly you’re getting attention and you get a few haters. So you stop.
But what you don’t realize is, people don’t care about you.
Haters and trolls who add no value in your life post a comment and you stop
doing what you believe is right because your feelings were hurt.
You stop doing what is going to make you successful. Stop
worrying about other people’s opinions! It’s just their opinions. Critics and
haters are going to hate no matter what you do.
And finally, we have the 13th ego, which is a little bit
dangerous because we learn to be independent, and independence is good, but not
always.
13. Do-It-Yourself Ego
The do-it-yourself ego says this: if you want something
done, you’ve got to do it yourself. Why? Because other people will never do it
as well as the way that you do it.
You don’t trust other people so you just have to do it
yourself. That is a form of ego that is holding you back. Nothing great is
accomplished just with one person. It requires other people, and it requires
teamwork.
The do-it-yourself ego is probably one of the most common
egos that hold most people back. It prevents most entrepreneurs from going to
that next level because they are control freaks. They have this massive,
massive do it yourself ego that’s holding them back.