A wise friend once told us that it really is our choice whether we live in poverty or in prosperity. You can spend your life in a welfare line or you can grab the bull by the horns and live a life that involves seeing the world, traveling by charter jet, having money in your pockets, and so many of the better things in life.
Don’t get us wrong; we’re not saying that you can just choose to be prosperous today and jump onto a private charter jet tomorrow for some tropical island where you wile away the rest of your days in comfort and luxury. We all know that life just doesn’t work that way. What we are saying, though, is that you can have the better things in life if you make the choices that will lead to them.
Everyone’s situation is different, so there’s no way we could tell you exactly what you need to do to live the kind of lifestyle you’d like to live. What we can do, though, is give you some general ideas that can help you start living a life of prosperity:
- Eliminate the poverty mindset. Poverty is like a disease of the brain. Once you have it in your head that you’ll only have enough to get by (or worse, won’t even have that), you’re going to start living as if that were true. Most impoverished people spend every dime that comes their way. But you don’t have to. Start using a percentage of your money to work for you, whether you invest it, start a business, or even just put it into a quality savings vehicle.
- Set goals. No one plans to be a financial failure. It happens fairly easily because people fail to plan. No one would get in the car and start randomly driving and expect to get anywhere. Map out your future. Start taking control. Even if you can only take small steps at first, map them out and take them.
- Be generous. Contrary to popular belief, most wealthy people are fairly generous. We believe that part of the reason for that boils down to an age old truth: what goes around comes around, what you sow, you reap, and those who give, receive. We’re not trying to pass an offering plate like a tent revivalist, but we do suggest that you make charitable giving a regular part of your life. If nothing else, it instills a sense of discipline with your finances that translates well into other financial dealings.
- Be your own boss. No one is going to give you anything if they don’t have to. While there’s nothing wrong with steady employment, it’s much better to have at least part of your income from your own business or investments.
Prosperity is a choice. Rather, it’s the result of a series of quality choices that only you can make for yourself.
