I was recently asked, What are the key factors in building wealth? A discussion.
1. Luck/Chance: Let get rid of this first. Yes luck or chance plays a huge role in building wealth. Being born in a financially stable (but not wealthy) family is important. If the family is swimming in debt, then we will begin our life in debt and that could delay building wealth for years. Our childhood will also fall in this category. What kind of parents did we have. Their education and common sense levels etc.
This is something beyond our control. We shall try to focus on what we can control (to some extent).
2. Desire: How badly do we want to change our social station? Our lifestyle? The desire to achieve something plays a key role.
3. Sacrifice: Desire alone is not enough. How much are we willing to sacrifice our time, effort and most importantly immediate pleasures to achieve our desires? Yes building wealth will require forgoing pleasures. Whether this is worth it or not is a point of view. Which is why desire is key.
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4. Introspection: Can we push away all our disrtractions and listen to us? Listen to what we want to do in life? What will make us happy? Then draw out a plan to achieve this? This can be anything from wanting a higher salary to upskilling ourselves.
5: Discipline: Can we work like a machine to implement our plan and desires?
6: Keep our heads down and work: Once the desire becomes a plan and once the plan has been set into motion, there is not much else to do but to rinse and repeat. In this stage most people stop and check for results often. This is like planting carrots and pulling them out everyday to check how they have grown. Working without expectations is essential for sucess. It is not easy.
7: Humility: If we do succeed (there is no guarantee we will), we must recognise the the fragility of sucess and the many known and unknown factors responsible for it. Staying grounded helps us handle shocks better.
We must recognise that we are victims of our experiences. Our sucess does not make us experts. Each person’s story and path is unique. What worked for us may not work for others (that includes this list!)