1.2.1.9 Ten characteristics of a millionaire mindset

There are many adjustments that you and I need to make in our lives in order to develop a millionaire mindset. But a key question I’m sure you are asking right now is: What really makes up a millionaire mindset? How does a wealthy person think? What makes a successful person tick? Well, for a start, people with a millionaire mindset think bigger than others around them. They don’t think, I can’t afford a top shelf donut. They live out of a mindset of unlimited possibility.

But there is so much more to a millionaire mindset that that. Here are a few characteristics of a millionaire mindset. This list is not exhaustive, but it will help you begin to understand what kind of thinking it takes to become a candidate for a life of continually increasing prosperity.

Characteristic #1—Play to win!

Having a millionaire mindset means you play to win, as opposed to simply playing not to lose. At half time in the 2005 soccer final of the European Champions League, AC Milan had a 3-0 lead over Liverpool. Then, in the second half, Liverpool scored three goals in six minutes and went on to win the final in a penalty shootout. AC Milan went from playing to win to playing to defend their 3-0 lead and ended up losing the match. A person with a millionaire mindset always stays on the front foot pushing forward, no matter how far in front they might be. A millionaire mindset plays to advance and to win, not merely to maintain a level or a lead.

Characteristic #2—Be inquisitive

A person with a millionaire mindset is a person who is constantly asking questions and finding answers. Unlike the person with a poverty mindset, they don’t assume that they already know it all. They are inquisitive, not constantly opinionated. Rather than being an armchair expert, a prosperity thinker is always learning something new. When they are in conversation with someone who knows more than they do about some area, they don’t try to pretend that they know more than they do. Instead, they adopt a learning attitude and defer to the superior knowledge of the other person. They see it as an opportunity to expand their own understanding. In fact, with a millionaire mindset, every new meeting is treated not as an opportunity to show the other person how much he knows, but as an opportunity to learn something new from the other person.

Rather than being an armchair expert, a prosperity thinker is always learning something new.

Characteristic #3—Practice selective hearing

The millionaire mindset is able to ignore criticism. I don’t listen to my critics; I listen to my mentors and leaders, the people I have given permission to speak into my life. Donald Trump says that he doesn’t listen to everybody, only to his ‘somebodies’. Successful people tend to be criticized more than anyone else, so to be successful you need to be able to ignore your critics. Criticism usually comes from people who have a poverty mindset. They develop stereotypes of wealthy people and immediately assume that if you are wealthy you must be no good. They say, “I wonder how many people he had to walk over to get to where he is?” or “I bet she has never done a hard day’s work in her life!” People who say things like that are really expressing a mindset of lack. Because they don’t think of themselves as having the potential to prosper, they resent people who have achieved prosperity.

Characteristic #4—Progress from desire to commitment

A person with a millionaire mindset goes beyond desire to commitment. It’s not enough just to want to be prosperous—you have to be passionately committed to becoming prosperous. Life follows our convictions and our focus, not our desires. Desire is a starting point, but as long as something remains only in the realm of desire, it is only an option. When I was head of a drug rehabilitation organization, there were young men who desired to break their addiction, but unless they were prepared to focus on changing and being totally committed to changing, their desire was not enough to get them there. When we move from the realm of desire to the realm of commitment, that which was optional becomes non-negotiable.

Life follows our convictions and our focus, not our desires.

Characteristic #5—Self worth before net worth

People with a millionaire mindset have a different understanding of their personal worth. They develop their self worth before they develop their net worth. You can be paid either for your time or for the value you bring to people. A poverty mindset sees time as the primary basis for payment—you work a certain number of hours and get paid on an hourly basis. This means that your level of prosperity is determined by your hourly rate and the amount of time you are able to give to your work. A person with a millionaire mindset understands that time is irrelevant to prosperity and that wealth is much more about who they are and what they do than it is about how many hours they work.

Characteristic #6—Learn from the greats, not just the accessible

There are three levels of relationships that you and I need. The first one is your peers—the people with whom you work. The second level is people who are walking behind you, following in your footsteps. The third level is people who are ahead of you—people you look up to.

In life you will learn from mistakes and mentors. In truth, learning from a mentor is easier. I always challenge people: “I dare you to catch me without a book in my briefcase! If you do, I’ll give you a thousands dollars in cash.” I haven’t been caught in 18 years. By constantly reading books, I am regularly being mentored.

To have a millionaire mindset is to recognize the need for mentors, people you can look up to and from whom you can seek guidance and inspiration. These are people who have been successful and achieved things that you are still aiming to achieve.

Characteristic #7—Use what’s in your hands to do what’s in your heart

• A dream in your heart without a plan in your head will never become a reality. Millionaire mindset people use what is in their hand to do what’s in their heart. People with a poverty mindset are not driven by what’s in their heart and, as a result, their hands are tied. People like Sir Bob Geldof and U2 lead singer Bono are passionate about causes such as the elimination of poverty in the world. They have used their celebrity status as rock stars to try to influence world leaders to bring about change, as was evidenced by the Live 8 global rock concert. “Celebrity is ridiculous,” Bono says. “It’s silly, but it’s a kind of currency, and you have to spend it wisely.” He is using what’s in his hand to do what’s in his heart.
• So start by asking yourself what’s in your heart. What’s your dream? What’s your passion? Then ask yourself: “What do I have in my hand today that I can utilize to start moving in the direction of what’s in my heart?” That’s a millionaire mindset.

Characteristic #8—Invest in memories and outcomes

A person with a millionaire mindset uses money to buy memories and outcomes, not just material possessions. One of the great secrets of every successful salesperson is they know that people purchase outcomes. If a lady purchases shoes to go to a ball, she wants an outcome—she wants to look good and she wants people to notice her. When someone buys a house, they want an outcome—they want a safe place to raise their family. They’re not buying a product, they’re buying an outcome. When you buy food, you’re buying an outcome—the feeding of your family. When you purchase a holiday, you’re buying an outcome—a memory, something that is intangible, yet powerfully important.

A person with a poverty mindset uses money simply to buy ‘things’. Have you ever heard someone say something like this: “Why would anyone want to spend $5,000 on a five-day holiday? Once it’s over, you’ve got nothing to show for it. If I had $5,000 I’d buy a new plasma television!” This reflects a poverty mindset that sees money purely as something to be used to buy material possessions.

I remember once being in a poor area of a large city in the UK when I noticed that despite the poverty of the community, every house had a television satellite dish on their roof. A prosperity mindset is less utilitarian and sees money as a key to an enriched life. Instead of simply spending money on ‘stuff’, a prosperous person spends money to enhance relationships, to have new experiences, to buy memories, and to make life better for other people.

Characteristic #9—Live off your giving, not your getting

A millionaire mindset recognizes the importance of seed, whereas a person with a poverty mindset is concerned only with the fruit. Everything in life starts as a seed. Something that might look small and insignificant today could be the seed of something that will change the world tomorrow. Napoleon Hill, author of the seminal book Think and Grow Rich, once said, “The world is full of unfortunate souls who didn’t hear opportunity knock at the door because they were down at the convenience store buying lottery tickets.” Such people are trying to generate fruit in their lives without an understanding that fruit is the end result of a process that begins with the planting of a seed. As a result, when a seed of opportunity presents itself, they fail to see the potential in it.

A millionaire mindset is looking for acorns, not oak trees.

A person with a millionaire mindset lives with an awareness that every day of our lives could be a day of opportunity, a day where there is a seed to be seized and planted. Sometimes the seed is easily missed because seeds by nature are very small. The giant oak tree grows from a tiny acorn. All the potential greatness of the oak tree lies in that acorn. If the acorn is never planted, the tree will never grow. A millionaire mindset is looking for acorns, not oak trees. Is your focus on the size of the tree or on the seed from which the tree grows?

Characteristic #10—Have guts!

Another important characteristic of the millionaire mindset is the quality of courage. In his book, The Millionaire Mind, Thomas J. Stanley identifies courage to take financial risks as something most self-made millionaires have in common. Now, Stanley argues that taking risks does not mean gambling. In fact, very few millionaires gamble at all. Here are a few millionaire mindset principles about courage and risk-taking that were revealed by a group of millionaires whom Stanley surveyed:

• Think of success, not failure. In taking risks, understand what the probable outcomes will be. Then do whatever you can to improve the chance of getting the outcome you desire.
• Believe in yourself and be prepared to work hard. These are two ways of reducing fear and anxiety and bolstering your courage.
• To build belief in yourself, prepare and plan for success, focus on the key issues, and be well organized.
• Playing competitive sports is a good way to develop the mental toughness needed to handle fear. Develop the attitude and discipline of a successful sportsperson. Develop both physical and mental strength and courage.
• Strong religious faith is an important factor for almost 40 percent of the millionaires surveyed. Those who have some kind of strong faith exhibit a higher propensity to take financial risks.

CHALLENGE: Tap into the millionaire mindset

Spend some time considering the characteristics and qualities of a millionaire mindset discussed in this chapter. What aspects of a millionaire mindset do you recognize in yourself? What are some areas you still need to work on? One of the most important things you need to realize is that you can change. Although you may not know it, the power to change is inside you right now. So tap into it... and change for the better.