5 Habits that will keep you from becoming a millionaire
There are many differences between millionaires and those in the middle class. But one key difference that can close the schism comes down to habits.
Who we are today is the very result of our habits.
1. Unhealthy sleeping habits
“When you are not getting quality sleep it is hard to live a quality life”.
Sleep affects your metabolism, appetite, concentration, productivity, physical health, heart health, mental health, immune health, inflammation, social interactions, you get it the list goes on….. I think it might be better to ask “What doesn’t sleep affect?”.
When you are not getting quality sleep it is hard to live a quality life. Because sleep affects important aspects of your life it is important to make quality sleep a priority. Without going into too much detail, sleep is essential for a healthy mind. A healthy mind is the starting place of success. It will help with everything from your thinking to your motivation. Plan your days so that you are getting enough sleep. Plan your days so that you have a more productive day because of your scheduled amount of sleep. This will lead you to living your life with more intention and …. again quality.
Ex: One unhealthy sleeping habit is not utilizing your mornings to your benefit. How you spend your mornings sets the tone for the rest of your day. How you spend every morning, therefore, sets the tone for your life. This means that a morning routine that helps you live a more productive day should be set with intention. If your a night owl then set a night routine.
2. Unhealthy eating habits
“The first wealth is health”.
Your diet is an aspect of your life that affects your metabolism, concentration, productivity, physical health, mental health, immune health, inflammation, and social interactions. — Sound familiar? Yes, just like sleep, your food quality also affects your life quality.
Investing in your mind also means investing into your body. Healthy body = Healthy mind. And let me throw another reminder at you, “the first wealth is health”.
Ex: In eating healthy we create a healthy gut biome. The gut is responsible for releasing the largest proportion of hormones in our body. This relationship dictates our mood, thinking and most importantly our productivity.
3. Excessive screen time
“On average, Americans have been found to spend more than 4 hours a day watching TV and 3.75 hours on their phones”.
Whether it is binge watching or scrolling through your feed none of it benefits you unless you planned that time to rest and be mindless. On average, Americans have been found to spend more than 4 hours a day watching TV and 3.75 hours on their phones(https://www.statista.com/chart/15224/daily-tv-consumption-by-us-adults/). Imagine if that time was spent at a part time job ?!
That is how you should think of your “free” time — time outside of work and or school. That time that is not committed to anything else, should be thought of as the internship for your dream job or dream future.
The time that you have outside of work even if it is just 2 hours a day can help you build a side hustle or build a foundation in another subject through reading or learning. Hell, even 1 hour a day would still be fruitful. Time spent investing in your future or in yourself will eventually compound. Increasing your chances of success and will decrease the likely hood of your life staying the same.
Instead of consuming, we should be creating.
4. Living for the weekend
“Tell me what you did today, and I’ll tell you who you are”.
Most of us are working the typical 8–5 jobs. Working the typical job can be tiring on both the mind and the body. So a lot of us will live for the weekend. But the truth is we should be living for everyday.
You should be going out and seeing the world. Because you don’t even need to go far to do that.
You should be reading everyday. Because it only takes one good one to change your life.
You should be asking out the cute girl at the cafe. Because it’ll make you even braver no matter the outcome.
As Benjamin Hardy once said, “Tell me what you did today, and I’ll tell you who you are”.
5. Wrong investments
“If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep you will work until you die”.
Most of the crap we buy are indeed the wrong type of investments and unfortunately, are outright unecessary. For example, we could lease a new car right now or buy a car with one payment and no interest — This could be a better investment for you. And this is especially depending on your financial situation. As soon as you drive a new car off a lot it loses approximately 10% of its original value. This depreciation in value also applies to all the other crap we choose to buy.
In addition, with the advent of commision-free stock trading through apps like Robinhood, more people are investing now than ever. While investing in itself is important, investing in the right things is imporant. Unless you have a deep understanding in economics and can accurately predict when the market can give you great returns, day trading is no different then gambling. At the same time after you have saved 6 months worth of living costs the rest should be invested in places with high returns or stable returns. After 6 months of living costs savings to add anymore to your savings account would be wasting money that is better spent investing.
Ex: Invest in a S&P 500 index fund. The S&P 500 is a market index made of the 500 largest publicly traded companies. These type of funds offer diversity at a low cost and more importantly offer reliable, long term returns. Make your money make money for you.
And as Warren Buffet once said, “If you don’t find a way to make money whie you sleep you will work until you die”.
Today, I have written about these habits that confine us to mediocre lives to bring awareness and to start us on a cycle of improvement.
As James Clear wrote the cycle of improvement goes like this:
- Awareness
- identify what you need to improve
2. Deliberate practice
- focus your conscious effort on the specific area you want improve
3. Habit
- with practice the effort becomes automatic
4. Repeat
- begin again and become a little better everytime.
