Do you ever imagine why few people appear to get rich easily while most of the others live their entire life full of financial struggles? Have you wondered what is that difference which makes few people rich – is it education, hard work, intelligence, luck, family background or is it about their choice of work, job, business and investment?

You will be surprised that the answer to the above is No, according to one of the hugely popular books on personal finance “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind” by T. Harv Eker. Eker says that though few of the things mentioned may contribute to financial success, the underlying reason for success itself is quite different. goes. In this piece, we will attempt to go deeper and unravel what makes the real difference between the rich and the poor.

It's very much about how you think:

It can be said that poverty begins and is rather allowed to continue in one's imagination first. One's actual material life then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy of this image. You ultimately become what you think of yourself. If you are always thinking about problems, are small minded, keep finding faults in everything and worse, think low of yourself, then that is what you may end up living your life with. The need for self-admiration, thinking big, thinking about possibilities and opportunities cannot be underestimated.

But, everything else remaining same, why do we think the way we do? The answer to this question is given below.

Your subconscious mind plays a critical role:

Right from childhood we are subjected to subconscious learning from our families, friends, schools, events happening around us and so on. This is the main reason people with different family backgrounds and cultures tend to think differently. Imagine a typical Gujarati /Punjabi /Sindhi business family and compare that to any well-educated South Indian family. You can almost predict how the lives of children will shape up in such families and what will they do in their lives. The risk-taking ability, money management skills, attitude to wealth, etc. are ingrained in our subconscious minds to a greater extent than you think. This plays a very crucial role in shaping who we are and who we will be in our lives. If your subconscious mind is not set for a high level of success then probably you will never have a lot of money. The good news is that you can change this subconscious mind with your conscious and continuous rethinking on these aspects of life.

How the rich think and act differently?

Now that we have established that your thinking mind and your subconscious mind plays a very important role in financial success, let us get back to the starting point – the difference rich and poor. It would be really interesting to see how a financially successful guy is thinking differently from a financially deprived person.

1. Rich people believe in creating their own future and destiny. Poor people let life happen to them and accept their destiny.

2. Rich people make it their game to win and make more money. Poor people tend to play the money game safe so as to not loose.

3. Rich people live their lives as if they have a commitment to being rich. Poor people live life as if they want to be rich and are more eager to showcase being rich rather than being actually rich.

4. Rich people think big, think about possibilities and opportunities. Poor people think small, think more of obstacles and difficulties in anything they do or think of doing.

5. Rich people focus more and spend more time exploring and exploiting opportunities. Poor people spend more time talking about obstacles and focus on solving problems in life.

6. Rich people admire, learn from and aspire to be like other rich and successful people. Poor people normally resent, find faults and crib about rich and successful people but never learn.

7. Rich people tend to associate and network with most other rich, positive and successful people. Poor people tend to associate with their likes or other negative or unsuccessful people and do not network.

8. Rich people are willing to promote themselves and their value and tend to create a personal brand for themselves. Poor people do not like personal selling or promotion and do not indulge in making a personal brand or value.

9. Rich people often think of problems as smaller than themselves and something which can be resolved easily. Poor people often think of their problems as bigger than their capability and something which would need tremendous efforts.

10. Rich people are very good at observing and learning what they need to from virtually anything or any person. Poor people are poor at observing and learning and often tend to only believe that they know.

11. Rich people tend to work smart for results or profits based on their intelligence and enterprise. Poor people tend to work hard and choose to get paid based on time and work done.

12. Rich people think of getting the maximum advantage of any situation or deal and not loosing. Poor people think more of a win-win situation and choose either among options available to them.

13. Rich people know, keep track of and focus on building their net worth. Poor people focus more on their working income rather than their actual net worth.

14. Rich people are good at managing and growing their investments /wealth. Poor people often mismanage their wealth and tend to make sub-optimal investments.

15. Rich people put their money to good use and make it work hard for them. Poor people focus on working hard for earning their money but do no put their money to work.

16. Rich people are more courageous and tend to act in spite of fear by taking calculated risks. Poor people are overwhelmed by fear and tend to not take any risks.

17. Rich people are committed to learning and they constantly learn and grow themselves. Poor people are laid back thinking that they already have enough knowledge and do not learn actively.

As Eker says, “The size of the problem is never the issue—what matters is the size of you!”. Understanding the above differences in thinking and changing our own thought process should be our goal. These changes, when put to practice in real life, will act as the steps or blueprint to dramatically improve our financial success factor.