10 Life lessons for Health and Wealth from Inspirational People

Many people want to become rich, but only a tiny percentage can achieve it. Apart from rare luck, getting rich is challenging and requires a lot of time and effort. Just investing time and effort cannot suffice. Wealthy people also have a unique and systematic approach to being rich. In this post, I want to share ten traits of wealthy people which separate them from poor people.

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I studied leaders and also focussed on the wealthy ones in ethnographic research settings as published in my doctoral thesis. From observations, a majority of wealthy people appeared to be leaders in their field. Even though some were workaholics, some others had an outstanding work-life balance.

One of the best information resources shedding light on wealthy people is reading their biographies or autobiographies. These ten characteristics I learned and triangulated with my research findings cover physical, mental, emotional, financial, and spiritual aspects. I listed them in no particular order.

1 - Mindset

The most common pattern for wealthy people is a growth mindset.

Our mindset reveals our personality. Mindset can be defined as a set of assumptions and beliefs one holds as their world view or personal trait. From the prominent research of Carol Dweck, we learned that people primarily have either a growth mindset or a fixed mindset.

There are, of course, different mindsets in between, reflecting additional attributes of people.

Wealthy people overtly depict a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset. People with a growth mindset are more resilient in life, more motivated, can deal with situations more effectively, develop better relationships, communicate more clearly, hence achieve better results.

Wealthy people demonstrate a desired transformational mindset to shift their business to a better consumer experience. Their products and services offer unique value prepositions.

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2 - Altruism

A majority of rich people demonstrate altruistic behaviour. They generously give to those people who needs their help. They support charity organisations serving humanity with research, community and societal activities.

Some rich people believe in karma. They may not use the term karma directly, but they know that the more they give, the more they receive.

It is an arguable topic, but it was fascinating to read sad stories that those who suddenly became rich and got selfish lost their wealth and health.

3 - Investment

Rich people methodically and smartly invest.

They know the difference between investment and saving as these two concepts are different things. They may save some, but in general, their focus is on investing.

They also invest in learning and skill-building. They continuously sharpen their knowledge sword.

Contrary to common perceptions, many wealthy people live a spartan life rather than a luxurious one. Some rich people enjoy a minimalistic lifestyle.

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4 - See time as money

The most valuable asset for rich people is their time. They use time like using money.

Many wealthy people believe that we can earn and save money, but we cannot make and save time.

Rather than managing time, wealthy people focus on priority management based on their values. They decide and act based on their core values and established principles.

Rich people don’t complain about too much to do in too little time as they primarily focus on their priorities. Setting priorities, switching priorities and shuffling between priorities are the primary focus of their day-to-day work engagements.

They ask whether something is essential to do now or can it wait. They take immediate actions to resolve an issue, to create a plan, to help a team member. Using this systematic action-oriented approach, nothing important accumulates; hence, they prevent any time-management concerns.

5 - Work hard and smart

Being rich requires both hard and smart work. Just working hard is not sufficient to become wealthy.

By paying attention to intelligent work based on strategic and tactical plans allow them to create their luck.

They always work with a plan to mitigate risks. They know that without taking calculated risks, they cannot grow.

6 - Take personal responsibility

Like anyone else, wealthy people also have lots of setbacks in life. Perhaps more than poor people. They face rejections and resistance to their ideas.

Instead of complaining and blaming circumstances, they take personal responsibility.

Taking personal responsibility and being accountable for the situations, wealthy people can leave better impressions on other people. This cheerful disposition creates trust for their integrity.

Because of these empowering benefits of taking personal responsibility at work, rich people can perform better and produce outstanding results.

7- Grow incrementally

Rich people know that speed to market is one of the most fundamental requirements of business organisations.

They don’t strive for perfection. Instead, they produce incrementally. Even though some may pursue perfection in their endeavour, it is impossible to reach a consensus for an understanding of perfection. Most of the rich people act with pragmatic principles.

Rather than perfection, they focus on excellence. They produce experimentally using an agile approach.

They learn from their own mistakes and the errors of other people. More importantly, they show the courage of admitting their mistakes and unlearning and relearning to find the truth.

8 - Timely decision-makers

Rich people make quick decisions. They don't delay decisions for important matters.

They assess a situation and make the necessary trade-offs. They address urgent matters first. Then they delve into essential points.

They discard noise and points which don't add value to their goals. They make both tactical and strategic decisions based on their flexible and dynamic plans.

9 - Focus on relationships and communicate effectively

The business world is built on relationships.

Rich people are relationship-oriented. They nurture relationships by investing their time and money. Rich people also focus on family relationships using their emotional intelligence and maturity.

They communicate clearly at all levels. Their communication depicts brevity, clarity, and impact.

10 - Focus on health and fitness

Without health, wealth does not mean anything.

Knowing the importance of health, wealthy people invest time and energy in their fitness. They look after their body and mind. They also pay attention to their mental health by managing stress.

Many wealthy people have good nutrition, sleep, and exercise regime. They include these fundamental needs in their daily routines by making them a habit.

Conclusion

There are many more characteristics of wealthy and wise people.

I only provided the most outstanding ones that make a real difference between rich and poor people. By learning these traits and emulating wealthy people's success, we create an informed education and skill plan to transform into a well-rounded wealthy person.

Health and wealth are desirable for living a meaningful life.

Thank you for reading my perspectives.

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