Growing Money

Formula to Success

I think if you want to be rich and successful you really need to have the equipment for it. The most important part is your attitude towards life. You must have a goal that you really want to reach – a desire to succeed. This is best illustrated in the book, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. It is a great book, very inspirational and motivational – a must read.

I think the “success” part has to come from within – it has to be true desire. You must have some part of you that really want to challenge and get through the laziness and procrastination. Everyone wants to be rich, everyone wants to be successful. But how many achieved that? How many tried? Most people are just all talk. They’ll say how they plan to do this and that. Once they reach a few obstacles (small ones mostly), those people immediately give up and return to their lazy thinking again.

I’m sure a lot of people can relate. How many of you try to lose weigh or keep an exercise schedule. How long did that last? I tried it myself. I told myself I was going to spend 20 minutes on the track-mill twice a week. I was excited about it for the few two weeks, and then I started watching TV and lost focus. I came up with excuses for myself. “I come home late sometimes.” “I’m tired from work.” Now, I’ve been away from the gym for almost a month.

I’ve realized the only way to achieve something big is to develop small habits that will help you move along in that direction. It’s true -- little things add up. If I want to stay in shape, all I have to do is walk 20 minutes a day. It seems easy. I can just walk 10 minutes during the morning and another 10 minutes during the evening. Those 10 minutes sessions sound so attainable, but doing it everyday for a year takes much dedication. And don’t underestimate those 10 minute walks. They seems short but if done repeated overly time, they become very rewarding to your health.

It’s the same thing with your finance. Little habits bring you big bucks. If you sock away $50 a month in a savings account at an annual interest rate of 3% over ten years, you'll come out with a total of more $7,000. Given you can tolerate some risk, at an average annual return of 8%, the same investment would net you almost $14,150. That’s a lot of money grown from 50 dollar seeds.

There’s a book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey that talks about how successful people have good habits built in their lives. Pick up that book and start building up some good habits.

With good habits and a strong desire, you’re bound to succeed. Your desire will push you in the right direction and your habits will work like your engines, they’ll keep pushing you towards your goal.

posted by Sean @ 4/19/2005 09:00:00 PM