Wealth Habits

Want to be wealthier? Start making money moves by adopting the wealth habits of high-income earners.

High-income earners

High-income earners embrace smart practices to change the flow of money in the direction of their bank accounts. They ditch habits that don’t support wealth acquisition. The key is to become more effective. The way you work, the strategies you use to earn and save, and even your thoughts affect your ability to attract money.

We all want more money. Money means security and comfort for ourselves and our families. Money in our pockets gets us what we want more quickly. Money opens doors to opportunities that build momentum toward a great life. Money in our bank account helps us sleep more soundly at night.

But sometimes there’s a blockage in another area of our life that impacts our financial success. How do we bust through the money block?

How to increase wealth

To increase wealth by becoming more effective starts with taking inventory of your habits and attitudes. Some of the ways we think and the things we do move us closer to our goal. You might call these our money moves. But other habits or tendencies cancel out the good work we did, or they pull us away from income-producing habits.

Wealth habits

Let’s look at habits that sabotage our personal effectiveness. Once we identify and replace these with smarter practices, we can throw open the doors to abundance in our lives.

Bad habit: Being wishy-washy.

Sometimes we’re faced with hard choices. Often, those choices have an expiration date. If we sit on the fence too long, the opportunity passes us by. Are you wishy-washy? Do you wait too long and miss the deadline, or leave important decisions hanging in the air?

Replace with Smart decisions made swiftly.

Get better at making decisions and being timely about it. Set decision deadlines. If you need practice, start small. Soup or salad? Get faster about your choice by weighing the importance of the decision. Then move on to a bigger and more impactful choice that must be made.

If too many options confuse you, work on eliminating as many as you can. Once you’re down to two, make the choice.

Some big decisions may seem scary. What if you choose poorly? Remember that there’s no “wrong” answer. If you take the option that offers less reward, you can always make a change in time. A “do-over” will help you reverse the bad decisions you’ve made.

Bad habit: Procrastinating the hard stuff.

When we always put the easy tasks first, we run out of time and energy for the harder ones. Then we set ourselves up for an endless stretch of procrastination. Meanwhile, opportunities that might have yielded us some additional income have slipped out the door.

Replace with Difficult tasks come first.

To get more done, schedule the hardest or worst tasks first thing each day. Once you complete those, you’ll have the mental energy and freedom to focus on activities that come easy for you, which you likely excel at and enjoy doing.

Bad habit: Being caught in the tech trap.

Staying plugged into social media and email throughout the day hinders productivity. Too much mindless screen time affects your energy, stunts your mental growth, and wastes valuable time.

Replace with Scheduled tech check-ins.

People who naturally attract wealth already know that focusing on one task is important for completion. Set a specific time in the day, such as in the morning or evening, to check and respond to your emails and social media accounts.

Bad habit: Not prioritizing what’s important.

What needs to be done that fits with your wealth goals? Is the task you are doing going to take you closer to that goal? Or will it pull you in an entirely different direction?

Replace with Priorities!

Identify your biggest goals, based on your deepest values. Say no when something takes you away from those priorities.

Bad Habit: Thinking you already know all there is to know.

Failing to get educated or ask for help stops you from advancing. This applies to the marketable skills that will help you raise your income. It also applies to financial management, wealth building, or any other money-related problem that keeps you stuck in your current income bracket.

Replace with Learning, experiencing, and experimenting.

Learn new things, read up on a skill you’d like to master. Take a class, become certified, getting hands-on experience in something that can increase your value in what you offer to others. Example: talk with a financial expert who can advise you on what smart moves to make that will help you put your money to work for you.

Bad habit: Wasting money.

It’s not that hard to waste money. In fact, most of us likely do it in some aspect of our lives. Whether it’s carrying a monthly balance, hidden late fees, or food going to waste in our refrigerators… sometimes we get so caught up in life that we let money slip through the cracks and flow right into someone else’s account.

How to fix it: Plug the leaks!

Every effective person knows exactly where their money is going, and where it’s being invested, and has learned to plug the leaks. They don’t waste money on things they don’t need and won’t use. They carefully balance their checking accounts, build up savings and invest thoughtfully. Following these bad habit-breaking tips helps you increase your effectiveness to increase wealth. You don’t have to change everything. But if you wake up to those “mindless” habits that sabotage you, you can start taking action toward changes that lead to stuffed pockets and overflowing bank accounts.

Previous: Your Career – Get Money and Respect | Next: Work-Life Balance: Make Time for Fun