Financial success is elusive. Financial success requires good luck. One of the most profound things that came out of the five-year research study that is the backbone of my financial success – a book helping people become financially independent – was the realization that wealthy people create their own good luck.
The good luck created by the wealthy is known as opportunity luck. Opportunity luck is a byproduct of doing certain things every day. It requires having specific good daily success habits. I identified ten core daily success habits that wealthy people have that are responsible for their financial success and the realization of their American Dream. I call them Rich Habits. These Rich Habits are what sets the wealthy apart from everyone else in life. Rich Habits and opportunity luck are two sides of the same financial success coin. Without these Rich Habits, opportunity luck is impossible to attain and thus financial success will continue to elude you.
By living these Rich Habits, every day, the rich process luck into their lives. Most wealthy individuals, I found, were not even aware that they were the manufacturers of their own luck. They just thought they were “lucky”. Case in point, the late J. Paul Getty, oil tycoon, when asked what he attributed to his immense wealth, stated: “some people find oil, others don’t.” Even Getty thought his wealth was a matter of luck. For this very reasoning, the concept of creating wealth has been shrouded in mystery. Thus the phrase: “the secret to financial success”. But thanks to the discoveries I made in my research, the secret to financial success is no longer a secret. The fact is, creating wealth is nothing more than processing success into your life by living the Rich Habits and watching opportunity luck manifest itself out of thin air.
The Anatomy of Luck
There are four types of luck:
1. Random Good Luck
This is a type of good luck that you have no control over. This would include things like winning the lottery.
2. Random Bad Luck
Again this type of luck you have absolutely no control over. It includes things like getting struck by lightning.
3. Opportunistic Luck
This is the luck that wealthy people create by living the Rich Habits.
4. Detrimental Luck
This is the luck that poor people create by living bad habits.
Opportunity Luck – The Good Luck Wealthy People Create
Wealthy people, whether they know it or not are, every day, manufacturing opportunity luck by the way they live their lives; by their daily habits. Opportunity luck is like the air, it is all around us and everywhere. The problem is that only those who have good daily success habits see opportunity luck. Why? Unfortunately, most individuals have bad habits. This is why there are 146.4 million people identified as low income according to a US 2011 Census report. This 146.4 million were never taught the Rich Habits. Conversely, the top 5% income earners in this country were taught the Rich Habits by their parents. They live the Rich Habits every day and go on to achieve financial success in life. This is the very reason the rich get richer.
When you live the Rich Habits, opportunity luck manifests itself. The Rich Habits force you to become success conscious and, thus, look for opportunities. Oftentimes these opportunities come dressed up in work clothes. Sometimes these opportunities appear in the form of a financial investment or an investment of your time. And sometimes opportunity luck makes its appearance in the form of an ordinary man peddling a product or idea or even as an author trying to promote their book. Those who live the Rich Habits and who achieve unimaginable wealth are always the beneficiaries of opportunity luck.
Think of opportunity luck as a tree. When you live your life a certain way, when you live the rich habits, you are planting opportunity luck seeds. As you nurture your tree, as you live the rich habits, your opportunity luck tree grows. In time, your opportunity luck tree will bear fruit. Think of this fruit as a manifestation of luck. This fruit may be a raise, a promotion, a bonus, a financial windfall, a long, healthy life, good relationships etc.
Detrimental Luck – The Bad Luck Poor People Create
Poor people manufacture detrimental luck through their bad daily habits. Like the opportunity luck tree there is a detrimental luck tree. When you have bad habits, you are planting the seeds to your detrimental luck tree. You nurture this detrimental luck tree by continuing to live your life with bad habits. In time, this tree will bear fruit. But when this tree bears fruit, watch out. The detrimental luck fruit manifested by your detrimental luck tree may be financial ruin, a job loss, a demotion, a heart attack, diabetes etc.
If you want to become wealthy you need to eliminate detrimental luck and attract opportunity luck into your life. In order to do this you must have good daily success habits. Habits can be changed. People do it every day. It’s not an impossible feat. It only takes 30 days to eliminate your bad daily habits and introduce new, good daily success habits. Embracing good daily success habits ensures that you will attract opportunity luck and is a firewall against detrimental luck. It’s like a double in baseball. By living the Rich Habits you double your chances of success. Change your habits, change your life and you will change your luck.
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Thomas Corley is author of Rich Habits – The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals and founder of The Rich Habits Institute. Thomas is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Financial Planner and President of Cerefice & Company.
5 comments
You, my friend, are a bone head. There are no “secrets” to success. If you are wealthy in the monetary sense, then you got lucky trolling for suckers to buy your book. Most people are too busy in this lousy economy to do much more than drag themselves to work and make enough money to cover their monthly bills. You are right about one thing, monetary luck depends on who you know and who you blow. Example, Donald Trump and Mitt Romney would not be the successful dolts they are without “Daddy”, leaving them enough money to be considered rich at that moment. They might have increased their amount of money, but it was not from some secret habits they acquired, it was the inner circle of friends and Ivy League cronies inside information they had access to. So you can think like a rich person until you are blue in the face, but if you do not belong to “the club” you are not going to gain financially, unless you are truly lucky!!!!!!!!!!!! The biggest lie ever perpetrated on the average American is….Work Hard, Be Honest, and success will be yours. The American dream has been dead for decades. As soon as the poor and middle class get a little bit ahead with a few more bucks, the “haves” raise taxes, gas, and food prices. Take a quick look at the financial history of this country and you will see what I mean.
Hope you find more suckers to purchase your book so they can learn the hard way how things work in this country.
Critical Vic, this is Tom Corley, author of the article and the book Rich Habits. 85% of all wealth is created in one generation. This means that 85 out of every 100 millionaires are new millionaires. If becoming wealthy requires that you belong to a “club” how do you account for these new millionaires? Here’s how. Wealthy parents teach their kids certain good success habits. One of the Rich Habits these parents teach their kids is the Relationship Habit. Rich Parents teach their kids the importance of managing relationships. They instill in them the importance of relationships. The make them do certain things: call to say thank you, send thank you cards, call their relationships on their birthday, stay in touch with their relationships, attend functions, volunteer, join clubs/groups to build relationships. Managing relationships is what gets you in “the club”. If you are bad at managing relationships you struggle in life financially. I agree with you that you can’t think your way to wealth. The law of attraction is a myth. You have to take action. You have to “do” certain things every day. If you are lucky enough to have rich parents you very likely learned from them their “secret” success habits. If your parents were poor you very likey learned poor habits from your parents and that’s why you eke out a living. At least you read the article, which is important because rich parents make their kids read for education and learning, not just for entertainment. Keep reading Critical Vic and if you want to be rich, change your daily habits. It’s work. It’s not fun. It takes discipline. But the byproduct is financial success in life.
Great article!
Can’t wait to get my hands on this book.
Tom, if you are ever in the Atlanta area I’d love to meet for a beer and hear more about your research.
Thanks Kevin. I hope you enjoy my book. Rich Habits is just beginning to gain some fame.I’ve only just begun to share the secrets I uncovered in my research with the world. My contact info is on the back of the book. Let’s stay in touch.
Great comeback! I’ll be purchasing your book!
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