What Poor People Don't Know About Making Money | An Eye Opening Speech Of Brian Tracy In 2024

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Today, I want to share with you a powerful truth that has the power to revolutionize your life and your financial future. You see, many people believe that becoming a millionaire is an unachievable dream reserved only for the lucky few or those born into privilege.

But what if I told you that the path to millionaire status lies within your grasp, waiting for you to take hold of it? Yes, my friends, you are just one skill away from transforming your financial destiny and achieving the coveted status of millionaire. In today's rapidly changing world, success is not solely determined by luck or circumstance, but by our ability to adapt, evolve, and master the skills that drive wealth creation.

So, as we jump on this road trip together today, I urge you to open your mind and your heart to the possibility of realizing your full potential. Embrace the power of learning, growth, and self-improvement, and watch as you unlock the door to unlimited prosperity and abundance. Thank you for joining me on this exploration of financial empowerment.

Now, let's go through the strategies and principles that will guide us towards reaching our dreams of millionaire status and beyond. I worked in tough jobs for several years; I worked in construction, on farms and ranches, and in factories, putting nuts on bolts hour after hour. One day, in a state of frustration, I started asking myself the question, "Why do some people have more success than others?

" Now, in the Bible, there's a line that says, "Seek and you shall find," because everyone who seeks finds. "Ask, and it will be given to you. " So, I started asking other successful people how they were doing things differently from me, and they told me, "I did it and got better results.

" I got into sales when I could no longer get a laborious job, and in sales, I noticed that one of the guys in my company was making ten times more than anyone else, even though he was selling the same product from the same office, at the same price, to the same people, under the same conditions. He was making ten times more than anyone else. I went and asked him, "What are you doing differently from me?

" He told me, "I did it. " What I discovered changed my life. I discovered the law of cause and effect, the law of sowing and reaping, action and reaction.

They're great universal laws. What it says is that everything happens for a reason, that there are no effects without causes. Even if we don't know what's causing the effect, if we track it, we'll find the cause.

It's the basis of the scientific process, of all medical research, of all marketing, of all business. If you can define an effect you desire, you can track it down and find someone who at one time didn’t have that effect. Discover what they did, and then do the same, and eventually, you'll get the same results.

We say that success is not an accident; failure is not an accident. Success leaves tracks, so if you simply follow the tracks of other successful people, no matter where you start from, you'll eventually get to the same place they did. The two most important things we need to be happy and healthy are a sense of control—the feeling that we have control over our lives, that things happen for a reason—and a sense of coherence—the feeling that things fit together well.

When I realized that the law of cause and effect explained everything, I got excited. In sales, I rose to the top of my salesforce. I read, learned, attended courses, and most of all, applied what I learned.

When I got into sales management, I read books again, took courses, sought advice, and when I got involved in real estate, import, development, manufacturing, distribution, and a series of businesses over the years, the first thing I did was ask, "How does this work? How do people succeed in this field? " Then I immersed myself, spent hours and hours studying, and then did what the most successful people did.

We say that nature is neutral, meaning nature doesn't care who you are. It doesn't matter if you're tall or short, male or female, black or white, educated or uneducated; nature only cares that you do what successful people do. Making a recipe, nature doesn't care—you follow a recipe, and you get the dish.

Isn't it fascinating? Nature operates on its own terms, indifferent to our status or capabilities in our society, much like the concept of justice; it remains blind to individual attributes. Yes, there are countless individuals out there, perhaps less intelligent or talented than you, yet flying high on the wings of success.

Why? Because they adhere to the time-tested principles of achievement. It's a bitter pill to swallow, witnessing someone seemingly less capable surpassing us in wealth or stature.

But here's the key: success leaves a signal. We must learn to emulate those who have gone before us, replicating their proven methods with endless determination. Let me highlight a crucial point.

In my research on self-made millionaires, I've discovered a common thread: nothing happens overnight. Success is a journey paved with difficulties and failures, but it's those who keep going—those who refuse to be prevented by initial setbacks—who at last overcome. So, I ask you, what do you assume is the average number of trials a person makes before throwing in the towel on a new goal?

Well, the average is less than one because most people give up before even trying. Once they say, "That's a great goal; I'd love to be financially independent," they then give up. They don't even try because of this and that, and so on.

And then they go to a wonderful place called "someday. " Have you ever heard of "someday, someday, someday? " Someday, I’ll start saving money; someday, I’ll get out of debt; someday, I’ll lose weight; someday, I’ll start a business; someday, I’ll take my finances seriously.

Most people live in that "someday. " Your job and my job are to vote you off the island, right? We started taking control of our lives a few years ago.

A major entrepreneur called me and asked me to give a talk for his 800 entrepreneurs who own independent franchises within his organization on how to become a self-made millionaire. I said yes. When you're a young speaker, you agree to talk on any topic.

I said, "Sure, I'll talk on that subject. " I was like most people when I was young; I wanted to be a millionaire by the time I was 30. When I got to 30, I postponed it to 35, and when I got to 35, I postponed it to 40.

Then I just stopped looking at it. I forgot about it and felt like the cards were stacked against me. I was around 38 or 39 when he called me and asked.

I said, "Sure, no problem. " Then I asked myself, "What do I know about self-made millionaires? " This was shocking: I knew nothing.

So, I started studying them—finding out where they came from, what they did, how they thought, where they started, the decisions they made, and the kind of people they were. One of the things I learned is that becoming a self-made millionaire isn't the important thing. What's really important is the person you have to become to become a self-made millionaire.

To become a self-made millionaire, you have to become a totally different human being. A friend of mine says that to achieve something you've never achieved before, you have to become someone you've never been before. It's a really important idea.

The qualities you need to develop within yourself to become a self-made millionaire are incredible qualities that make you a much better person—not just better in terms of character, determination, discipline, decision-making, strength, and so on. They make you a much better person; they round out your character in a much better way. So, the real benefit of becoming rich isn't because you can eat more or how many more meals you can eat or how much more clothing you can wear; it's because of the kind of person you become, and then the kind of people you associate with, the kind of life you lead.

What I found in my research is that there are a number of qualities that self-made millionaires have. If you have these qualities, your success is practically guaranteed, and if you don't have them, the qualities are learnable. The number one point is that all business or sales skills are learnable.

All financial skills are learnable. If you can drive a car, you can learn any skill. Now, point number two is that you're probably only one skill away from doubling your income.

Right now, you're probably only one skill away from getting on the road to becoming a self-made millionaire. It turns out that's the case for almost everyone. Ah, let me tell you an intense truth: upon you, within each of us lies a dormant accumulation of untapped potential waiting to be released.

And if by chance you find yourself lacking self-confidence or which skill holds the key to your success, fear not; for enlightenment may yet expose itself in the moments we share together. But note this insight: every skill worth holding is within your grasp, waiting for only your devotion and determination to master it. I've often heard individuals complain, "I'm not skilled with money," but let me remove that notion once and for all.

You see, the beauty of life lies in its endless opportunities for growth and learning. Yes, you heard me right: you can learn anything you set your mind to; achieve anything you have the courage to dream. Now take a moment to assess yourself.

Give yourself a score from 1 to 10 in each area of your life, and if you find yourself lacking in any aspect, do not give up, for it is within your power to cross any weakness. Dram big, my friends! Visualize a future of unlimited abundance and prosperity.

Nurture a vision of yourself radiant with happiness, vitality, and success. Practice the art of idealization, following the habits and mindset of those who have walked the path of greatness before us. Project forward several years and imagine that your life is perfect in every way.

Imagine that you have no limitations, that you have all the time, all the money, all the friends, all the contacts, all the education, and all the experience; and that you can be, have, or do anything you want in life. If you could, what would it be? If your life were perfect in 5 years, how would it be?

How much would you be earning? How much would you be worth? What kind of family life would you have?

What kind of health would you have? What kind of car would you be driving? What would your life be like if you could wave a magic wand and make it perfect in every way?

What we found is that this is the starting point for great wealth, and it’s the starting point for great success in life: that you have a dream or a vision of a wonderful future. Here’s an exercise we give people in our audiences: take a sheet of paper and make a list of dreams—what's called a "dream list. " Now imagine that this is like a child's Christmas wish list and that it allows you to just let go and write down everything you can think of that you might want.

I had a friend I showed this to, and he got so excited he bought. . .

A spiral notebook and started writing. He'd look through the newspaper, and anything he saw that he liked, he'd jot down. He ended up the first time with 330 goals, and at the end of the month, he had 500 things he wanted.

The interesting thing was that his life exploded. He activated the Law of Attraction and started attracting into his life people, circumstances, ideas, resources, and insights that moved him toward the achievement of his goals and started bringing those goals closer to him. Point number two is to do what you love to do.

Whenever you find people who are truly successful in life, they are people who do what they love to do. They love their work. The big rule for success in life is to find something you love to do and then find a way to make a living doing it.

Now, when you find what you love to do, it will be something that gives you energy, that motivates you, that excites you. It's probably something you were meant to do since you were born. And when you ask self-made millionaires what kind of work they do, they often say, "I've never worked a day in my life; I just do what I like to do.

" Number three is to commit to excellence. Now this is really important, and I struggled with this when I was young because I was never good at anything. I was never picked for any teams, and if I was picked, I was the first person eliminated.

I got bad grades in all my classes. I was fired from multiple jobs. I was even fired from a gas station job once.

Can you imagine being fired for not being good at pumping gas? They came and said, "You're not good at pumping gas. " I got fired.

I went from job to job, and then I discovered that all successful people are excellent at what they do. You know the old question they asked Willie Sutton, the bank robber: "Why do you rob banks? " He said, "Because that's where the money is.

" Well, being in the top 10% is where the money is, so what you have to do is pay any price and make any sacrifice to be in the top 10% in your field. Now, here's the good news: If you're doing what you love to do, you'll want to be in the top 10% in your field. If you don't want to be excellent at what you do, it means you're in the wrong field.

It just means you're marking time, you're treading water, and there are many people who are in their field, and they do their job, and you know they go home at night and don't think about their job and so on. This kind of attitude means you have no future; you have a very shaky present. That crunching sound you hear is the ice breaking under your feet, and you have no future because if you're not doing what you love to do and putting your whole heart into it, you're just marking time.

But everyone is designed in such a way that there's something you love to do and that you can do well, and the fact that you love it means you probably have the ability to excel at it. So make the decision to be in the top 10%. Let me tell you how it changed my life.

Here I was, struggling in my late 20s, and I learned this was an eye-opening thought: everyone who's in the top 10% started at the bottom of the 10%. Everyone who's doing well was once doing poorly. Everyone who's at the top of your field today wasn't even in your field at all and didn't even know it existed.

What that means is that if you're willing to pay the price and work hard and make sacrifices, you can get to the top 10%. How long does it take? It doesn't take a week or a month.

Most people are really impatient, and to achieve mastery in your field takes 5 to 7 years. You'll say, "5 to 7 years? Wow!

I'll be 5 to 7 years older before I start enjoying the great rewards. " Well, anyway, how much older will you be in 5 to 7 years? Now, here's an important point: Are you ready?

Time will pass anyway. Time will pass, and in 5 to 7 years, 5 to 7 years will have passed. The only question is, will you be at the top of your field, or will you still be down with the mediocre 80%?

And the wonderful thing is that no one is better than you, and no one is smarter than you. If someone else is at the top of the field, it means you can be at the top of your field too. Just go to them and find out how they got there because they started from the bottom.

It may take longer for some people and less for others, but everyone who steps forward and keeps moving forward eventually gets there, and that's where all the rewards are. Not only that, that's where all the joy in life is. When you're really good at what you do, you feel wonderful about yourself; you're respected and esteemed by everyone around you.

You can write your own destiny; you can open any door when you're good at what you do because you wake up in the morning and know you're good, and that's more important than the rewards that come with it. The next key is to develop your unique talents and skills. Every person is designed from childhood with special talents and skills that, if developed to the fullest, will allow you to achieve anything you desire in life.

Everyone is genetically structured to be able to do something excellently, enjoy it, do it well, and derive great satisfaction from it. Peter Ducker often asks the question: what are you good at today? What should you be good at?

What could you be good at? What will you be good at? One of the questions we ask is to look back on your life: what has been most responsible for your success so far?

What has been most responsible in the past? What have you done? What has given you the best results?

Because, as we said before, success leaves clues, and if you look back on your past, you will often find indicators that will guide you toward your future. The next key to becoming a self-made millionaire is to see yourself as autonomous. It's seeing that you are autonomous.

What we've discovered is that the top 3% of adults in our society see themselves as autonomous; they see themselves in charge of their own lives. When I started my career as a 21-year-old working as a construction laborer, living in a one-bedroom apartment with no money, taking buses two hours each morning to get to work and two hours to get back, I still remember it. I still remember a light bulb going on one night.

I was sitting in my little apartment, in my little kitchen nook, and suddenly I realized that I was responsible, that I was in charge of my own life, that no one was coming to rescue me. It was one of the great turning points in my life. So, what you find is that all exceptional people are highly responsible individuals.

They see themselves as autonomous. Sometimes I'll ask an audience how many people here are autonomous, and some will raise their hand while others won't. I'll say, "Now, what's the true answer to this question?

" The true answer is that everyone is autonomous. The biggest mistake you can make is to think that you work for anyone else but yourself. Even if someone else signs your paycheck for your entire life, the most valuable people in any organization are the ones who treat the company as if it were their own.

They see everything that happens as personally affecting them. They are not the naysayers, the hopeless ones who say, "Yeah, well, I go to work. When I'm not at work, I don't think about my job.

" To these people, someone has told them that that's a smart way to think; it's the way losers think. Winners think about their company, and when they're not there, they think about how they can improve it. When something happens in their company, they take it personally because they see themselves as highly responsible.

As a result, they get paid more, are offered more educational opportunities, and are promoted faster. These are the people who eventually, like cream, rise to the top of every organization and industry—the top 3%. As we bring our discussion to a close, I want to leave you with a powerful truth to carry forward: the path to becoming a millionaire is not a shifty imagination but a visible reality within your reach.

You have discovered today that you are just one skill away from opening the doors to wealth, abundance, and financial freedom. But remember, my friends, success is not simply a destination but a journey of continuous growth and self-improvement. As you enter into your exploration for millionaire status, commit yourself to lifelong learning, relentless persistence, and unwavering determination.

Accept challenges as opportunities for growth and never shy away from investing in yourself and your potential. Above all, pursue a mindset of abundance, gratitude, and generosity. True wealth is not measured entirely by the size of your bank account but by the lives you touch, the contributions you make, and the legacy you leave behind.

Thank you for joining me on this tour of discovery and empowerment. Now go forth with confidence, courage, and conviction, knowing that you are equipped with the skills, knowledge, and determination to achieve greatness. See you later, my friends, and may your future be filled with prosperity, abundance, and the realization of your wildest dreams.