In fact, theyre kind of counterproductive.
Suggesting they cause a person to acquire wealth, though, is a huge stretch.
Even worse, most of these habits arebackwards.
When youre already rich, you have flexibility so youcando things like get up early for some me time.
Its one thing to read up on the habits of the rich and successfulbecause theyre interesting.
Hell, weve written aboutthe daily habits of famous creative peopleourselves.
And those habits can be inspiring.
However, suggesting that those habits willhelpyou get rich is backwards, and, ultimately, not very helpful.
Plenty of poor people make birthday calls, too.
Its about figuring out what works for youand then taking action.
And its like, Hey, heres what Warren Buffett does every day.
If you do the same thing, youll be like Warren Buffett….and thats totally unrealistic.
Because most people dont have the resources that those people have.
We dont have tens of thousands of people reporting to us that we can boss around.
We dont have the billions of dollars that Warren Buffett has.
We cant just ask, What works for Warren Buffett?
What works for Mark Zuckerberg?…
We have to say, What works for us?
His financialmindset habits are useful, too.
The fact that he reads500 pages per week?
Thats great for him, but it doesnt have anything to do with anything.
We all know reading is a good thing, but reading is not Buffetts secret to success.
According to him, hebuilt his wealth with passive investing.
Andthatsactually useful for someone looking to get rich like Buffett.
Thats precisely why personal finance blogs are so popular (and often a great source of info).
Theyre written by real people with realistic lifestyles who document what actually works.
In short, consider the context, not just the behavior.
Take into account the complete relationship between the source, the habit, and the takeaway.
None of this is to suggest that these habits are useless.
I read these habit profiles and enjoy them.
Theyre just not useful when it comes to learning how to get rich and accomplish things in your career.
Its not as easy as waking up early, watching less TV, and keeping a journal.
Illustration by Fruzsina Kuhari.
