I first posted this particular article in June of this year. I think that it offers a lot of value in comparing the mindsets of the successful verses the mindsets of your everyday average Joe. You will recognize some of the points in the table and others may be new concepts to you. Being able to compare the differences in mindsets side-by-side is very helpful. Print it out if you like and keep it handy, where you can refer to it often and make sure you are on track to building the success that you desire.
| The Wealthy Mindset | The Poor Mindset |
| Have a delayed gratification mindset – short-term pain for long-term gain. | Have an immediate gratification mindset – short-term gain for long-term pain |
| A wealthy mindset is wiling to take risks with the understanding that failure / losing is part of the process of winning. Hence, they are early adaptors, taking advantage of a new opportunity before others realize its potential. | The general population avoid risk because of the fear of failure or loss. They wait to see what everybody else is doing, then do the same – by which time it is too late to capitalize on a new opportunity. |
| Have a positive attitude using language such as:
“If others can do it, so can I.” “I’ll make the time.” “What’s it worth in the long-term?” |
Have a negative attitude, using such language as:
“I can’t, it’s too hard.” “I don’t have time.” “I can’t afford it, it’s too expensive.” |
| Are decisive – they are quick to decide and slow to change their minds. They know that their destinies are shaped in their moments of decision. Indecision leads to non-action, which, in turn, leads to unfavourable results. | Are indecisive – they are too slow to decide and quick to change their minds because, once they have decided, they start to worry if they have made the right decision. Fear, uncertainty, and doubt are inherent in their personality. |
| Seek opportunity - they want to develop, achieve, and excel. They do what the majority are unwilling (not unable, just unwilling) to do. They realize that people who play it safe continually miss opportunities and seldom make progress. | Seek security – They desire a safe, secure, profession / job, but such a thing is virtually non-existent today, and even if it was, it would provide little chance of attaining financial independence. |
| Take responsibility for their circumstances. They know that “when you choose the behaviour, you choose the circumstances”. Hence, they create their own circumstances by choosing actions that support their goals. The wealthy mindset attitude is, “if it is to be, it is up to me”. | Do not always take responsibility for their circumstances. When things aren’t as they would like them to be, they sometimes try to justify their situation. Some even blame others – the government, their employer, their teachers / parent / children, etc. |
| They make it happen. They know that success must be summoned, it won’t come unbidden. They have plans. They can tell you where they are going and how they are going to get there. | They let it happen. Many have no definite plans for the future or they simply don’t execute their plans, hence, they fit into someone else’s plan. |
| Understand and apply the Law of Cause and Effect - as you sow, so shall you reap. They know they must give to receive. E.g. – One must give respect before they receive respect. One must give value to receive value. | They expect to receive value before they will give value. |
| Mind their own business. They build businesses and use the power of compounding / leverage to earn residual income. | Mind somebody else’s business. They work hard for somebody else trading hours for dollars by earning a linear income, paying up to 50% of their income in taxes. |
| See with their minds what others miss with their eyes, hence, recognizing potential where others don’t see it. | See with their eyes only, often missing opportunities for improving their circumstances in life |
| Have a sense of urgency. All successful people are driven by a sense of urgency to produce results. | They tend to procrastinate. They wait until all the conditions are right before taking action. |
| Have a sense of team and common purpose. They believe in synergy – combining and sharing the work effort. | They do it all themselves, hence they don’t often achieve the big outcomes they aspire to. |
| Persist until they succeed. Like a child learning to walk, every time they fall down, they get up quickly and keep trying until they get it right. | Quit at the first sign of defeat. As soon as they encounter setbacks, they give up. They say, “It’s too hard, it hurts too much, I give up”. |
| They are results oriented and perform activities that produce the results they desire, resulting in a high quality of life. They plan their work and then execute the plan. | They are activity oriented, confusing being busy with progress. They are so busy being busy, that they lose sight of what they are trying to accomplish. |
| Have more money at the end of the month. E.g. – They have money left over at the end of the month that they can invest or spend as they wish. | They live from pay check to pay check. More often than not, their money runs out before the end of the month. |
| Focus on ‘quality of life‘. They will retire in comfort, maintaining their standard of living and generally enjoying more free time and better than average health. | Focus on ‘standard of living’. Some will work their entire life. The majority will find that their standard of living will drop by 40 to 75 %. When they retire, they will struggle to make ends meet, depending on welfare or the goodwill of others for their existence. |
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Hey Wendy – this is an awesome comparison table!! I love the fact that you can not only identify which one you are currently sitting in but if you find you are in the poor mindset you can look to the left to see where you need to be and work out for yourself what you need to do to get there!
excellent strategy
cheers
Nat
Nat recently posted..My Personal Strategy – How Replying To Comments Is Not Just About Replying To Comments
Thanks Nat. I find this chart very helpful in keeping me on track. It is one of those things that I keep handy to refer to every now and then.
Wendy
Wendy this is great, I could identify with some from each list so I obviously have some more work to do on my mindset. Was really great to be able to go down the list and circle the mindsets and quite graphically see which side my mind is on and what I have to work on.
Thanks
Belinda
Belinda Cunningham recently posted..Blog Mastery Award
Hi Wendy,
I really like the way you lay this out in a chart. I’ve read articles on this subject before, but it really drives the comparison home when you have it side by side in a chart. This reminds me a little of John Wooden’s pyramid of success.
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Wendy,
I loved your chart. You make it so easy to differentiate where I am at right now. I was pleased to see that there are only two items that I found myself on the right. One is attempting to do it all myself. I have hired a few tech people to assist and I have worked on a few joint projects, but I am still mostly doing it all myself which can be overwhelming at times. The other item is toward the end. For the last few months I had excess money at the end rather than just barely making it which felt so good. But one of the reasons for financial tightness has been that I continue to invest in myself, my business and I am attending conferences and events.
Thanks for a wonderful post.
Erica
I tend to try to do it all myself too Dr. Erica … it probably stems from being a single mother and having to do it all myself. It takes effort to ask for help, but I’m getting better at it.
Reinvesting in yourself is the greatest investment!
Wendy
Wendy,
I just attended a Braveheart Women Rise event. So totally inspiring. All about women finding their purpose and succeeding. So I invested in a mentoring program and a special weekend “Release” Check out the web site http://www.BraveheartWomen.com. I am not an affiliate, just a fan.
Warmly,
Erica
Dr. Erica Goodstone recently posted..Are you sexually normal
Hi Wendy,
Excellent post…love the way you have laid it out.
Must confess that I am not on the right side(or should I say left side:-) ) of the chart in all columns…
but heck that is what life is all about…learning and improving.
“If it is to be it is up to me”is my way of thinking ….however it was not like that always.
Cheers
Bryan
Love that quote Bryan!!
Wendy
Hi Wendy,
You have certainly given plenty of material for us to work out where we stand! I find many things I put in action don’t produce outcomes, but I always learn something. Life is absolutely fun and exciting, when you look at the bright side. Since I quit the corportae world, I have ahd so much fun, even though a couple fo times from the outside my life looked like a disaster! It never was in my eyes, just transforming. Readers would do well to carefully consider where they stand on these points and make some adjustments. I am going to!
John Gaydon recently posted..Think Globally- Act Locally
Thank you for adding your insights John. I absolutely agree that looking on the bright side and seeing the positives in all things makes a huge difference in our lives.
Wendy
Great chart.I love it.It is really good too.I am going to share this with my Facebook friends.
Beverly Monical recently posted..Are You Focusing Correctly
Thanks Beverly,
I hope they all get great value out of it!
Wendy
Great post Wendy and you’re right laying them out side by side is a great way to look at it. What comes to mind for me in looking at the poor mindset is the way 95% of people think, but you can’t blame them, they were taught to think that way and they just have chosen not to break from the herd yet.
Michael
Mr. Personal Development Michael Berry recently posted..Personal Development Simplified
It is incredible that we were taught to think in the poor mindset manner. But, a blessing that we have the power to change it.
Wendy
Aloha Wendy, wow.. what a difference with the comparison. In fact, it’s a bit embarrassing what we have been taught and been exposed to for generations. And this mindset is still being used and conditioned with time. I know change is here and the positive, goodness, kindness and spiritual ones, will reach out to most to make a difference in this world, to change our next generation. Thanks for sharing! Lanikee.com
PS..come by and share a sweet comment. The benefits are sharing is caring. Mahalo!
Lani Kee, Mind Mapping Techniques recently posted..RSS Submission – A Set And Forget System
Changing the next generation’s mindset is something that we can absolutely achieve. I have always tried to instill in my son that he can achieve anything in life and he is doing just that. As parents, we are given an awesome opportunity to make that difference in our own children and make the world a better place in the long run. Powerful stuff! Thank you for adding your insights!
Wendy
Hi Wendy,
How awesome that I also wrote about something very similar. I guess as they say, great minds think alike.
When you look at the two different mindsets side-by-side, it puts things into perspective. I wonder how many have now discovered they aren’t on the side they thought they should be on.
The good news is it’s not too late to change.
Thanks for sharing this.
Jerome Ratliff
Jerome Ratliff recently posted..Change Your Mindset From Failure to Success
I find that kind of thing happens all the time Jerome. I always seem to run in to the same theme over a period of a week or so. (This week for me it has been all about dreams, everywhere I go) I find that usually means I am meant to learn something from it.
But, in this case, I’m pretty sure that it is our great minds thinking alike … LOL.
Wendy
Wendy,
Great post, well articulated and love the detailed table. The parts I can relate most to are: taking responsibility, making it happen and a sense of urgency. Those are the ingredients.
Thanks,
Adam
Dr. Adam Sheck recently posted..Passion Tip- All Day Foreplay
Hello Wendy,
My first trip to your blog I enjoyed reading your insight on mindset. I look forward to my return trip because of all the valuable content you have posted. Having the right mindset is critical to success, happiness, healthiness,and maintaining a positive attitude.
Have a great day,
Paul
Paul Barrus recently posted..4 Daily Actions Of Successful Marketers
Wendy,
What an interesting table! See with their minds vs. See with their eyes – what a great concept! I haven’t heard it put exactly like that before but I really like it said like that, it is a super clear way of stating it. It is similar in a way to when people say – you are hearing me, but you aren’t listening to me. But this obviously goes way beyond that and is so much better and includes more than when people say he can’t see the forest for the trees. Thanks for sharing this, I’ve heard some of these before, but I have never seen it laid out in this format and that is a very dramatic presentation really highlighting the differences between the two ways of interacting with the world. I think the wealthy mindset makes more sense! – Rob
Rob Wilson recently posted..I am not a number and other things you shouldnt say in public
I think the wealthy mindset makes much more sense too! Glad you enjoyed it and I hope that you can get a lot of use out of it. I like to keep it handy and read it from time to time to make sure I’m on track.
Wendy
Persist until they succeed. Like a child learning to walk, every time they fall down, they get up quickly and keep trying until they get it right.
Reminds me when there are days I don’t make a dime to cheer on the days I do because I make a monthly income each month from what I do and not alot of internet marketers can say there even covering expense. While covering expenses is learning to crawl I would say once your able to withdraw from your paypal and place money into your bank account your walking. I still say we are all still not jogging yet and learning to run is the final goal. I will post that I’m running only when I’m pulling in one dollars a day or more.
Hope I’m on track with being real while never admitting defeat because I refuse to ever learn the meaning of the word quit.
Monty Ferbert
Would love to see your running full out Monty! I’m sure you will get there soon with your refusing to quit attitude!
Wendy
Wendy, this is fantastic! I’ve never seen anything like the comparison you have presented here. It really makes things clear, doesn’t it? So many times clients make statements about how others (that are successful) get all the breaks or just have good luck. Of course this isn’t true! We create our own destiny!
I think this will be a great tool for when you know you are off-track somehow, this can point you in the right direction to get refocused!
Thank you for a great and useful post!
Deborah
Deborah A. Ten Brink recently posted..As a New Online Marketer- Do You Leave Your Site Traffic to Chance
Thanks Deborah! That is exactly what I like to use it for … keeps me on the right track.
Wendy
[...] those plans? Or do you hope and procrastinate…. Check out this great post by Wendy Hewlett on the Success Mindset versus the Average Mindset That ought to help you switch gears a bit into where you need to be. Edward Elliott, a real helpful [...]
Wendy,
Cool post! Everything in our lives is created from our thoughts, what we focus on… basically our mindset. And success is no different. If we focus on success, realize what successful people think, say and do and follow their lead, it can only lead to success as we vision it in our lives.
Thanks,
~ Pat and Lorna
http://TheCoolestCouple.com
Thanks Pat and Lorna for your thoughts on mindsets and success. You are obviously well on your way to achieving great success in your lives!
Wendy
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Pat and Lorna Shanks and Marieke Hensel, Marieke Hensel. Marieke Hensel said: RT @Pat_Lorna: Success Mindset vs Average Mindset http://ow.ly/2TOFF => Check out this cool success vs. poor mindset table from Wend … [...]
Excellent article! It reminded me of some things I need to work on with myself! Thank you for such an insightful write up, laid out so nicely in a table. I’m going to print it out and have it on my bulletin board as a reminder. You have a great understanding of what is necessary to succeed. I look forward to reading your future posts.
To your success,
Trish Kirby
Trish Kirby recently posted..What are you watering your dreams with
Thanks Trish. Glad you are getting some value out of this too.
Wendy
LOVE it Wendy! Isn’t amazing the huge difference in both mindsets! So happy were on the success side of the table!
Thanks for the awesome post!
Jennifer may recently posted..Finding Peace Within Yourself Even When The Path Is Dark And Your Heart Is Hurting
You’re welcome Jenn. I’ve got another one that I’m working on that compares the Successful vs the Average that is more to do with actions as opposed to mindsets.
Wendy