How to Live Like a Millionaire
Many of us dream of becoming millionaires. But what we really want is to live like a millionaire. Here’s the secret to do that on an average income.
What might you find attractive about becoming a millionaire?
Chances are, it isn’t a pile of cash sitting in a vault somewhere that excites you.
Most likely, what gives meaning to the word “millionaire” in your mind is the thought of what a million dollars will allow you to be or to do or to have. This is important and helpful, since your brain really can’t wrap itself around the meaning of a million of anything. By becoming very clear about what you want to be or do or have, you give your brain something meaningful that it can understand.
If you want to live like a millionaire, you need to focus on the specific millionaire elements that are critical to you. I call this your millionaire outcome.
In order to do this, it’s necessary for you to spend some time thinking deeply about what you want to be, to do, and to have.
The Millionaire Questions
Get out your journal. Use it to write down your answers to each question or exercise. Think through each question carefully, and then write down your answer.
Question 1: If you knew that you would absolutely be guaranteed success, what would you undertake? And why?
The answer to this question really makes us think about what would be important for us to do in our lives. We each have things that we’ve dreamed of doing.
These are things that often define the core of who we really are. But the obstacles we see in front of us have prevented us from taking even the first step. What we haven’t realized is that the obstacles are of our own making.
For now, don’t worry about the obstacles — tell your brain that you have a guarantee of success. Then write your answer.
Question 2: If you were a millionaire and didn’t need to work, what job (or career) would you choose to work at just for fun?
Your first response to this question may be, “Nothing, I would never work again.” But think about this a little more. The human psyche has something about it that makes it want to contribute in some way. It doesn’t like to be idle for long.
After you took a year or two of millionaire-induced playtime, you would begin to get an urge to do something productive with your life. What would you do?
You’ve likely seen people doing something that they seem to be having a blast doing — a career that seems more to them like play than like work. Think about what type of work you might really enjoy, simply because you’d enjoy what you’re doing. Then, write your answer.
Question 3: If you were a millionaire and could learn whatever you wanted to learn, what would you choose to study? What fields would you want to be an expert in? What languages would you want to speak, just for fun? What things would you want to know just for the fun of knowing them?
This question is to help you focus in on what you want to be. Brian Tracy has commented that, in most areas of our life, we may have average skills, or even below average skills. But, in a handful of areas, our potential for excellence is off the charts.
These are also areas that we are uniquely suited in to make an incredible contribution to society. If we let these areas go to waste, then our lives will be more or less wasted. If we develop these areas, though, we will find incredible fulfillment.
Think about what knowledge, skills, or expertise you would like to have, simply because you want it. Then, write your answer.
Question 4: If you could go anywhere you wanted to go on a trip where would that be? Why would you want to go there?
This question helps you think about a couple of different things.
First, it helps you identify the type of environment you would like to live in. For myself, I grew up in Arizona and Nevada, but I don’t much care for the desert. For me, my ideal environment is made up of mountains and tall, green trees.
But I grew up with many people who found an incredible beauty in the desert, who wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. My wife’s dad grew up as a California beach bum and gets restless if he is away from the beach too long. I have a friend who loves the cold, stark beauty of Alaska.
Second, travel is an incredibly mind-expanding activity. There is something fulfilling and enriching about being exposed to different places and cultures. The younger you are, the easier it is to digest and absorb the different cultures, even from one region of your country to another.
But not everyone is interested in visiting the same places. My wife would love to visit India and Australia. I have traveled quite a bit in Europe and Japan. Plus, I would love to spend a summer in a country cottage in England.
Thinking about where you want to live or where you want to visit will give you some very strong clues about your millionaire outcome. Think about these two areas and write your thoughts.
Question 5: What cause would you choose to support with your time and your money if you were a millionaire?
An intriguing law of wealth states that, the more you give away to those in need, the faster your wealth grows. Interestingly, this doesn’t necessarily just mean giving money away. This can also include giving your time and talents.
Just by living in the world, we consume natural resources. And, there are millions of people in the world who live below the poverty level. Once we have achieved a measure of stability in our lives, we have a responsibility to give back in some meaningful way. Doing so brings a vast sense of fulfillment.
Think about what one thing you believe in so strongly that you would give, not only your money, but also your time and efforts to. Then, write it down.
Question 6: What have you always wanted to do, but never were able to do because of a lack of time or money?
One of the challenges that many of us have is that we have trained ourselves to stop thinking about what we want. We start to limit our thinking to what we think is possible.
The problem with that is that possibility changes over time. What may not be possible today may be very reasonable in a year or two or ten. But if we have trained ourselves to stop thinking about what we want, we won’t be looking for the possibility when the opportunity arrives.
What we want to do is to continually keep the things that we want to be or do or have in front of us so that we can recognize the possibility when it comes.
Think about your own set of desires that you may have set aside. Then write them down.
Question 7: What would you do if you found out that you only had six months left to live?
I’ve had the opportunity to watch an incredible young lady over the last several years. When she was 13, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. On more than one occasion, the doctor told her that she has less than a year to live, only to then let her know a few months later of a new treatment that gave her an additional several years. I heard her say once that she had learned to focus on those things that were the most important to her.
If you were to suddenly learn that you had only six months left to live, how would you spend your time? Chances are, the way you would spend your time in that situation represents the things that, deep down, matter the most to you.
Think about this for a few minutes, and then write your answer.
Before we move on, I hope you’ve made the effort to actually write your answers to these questions.
According to a study that Bob Proctor describes, if you simply think about your answers to questions like these, you are only about 5 percent likely to achieve them. If you take the one step of writing them down, the likelihood jumps dramatically up to 40 percent.
Be, Do, Have
When John Goddard was 15, he got out a yellow pad of paper and wrote at the top, “My Life List.” He wrote down 127 things on that piece of paper that he wanted to be, do, or have. Since then, he has accomplished 109 of them.
The ones he accomplished first were relatively easy. He learned how to type. He became an Eagle Scout. He learned how to play the piano, flute, and violin. He rode a horse in the Rose Parade. He built his own telescope. He ran a mile in five minutes. He learned how to snow and water ski.
As he continued on, the things on his list got more difficult. He explored the Nile River by kayak. He studied primitive cultures in the Congo. He climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Ararat. He learned how to fly a plane. He visited the Taj Mahal in India. He published an article in National Geographic and two books. He learned how to speak Spanish, French, and Arabic. He retraced the travels of Marco Polo and Alexander the Great.
You can see John’s list at johngoddard.info.
As Jack Weyland says, “One reason people don’t get out of life what they want to is because they don’t know what they want.”
Knowing what you want is an important component of your millionaire outcome. So, I would like you to now go through the same exercise that John Goddard did.
Open your journal to a fresh page, and write, “My Life List” at the top. Then write down on the list any idea that comes to your mind for anything you want to be, to do, or to have. See if you can list 100 different ideas. Check out John’s web site for inspiration, if you need to.
Keep the list handy for the next couple of days. You will have more ideas come into your mind over the next 48 hours or so.
Once your list is pretty full, put a star next to two of your ideas.
The first idea to star is the one that you think you can achieve the quickest and the easiest. This is your “Get It Quick Idea.” Immediately take some kind of concrete action on your Get It Quick Idea. It doesn’t matter what that action is, but do it and do it now.
The second idea to star is the one that you think you really, really, really want the most — more than any other item on the list, no matter how difficult it may seem. This is your “Want It Most Idea.”
Again, please finish this exercise before proceeding. Just thinking about what you want will have some benefit. But until you actually write down your ideas, the likelihood of actually achieving any of them is very, very small.
Creating Your Millionaire Outcome
We are now going to describe a picture of you. Specifically, this is a description of what a day in your millionaire life would look like.
As you write your description, focus on what you will do. You have your answers to the millionaire questions, as well as your My Life List to guide you.
There are only three rules.
First, write in the present.
Second, concentrate on what you do.
Third, as you write, realize that the description you’re writing isn’t a final product. It’s just one of many steps on the way to even greater successes. This is an exercise that is good to repeat at least once a calendar quarter, or even monthly.
One last thought: Jack Canfield, one of the authors of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, interviewed General Wesley Clark. General Clark commented that it doesn’t take any more effort to set goals high than it does to set goals low. Write what you really want, not what you think that maybe you can get.
Write your description in your journal. Don’t continue until you’ve completed a draft of it.
Here is an example.
I wake up naturally at the time of the morning that is absolutely perfect for my body. The woodland fragrances and the wafting of the waves outside my window tell me that I am at my cabin on the lake. I stretch, and get up feeling totally rested and absolutely energized. I sit on my deck overlooking the lake and enjoy a leisurely breakfast. I read the news and check some investments, making a few adjustments where I need to.
Depending on the day, I may choose to launch my canoe or saddle my horse. In either case, I find myself perched on a comfortable rock on the edge of a high cliff, overlooking a majestic canyon. Fully inspired by my view and the rush of spirit the canyon brings, I pull out my laptop and start to write with an incredible passion. It is this passion and the environment that I write in that have made me a world-class, million-copy, bestselling author.
Understanding Your Outcome
Now, take every element of your description that you consider essential to your happiness and list it under the heading “vital.” Take every element that would contribute significantly to you picture and list it under the heading “important.” Then, list those you would really like to have but could live without under the heading “optional.”
Following on the example of a picture we looked at earlier, you might have something like this.
Vital
- Work when, where, and how I want to
- Doing work that I am passionate about
Important
- Succeed as a writer
- Sell one million copies
- Enjoy nature on a regular basis
Optional
- Own a cabin on the lake
- Own a horse and canoe
Here’s the interesting thing. You may see that one of the elements of your millionaire outcome is something that you can begin to achieve right now. There are often so many things that we put off because we think we aren’t capable of getting them yet.
When we look at them more deeply, though, we may find creative alternatives.
For example, instead of owning a cabin on the lake, perhaps you might acquire an old van and do a van-lifer conversion on it. And, you might even find a nice lake that you can stay at for free on Bureau of Land Management or Army Corps of Engineers lands.
The reality is that we don’t necessarily need to wait until we have a million dollars before we start living our millionaire outcome. Circle each thing in your journal that you could start taking action toward now.
And, even though you have a very ordinary income, you can begin living the essential elements of your millionaire outcome now.
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