In my study on the habits of the rich and poor, I learned that three things about mentors:
- Mentors are hard to come by – only 24% of the wealthy had a mentor in life.
- Finding a mentor is the fast track to accumulating wealth – that 24% who found mentors also happened to accumulate their wealth at a younger age than the rest of the millionaires.
- Having a mentor produces the greatest accumulation of wealth – almost all of the millionaires in my study who had a mentor, also happened to have accumulated the most wealth.
So, clearly, the goal for everyone who wants to be rich should be to find a mentor
But what if it’s just not in the cards?
Well, that was the case for 76% of the wealthy in my study, yet they still somehow were able to become rich.
How did they do it?
They mentored themselves.
In my study, I found that there are two ways to mentor yourself:
- Reading – Reading to gain knowledge. Reading “How-To” books/articles about successful people in your field.
Reading biographies about successful people. - The School of Hard Knocks – Starting a business and figuring it out.
When you start a business, you will make mistakes and may even fail.
These mistakes and failures teach you what works and what doesn’t work.
Because they cost you time and money, the lessons they teach create emotional memories, the most powerful type of memory there is.
Emotional memory is like scar tissue on the brain.
It never goes away. The memory sticks forever.
