“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.” – Oprah Winfrey
Gratitude is the secret to building wealth! Why? Because gratitude turns what you have into enough. This is what makes gratitude a foundational element to wealth building. Gratitude allows you to find joy in what you already have. Keeping up with the Jones is the silent stealer of wealth. Comparison is the thief of joy.
Gratitude, the practice of appreciating all that the stuff you currently own, is an essential factor in building wealth over the long term. For example,
Gratitude allows you to appreciate and focus on the assets you already own.
“Gratitude in advance is the most powerful creative force in the universe. Most people do not know this, yet it is true. Expressing thankfulness in advance is the way of all Masters. So do not wait for a thing to happen and then give thanks. Give thanks before it happens, and watch energies swirl! To thank God before something occurs is an act of extraordinary faith. And that, of course, is where the power comes from.” — Neale Donald Walsch
The way to your best life is owning every moment and staking a claim to the here and now, according to Oprah Winfrey. “I live in the space of thankfulness — and for that, I have been rewarded a million times over. I started out giving thanks for small things, and the more thankful I became, the more my bounty increased. That’s because — for sure — what you focus on expands. When you focus on the goodness in life, you create more of it.”
Oprah says when she started keeping a gratitude journal more than 2 decades ago, it was one of the most important things she’s done. The daily practice of writing down five things to be grateful for balanced her life in subtle and inspiring ways. “It sounds simple,” Oprah says, “but when you go through the day staying conscious about what you put on your gratitude list, it shifts the lens through which you see the world.”
The practice of gratitude begins with being grateful for all the things you currently have – family, friends, experiences, and assets. Gratitude is focusing on all that you have and being thankful.
Wealth is much more than material things and owning assets. It is the presence of having a life filled with happiness in being, doing, and having what you want in life.
All too often, you fail to recognize your accomplishment because you are too busy moving onto the next task on your agenda. Yet, much of your success has to do with the people around you who have helped you focus on what’s important and helped you reach your goals.
Always remember, success, like wealth building, is a journey.
Building Wealth Takes Time
Some people are reluctant to make a wealth-building plan because they don’t want to wait 10 years. They would rather enjoy their money now.
The folly with this type of thinking is that most of us are going to be alive in 10 years. The question is whether or not you will be better off 10 years from now than you are today. Where you are right now is the sum total of the decisions you have made in the past. Practicing gratitude now can line you up for success and wealth building in the future.
Measure and focus on what you want more of. What you focus on expands.
You may think of money and wealth when you hear of measuring what you want more of, however; the same holds true for expressing gratitude. Make a list of things you are grateful for or write out what you are grateful for in a journal.
Complaining, blaming, or venting puts your focus on the negative things in life. You may wonder why some people seem more abundant than others.
To build wealth, it’s best to follow the two strategies that have the highest chances of success. And that is to practice gratitude, and to get into the habit of saving and investing early and to keep it up.
Gratitude is the key to building wealth
You might think building wealth is all about money, but it’s also very much about mindset. If you want to cultivate a money mindset that helps you build wealth, gratitude is a key component. Because gratitude can help shift your mindset from scarcity to abundance, help you spend less, and feel better.
There is so much abundance in front of you if you choose to see it. The more you intentionally work to change your mindset, the easier it will become to see the abundance in life.
Actively practicing gratitude helps you realize how much you have to be grateful for right now instead of focusing on what’s missing.
A scarcity mindset focuses on what’s missing and always wants more. It feels like there is never enough. This mindset can be harmful to your financial health because you can make poor decisions out of fear.
When you are in an abundance mindset, you realize your opportunities are limitless. You believe there’s never enough, instead you think there is always more than enough. Focusing on abundance can help you attract more money and have a healthier money mindset.
Gratitude can help build that abundance muscle. Let’s say that you have a studio apartment but you dream of having your own 2-bedroom house. You don’t have the car you want now but imagine getting a Tesla.
When you focus on gratitude, you focus on the fact that you have a roof over your head, that you’re healthy, and that your car still works instead of focusing on the fact that you don’t have a 2-bedroom house or Tesla yet.
When you focus on gratitude and appreciate what you have now, you start to realize that you need even less than you thought. In today’s culture, we are conditioned to want more, to seek bigger and better, which of course affects our spending.
Being content with what you have now can lead to less spending because you realize you have everything you need. That doesn’t mean that you can’t strive for more. It means that you can truly enjoy the journey rather than feel the emptiness of what’s missing.
When you acknowledge and are grateful for whatever you have, it allows more to be drawn to you and changes the way you experience life. The more grateful you are, the more wealth that you have.
“Feeling grateful or appreciative of someone or something in your life actually attracts more of the things that you appreciate and value into your life.” — Christiane Northrup
References:
- https://debrakasowski.com/2014/02/22/what-does-gratitude-have-to-do-with-wealth-building/
- https://www.goalcast.com/7-oprah-winfrey-quotes-to-charge-your-day-with-gratitude/
- https://www.oprah.com/own-podcasts/oprah-winfrey-grace-and-gratitude
- https://www.newretirement.com/retirement/keys-to-building-wealth-after-50/
- https://www.thebalance.com/how-to-become-wealthy-356376
- https://grow.acorns.com/self-made-millionaire-money-habits/