Like him or not, T.Harv Eker has become one of the leading experts on the psychology of Wealth and Money. He believes success comes from working on the ‘inner’ game of money and when combined with the outer game (the tools), results skyrocket.

It all starts with belief

For most people, the biggest hurdle to wealth comes from a lack of belief that it is possible to achieve wealth. If you don’t think you are worthy of wealth, you have a problem.

Don’t get me wrong … I am not one of these motivational gurus that think if you believe you can be wealthy, it will automatically happen. Building wealth may be simple, but it’s not that easy. But I do think that if you believe you can’t become wealthy, and then you probably won’t. It reminds me of Henry Ford’s famous quote “Whether you think you can or can’t, you are right.”

If you start with negative beliefs about money, it is difficult to get more of it. For example, some people think ‘money is bad’ or ‘people with money are crooks’ or ‘money is the root of all evil’. If you think this way, it may be hard to rationalize having more wealth with these negative hurdles in the way.

I believe wealth starts with believing that wealth can be good, productive and also attainable. If you don’t think this way, how can you want to be wealthier? Here are a few of my thoughts on wealth and money.

Wealth is attainable

Sometimes we perceive wealth as something you inherit or something you get if you are really lucky but statistics show that more people achieve wealth by working hard and saving money than people who inherit it or win it in a lottery. Some stats suggest that 80% of the wealthy made it one dollar at a time and less than 10% inherited it or got lucky.

Luck is created

If you have not achieved wealth and success, then maybe consider that your current or old ways of doing things have gotten you to where you are now. If you want different results, then you probably need to consider doing different things. Remember the definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results. For many people, luck is created. It’s funny how the harder I work, the luckier I get.

Selective retention

Sometimes people search for the answers in life but when the answers don’t ‘fit’ with their current ways of thinking, then they simply ignore them and continue searching. Maybe the answers have been there all along but you have not realized they may be the answers.

You have to really believe!

The mind is very powerful. It operates at both the conscious and the unconscious levels. Some people try to believe it is possible to become rich but it sits at the conscious level. For example, I know many people who read books on wealth, attend seminars and believe they will become wealthy. Yet they still have money problems. True success comes when your belief moves from the conscious to an unconscious level.

Change can be uncomfortable

To a certain extent, we are all creatures of habit. I’m not saying that people are not impulsive or do not like to try new things from time to time but if you really analyze your life, I suspect a lot of your life is really patterned. Do you go to work the same way every single day? Do you have 250 TV channels and watch the same 10 all the time? Do you have a wardrobe of clothes and yet wear the same 20% most of the time? Do you go to the same restaurants most of the time? And order the same item off the menu most of the time? Do you cook the same meals repeatedly?

As much as change can be uncomfortable, change can also good especially if it means improvement. I’ve always said if you always DO what you’ve always DONE, you will always GET what you’ve always GOT. If you want something different, then change is inevitable.

It’s not what we don’t know that prevents us from succeeding, sometimes it’s the stuff we know but do not put into action that is our greatest hurdle to success. Lack of action can be a big problem. If you think about it, wealth comes from developing good money habits.

What do you think are the keys to wealth? What do you think are people’s biggest barriers?