7 Strategies for Wealth and Happiness summary

In most fields, people don’t expect to achieve success without years of study and practice. Take medicine. No one would attempt a triple bypass surgery without first studying the human heart for years. So how could anyone expect to become wealthy and successful without ever studying, say, financial management or how to run a business?

Fortunately, you don’t have to spend time and money at a university to learn how to increase your wealth. Instead, you can do it through self-led learning. 

How many times have you thought to yourself, “It’s impossible for me to be on time; that’s just the way I am?” Or “I can’t help that I’m a messy person.”

As common as statements like these are, they damage our self-esteem and make us feel like we’re unable to overcome our natural tendencies. But in fact, your self is one of the few things you can change. And by improving yourself, you increase your value as an employee, friend or spouse.

For most people, the word “taxes” conjures up a storm of dreadful images: endless forms, calculations of expenses and deductions, and parts of your income being whisked away. Worse, taxes often feel like an injustice. You may find yourself thinking, “Why shouldn’t I be able to keep all my hard-earned money?”

At the beginning of his career, the author asked himself this question too. However, his mentor, Earl Shoaff, urged him to become a happy taxpayer. Why? Because, he argued, your attitude toward money is just as important as how you spend it. A more positive outlook can help you feel less frustrated and more in control of your finances, so you won’t feel the need to curse the government for stealing your money.

What’s your approach to balancing work and life? Are you a drifter, someone who is resistant to any restrictions on his time and only willing to take on temporary jobs? Or are you a workaholic who devotes every waking moment to your career? Maybe you’re in the middle, working nine to five but unwilling to take on projects involving larger time commitments.

As you may have guessed, none of these approaches is ideal. You don’t have to choose between success with an excessive workload, or mediocrity with enough time to relax. In reality, you need to make time for every aspect of your life – working hard, spending time with family and even doing nothing. When you dedicate too much time to one of these areas, your lifestyle becomes lopsided, which is unsustainable in the long run.

Let’s face it: our friends tend to influence us, whether or not we realize it. If you hang around people who are careless with their money, for example, you might find yourself spending frivolously as well. Or if your friends go out to see sports matches every weekend, chances are you’ll end up tagging along.

Those scenarios might not sound so bad – but what if your friends have habits that are more destructive than these? In that case, you might end up adopting similarly harmful habits. For instance, if you surround yourself with liars and cheaters, you might begin to see their behaviors as the norm. And before you know it, you might find yourself lying and cheating too.

We often hear stories of ultra-rich celebrities and business people who are deeply unhappy despite their wealth. How is that possible, when they’ve reached the peak of success? Unfortunately, although these people have amassed huge fortunes, they likely never learned how to be satisfied with what they have.

While many people already agree with the adage that “money can’t buy happiness,” they still assume that more money will make them more confident, charismatic and generous. But in reality, money can change neither your character nor your satisfaction with life. If you’re unhappy and insecure now, chances are those qualities won’t just disappear if you become wealthy.