I bumped into this book a few years ago -- Rich Habits: The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals by Thomas Corley. It came out in 2010. There are many highlighted sections in the book that I'd like to share. I will come back to it in the next few days.
The central theme of the book is this: while the rich share some habits, the poor share some different ones. These habits widen the social and economic distance between them. The habits of the rich consistently lead them to a life of prosperity. Similarly, those of the poor keep them struggling daily to make ends meet.
First of all, his definition of wealthy people is NOT someone who simply makes or possesses plenty of money, not a lottery winner or an inheritance recipient. He believes real wealth include much more than the material wealth. What we are after is the non-material part in them.
According to the author, the real rich folks are those who started poor, built their wealth from scratch, being self-reliant. They basically from day one, have nothing but abundant spiritual wealth and gradually transforms the spiritual wealth into material wealth.
I think his definition fits perfectly many of us -- the first generation of immigrants who came to this country empty-handed, started from the bottom and worked all the way up the ladder.
Yesterday I wrote about the downfall of Elizabeth Holmes. A friend of mine suggested another Chinese saying, 一失足成千古恨 (Yī shīzú chéng qiāngǔ hèn), A single misstep leads to a lifetime of regret. I think this perfectly describes how Holmes feels now.