Why do I Continue to Fail In My Attempts to Acquire Wealth?

In his “Twelve Reasons Why People Fail to Achieve Wealth and Security” author Anthony Robbins answers that question.

1. They never clearly define what wealth means to them. Exactly what would it take for you to feel financially abundant? Take a few moments to consider this question. Consider what it would take to make you feel financially secure. Vague, catch-all responses like “Wealth means I could buy anything I want are not acceptable. “Wealth means my home is paid for, I am debt free, and all my monthly bills are taken care of is getting much closer to the idea here. You should spend some time looking at your expenses, crunching numbers, and seeing exactly what it would take to get to your desired place. And it is one that, given time, you would have a realistic chance of achieving.
    
2. They make wealth a moving target. It is a general human trait that no matter what we have, we almost always want a bit more. But our motivation to reach toward a specific goal quickly fades when we get close to it, and then, for whatever reason, decide that that goal isn’t nearly enough. That doesn’t mean you should quit striving and accumulating and growing. Rather, there must be a point at which you can pour yourself a cold one and say, At last, I have succeeded. “No one wants to play a game where the minute you shoot the ball, they move the target,” Robbins says. “You have to be able to win.”
    
3. They define wealth in ways that make it seem impossible to achieve. “If you’re thinking you need ten million dollars, but you don’t make more than fifty thousand per year, that seems pretty impossible,” Robbins lectures. But the truth of the matter is that you probably don’t need ten million dollars to achieve the lifestyle you want. This is why you must clearly define your goals and compute exactly what it will take to make them a reality.
    
4. People make their goals so big, they don’t believe they can ever achieve it, and they simply don’t start. An extension of # 3 above.
    
5. The fail to make wealth an absolute “must.” According to Robbins, every person gets what he or she MUST have. Too often, matters of personal wealth are relegated to the level of SHOULD. Write down a paragraph about why you MUST be wealthy, why you MUST have abundance, and what it will do for your family.
    
6. They do not develop a realistic plan. Pretty self-explanatory, really.
    
7. They get a plan, then fail to follow through. Having a plan isn’t enough. Take some action, no matter how small, toward your goals. And take it immediately.
    
8. They listen to experts and give experts the responsibility for making it work, rather than bearing that responsibility themselves. We’re back to the old tenet: No one will care about your money as much as you do. You can look to others for advice, but you must look to yourself for understanding, implementation, and responsibility.
    
9. They give up when they face major financial challenges. Bad times and failures are going to happen. You, your character, your resiliency, and your abilities are all going to be tested. Sometimes, though, losses must simply be absorbed. “The people that succeed are not the ones that never failed,” says Robbins. “They’re the ones that fell down and jumped back up as fast as humanly possible.
    
10. They fail to conduct their lives as if they were a business. There’s a word that gets attached to businesses that post losses year after year: BANKRUPT. It’s the same with your personal finances. When all is said and done, when all the bills and groceries and taxes have been paid, you must eventually bring in more money than you send out. Crunch the numbers, track your income and expenses, and resign yourself to posting profits in your personal life. Then work on making those profits grow.
     
11. They allow other people’s pessimism or optimism to affect the intelligent implementation of plans. People who are wealthy are those who have gone against the grain; i.e., they were buying when others were selling, selling when others were buying, or creating something that fulfilled an untapped need or niche. Generally speaking, in most any situation, if you run with the crowd, you’re going to get trampled. You must think, and act, independently.
     
12. They never get quality coaching. Find someone who is already where you want to be—or is well on the way to that point—and glean everything you can from them. There is no teaching like experience, and there are no teachers like the experienced.