Dave Ramsey List

20 Things The Rich Do Every Day

			20 Things The Rich Do Every Day So what do the rich do every day that the poor don't do? Tom Corley outlines a few of the differences between the habits of the rich and the poor.
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I get a lot of good stuff sent to me by my loyal readers, followers and subjects that cover a lot of topics, most of which have utility for what is done on the ball field. This is one of those sent to me by one of my favorite readers, Ledra from http://natteringssmattering.blogspot.com/

aka Mrs. TheSlav.

Enjoy.

P.S. - It looks like I'll never be rich, but that's OK, I'll just change the way I measure wealth so that I feel rich.  Psst...the utility is in the development of good habits / choices that one puts into daily practice.  If you have a better list, use it. 

20 Things the Rich Do Every Day

So what do the rich do every day that the poor don't do?

Tom Corley, on his website RichHabitsInstitute.com, outlines a few of the differences between the habits of the rich and the poor.

1. 70% of wealthy eat less than 300 junk food calories per day. 97% of poor people eat more than 300 junk food calories per day. 23% of wealthy gamble. 52% of poor people gamble.

2. 80% of wealthy are focused on accomplishing some single goal. Only 12% of the poor do this.

3. 76% of wealthy exercise aerobically four days a week. 23% of poor do this.

4. 63% of wealthy listen to audio books during commute to work vs. 5% of poor people.

5. 81% of wealthy maintain a to-do list vs. 19% of poor.

6. 63% of wealthy parents make their children read two or more non-fiction books a month vs. 3% of poor.

7. 70% of wealthy parents make their children volunteer 10 hours or more a month vs. 3% of poor.

8. 80% of wealthy make Happy Birthday calls vs. 11% of poor.

9. 67% of wealthy write down their goals vs. 17% of poor.

10. 88% of wealthy read 30 minutes or more each day for education or career reasons vs. 2% of poor.

11. 6% of wealthy say what's on their mind vs. 69% of poor.

12. 79% of wealthy network five hours or more each month vs. 16% of poor.

13. 67% of wealthy watch one hour or less of TV every day vs. 23% of poor.

14. 6% of wealthy watch reality TV vs. 78% of poor.

15. 44% of wealthy wake up three hours before work starts vs. 3% of poor.

16. 74% of wealthy teach good daily success habits to their children vs. 1% of poor.

17. 84% of wealthy believe good habits create opportunity luck vs. 4% of poor.

18. 76% of wealthy believe bad habits create detrimental luck vs. 9% of poor.

19. 86% of wealthy believe in lifelong educational self-improvement vs. 5% of poor.

20. 86% of wealthy love to read vs. 26% of poor.

A Word from Dave…

There has been so much negative and ignorant response to the above list that I felt I needed to respond and teach; that is what teachers do. So to clear up any confusion from others' blogs and comments about us, we are adding this commentary to this posting. —Dave

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Over the last two decades, my company has taught people what the Bible says about money: getting on a plan ... in the Bible; getting out of debt … in the Bible; living on less than you make … in the Bible; saving money and thereby building wealth … in the Bible; being generous and remembering God owns it all … in the Bible. We teach living like no one else so that later you can live and GIVE like no one else. Our lessons are about getting your family under control financially so you can take care of your own household first. We also teach the importance of giving no matter where you are in the process, first with tithing and then with extraordinary generosity when you're able. We have always taught that responsible generosity is the natural walk for a believer. Anyone who has attended our courses or read our work knows this is a fact.

In addition to that, I have railed on things where the poor are oppressed in our culture—things like payday lending, rent-to-own, or our own government-sponsored oppression, the lottery.

Because of this, I am amazed at how many of my brothers and sisters in Christ have attacked us because of a simple list posted on our website. Maybe it shouldn't amaze me in our Twitter culture—where immature people now study, reflect, research and communicate in only 140 characters—yet it still does. The piece in question is a simple list outlining the habits of the poor versus the habits of the rich. It could just as easily have been a different list of the habits of the obese versus the habits of the physically fit.

What saddens me is that some members of our culture are so doctrinally shallow and so spiritually immature that the reaction was often rude, inappropriate or outright abusive. This reaction is sad because it's focused only on this one little list, not on our body of work. When you actually bother to look into what we teach, you find generosity and grace taught throughout. This reaction is sad because it's not even a reflection of what that little list actually says. This reaction is sad because it is a reflection of how politicized, immature and doctrinally ignorant some members of our Christian culture are.

This list simply says your choices cause results. You reap what you sow. Is the research perfect? No. It is a small sample, but it does pass the common-sense smell test. Does this research or the reason for posting it have anything to do with third-world countries? No. Anyone with good walking-around sense can see that this is a first-world discussion. Is this list a way of hating the poor? Seriously? Grow up.

There is a direct correlation between your habits, choices and character in Christ and your propensity to build wealth in non-third-world settings. To dispute that or attribute hate to that statement is immature and ignorant. To assume that our ministry hates the poor is ludicrous and is a reflection more on you than on our work or our beliefs.

Biblically speaking, poverty is caused and perpetuated primarily by some combination of three things:

1. Personal habits, choices and character;

2. Oppression by people taking advantage of the poor;

3. The myriad of problems encountered if born in a third-world economy.

The third-world economy is and should be a whole different discussion. If you are broke or poor in the U.S. or a first-world economy, the only variable in the discussion you can personally control is YOU. You can make better choices and have better results. If you believe that our economy and culture in the U.S. are so broken that making better choices does not produce better results, then you have a problem. At that point your liberal ideology has left the Scriptures and your politics have caused you to become a fatalist.

One of the main reasons our culture has prospered is because of our understanding and application of biblical truths. Bible-believing Christians believe in sowing and reaping—what the world calls cause and effect—as well as in God's sovereignty and providence. The scientific method you should have learned in seventh-grade science class is based on sowing and reaping (cause and effect). Bible-believing Christians understand God has called us to have an impact, to take dominion, on our environment, and logic follows that our habits, choices and character have consequences and harvests. For over 200 years, that belief system has led to life-changing industry, inventions and a standard of living never known before on this planet. This is not hate; on the contrary, it is love.

My wife and I started our lives with almost nothing, eating off a card table and driving two cars that did not total $2,000 in value. We were broke, but we did not believe that was our destiny. Over the next several years, we grew a real estate fortune, but lost all of that due to bad decisions and choices. And yes, it was all my fault. I was scared, beat up, beat down, and worn out with two small children and a marriage hanging on by a thread. But the Bible doesn't say I'm a victim; God's Word says I am a child of the King. So we began the long process of rebuilding our lives twenty-five years ago. God has blessed our efforts and we have done well, and for that I am incredibly grateful and humbled.

Despite these blessings, there are others who have far more than I do. The talents and treasures on this earth are not distributed equally, and that is not fair—or is it? God has chosen to give most of you better hair than me, to make Tiger Woods a better golfer than me, to make Brad Paisley a better guitarist than me, and to make Max Lucado a better writer than me. With God's grace, I am fine with that. I am not angry at them, and I don't think they have done something wrong by becoming successful. As I've matured, I've come to realize that God is indeed fair, but fair does not mean equal.

My team and I are loving teachers who understand that people's best shot at having a better life is to make better choices, have better habits, and grow their character. Our long track record of helping people shouts what we believe. We love Christ, we love people, and we believe the Bible's teachings are the answer to the world's struggles. We will continue to put them forth in the marketplace, and we will fight for our right to do so regardless of whether you agree—or whether you have the capacity to understand. We will do that because we don't work for our critics; we do our work as unto the Lord, and we won't stop until He tells us to.

Ledra

*****************
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by
the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what
God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2

<"();::::::;~

http://natteringssmattering.blogspot.com/ 

What gazelles and valedictorians teach us about success

SAME CAN BE SAID FOR WINNERS!!! LUCK HAS LITTLE IMPACT IN DETERMINING WINNERS LONG-TERM.

I read a couple of articles that highlight some of the difficulties teams have come draft time. The reason that the draft sometimes seems like such a crap shoot, especially if you focus exclusively on the more highly decorated success / failure stories.

Some of the commenters, after the jump of this story, try to spin it into a racial argument but really they miss the entire point of the article IMO. Can anyone really control your effort level? Isn't that what coaches preach, take care of the things you can control? And isn't hustle or effort at or near the top of the list.

ST. PETE TIMES ARTICLE ON THE SUCCESS QUALITIES OF VALEDICTORIANS

http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/only-one-african-american-in-pinellas-elite-class/1101710

In last Sunday's Neighborhood Times feature, "They rose to the occasion," the valedictorians and salutatorians were asked to give their "parting thoughts" by answering five questions.

Two of the questions caught my attention because the answers reveal the major sources of the students' achievement. The students were asked to discuss the "secret" to their success so far, and they were asked to identify the one person who has influenced their lives.

To the first question, the majority said that hard work, motivation and determination were their secrets.

My favorite two four letter words, HARD WORK.

The SPT Article cites:

- Hard Work, motivation and determination cited as qualities that led them to success and the top of the list of valedictorians and salutatorians in their schools. PERSEVERANCE.

- Becoming a valedictorian is similar to a HS player getting drafted in terms of percentile % of kids that participate versus those that rise to this the desired level of success. About 1 in 500-1,000 per class?

- These same qualities--observable but not easily measurable--are unfortuantely what tends to be the difference-maker, what will ultimately separate the high-draft pick that blossoms into a super-star versus the one who turns into a bust.

- It is the same qualities that will give us the free-agent who turns into a quality players at the major league level, in spite of having none of the more easily observable, readily measurable qualities.

It's easy to look at the Peyton Manning / Ryan Leaf draft and say that all this player evaluation / NFL combine stuff is so much wasteful exercise. By the same token, you can look at some of the more successful teams that use the centralized information better than their peers and succeed, and say the process works.

At the team level, we can point to the examples like the University of Michigan continuing to turn to Drew Henson over Tom Brady to show that the intangible qualities that many times you can see and feel but can't quite put a number on will sometimes conspire to throw objective analysis and reliance on measurable standards for a loop.

The player evaluation system works better in the NFL than in the pre-combine days. It is not a perfect system, but is continually evolving and getting better and while the goal is perfection-- a goal that theoretically can never be achieved -- the victory is in continually improving the product and the results. Especially in this day and age of ever-escalating bonuses. Teams simply must be able to justify their investment dollar decisions more objectively than in the past.

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Financial expert Dave Ramsey uses the analogy of having a Gazelle-like Intensity in order to modify behavior and get out of debt when the culture does everything possible to encourage you to be in debt.

SOME MORE FINANCIAL WISDOM FROM DAVE RAMSEY:

http://www.creditwithdrawal.com/wordpress/2008/02/05/dave-ramsey-and-the-great-debt-payoff-debate/

http://daveramseyguru.com/

http://www.daveramseyguru.com/baby-steps/

- 19 of 20 gazelles under attack eventually evade the cheetah, even though the cheetah is faster than the gazelle.

- The main reason is that while the cheetah is faster in a straight line than the gazelle, if the gazelle manages to zig-zag his way long enough to prolong the pursuit, the cheetah eventually tires and goes on to a weaker prey. The ones that fail are the weaker ones who quit and die.

We do not have the tools to measure this type of quality objectively in humans, so we are left to subjective analysis in our grading. "The kid is a gamer", "A bulldog", "The intensity of a junkyard dog".

HARD WORK, PERSEVERANCE, INTENSITY, FOCUS - DETERMINE SUCCESS OR FAILURE IN SPORTS,

BUT THEY ARE OF LIFE AND DEATH IMPORTANCE TO THE GAZELLE.



They are all factors that allow the "chosen few" to rise to the top and to do so often against peers who appear on the surface to be equally well-endowed as far as the physical gifts that are required for success. Could any of us identify the gazelle that is most likely to give up in its pursuit by the cheetah?

DEFINITION OF RAMSEY'S GAZELLE-LIKE INTENSITY:

http://www.paidtwice.com/2008/01/31/im-a-cheetah-not-a-gazelle/

According to Ramsey, gazelle intensity is a role play exercise. The gazelle has to be smarter, not faster, than the cheetah to escape it. In Ramsey’s world, you are the gazelle, and the credit card company is the cheetah. To escape the cheetah, you must be smarter than it. Just as the gazelle has to bob and weave to avoid the cheetah’s single minded straight line attack (apparently, a cheetah is only super-fast when running in a straight line), we must bob and weave and stay on our toes like a gazelle with never-ending intensity to avoid the credit card’s evil single-minded attack via numerous offers and specials and rewards.

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There are 10-15 kids in each graduating class every year that have the inherent academic skills necessary to be the class valedictorian. But only one makes it each year. I suspect it is often the one that has that gazelle-like, almost life-or-death devotion to success.

There are 10-15 baseball players drafted each year that have the requisite ability to succeed at the major league level. Certainly every first-round pick should be capable enough to succeed from the standpoint of physical gifts. But five years after each draft, you can review the selections and wonder what happened to well over more than half of them.

Only 1-2 attack the mission of gettig from draft-day to major league debut with "gazelle-like" intensity needed for success.


THIS STORY ILLUSTRATES THE ISSUE PERFECTLY:

One day a hound dog went hunting by himself in the woods. He spotted a rabbit in the underbrush and chased him out into the open. The rabbit darted this way and that. The dog followed. The rabbit ran, with the dog at his heels, around trees and through an open field.

When the dog began to tire of the chase, the rabbit, with one last burst of energy, dashed into the thicket and escaped to safety.

As the dog turned back for home, a goat herder who had seen the chase jeered at him, saying, "Some hunter you are! You let that rabbit get the best of you!"

"You forget," replied the tired dog, "about the rabbit's strife! I was only running for my supper. He was running for his life!"

In summary, Ramsey is illustrating that in order to get out of debt ( a financial goal ), you have to want it as if your life depends on it!

He uses the following bible verse as an example:

“Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids. Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, and like a bird from the hand of the fowler.” - Proverbs 6:5-5

Many times, elite coaches in sports or events that are geared even more towards standardization are surprised by the success of athletes who did not measure up well in the so-called "measurables".

This casts doubt on whether we really know what we are looking for come draft day. What qualities correlate best to future success? Perseverance, confidence in oneself, the patience to tolerate the deliberate practice required to make small gradual improvements at ones craft. These are the qualities one must have to tolerate the 10,000 hours some experts say are required to become an elite master at almost every craft.

Perhaps in the future we will be able to develop a better test to determine who has this "gazelle-like" intensity and perseverance or, better yet, how to develop it in every athlete.
Maybe more of an emphasis on these positive qualities over winning and losing as part of the sports culture.

Oh Slav, there you go dreaming of a better day.....

ADDITIONAL READING:

from the article:
Identifying Talent: What Really Matters by Daniel Coyle author of The Talent Code (highly recommended book)

http://thetalentcode.com/2010/05/05/identifying-talent-what-really-matters/

within the article Coyle recommends the book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck

from the Amazon.com reviews you will find the following synopisis:

From Publishers Weekly
Mindset is "an established set of attitudes held by someone," says the Oxford American Dictionary. It turns out, however, that a set of attitudes needn't be so set, according to Dweck, professor of psychology at Stanford. Dweck proposes that everyone has either a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. A fixed mindset is one in which you view your talents and abilities as... well, fixed. In other words, you are who you are, your intelligence and talents are fixed, and your fate is to go through life avoiding challenge and failure. A growth mindset, on the other hand, is one in which you see yourself as fluid, a work in progress. Your fate is one of growth and opportunity. Which mindset do you possess? Dweck provides a checklist to assess yourself and shows how a particular mindset can affect all areas of your life, from business to sports and love. The good news, says Dweck, is that mindsets are not set: at any time, you can learn to use a growth mindset to achieve success and happiness. This is a serious, practical book. Dweck's overall assertion that rigid thinking benefits no one, least of all yourself, and that a change of mind is always possible, is welcome. (On sale Feb. 28)
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