No One is Born with the Knowledge of Becoming Rich

We have already stated how people are never born with their richness. They might be born into richness, but this richness is not theirs. If they have to make it their own, they have to work for it.

It is a fact that a rich man will be just as concerned about his son as a poor man would be. They would both think how their sons would manage things when they grew older. The bottom line here is – Every man has to work towards richness. They are not born with the knowledge.

Think about one of the richest men of our times – Bill Gates. The son of a humble attorney and a schoolteacher today has a net worth of 40 billion dollars, making him the richest businessman in the world. All his wealth has come from a single source – Microsoft – which in itself is one of the most influential companies of the world in any age and period.

Do you think Bill Gates was educated differently from the rest of us? Was he a brighter kid than all the rest? In fact, no. Yes, he did become a student at Harvard, but he left his education midway in order to pursue his business (which became Microsoft). Actually, he was once challenged by his teacher for his lackadaisical nature, when he retorted that he would earn his first million before he hit 20 years of age. Well, Bill Gates earned his first billion before he reached 21 years of age.

So what set him apart? One of the things that made him different at that time was that he knew what he wanted to do. He did not allow the razzle-dazzle of his big-name university faze him. He kept his focus on what drove him. He liaised with the right people; people who he knew could take him forward and who he could take forward in the process too. He remained truthful to himself about his financial position and he promised to himself to do better.

But, most importantly, Bill Gates did not actively think about money!

He instead thought about the quality of his product. He asked himself repeatedly, “Is what I am providing going to do anything for the world?” That is what set him apart. We usually think, “Will this make a profit for me?”, while the people who attain richness think, “Will this profit the world?”

And this knowledge does not come at birth. You learn this as you grow, just as you learn various other things. You learn that richness does not come by thinking about money; in fact, that has the opposite effect.