How Every Little Event in Your Life Is an Opportunity to Grow Rich

Almost every event that comes along is an opportunity to become richer in many aspects of your life, writes Mark Ford. metamorworks/Shutterstock

Commentary

Here’s a thought: Every event in life, however small, is an opportunity to become richer. Richer in knowledge. Richer in trust. Richer in friendship. And, of course, richer in financial wealth.

There are people who understand this at an almost instinctive level. I’m thinking of those rare individuals who are always on the move, always upbeat, always asking questions and coming up with ideas, always happy to help, and always eager to start new projects and set out on new adventures.

When such people have the additional blessings of intelligence and good health, they inevitably rise quickly to the upper echelons of whatever world they inhabit.

These are the natural-born wealth builders.

And they are loathsome creatures. They make the rest of us feel inferior in their presence. They don’t mean to. Of course not. They are affable and well-intentioned. But they annoy us. They have that gift, too.

This is envy speaking. The right emotion would be admiration. And the right action would be to learn from the natural-born wealth builders by studying and emulating what they do.

Many of the most successful books on self-improvement, from “Think and Grow Rich” to “The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People” to “Rich Dad Poor Dad,” are based on that logic. They identify a certain number of key behaviors common to the natural-born wealth builders and use them to structure their advice.

And it is good advice. Read those books. Even if you don’t like the idea of self-improvement, you’ll recognize the value in their suggestions.

We are talking about big behaviors here, like setting goals, choosing partners, and where to invest your time and capital. But in between those big behaviors are hundreds or even thousands of small behaviors—decisions we make daily, without thinking, that make a difference, too. Decisions that can add to or subtract from life’s richness over time.

Take conversations, for example. The little conversations you have with yourself when you are brushing your teeth in the morning. Or the small exchanges you have with fellow workers. Or the answers you give your spouse or child when they ask seemingly unimportant questions about your day.

You probably don’t think of conversations like these as opportunities, let alone opportunities that can add to your wealth, but they can be.

I was—and am—as blind as the next person to seeing and seizing these small moments. I’ve been particularly bad at noticing all the little opportunities I have to increase my stores of happiness and equanimity. But in one area of my life I did learn to do it, and it did make a difference.

I’ve told this story elsewhere before, so I won’t repeat it at length here. But at one point in my early 30s, I decided to make “get rich” (financially rich) my one and only goal. I had no idea how I was going to do it, but with that goal in mind, I was able to make lots of small decisions that added up.

If, for example, I was shopping for a watch, it was clear to me that the one I should buy would be the cheapest one that could keep good time. If a colleague asked me for help with something, I saw it as an opportunity to deepen a relationship that could one day pay dividends.

Eventually, I didn’t need to consciously decide if or how I could take advantage of a particular situation to advance my “get rich” goal. I was reflexively looking at every little event in my life in terms of four questions:

• In what way is this an opportunity for me to increase my wealth?
• What is the potential of this opportunity?
• What are the costs and possible problems associated with this opportunity?
• And if the answers to those questions were positive, what can I do to seize this opportunity?

Better input produces better output. And when you can make continuous strong inputs a habit, you will find that all the many little things you do will become more rewarding in about every possible way.

I’m sure you do this in some areas of your life. And if you look at those areas, you will notice that you have no difficulty making small decisions when small opportunities come along. It’s easy to say yes when the opportunities are good, and no when they are not. In those situations, you are acting like a natural-born wealth builder.

If, like me, you’d like more richness in one or another area of your life, here are some little decisions you can begin making now:

1. What you decide to think about the moment you wake up in the morning.
2. What you decide to talk about at breakfast.
3. What sort of programming you decide to listen to on your commute to work.
4. How you decide to greet your boss and fellow workers (including the expression on your face and your grip when you shake hands).
5. The first task you decide to work on each day. (Hint: It should be important, but not urgent.)
6. How you decide to respond to interruptions.
7. How you decide to respond to criticisms.
8. If you decide to talk to the stranger sitting next to you on a plane.
9. The tone of voice you decide to use when you answer the phone.
10. How much effort you decide to put into preparing for a speech, an interview, or a meeting.

They say it takes only 14 repetitions to make a habit. So, make it a habit to turn the little events into opportunities to enrich your life. Once you have the habit of making enriching decisions, your world will open up to you. Try it for one week. You’ll see!