Last Updated on September 2, 2024
Your first instinct is that they probably don’t talk about finances a lot. It’s rude to talk about finances, right? Not with rich people. If you think wealth or money is on the list, you’d be mistaken.
People who make a lot of money like to talk about how they do it. A lot. Just one episode of Shark Tank or Dragon’s Den will show you – they’re not shy when it comes to money.
They also like to share tips about what they’re doing with their money. What tax shelters they use, what investments they make, and what startups they fund. Warren Buffett is never shy about talking about where is money is going.
Is there anything out of bounds for prosperous people? You bet. Here are 10 of them.
Doubt
Highly successful people never really talk about their doubts. Not in the moment at least. They’ll never tell you that they doubt their decisions or they doubt themselves, even when they do.
Most of the time, in order to become successful, or highly prosperous, you need to overcome self-doubt. If you’re constantly sitting around thinking about the decisions you made, or worse, going back and changing decisions because of doubt, you won’t make it very far.
The reason these people don’t discuss their doubts; is they’ve simply found a way not to have them or listen to them. They wouldn’t be where they are if they did.
Personal Savings
You’ll hear a lot about investments, working capital, etc. – but you won’t actually hear them talk about liquid cash in the bank. This can be for a variety of reasons.
Just like you wouldn’t ask a friend how much cash they have in the bank right now, wealthy people are the same. Net worth, property value, and investments are talked about all the time, but bank account balances are not.
This is why some really wealthy people, or so you think, file bankruptcy seemingly out of nowhere. They may actually be running a deficit.
Negatives of Other People
You don’t get to the top by burning bridges and talking behind people’s backs. This is obviously different for those in a few positions, including politics, but the average wealthy person didn’t torch everything on the way up.
They know that their success relies on the connections they have with people, and slamming doors isn’t a good way to make friends. They don’t gossip, they don’t cut people down, and they don’t feed them to the wolves.
Pressure
You’ll never hear them whine about the pressure. Not because they don’t feel it, but they’re expected to handle it. Would you have sympathy for the problems of a CEO making 2 million a year? Probably not. How about your boss making 150k a year? Not likely.
They don’t discuss the pressure because no one would care. It would make them sound petty and incapable. Plus, they find ways to deal with it. They don’t discuss it, because like everything else, they’re paid to handle it.
Luck
If a successful person talks about luck, they do it in a way that talks about their skill to take advantage of it. Most people feel they, and they alone, are responsible for their success and wealth.
It’s debatable how much luck plays into the success of any individual, but most successful people will feel their skill put them in position to accept the luck. Most regular people would have missed the opportunity.
Loneliness
This is a very real issue that people at the top have. Once you get some money, it’s hard to know who are really your true friends. Most people are nice to you because they don’t want to be left behind.
In the same way that you’re really nice to your boss, but you may secretly despise them, the same can be true of wealthy people. This leads to a feeling of loneliness that they never discuss.
Their Resume Skills
This one is a bit misleading. They do talk a lot about their accomplishments, and previous jobs. They don’t always discuss the work it took to make that career change to get to where they are, and the effort behind it.
Chances are, even of the most successful individuals, held down a boring job or career at one point. One of the most important keys to a successful career change, is nailing down that resume. Wealthy people have long forgotten about the resume, or the things they did to make theirs stand out.
Complaining About Their Job
Everyone has a moment or two where things in the daily work environment just aren’t awesome. Successful people know that complaining about it won’t fix anything, and they’d rather solve the problem.
Every second spent complaining is a second that the person could spend doing something about the issues. Most people that gain large amounts of wealth do it by taking action. Not talking about how crappy things are.
Weakness
We all have weaknesses in some way. Most people successful people know their weakness, and they deal with it by hiring the right people to fill in the gaps. It’s why they never talk about it. They actually don’t have a weakness. They fix it.
The real trick when your successful is not to think you don’t have a weakness, but to work really hard to identify it. Once you do, you’ll be able to minimize the impact and begin working hard at turning it into a strength, or finding someone who can do it for you.
Fear
The F word. It’s a very real thing that most successful people never discuss. Everything from fear of making mistakes, fear of letting people down – even a fear of being too successful. That’s a real thing.
It’s often not talked about for many of the same reasons above, so you may think successful people aren’t afraid of anything. After all, fearless leader comes from somewhere, doesn’t it? Just because it’s not discussed, doesn’t mean it’s not there.
Do you discuss your fears with everyone? Exactly. Neither do successful people, even though they’re just as human as we are.