17 Tiny Habits That Made Me Rich

Three years ago I discovered a secret. The key to getting rich isn't about living life at the extreme like waking up at 4am to get ahead of the competition or taking a daily ice bath to wake up your senses. It's actually about forming micro habits, tiny habits that you follow consistently. These small habits compound over time and not only have a big impact on your finances but also on your physical, mental and emotional well-being. So in this video I'm going to share with you 17 micro habits that have completely transformed both my finances and other areas of my life and also share tips on how you can apply them to your own life as well. Let's dive in. Number one, create more than you consume. According to the author of Rich Habits, the daily success habits of wealthy individuals, the wealthiest people in the world create more than they consume. Thomas Corley's research found that 67% of wealthy people watch TV for one hour or less each day compared to 77% of people who are struggling financially who watch TV for one hour or more each day. Instead of being glued to the box, think about how you can create something. When you create something you develop your knowledge, your skills, your experience more than you ever will through consuming. So to make creation a habit, start small. Maybe just 15 minutes a day doing something that you enjoy. This could be something like starting that YouTube channel that you've been thinking about, writing short stories or even learning basic coding or something through fun apps. Then to make sure you're on track, do a regular audit of your creation time versus your consumption time. It should always show that you're creating more than you're consuming. Number two, create distance from the wrong people. There's a saying that is, you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with and this has really struck a chord with me. I can't stress this enough. If you find yourself surrounded by people who are always talking about other people or putting someone else down or complaining, find a way to create distance from that. Because as long as that's around you, you're going to absorb that thinking and it's going to be really hard to make any drastic changes to your life. You can tell how successful someone is going to be by the size of the problems or by the kind of problems they face. Find people whose problems are about how to build more wealth, the way they do it, how to solve a problem, how to overcome a challenge they're facing. It's hard to do this if you are just starting out and I know two years ago when I was trying to find a place where I can tap into a new circle, I wasn't really able to be in the places that I was able to do that. So my closest circle became books, podcasts, YouTube channels. The internet makes it so much easier to shift your average. Number three, create an I can do this file. I record almost everything. Whenever I achieve something significant, I write it down. Whenever I reach an important milestone, I write it down. Whenever I'm paralyzed by fear or doubt about starting something new, I write that down. I remember my first live session on this channel being super nerve-wracking but I went through it anyway and I saved the whole process from my fear and my doubt to how I felt after I did it to all the positive feedback I got after it and how it was received. I put my entries into a tab on my Notion workspace labeled I can do this and it's just a motivation tool that reminds me about how I'm overcoming things and what I'm capable of. Life has its inevitable peaks and troughs and on my down days, just revisiting that file helps to put some pep back in my step and motivates me to reach new heights. Number four, show gratitude. I used to think gratitude journaling was a little bit cheesy until I came across Dr. Sophia Godkin's work and she really highlights that the secret to happiness begins with gratitude. So I started keeping a gratitude journal at 8 p.m. every evening. I get a notification from my day one app and I love using my phone for this because whenever the notification pops up I can just quickly add an entry and then I pick a photo that I've taken that day or I take one at that moment and I write the day's highlights and what I'm grateful for. It could be something as simple as getting the perfect coffee or a thoughtful message from a friend or making it to a workout. What I've learned is that your mind attracts what you focus on. When you actively look for good things, that's when life starts to shift. Instead of overthinking what went wrong, I'm always trying to notice the little things that went right. So if you want to try it, set a five-minute evening reminder and just jot down one thing from your day that you're grateful for. If you're like me and you prefer digital over paper, I highly recommend trying out the day one app. Number five, automate these two things. Warren Buffett famously said, do not save what is left after spending, but spend what is left after saving. I take this principle even further by adding investments into the mix. Do not save and invest what is left after spending, but spend what is left after saving and investing. For example, I've set up a system where every month a fixed portion of my income automatically is directed into my savings and my investment accounts before I could even spend a single penny. Doing this has benefited me in two main ways. Firstly, I consistently grow my finances without having to rack my brain trying to remember when to make manual transfers, especially when things get busy. And secondly, automating transfers means I'm less likely to make impulse purchases, like that limited time only that turns out not to be such a great deal in the cold light of day. Number six, get specific. Every year, without fail, I write down one big financial goal. And when I do, I like to be really specific. Why? Because the more specific you are about your goals, the more likely you are to achieve them. So rather than stating a general intention, like I will save more money, I tend to be more specific, such as I will save $30,000 for a down payment for my forever home by the end of 2027. So as well as keeping me motivated, I find being specific with my financial goals helps me break them down into smaller and more manageable milestones. So in my example of saving $30,000 by the end of 2027, I might aim to put away $1,250 each month in order to hit my target in two years. Number seven, audit these three buckets. I've made auditing my spending a cornerstone habit, quarterly for my business, and monthly, sometimes weekly, if I can, for my personal accounts. And I categorize every expense into three buckets, fundamental, which is your essential needs, fun, which is your lifestyle choices, and future, which is investments in your growth and the future you. What I love about this is it's not just about tracking, it's about intentional living. The intentional spending tracker that I use shows me in real time how I'm doing against my goals, whether I'm overall under budget and exactly how much I have left to spend. When I do this, it's like having a financial compass that keeps me moving in the right direction. I saw someone on TikTok talking about how budgeting is like being on a strict diet. Well, I actually argue that it's quite the opposite. I find it's incredibly empowering, no matter how much you earn, to have some clarity about where your money is going and when. That kind of clarity helps you make financial decisions with confidence. If you want to use my intentional spending tracker, it's completely free. It'll make it easy to categorize your expenses and spot areas where you might be overspending, plus it also will tell you how much you have left to spend that month to keep on track with your goals. Number eight, learn something new about money weekly. You know that saying, knowledge is power. Well, Warren Buffett, once again, puts it even better. He says, the more you learn, the more you earn. Every week, I block out just one hour, maybe during my lunch break, maybe after dinner, to learn something new about money. It's not a huge commitment, but it makes a real difference. So currently, I'm deep diving into behavioral finance, understanding how our early experiences shape our money mindset. And it's really fascinating to see how childhood experiences, even from as young as age seven, influences whether someone becomes a confident investor or feels anxious about spending. There's always something new to learn, and every little bit of financial knowledge adds up. Whether it's learning about a new investment app or understanding how to negotiate better, these small lessons keep opening up new doors. Number nine, stop caring about opinions. Everyone cares about the opinions of others to some extent, and it's one of the most difficult habits to break free from. But when you do, you start venturing out more and you start taking bigger risks. One thing that helped me overcome this and stop caring too much about the opinions of others is asking myself this simple question. In the grand scheme of achieving my life's goals, how important is this person's opinion? If the answer is not very important or something similar, I become laser focused on what I want to achieve and how I wanted to achieve it based on my own values, not the opinions of others. Number 10, understanding the yes trap. Learning to say no has been a really hard one for me to do, and according to research published by Psychology Today, I'm not alone. We all feel this way to a lesser or greater extent. It's a phenomenon psychologists call the yes trap. It's a deep-rooted feeling that we should always say yes to requests, to invitations, to opportunities, even when our plates are already full. The consequence of the yes trap includes burnout, it includes resentment, and it includes neglecting self-care. But there's also missed opportunities. By saying yes to everything, we lose out on pursuing opportunities that might actually align with our goals a lot more. Something I found that really helped me with this is really crystallizing my goals. When you are able to get so clear on your goals, you're able to beat the yes trap because it became easier to say no to anything that didn't further them. So step one, get really clear on your goals. Step two, whenever a new request comes in, ask yourself, will this help me achieve my goals or is it a potential distraction? Number 11, invest in yourself. I always say that the best investment you can ever make isn't in stocks, in commodities, or even real estate. It's in yourself. This is because the returns on self-investment compound in the same way that financial investments do. Their benefits add up over time. So whether you're pursuing your education, you're improving your fitness, or you're practicing self-care, putting yourself first is always a sound investment. Talking of self-investments, I wanted to share something with you that's made a massive difference in my life, and that is today's sponsor, Brilliant. It's an amazing online learning platform that makes learning fun and effective. Brilliant makes complex topics simple because you learn by doing, with thousands of interactive lessons on offer, ranging from maths and data analysis to programming and AI. What I love about Brilliant is how it helps you develop a powerful learning habit in just a few minutes a day. Plus, it makes it easy to learn when you're on the move, whether you're doing a deep dive into a new topic or having a short practice session, you can learn on the phone right where you are. Recently, they launched a ton of new data science content, all of which uses real world data to train you to see trends and make better informed decisions. Knowing how to read and understand data is literally one of the most important skills you can have in almost any industry. And what I love about the content on Brilliant is that you're learning the skill by working with real data sets from sources like Airbnb, Spotify, Starbucks. So whether you're a student, a professional, or just someone who loves to learn, Brilliant has something just for you. And if you're ready to 10x your learning journey, you can try Brilliant completely for free for a full 30 days at brilliant.org forward slash Nisha. I've also linked it in the description or by scanning the QR code on the screen right now. You can go through all the content completely for free. And if you love it and you want to continue, you can also get 20% off of your annual subscription using the same link. Number 12, diversifying your financial life through multiple income streams. Why? Because A, most millionaires you meet will have multiple income streams, and it really is a cornerstone in building wealth. And B, if one of your income sources take a hit, others can make up for that shortfall, allowing to keep your cash flow healthy. Today, my online income comes from things like brand sponsorships, affiliate marketing, YouTube AdSense, investments, my own product. If you're wondering about how you can go about creating a second income stream, take stock of your skills, your experience, your interests, and think about how you can potentially monetize them. I've also got another video here, which goes into a lot more detail about potential ways that you can monetize your passion. But what I want to add here is that fight the temptation to create multiple income streams at the same time. Start with one and then just go from there. Once that one is self-sustaining, then you can consider moving on to other opportunities. Number 13, simplify decision making. Steve Jobs was known for wearing his iconic black turtleneck, blue jeans, and New Balance trainers. And then when Mark Zuckerberg came onto the scene, he often wore gray t-shirts and jeans. They both had the same idea. They wore the same outfit each day to reduce decision fatigue, saving their decision making energy for more pressing matters. I've applied this to my own life by wearing a select few clothes during my working hours, or specifically during when I'm filming content. By automating these repetitive tasks means there's less friction in me actually sitting here and recording. It saved me a ton of time but also a fair amount of money too. So think about what areas of your life can you streamline to try and buy back more time and more energy. Number 14, network with intent. I did a podcast recently with Chris Donnelly who just launched a new business and made 10 million in his first year. And he made a really good point in that podcast where he went through a phase in his business where he was reaching out to 50 or more people a month or asking other people to introduce him to someone. And he really stressed the importance of the who factor in everything that we do. So while I did know this was a thing and I did know the importance of it, the way he scaled his business just made me realize how much of a factor it can be. I've definitely become a lot more intentional with it now and I've been putting myself out there more and reaching out more to people who I'd love to connect with. You never know who that person can be that can unlock a new opportunity for you. And one thing to stress here is that it's not just about what you can get but also about what you can give. So to truly stand out have a think about how you can add value to the person that you're reaching out to. By being intentional and adding value you can maintain and establish relationships that lead to incredible opportunities both ways either immediately or somewhere down the road. Number 15 take action before you feel ready. There's no perfect time to start something new. You'll never feel completely ready and tomorrow never comes. So whenever a good idea comes to mind I try not to procrastinate. I just take a leap of faith and get the first step underway. When I do that I may hit some home runs but I'll also very likely make some blunders too which I learn from along the way and that's okay. It's all part of the parcel of the learning process. The key takeaway is to trust your gut and just take that first step even if you don't feel ready for it. Number 16 ask the questions. Research shows that over 45 percent of Americans don't talk about money with their family, friends or their spouse or partners. But the same research states that 66 percent of Americans believe that conversations about money are key to achieving financial freedom. Most people don't like to talk about money but if you want to achieve your financial goals that's exactly what you have to do more of. Having conversations about money doesn't have to be about comparison. It can be focused on understanding people's financial values and learning their strategies. You can kick off a financial conversation in a very casual way in a non-intrusive way by asking open-ended questions like I've been thinking about budgeting lately how do you manage yours? Next time you meet up with a friend try a financial conversation starter and be willing to share your own perspective and experiences as well. Number 17 the one percent progress rule. This rule is about making small consistent improvements to your financial situation each month. This could mean increasing your rate of saving, trimming expenses or finding creative ways to boost your income. Here's the thing even a tiny one percent improvement every month adds up to meaningful meaningful results over time. Just by doing this you're setting yourself up for long-term financial success without feeling overwhelmed. Stay consistent and watch those small changes lead to big progress. Give it a try and see the difference that it makes. That's it there you have 17 micro habits that will change your life forever. If you enjoyed this video don't forget to subscribe it really helps out this channel and helps me keep making more content. Thank you so much for watching I'll see you next week.