You have probably heard the expression "the first million is the hardest to earn."
That statement is absolutely true. The first million you earn is by far the hardest million to make.
Most people believe earning their first million is the hardest because they start with nothing, while subsequent millions build on the previous.
However, there are five real reasons why earning your first million is the hardest and they are all based on how we think about money.
Psychological interference
Most people have doubts, fears, and an overall lack of belief about earning money before they've done it. Once you've achieved something unusual, the doubt, fear, and worry disappear.
The subsequent millions are earned far faster than the first million because you no longer have any hesitation in your mind or actions. It's a direct route to financial success when you eliminate any form of psychological interference.
Mental toughness
The mental and emotional strength gained during the fight for your first million becomes a true asset in the fight for the next million. Feelings of success feed on themselves and grow stronger and stronger. Using your newfound mental strength, the momentum continues to build and turns into an emotional tidal wave, making the money that much easier to earn.
The first million raises your awareness of what it truly takes to earn that kind of money, as well as the realization that higher levels of awareness in this area exist.
Supreme self-confidence
Once you have proven to yourself that you can earn that first million, the potential for more is endless. There is a confidence and a calm that comes after that first million. Once you've done it before, you are 100% sure you can do it again.
The confidence gained from the first million enables you to laser focus on the next conquest. Most of the time we are a big part of what's standing in the way of reaching that fortune, and once you get out of your own way and acquire the first million, your confidence skyrockets, and you believe you can do anything.
Nonlinear thinking
The first million, usually achieved through nonlinear problem solving, service providing, or technical innovation, encourages you to continue to employ nonlinear thinking strategies and solutions. Most people who have not earned their first million think of making money in a linear fashion, trading time for money.
But, real wealth is a byproduct of strategic thinking. Big money requires thinking about it in nonlinear terms. Generating money through ideas that solve problems is the path to endless millions because if there is no limit to ideas there is no limit to how much money you can earn.
Emotional motivation
After the first million, you can begin to see your dreams as a "coming attraction" to reality instead of simply a wistful fantasy. This emotional firepower will allow you to move faster towards subsequent millions. The success of the first million emotionally and psychologically separates you from skeptics and critics who may have derailed you prior to your success.
The money-making and millions-making process gets expedited by your enthusiasm. Financial success breeds positive, self-affirming self-talk that strengthens existing, empowering beliefs and creates new ones. We live in a society that rewards problem solving.
You have the right to be as rich as the problems that you solve and the value you create. While most people think of being rich as a privilege, once you earn your first million you will know that being rich is not a privilege - it is a right.
