If building massive wealth were easy, everyone would have it. There is a lot of poor information out there on what it really takes to build wealth.
I recently interviewed Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary, who gave me some of the real secrets to his success. O’Leary shared some of his most treasured daily habits and the mindset that set him apart from the rest.
O’Leary, who sold a company for over three billion dollars, invests in countless businesses on Shark Tank and has built an epic personal brand is surely someone worth listening to.
Here are some of the daily habits, productivity tricks and mindset hacks used by O’Leary that helped him build his fortune:
1. The entrepreneurial journey has nothing to do with money
Money cannot be the only goal. This line of thinking inevitability leads to disappointment and regret. While it may look appealing, it is like seeing a mirage in the desert. You never actually get there, and you realize it was an illusion.
The first thing I learned from O’Leary is that life and the entrepreneurial journey has nothing to do with money.
In fact, according to O’Leary people don’t just create a billion dollars’ worth of wealth in a matter of a few months.
“That is not really what happens,” he told me. “An entrepreneur is a long haul of commitment and sacrifice, works sometimes as long as 10 or 15 years before one day you wake up and say, ‘Oh my goodness! I’m very wealthy. How did that happen?'”
2. Family is extremely important but not without sacrifices
I have noticed that work-life balance is all about sacrifice. You have to pick where to spend your time, and the decision is not always easy. But you have to be ok with your decisions.
O’Leary told me that the idea of a perfectly balanced life is bullshit. And I tend to agree. You can only focus on so many things at once, and if you try to focus on everything, you will probably face failure.
Missing family events is the name of the game. And if you have children, you’re going to miss crucial years, even though you think you won’t.
“In a successful growing business, it eats your time alive,” he said. “Then later in life, you can provide for your family things that many others can’t have. But because you sacrificed, you’re then given the reward of freedom.”
3. You have to tune into your surroundings
I have noticed that most of my personal success has come from always being prepared mentally and physically. I have to be ready to jump when opportunity presents itself.
O’Leary is like a hawk watching from above. Every morning, he told me, he gets up around 5:30 am and reads a series of research reports that come from Europe, and several dailies. He educates himself and gets ready to pounce on any opportunity.
He also usually spends some time on a bike each morning trying to burn 350 to 500 calories.
“I watch television at the same time, generally business channels,” he said. “If you look at the cycle of business, it starts in Europe when the markets open there, and you get a pretty good tonality of what’s going to happen in the bond and equity markets.”
This is all preparation for the day ahead. The mind and body have to sharp and ready to go.
4. Focus on important tasks before you add more to your to-do list
My personal to-do list has sometimes turned into a never ending list of tasks that I can’t seem to complete. It can be a struggle at times to manage tasks and prioritize.
O’Leary has a great way to get his important tasks done first. For something that seems so obvious, I wonder why so many of us are not doing this. I have been testing his method for a few days now, and it works like a charm.
His discipline involves picking three tasks that he wants to get done before reading any emails, taking any phone calls, doing social media or anything else.
“Even on weekends, those three things I’m going to do before I let anything distract me,” he said to me. “I learned this years ago; it really works.”
At the end of the day, one of the things that struck me most about O’Leary is that he practices the inevitability of success mindset. I asked him point-blank which one of his companies he was most excited about and with great conviction he said: “I’m excited about all the investments I have.”