15 Things Slowing Down Your Journey to $1,000,000

You know, the first million— that first million is hard. The second is pretty much inevitable. To get to your first million, though, you have to become a completely different person. You have to become different from 90% of the world, and that climb is steep. But by the time you reach your first million, you've become that person, so the second million just flows.

Some things seem out of your control, because that's how they started, like health issues, job loss, and lack of financial knowledge. But they do not have to be out of your control forever. Okay, here are the 15 things slowing down your journey to $1 million.

So first of all, pretty basic, you don't have the time. Working one job that pays $60,000 a year, paying $40,000 for your living expenses, and saving $20,000 a year will take you 104,000 hours to get to a net worth of $1 million. That's 50 years. Okay, so you're right—you don't have the time if you want to make $1 million doing what you're doing right now. We know this because others have done it.

After your 8-hour workday, you come home and you put in three to four extra hours to make money on the side. The extra earnings go into compound interest, reducing your overall time to $1 million. You're not just going to have the time; okay? You have to make the time by finding ways to make money that doesn't depend on your time.

Number two: you don't have the mindset. What kind of mindset does it take to reach $1 million anyway? Well, it's a mindset that doesn't suffer from FOMO, doesn't think about work-life balance, and isn't focused on the treat-yourself mantra. You're okay with missing out on trips, you don't need the latest gadgets or clothes, and you don't have to reward yourself for every single achievement. It's okay to do these things if your goal is to focus on having a good time, but if your goal is to reach $1 million as quickly as possible, then caving into this kind of behavior shows a lack of discipline.

All things bleed into poor financial habits. Breaking these habits? Well, it takes time and practice, but doing so will change your life forever.

Number three: you don't have the work ethic. Now, it's hard to quantify and measure your work ethic, but we're going to try. How many goals did you set for yourself this year? Not just in your career, but in your personal life too. Work ethic applies to all aspects of your life, so look at your goals and then give them a difficulty level ranging from like 1 to 5, with 5 being the most difficult. So what were the steps you outlined to reach these goals? Now look at the timeline that you gave yourself.

If you didn't set any goals, outline your steps, or give yourself a timeline, then your work ethic is one—maybe zero— but we'll be nice this time. It's not about how many hours you put into your job; it's about setting clear goals and sticking to them until you've achieved them.

If you didn't do any of those things, as soon as you finish watching this video, go do that. Okay? If you have done these things, give yourself a point for each goal you've reached. If you faced setbacks and still reached that goal, give yourself another point. If you're halfway there, give yourself half a point. If your goal was very difficult or very easy, decide for yourself how many points you think you deserve between one and three. There's no set perfect number, but the greater your number, the better your work ethic. And if you're starting at zero, then you know what you need to do.

Number four: you're embarrassed. Embarrassment is the cost of entry. Okay, and if you can't handle that, well, you're going to slow down your journey, maybe even put the brakes on it. It's embarrassing when you're rejected from a higher-paying job, a business idea, or collaboration. It's embarrassing to advertise and market yourself for your business. It's embarrassing when you fail, right? It's even embarrassing when you succeed and people start asking for your advice.

There's unnecessary societal shame on every corner of this journey, and you've just got to ditch the embarrassment. Okay? People are going to judge you; you— and so what? They might laugh, they might talk about you, maybe they'll feel sorry for you or something because it's not cool. Okay, and then what? Nothing. That's what. You'll still be totally fine.

So first of all, come to terms with people doing this. Okay? Secondly, embarrass yourself so much it becomes boring for them to talk about it. And third, keep yourself so busy you don't even have time to focus on the mindless chatter.

Number five: you lack social skills or an obsession. Now, some might say this simplifies the path to $1 million too much, but we say simple is best. If you're not a nerd with some kind of obsession, then you need to become great with social skills. Steve Jobs and Elon Musk are billionaires because they're incredibly smart and obsessive about their work, but they do not have great social skills.

Okay, Jobs was known for his demanding and raucous management style, and so was Elon Musk. So if you're as smart and obsessive as them, then keep going. They were born with that intelligence and vision, and not many people are. If you're born with it, you can only work on it so much. The better option is to work on your social skills; those are way more achievable. Richard Branson, Oprah Winfrey, and Warren Buffett are smart, but they're also very charismatic.

So work on active listening, empathy, and great conversational skills, and you can network your way to $1 million.

Number six: you fear risk. So one of the quickest ways to make $1 million is to start a business, but starting a business takes money and time, and you might lose all of the money you put into it. That is unbelievably scary, right? There goes your safety net. You are right to fear that risk; everyone does when they start. It's stressful. There might even be nights when you can't sleep or days when you don't eat properly.

Most people on this journey are scared of that risk, but they do it anyway. Okay? That fear is always going to be there, but there are ways you can limit or control it. First of all, you start early so that only your life is affected by your choices. Second, you have an emergency fund that you use to survive, only if you don't meet your timeline. And third, you keep one income stream, usually your normal day job, until you're making more than enough.

Number seven: you only have one income stream. Look, we cannot stress this enough. Unless you're a trust-fund baby or you're young and fresh out of college and happy to live on peanut butter and noodles, your journey to $1 million needs to go hand in hand with a consistent, stable income. Yes, it eats into your time and energy, but it also gives you peace of mind, which you need as you're starting your journey.

Phil Knight, the founder of Nike, started selling shoes back in 1964. He worked at his accounting job for five years while running Blue Ribbon Sports, which is now known as Nike. He only left his job once it started to gain traction. Your journey to $1 million will go at a glacial pace if you close your laptop at 5 p.m. and bind for the sofa with your evening snacks.

Number eight: lifestyle inflation. You pretty much don't even notice this happening. You make way more money than you did a few years ago, yet you walk away with the same amount, maybe even less. What has even happened here? Well, small, simple things. Okay? You go for the slightly more expensive organic groceries. You don't go to the movie theater on discount days only anymore. Your date nights are the restaurants with the nice reviews instead of cooking at home.

On the bigger things, you don't go for the hiking and camping trips anymore. No, you plan for three weeks abroad. You trade in your Audi A3 for a BMW X5 and you no longer share an apartment with two other housemates. Your lifestyle costs have significantly inflated, holding you back from putting all that money into investments. It's time to pull back; look through your old budgets and live the life you did a few years ago on the money you make right now.

Number nine: high debt. Now, if you don't have student loans, then your first year of working is pretty flexible. Then your bank starts to notice you're making money and not paying them any interest. So they soon send you an offer for a credit card. You're young, new in the workforce, you don't fully understand interest rates, and you love the sound of extra money, so you jump at this chance.

The next thing you know, though, it's a few years down the line and you're putting your basic daily expenses on your credit card and struggling to pay it off. You've got no room to invest what you have left because, well, it's all going to the interest on your credit card or loans. It's like carrying a massive amount of extra weight as you're trying to climb your way up to $1 million. You have to get rid of that weight first; otherwise, you're going to move at a snail's pace.

Number ten: you've never started a business. So besides entrepreneurship being the fastest way to $1 million, even if you ultimately decide it's just not the route for you, the lessons you learn from starting your own business are totally invaluable. No matter how small your business is or how long it's been around, if you've sold to just one customer, then you learn some financial lessons that would take you years of experience to figure out in traditional jobs.

You learn effective budgeting, expense tracking, and profit maximization. You learn to be resilient and adaptable, and you learn social skills to be able to network better. You also learn how to manage your time, solve problems, and market something to be attractive to other people, not just to you. These are all skills that will help you reach $1 million, and starting a business, whether it's successful or not, is the quickest way to learn them.

Number eleven: you've got too many distractions. Your weekend festival plans, your midweek dinner plans, all the things laying on your floor that need to be picked up before you can even start—these are all distractions. And distractions take up your time. Okay? You need that time to work your way to one million. So, you either need the focus and willpower to say no to these distractions, or you need to remove them.

So tell your friends not to invite you anywhere for the next few months unless it's really important or special. Remove social media from your phone so you're not tempted to doom scroll. Get rid of the clutter completely so it never has the chance to create a big mess. These things all seem small, okay? We get it, but these are small things that steal your focus in subtle but very effective ways.

Number twelve: your mind shuts off at 5:00 p.m. Now, this is a tough one because look, okay? We get it. Your workday takes up so much of your mental energy that your brain feels fried at the end of it. The habit of shutting everything off when the workday ends is a relief, but then you worry, don’t you? You worry about your workload the next day, about your finances for this month, about your goals, and about the future. Your thinking power is still being used, except this time it's for hours of rumination, which doesn't solve or help anything.

But if you can direct that energy, even if it's just a little bit, to a course, a business idea, or a second job online—you only need to do it for one, two, maybe three hours, something easy that allows you to work from home—then you'll work towards solving those problems you keep worrying about. Don't completely shut your mind off when the workday ends, okay? Direct that energy towards something that's going to benefit you, something that will give you a sense of achievement and help you to earn some additional income.

Number thirteen: you made some bad investments. Now, as bad as this sounds and as stressful as it is when it does happen, making a bad investment isn't as detrimental as some of the other things on our list. If you've made a bad investment, it means you already had the money to invest, and you were investing it. You already have the necessary mindset; you just faced a setback, which is basically inevitable.

What's important is that you learn from it. If you're fresh starting out, play it safe. Take the risks with the money you can afford to lose. Never use borrowed money to invest and stay safe with the money that you're banking on for your future.

Number fourteen: you fundamentally believe that it is too late to start. Now, we've spoken about the importance of starting early, right? And if you've watched our previous video on accelerating your journey to $1 million, well, you'll know that we spoke about waiting to start a family until you're halfway to your first million. But what happens if you're in your 30s, you haven't started saving or investing, and you already have a family?

Well, as much as you want it, and even though you know you have what it takes to achieve it, there's just this nagging doubt that you've woken up too late. And that's a normal feeling, okay? It does make things harder, but it definitely doesn't make it impossible. You do have to make some adjustments; maybe waiting to start your business until your children are older, involving your family in the business to make it a collective effort, and bringing everyone onto the same page so they understand the sacrifices you have to make.

You also have to rely on your experience more. By this time, you spent years in your industry learning the ins and outs, so you've got a different kind of advantage. And you have to work closely with your partner to find a balance for your workload. Through all of this, what you absolutely cannot afford to do is believe it is too late. There's no drive or motivation in that, and if this is the path you're going to take, you have to believe you're doing this at the best time for you. Forget other people's timelines; this is about you, my friend.

And on a similar note, number fifteen: not starting today. This sounds so cliché, okay? We get it—start today, see the results. But really, okay? We mean it. Start today, right now. When you're finished with this video, go back to your goals and work through them like we spoke about in the work ethics section. Register your investment brokerage account and transfer whatever amount you can afford this evening while you're watching TV. Spend an hour looking for a second job or doing research for your business plan.

Come back to everything at the same time tomorrow and then the next day. Even slow progress is progress, okay? Never skip a day. And since you stuck with us until the end, here's your bonus: you don't have a step-by-step plan on how to start. You know, some people do well with an outline and a bigger picture, and they work from there. But if you've been struggling, then maybe you're not one of those people.

Maybe you need a step-by-step plan, something that guides you through everything—getting your mindset right, getting your energy levels up, generating business ideas, finding clients, marketing—the whole thing. So you have to do that; you have to create your step-by-step guide first. Well, the Alux app is a great place to start with this. Basically, you fill in a survey, and from there, we give you step-by-step learning paths for everything you need to work on. Each point has a course designed by experts in their field. They start off easy and progressively get more challenging.

It can be a scary and isolating journey, but it doesn't have to be. We'll be right there with you every single step of the way. And if you'd like to test it out, you don't have to pay a single dime, okay? We give you a 7-day free trial, and within that seven days, you're going to get so much value, it'll be a no-brainer to subscribe.

We can't wait to help you accelerate your journey to $1 million. We'll see you on the inside. Alright, those are our 15 things slowing down your journey to $1 million and the bonus. And as always, we'd like to hear from you at this point. What things have slowed you down on your own journey, and how did you work through them? We can't wait to hear from you, my friend. We'll see you next time. Until then, take care.