There’s a common belief among wealthy or “self-made” people:
Success is just a matter of mentality!
Think like a rich person, act like a rich person, and you’ll become one.

There is some truth in it but the reality is way more complex. 

A lesson I learned the hard way through a year of gambling

I'll use my gambling experience on Betfury but the general principle is easily exportable. 

To understand the flaw in the “mentality” narrative, imagine three people:

• A (rich) has: 10,000 tokens

• B (average) has: 300 tokens

• C (poor) has: 150 tokens

All three decide to gamble 100 tokens.

1 -The same decision is not the same risk.

They make the same choice — but not the same risk.
When things go badly:

• A loses 1% of his wealth

• B loses 33%

• C loses 67%

A can instantly reinvest another 100, or even 1,000. He will be rich anyway. 
B has to slow down and be careful. He can technically reinvest strong but the risk is to became poor. 
C is basically knocked out of the game, until he can recreate his stock. 

2 - The same loss cuts opportunities

after the loss:

• A has still a wide range of possible actions: he can stop, he can gamble again with a lower gear, he can take the same risk, he can double it....

• B has less possibilities. He can stop, he can use a lower gear or he can risk a lot to recover fast.

• C can only stop or use a terribly low gear to recover or risk the bankruptcy.

3- Mentality is not copying

I can see a critic of my previous statements. Mentality is not doing the same thing but being moved by the same principles. Good but think about this:

B and C could have invested a fraction of what A had invested. True. But that eventual earning would have been a non-significant amount, they would not really move toward success. Maybe that was the right strategy, however it's clear that B and C had to ponder more, mediate and calculate risk. A could go bold, over and over, until success. 

In Conclusion:

- Wealth creates second opportunities/Success is often the result of repeated attempts

- Wealth afford insurance/Poverty is the inability to survive mistakes

- Wealth permits changes of strategies/Lack or resource forces drastic decisions or mediocrity

A wealthy mindset without a rich margin is recipe for disaster. Someone will be lucky and strike it rich. But most of the time people will fail and return to starting point. 

(Or you can do like me and take unrequired risks while being A and falling to C). 

my 2 cents,

 

Lazy