The Masses are most often wrong about everything. If you choose to follow the crowd, then do so at your own peril.

The very best achievements of mankind have come from people that did not follow the masses and travelled their own path.

Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Albert Einstein, Elon Musk, Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, Warren Buffett, the Wright Brothers, and so many more were either ignored by, or ridiculed by the masses for their thinking, and yet these people went on to achieve greatness beyond peoples imaginations!

Why?

These people above, thought quite differently to the masses. They acted differently to the masses. They saw things differently to the masses. They never accept "no" for an answer, and defeat is not in their nature.

They set their own path and followed it.

The masses are (generally speaking), broke or close to it. If they lost their job, and their earned income stopped tomorrow, they would last no more than a few weeks. Sure, some may last a bit longer, but not that many. Without a big payout from the employer, most people would be in financial distress within a few weeks.

So, knowing that the masses are generally living paypacket to paypacket, and that they struggle to make ends meet much of the time, obviously their financial and personal development skills are extremely poor, as are their choices.

So why would anyone chose to be one of the masses, and follow what they do?

Personally, I have no idea why anyone would choose to be one of the masses, however, 95% of the population make up "the masses".

If you think you are different from the masses out there, then that's great. However, you don't need to prove it to me or anyone else, you need to prove it to yourself, you need to be honest with yourself, and to do this, here are some simple questions to consider:

1. Did you set WRITTEN goals for yourself in the last year, two years and five years? If so, how many did you achieve?

2. With regard your education, have you read any books, attended any seminars or courses, listened to any recordings etc to improve your relationships, business skills, investing skills etc in the last 12 months?

3. If you have learned something new in the last 12 months, have you applied that knowledge to make a positive change in your life?

4. Are your finances in a better position today than the same time last year?

5. Is your financial knowledge better this year than last year? If so why? If not, why not?

6. Do you have a household budget and are sticking to it?

7. Do you pay your credit cards off at the end of EVERY month?

8. Have you made any financial or business mistakes in the past year?

A whole bunch of simple questions, that may sound rudimentary, but make the difference between the masses and the achievers. If you have answered "no" to any two of the above, then congratulations are due, because you are setting yourself up to be one of the masses, and a life of mediocrity!

You need to set goals and hit them. You cannot hit a target that you cannot see or a target that does not exist.

You cannot improve by denying yourself of knowledge and better skills.

Learning a new skill or piece of knowledge is useless unless it is applied, otherwise what is the point of learning?

Your financial situation is your scorecard. The truth lies in the numbers.

You cannot improve your financial position if you don't improve your knowledge.

You cannot get ahead financially without sticking to a budget (plan).

You cannot get ahead financially if you allow yourself to spend money you don't have, AND then pay high interest rates for the privilege.

Mistakes are how we learn. If you make no mistakes, you're not learning and not increasing your knowledge and skills.

Of course, if you are reading this, then obviously you want to get ahead in life.

If you have read this, and the other posts here on this site, then you will (hopefully) have answered "yes" to several (or more) questions above. If that's the case, then get to the point where you can say "yes" to all of them. That should be your goal.