Discover the powerful shift from desperately chasing wealth to strategically building value. Learn the 5 mindset and action shifts that transform your financial destiny.
Stop Chasing, Start Attracting: The 5 Non-Obvious Habits That Make Money Chase You
Have you ever felt like money is a slippery fish, constantly darting away the moment you think you’ve got it? You try the side hustles, you read the books, you work the long hours, but the bank account balance remains stubbornly flat.
The conventional advice often centers on budgeting and saving, which are foundational, but they miss the most critical point: Money is a byproduct of value. You don’t attract wealth by desperately chasing dollars; you attract it by becoming the kind of person and business that naturally generates value.
The shift is subtle, but the results are transformative. Here are the five non-obvious habits you need to adopt to move from a “chaser” to an “attractor” of wealth.
1. Stop Trading Time for Dollars – Build Assets
The fundamental trap of the “chaser” is believing their income is directly tied to their clock. When you work an extra hour, you get paid for an extra hour. This is linear and capped.
The attractor thinks differently. They focus on building assets. An asset is anything that generates income while you are not actively working on it. This could be a profitable business system, a portfolio of dividend stocks, rental properties, or digital products (like courses, templates, or e-books) that sell 24/7.
The Action: Dedicate a portion of your free time not to another shift, but to building one income-generating asset this year.
2. Obsess Over Contribution, Not Compensation
This is a mindset game-changer. The chaser asks, “How much can I get paid for this work?” The attractor asks, “How much value can I provide for this person/market?”
When you make your goal to provide 10x the perceived value of your price, you solve bigger problems and naturally command higher fees. Think of the world’s most highly paid professionals—they are not paid for the hours they put in, but for the magnitude of the problem they solve. If you solve a $1 million problem, charging $50,000 feels like a bargain.
The Action: In your current role or business, identify the single biggest pain point for your customer/employer and create a radical solution for it.
3. Replace “How To Save” with “How To Earn More”
While saving is necessary for stability, an obsession with penny-pinching can keep you in a scarcity mindset. It’s like putting a tiny hose on a leaky bucket.
The attractor focuses on widening the flow into the bucket. They view money not as a limited resource to be hoarded, but as an energy to be invested. They invest in new skills, education, networking, and tools that have a high probability of increasing their earning potential.
The Action: Identify the top three skills or certifications in your industry that correlate with the highest salaries and invest your next bonus or $500 into acquiring one of them.
4. Become Intentionally Uncomfortable
Growth and new opportunities live outside your comfort zone. The reason most people remain financially stagnant is that they default to what is safe—the steady job, the same friend group, the familiar routine.
Wealth is attracted to those who are willing to take calculated, intelligent risks. This doesn’t mean gambling; it means having difficult conversations, proposing ambitious projects, moving to a better market, or launching that product before it’s “perfect.”
The Action: List three things you know you should do for your financial future but are currently avoiding out of fear (e.g., negotiating a raise, networking with an executive, launching a new service). Do the easiest one this week.
5. Master the Art of Rest and Reflection
Burnout is not a badge of honor; it is a signal of poor resource management. Chasers often mistake activity for productivity. They work themselves into the ground, leading to mediocre results and poor decisions.
Attractors understand that their best ideas—the ones that unlock massive new income streams—come from a place of clarity, not exhaustion. Regular, intentional rest and reflection time (away from screens) is where you analyze your current systems, spot the biggest leverage points, and plot your next strategic move. This pause is what allows money to catch up.
The Action: Schedule a 30-minute block on your calendar this week titled “Strategic Thinking Time.” Use it to review your income streams and identify one system you can automate or eliminate.
The Final Word
Money doesn’t chase neediness; it chases competence and certainty. When you stop frantically looking for money and start laser-focusing on building genuine value for the world, the flow of currency becomes inevitable. Change your focus from chasing the transaction to becoming the destination, and you will find that money stops running away and starts running towards you.
