Imagen-Reprogramming Your Mind For Wealth: 28 Inversion Principles For Financial Success

Introduction

In the illuminating podcast "REPROGRAM your mind to be rich in 22 minutes," host Alex Hormozi—founder and managing partner of Acquisition.com—introduces us to a powerful mental model that could transform how we approach wealth creation. Hormozi, whose portfolio companies generate over $250 million annually, shares a technique borrowed from his personal hero, Charlie Munger: inversion thinking.

This approach flips traditional problem-solving on its head. Rather than asking, "How do I become rich?" Hormozi suggests we ask, "What are all the ways I could guarantee poverty?" By identifying these pitfalls and then avoiding them, we can chart a clearer path to financial success.

In this discussion, Hormozi explains that our brains are evolutionarily wired to identify threats more readily than opportunities. By leveraging this natural tendency through inversion thinking, we can develop a robust strategy for wealth creation that works with, rather than against, our cognitive biases.

The Power of Inversion Thinking

Hormozi begins by explaining the concept of inversion thinking, a mental model popularized by Charlie Munger. "Charlie Munger, my personal hero, had a seminal talk that he gave multiple times on how to live a miserable life," Hormozi explains. The counterintuitive approach involves solving problems in reverse.

"If you want to have a good marriage, rather than asking the question 'how do I have a good marriage,' you ask the question 'how would I destroy my marriage?' Then you list out all the ways to destroy your marriage and do the exact opposite," Hormozi elaborates.

This approach harnesses our brain's natural tendency to spot problems and threats—a survival mechanism from our evolutionary past—and redirects it toward constructive outcomes. As Hormozi puts it: "We harness this innate ability that we have to find the problems, and then after finding every possible problem we can imagine, every threat imaginable, which evolutionarily we're designed to look for, then flip that in reverse to find our solutions."

Hormozi has successfully applied this thinking process to business, marriage, and various other aspects of his life, and encourages listeners to do the same.

The 28 Ways to Stay Poor

Throughout the podcast, Hormozi outlines 28 specific behaviors and mindsets that virtually guarantee financial struggle. Each represents a common pitfall that, when understood and inverted, reveals a pathway to wealth creation.

1. Procrastination and Inaction

"The first and best way to stay poor is to start tomorrow," Hormozi states bluntly. This postponement of action—whether it's related to losing weight, saving money, or starting a business—ensures that progress never begins.

The inverse principle becomes clear: start today. Immediate action, however imperfect, is the foundation of all progress toward financial success.

2. Knowledge Without Application

"Read lots of books and then do nothing," Hormozi continues. He observes how people often pride themselves on consuming information without implementing it: "I see people all the time that I've seen for years in the exact same position posting 'Oh yeah, I'm reading 52 books this year, that's my commitment.'"

Hormozi suggests a powerful alternative: "Instead of reading 52 books, maybe just read one book and actually do something about it. Crazy, I know."

3. Taking Advice from the Wrong Sources

One of the most damaging habits is "taking advice from poor people on how to be rich." Hormozi reflects on his own early experiences: "A lot of us surround ourselves—or at least I did when I was starting out—with people who are very poor, and we listen to their advice on how to be rich."

This creates a fundamental misalignment: "They have no idea what they are doing, and we also listen to their judgment on why our idea is stupid even though they are poor. So what would they know?"

The wealth-building alternative is to seek guidance from those who have already achieved what you're aiming for.

4. Relationship Dynamics That Limit Growth

"Pick a spouse who will make you feel guilty for working," Hormozi suggests as another path to poverty. This relationship dynamic creates internal conflict between personal ambition and relationship harmony.

"You have your dreams, you have these things you want to pursue, but this person is saying you shouldn't do that," Hormozi explains. "The problem is that you put the power of your destiny in their hands, and you're asking for permission instead of support."

This can lead to long-term resentment: "If you don't accomplish your dreams and you did it because of them, who do you think you're going to resent?"

Instead, Hormozi advocates for choosing partners who support your aspirations, even if they don't fully understand or share them.

5. Giving Up After Initial Failure

"Fail once, quit forever," Hormozi identifies as another poverty-ensuring habit. This mindset interprets initial failure as definitive proof of inability rather than as a learning opportunity.

"As soon as you do actually start to decide doing something, you fail immediately and say, 'Oh, I guess this isn't for me. I guess success isn't for me. I guess business isn't for me,'" Hormozi observes.

He challenges this perspective: "We have an incorrect view of failure because failure is a necessary part [of success]...it's either you win or you learn."

6-7. Expecting Fairness and Blaming Circumstances

Hormozi groups these related mindsets together: "Think that the world is fair" and "blame your circumstances and complain."

He reflects on his own experience: "Especially me earlier on, I would complain. I'd be like, 'That's not fair, this isn't fair, it shouldn't be this way.'" The problem? "All that complaining that I did did nothing at all whatsoever."

Instead of expecting fairness or blaming external factors, Hormozi suggests embracing reality as it is and taking responsibility: "Assume the world is unfair and then act accordingly," and "thank your circumstances for who you are and what they gave you."

He shares a profound perspective shift: "You are who you are because of the shit that you have gone through. There's a saying: your mess is your message...How sad would it be to wish to have a life of ease and comfort because strong character is built through hard times."

8. Expecting External Rescue

"Expect the government to save you," Hormozi adds to his list. This extends beyond government to include any external savior figure.

"The reality is no one's going to save you except for you," he states plainly. "Many people have spent their entire lives waiting around for someone to save them and still stay poor."

The wealth-building alternative is to assume full responsibility for your own financial destiny.

9. Valuing Others' Opinions Above Your Own

"Value the opinion of others over your own" keeps many people trapped in financial mediocrity, according to Hormozi.

He shares a counterintuitive truth: "You are successful the moment you say you are. Crazy, right? You are successful the moment that you decide you are successful."

This internal definition of success matters more than external validation: "There are people who are billionaires who don't feel like they are successful, and there are people who have almost no money and absolutely think that they're an amazing success. And the thing is, they are both right. It's our choice."

Hormozi warns against tying success to specific financial milestones: "If you try and give yourself a number, you will just move the goal post. I promise you that from the depth of my soul."

10. Avoiding Discomfort

"Avoid discomfort" is another reliable way to remain poor. Hormozi notes that growth inherently involves discomfort—whether learning new skills, taking risks, or enduring the awkwardness of being a beginner.

"A lot of us have new things we have to take risks on, we have to learn things, and it's uncomfortable because you will suck," he explains. "Of course you will suck. It's normal to suck."

The irony is that by avoiding short-term discomfort, we guarantee a greater discomfort: "You also guarantee the number one discomfort, which is that you don't accomplish what you want in your life."

11. Tolerating Mediocrity

"Tolerate mediocrity from yourself and others" ensures both personal stagnation and suboptimal results from those around you.

"As you start to grow, if you're growing a small business or even in the workplace, if you tolerate mediocrity from others, you will get more mediocrity," Hormozi explains. "People over time will just degrade and get worse and worse over time."

The alternative is to "only tolerate excellence, and anything below that is intolerable." This begins with personal standards: "You must raise your own standards so that you can model what it looks like for other people around you."

Hormozi observes: "Most people don't need to be led. Most people need a model...you're leading by example."

12. Breaking Promises

"Make promises, break promises" damages both interpersonal relationships and self-trust.

"You make promises to yourself and make promises to other people, and you destroy your reputation with other people," Hormozi explains. While external reputation damage is serious, "the one that's the hardest one to fix is the reputation you have with yourself."

Self-respect comes from integrity: "A different version of happiness, in my opinion, is respect for oneself. And I think your own respect is the hardest to earn because you know how hard you could have pushed."

13. Waiting for Perfect Conditions

"Wait for perfect conditions" is a classic form of self-sabotage disguised as prudence.

Hormozi reveals the truth: "There are never gonna be perfect conditions. And here's what's even crazier: if you need perfect conditions to be successful, the moment the conditions change, you will stop being successful."

His counterintuitive advice? "You might as well start when the conditions are their absolute worst because it means that they will only get better from there."

14. Prioritizing Appearances Over Substance

"Prioritize looking rich over being rich" is a particularly insidious habit that keeps many financially struggling while appearing successful.

Hormozi notes that true wealth often means being willing to appear less affluent during the building phase: "You have to prioritize being rich, which means spending less for a long period of time."

This requires valuing your own approval over social validation: "You have to be willing to die to the opinion of others rather than dying to the opinion of yourself...Stop trying to look rich. Be willing to look poor."

15. Misallocating Effort

"Avoid working on what matters most" ensures busy activity without meaningful progress.

"You work all day long, you're busy, you're full of activity, you're doing stuff, and nothing important moves forward," Hormozi describes. "The nature of speed is not about activity. The people who are the richest in the world aren't doing the most stuff—they're doing the right stuff."

The key is prioritization: "Looking at the many things that you can or could do and picking the very few that are the ones that move the needle the most." Often, these are precisely "the ones that you do not want to do and you are procrastinating on."

16-17. Inconsistency and Following the Crowd

Hormozi briefly mentions "Say you're going to do something and then don't do it" as similar to breaking promises, then emphasizes the danger of "Do what everyone else is doing."

"If you want to be in the one percent, you can't do what 99% of people are doing," he points out. This connects to his earlier point about taking advice from the wrong people: "You can't look for their approval on what you are doing or model what everyone else is doing because everyone else is poor. Why model them?"

18. Settling for "Good Enough" Effort

"Do your best, not what it takes" creates a comfort zone that falls short of excellence.

"The reality is, a lot of times your best may suck, and what is required is what is required," Hormozi states bluntly. "The marketplace doesn't give a shit. Your boss doesn't give a shit. What they care about is what is required."

The solution? "Figure out what is required, and then if you are incapable of doing it, be better and do it for long enough that would be unreasonable for you not to be good."

19. Talking Instead of Doing

"Talk more, do less" is especially prevalent in the social media age: "Post about your goals, post about your affirmations, spend all day doing routines and stuff of getting prepared to work and actually do very little."

Hormozi observes: "This is one of the favorite ones, especially in the internet community. People love talking about how much they're working rather than actually getting shit done."

His advice is straightforward: "Rather than spend all this time preparing to work and creating superstitions and routines around the things that you think you should do in order to maybe potentially get something done, start with doing."

20. Chasing New Beginnings Without Completion

"Start something new today, start something new tomorrow, repeat" prevents mastery and completion.

"Great way to stay poor: do stuff, try something, try something else, try something else, try something else—always leave half-built bridges," Hormozi explains. "You never complete anything you start. Just keep starting new things because it's exciting and it's new."

He describes the psychological cycle that drives this behavior: "You have what is called uninformed optimism because as soon as you jump into the new thing, you realize that it will take work...As soon as you realize that is work, you go through the change cycle. You go uninformed optimism to informed pessimism, and then you go through the valley of despair. And this is where everyone then jumps to the next opportunity."

21-23. Self-Sabotaging Beliefs and Behaviors

Hormozi quickly covers three related mindsets: "Believe what other people think about you more than what you think about you," "Make a mistake then wait, repeat the mistake," and the importance of being irreplaceable.

On repeating mistakes, he notes: "You've probably seen people who stay stuck in their life like this. Like, they keep dating the same person, they keep making the same business mistake, they keep getting the same bad partnerships, whatever."

The path to wealth requires learning from errors: "If you keep doing the same stuff, you're going to keep getting the same outcomes."

On being irreplaceable, he cites Naval Ravikant: "If you can get a degree to do the job, you're never going to be unwealthy doing it because everyone can do it. And so you have to be able to learn things that other people can't do."

24. Abandoning What Works

"Find something that works, dear God find something that works, and then stop doing it" is a pattern Hormozi finds particularly frustrating.

He points out the irony in how people respond to financial pressure: "How many of you have needed to make money last minute? You had to pay payroll, you had to pay taxes...Some bill comes up, and you need to pay for it, and you find a way to make the money."

The revealing insight: "You had the ability, you knew what to do, and you just chose not to do it. You stopped doing it as soon as you paid someone else's bills because you were willing to pay other people's bills but not your own."

25-26. Poor Personnel Decisions and Intellectual Arrogance

"Hire dumb people" and "Assume you are always right" are two mindsets that guarantee poor outcomes.

On hiring, Hormozi is succinct: "Excellent way to stay poor and have a bad business...It's just a great way to make your life miserable."

On intellectual arrogance, he observes: "How many people here know someone who always just thinks they're right, and they're not successful? They get advice from somebody who might be successful, more successful than them, and they're like, 'No, that's not going to work for X, Y, and Z' because they assume they're always right."

The wealthy alternative is intellectual humility: "From the people that I've met who have been far ahead of me, they have a voracious desire to learn and a voracious interest in learning from anyone and every single possible source they can. Those people have the humility to say that everyone knows something that they don't know."

27. The Ultimate Financial Formula for Poverty

Hormozi concludes with the most direct path to poverty: "Make money, period. Spend more than you make."

This formula works regardless of income level: "The beautiful part about this is that it doesn't matter how much you make. If you spend more than it, you can be poor."

He observes how lifestyle inflation traps many people: "Go into debt and adjust your lifestyle to your new income at all times, or rather above your income, so that you can always stay poor no matter how much money you make."

The 28 Rules of Wealth (Inverted)

In the powerful conclusion of the podcast, Hormozi inverts each poverty principle to create a comprehensive framework for wealth creation:

"Start today. Read books, do the stuff that's in the books. Take advice from rich people on how to be rich. Pick a spouse who makes you feel awesome about working. Fail once, try again. Think the world is unfair and act accordingly. Never blame your circumstances—thank your circumstances for making you who you are. Instead of complaining, do something. Expect no one to save you except for yourself. Value your opinion over those of other people. Seek out discomfort. Tolerate nothing but excellence. Make promises, keep promises. Wait for imperfect conditions and act anyway on what you want. Avoid working on the stuff that doesn't matter—work on the things that matter most, ignore the rest. Say you're going to do something and then do it. Do what no one else is doing. Do your best and make it above what it takes to be successful. Talk less, do more. Start something new today and keep at it until you are good—do it so long that it would be unreasonable for you to be bad. Don't believe what other people think about you more than what you think about yourself. Be irreplaceable. Find something that works and don't stop doing it—keep doing it until you're bored out of your mind because you're so good at doing that thing that worked. Hire smart people. Assume that you were always wrong and be willing to learn. Make money and spend less than you make."

Conclusion

Through this enlightening discussion of inversion thinking, Alex Hormozi offers a refreshingly practical approach to wealth creation. By identifying and avoiding the common pitfalls that keep people financially struggling, we can chart a clearer path to success.

The power of this approach lies in its psychological foundation. Rather than fighting against our brain's natural tendency to spot problems, inversion thinking leverages this tendency and redirects it toward constructive outcomes.

Hormozi's framework reminds us that often the path to wealth isn't about discovering some secret formula or get-rich-quick scheme. Instead, it's about recognizing and avoiding the self-sabotaging behaviors and mindsets that most people fall into.

As Hormozi suggests, when we consciously avoid these wealth-destroying habits, we "succeed by accident because you avoid the pitfalls...If you don't make many mistakes, you succeed without trying because all you're doing is just focusing on just not making these stupid mistakes that most people do."

Key Points

1. Inversion thinking is a powerful mental model where you solve problems in reverse—identify what would cause failure, then do the opposite.
2. Start immediately rather than tomorrow. Procrastination is the first enemy of wealth creation.
3. Value your own standards over external opinions. The people who achieve wealth often do what others aren't willing to do.
4. Failures are learning opportunities, not signals to quit. Success requires persistence through multiple setbacks.
5. Work on what matters most rather than staying busy with unimportant tasks. Effectiveness trumps activity.
6. Find what works and stick with it long enough to master it, rather than constantly jumping to new opportunities.
7. Make more than you spend. No matter how much you earn, financial discipline remains the foundation of wealth building.

For the full conversation, watch the video here.