Jean Chatzky says that anyone can prosper in even the toughest economic times…if they possess the key traits and abilities that will set them apart. She calls these traits The Difference, and in her new book Jean describes how you can go from the person who lives paycheck to paycheck to the person who lives in comfort.

    Do you have The Difference? And, if not—how can you get it? Jean shares the eight things that matter most to help you become financially free.

    Happiness and Optimism

    Some people believe money leads to happiness. Not true. Once you're living comfortably, more money doesn't buy more happiness. The reverse, however, is true: Happiness leads to money. And success. Likewise, so does optimism. Both enable you to solve problems, conjure ideas, take long-range consequences into consideration and come back and try again if you miss the first time.

    Resilience

    People who have moved from a bad financial situation into comfort or wealth have resilience. They can overcome—on the job, in their personal lives, with their finances. They don't deny the bad things that happen, but they're able to turn their focus to things over which they have control with the belief that they have the ability to effect change. The good news is you don't have to be born with resilience—you can learn it by controlling the things you can control and letting go of the others.

    Connectedness

    Ever heard of social capital? It's the asset created when relationships between people change in ways that lead to action, generally for good. It's an important component of The Difference, and the wealthy and financially comfortable not only have more of it than people living paycheck to paycheck, they know how to use it. They cast a wider net, socializing with neighbors, co-workers, people who can help them advance financially or in their careers. To get your share of social capital, you have to make time for people and put yourself forward as a leader.

    Passion

    It is a key element that moves people from a life of financial struggle to one of financial success. The wealthy, simply put, want it more than the rest of that. Some want it in the form of money, but most are quite passionate about the careers they choose to pursue. And, at a time where doing what you love may seem not so possible, it's important to know you can learn to love what you do.

    Intuition

    Over the years, your brain has scored up scads of patterns, information that tells you that if one thing happens, something else is likely to follow. We feel these signals in our gut—and we call them hunches. They are really our intuition, a sixth sense that is more developed in the wealthy than in anyone else. You can learn to bring yours forward by adopting strategies like giving your intuition a little room to breathe: Jean herself says she has the best aha! moments when she's not searching for them.

    Habitual saving

    The wealthy people in our study certainly have the funds to be crazy spenders, but most are not. Both wealthy and financially comfortable individuals say that saving more money has been an "absolutely essential" financial goal as an adult. If you're not a habitual saver already, The Difference will show you how.

    Invest in stocks

    Jean did the research for this book when housing prices were cratering and the markets were falling out of the sky. Yet, one lesson emerged again and again: The wealthy understand the need to take risks in the market—in good times and in bad—in order to make their money work as hard as they do.

    Gratitude

    The Karma Kickback. The people who get rich—and stay rich—are not just grateful. They practice gratitude by giving back to their communities, to organizations they believe in and the people they care about. Even if you are thinking of something you view as mundane—like your job—when you think about it as a gift, you focus on what life might be if you didn't have it.

    Jean Chatzky在她最近的新書The Difference里描述了如何從一個(gè)每月都捉襟見肘的人變成一個(gè)能略有盈余，生活富足的人。她談到：任何人都可以在最嚴(yán)峻經(jīng)濟(jì)形勢(shì)時(shí)期獲得成功，只要他們都具有某些關(guān)鍵特點(diǎn)和能力，那么他們就能從眾多艱難處世的人當(dāng)中脫穎而出。她把這些特點(diǎn)叫做“用心生活，大有不同”。

    你有這些特點(diǎn)嗎？如果你沒有，你要怎樣去做到呢？Jean跟我們分享了最最能幫助你獲得財(cái)務(wù)自由的八個(gè)特點(diǎn)。

    1，快樂和樂觀

    有些人認(rèn)為有錢就能快樂。這不對(duì)。一當(dāng)你生活富足的時(shí)候，更多的錢并不能買到更多的快樂。反過來(lái)才是對(duì)的�？鞓返娜藭�(huì)獲得更多的財(cái)富，還有成功。同樣，樂觀態(tài)度也是這樣�？鞓�、樂觀能讓你找到問題的答案；幫你想到更多的點(diǎn)子；將各種長(zhǎng)遠(yuǎn)的目標(biāo)結(jié)果考慮在內(nèi)；假如你第一次沒做好，你可以回來(lái)再嘗試。

    2，順應(yīng)力

    那些從糟糕的金融狀況中走出來(lái)獲得富足的人都很有彈性。他們能克服工作、個(gè)人生活中的財(cái)務(wù)困難。他們不排斥發(fā)生壞的情況，他們只是能轉(zhuǎn)而專注在那些他們能把握的事情上，因?yàn)樗麄兿嘈牛鹤约河心芰ψ屖虑榘l(fā)生改變。好在你不必天生就富有彈性，你可以關(guān)照好你能關(guān)照的事情，而其他事就隨它去，這樣你就學(xué)會(huì)了。

    3，連通

    聽說(shuō)過社會(huì)資本嗎？它是人們通過關(guān)系的改變來(lái)創(chuàng)造資產(chǎn)。這些改變能促成行動(dòng)，通常是好的行動(dòng)。連通是The Difference這本書里一個(gè)非常重要的組成部分。那些生活富足的人不僅僅是比捉襟見肘的人有更多的“連通”關(guān)系，他們更知道如何去運(yùn)用這些連通關(guān)系。他們的社會(huì)關(guān)系網(wǎng)更大，他們跟鄰居、同事、以及那些能在財(cái)務(wù)上或職業(yè)上有所幫助的人交往。想得到社會(huì)資本的好處，你就必須花時(shí)間跟人們交往，讓自己像一個(gè)領(lǐng)袖一樣前進(jìn)。

    4，似火的熱情

    這是讓一個(gè)人從財(cái)務(wù)斗爭(zhēng)走向財(cái)務(wù)自由的關(guān)鍵要素。富有的人，簡(jiǎn)單的說(shuō)，他們想要比財(cái)富更多的東西。有些人想要的是財(cái)富，不過大多數(shù)人都對(duì)自己追求的職業(yè)有非常高的熱情。當(dāng)然，當(dāng)你還沒法去做自己喜歡的職業(yè)的時(shí)候，你要能學(xué)會(huì)去喜歡自己正在做的事情，這點(diǎn)很重要。

    5，直覺

    多年以來(lái)，你的大腦已經(jīng)獲得了大量模式，信息，告訴你如果發(fā)生了某件事情，接下來(lái)就會(huì)發(fā)生什么。我們本能地感覺得到這些信號(hào)，我們把這些信號(hào)叫做直覺。這些信號(hào)的確就是我們的直覺，或者第六感，富有的人常常比其他人有更多的直覺。你可以給自己的直覺留一點(diǎn)空間，用這個(gè)方法來(lái)讓自己對(duì)這些直覺更敏感。Jean自己就說(shuō)：當(dāng)她沒有刻意去尋找直覺信號(hào)的時(shí)候，她常常會(huì)有最好的直覺。

    6，讓節(jié)儉成為習(xí)慣

    我們做的研究中富有的人當(dāng)然有瘋狂購(gòu)物，血拼的資本，然而大多數(shù)富人并不是這樣大肆揮霍的。富有、財(cái)務(wù)自由的人認(rèn)為：作為一個(gè)成年人，省下更多的錢是一個(gè)絕對(duì)必不可少的目標(biāo)。如果你還不是一個(gè)習(xí)慣節(jié)約的人，The Difference會(huì)告訴你怎么做。

    7，投資股票

    Jean為寫這本書做了研究。當(dāng)時(shí)正是房?jī)r(jià)猛跌，市場(chǎng)疲軟，有一個(gè)教訓(xùn)一次又一次地出現(xiàn)。富有的人懂得在市場(chǎng)中冒險(xiǎn)，無(wú)論是經(jīng)濟(jì)好還是經(jīng)濟(jì)糟糕的時(shí)候，就是為了讓自己的錢活起來(lái)。

    8，感激

    “一切都是因果。”那些獲得大量財(cái)富的人—并且一直擁有財(cái)富的人不僅僅是心存感激。他們用實(shí)際行動(dòng)回饋給他們的社區(qū)，他們信奉的組織，還有他們關(guān)照的人。即使你覺得自己看到的事情（比如你的工作）不過是平常事的時(shí)候，只要你把這些都當(dāng)作是上天給予的一份禮物，那么你就專注在生活的價(jià)值上了，即便你之前并沒有看到這一點(diǎn)。