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It’s an obsession that you can’t seem to shake. You envision those glorious piles of money surrounding you just because you held a ticket with a winning combination of numbers. All your money troubles are over. Now you get to live a lifestyle just like the rich and famous. Perhaps you’ll be sitting on a sofa in Paris, sipping on tea and nibbling on a pastry.
The thought is absurd – but somebody is going to win, so why shouldn’t it be you? You really need to get ahold of yourself and learn how to stop thinking about winning the lottery.
SLAP!! Imagine that was me, backhanding you across the face to snap you out of your idiotic daydream about winning the lotto. Seriously! It’s not going to happen!! Honestly, though, it’s okay to dream about winning the lottery – but you do have to step back into reality at some point.
What are the Odds of Winning the Lottery?
To be blunt, the odds are not stacked in your favor. Not by a long shot! Even if you think you have a system for picking the winning lottery numbers, the odds that you will win are astronomically stacked against you.
Here are the mathematical probabilities of winning one of these huge multi-state lottery jackpots with one set of numbers…
- Mega Millions – 1 in 302,575,350
- Powerball – 1 in 292,201,338
And here are a few examples from the Michigan lottery for odds of winning one of their smaller state lottery jackpots with one set of numbers…
- Lucky for Life – 1 in 30,821,472
- Classic Lotto 47 – 1 in 10,737,573
- Michigan Keno – 1 in 2,546,203
- Michigan Fantasy 5 – 1 in 575,757
Is Trying to Win the Lottery Worth it?
Given the real mathematical odds and the reality that you have almost NO chance of winning – it’s probably safe to say that it’s not even worth trying to win the lottery. However, it can be fun to purchase a lottery ticket now and then just to allow yourself the opportunity to dream.
We know that somebody eventually wins the big lottery jackpot. We see and hear about them on the news, especially when the big multi-state games hit huge record-setting lottery jackpots worth over $1 billion! But, the likelihood that YOU are going to be one of those lucky few is so ridiculously low that it’s hardly worth your time even to purchase the lottery ticket. It’s definitely not worth it financially to try to win the lottery.
What You Lose When You Win the Lottery
People who play the lottery are typically hopeless people who don’t see another path to prosperity in their life. The irony of their hopelessness is that they’ve placed their hope in one of the most unlikely long shots at prosperity that exists in society – the lottery. They truly hope to become a lottery winner one day and likely believe that it is destined to happen to them eventually.
This entire “money for nothing” mentality is more harmful than you might think. Like with any other addictive behavior, it leads to destruction in your life in one way or another. But how can free money, like lottery winnings, be destructive? How can “money for nothing” possibly be a negative aspect of life?
The biggest loss that lottery winners suffer is their loss of ambition and drive. Although… it may be safe to assume that many lottery players were lacking in ambition in the first place. This is why they placed their hope in the very unlikely chance of winning the lottery.
Most people have some ambition, though. If nothing else, their ambition is tied to the will to survive. In today’s world, surviving means earning enough money to pay for life’s necessities (housing, transportation, food, etc.). In most cases, this means having the will to get out of bed each day and go to work and earn some money.
People who are especially driven may even choose to thrive in life rather than just survive! This type of person has goals and dreams, and this type of person works diligently towards achieving those goals.
While winning the lottery seems like the best dream scenario possible for anybody’s life – it actually strips away the ambition that the winner previously had. All of a sudden, there is nothing left to work for or a monetary goal to pursue because it’s all just there in an instant. Sounds terrible, doesn’t it?
How to Stop Thinking About Winning the Lottery
To change your thinking (or your thoughts), you must start by changing your behavior. If you don’t change your behavior, you won’t be able to change your thinking. It’s difficult to alter what you think about, given the things that you actually do. But, it’s comparatively easy to change what you do (your behavior).
Do you want to learn how to stop thinking about winning the lottery? Here is a surefire 4-step process that will help you, as long as you actually do the steps!
Step 1 – Stop Buying Lottery Tickets!
As long as you continue to purchase lottery tickets of any form, you are likely to keep thinking about winning the lottery. If you really want to stop thinking about winning – you MUST stop buying lottery tickets!
I realize that gambling is an addiction, not much different than an addiction to nicotine or alcohol. If your situation is really bad and quitting will be difficult for you – you may need to seek professional help.
NATIONAL PROBLEM GAMBLING HELPLINE
1-800-522-4700
Allow me to suggest that it could be a simple matter of willpower. When you walk into a convenience store or a gas station, simply tell yourself that you WILL NOT purchase any lottery tickets, and do not allow yourself to give in. Just DON’T DO IT! Don’t buy the damn lottery tickets!
Maybe you need to stop going into places that sell lottery tickets altogether. I realize this is nearly impossible – but you could take steps to limit the number of times you go into a place that sells lottery tickets.
Whatever the case may be for you – it is essential that you complete step 1. You HAVE TO stop buying lottery tickets if you want to stop thinking about winning the lottery.
Step 2 – Choose a Real Passive Income Strategy to Focus on
Winning the lottery is an almost certain strategy NOT to get “money for nothing,” if that is what you are looking for. However, there are many strategies that certainly DO work and that lead to real passive income.
What is Passive Income?
Passive Income can be defined as an income received on a regular basis, with little effort required to maintain it.
Passive Income Plan
The best trick that I can think of that will help you stop thinking about winning the lottery is to find something else that will make you money that you can focus on. Yeah, sure – you could get another job to earn more money – like a second job or a side hustle. But that just means trading time for dollars.
Passive income is more fun and more practical in the long run. After all, you can’t trade your time for money forever. At some point you’ll need to retire. Why not figure out how to bring in crazy amounts of passive income sooner rather than later? That way, you can retire on your own terms – maybe even super early (in life)!
Related Read: 27 Passive Income Ideas for Everyday People
Choosing which passive income idea to pursue is totally up to you. Perhaps you’ll even find success with more than one. However, I strongly suggest that you start with just ONE passive income strategy and give it your full focus – 100% – until you make it successful and earning to its full potential.
Focus 100%! That is my main piece of advice for you. After you get your first passive income strategy in place, then maybe you’ll consider adding another strategy.
Step 3 – Educate Yourself on Your New Strategy
Once you decide which strategy you would like to pursue and you dedicate yourself to focusing on it 100% – it’s time to educate yourself. This step is actually more fun than it sounds. Once you learn about the money-making potential, it’ll be hard not to get excited and you’ll be eager to learn as much as you can as quickly as possible.
Here are some of the best resources available to learn about whichever passive income strategy you choose…
- Read books – start with one, then consider others
- Explore websites – Google your strategy, then find blogs that are dedicated to it
- Listen to podcasts – search your podcast app – you’ll be surprised by what you find
- Take an e-course – find a course on your strategy and pay for it and take it
- Find a mentor – find somebody locally who has implemented your strategy successfully
Here is a quick example…
Say I choose to start a blog as my low-up-front-cost way to try to create passive income. Here are some places I might start…
- Book – Make Money from Blogging by Sally Miller and Lisa Tanner
- Website – here is one make money blogging post by Ron Stefanski (The One Hour Professor)
- Podcast – here is a podcast about making money blogging by Sharon Gourlay
- Course – here is a make money online blogging course on Udemy
- Mentor – find a blogging Facebook group or subReddit where you can have many mentors
The power of Google (or any other search engine) makes it easy to find all this stuff! No matter which passive income strategy you choose, you’ll be able to find similar resources to help you on your educational journey to whichever passive income path you choose.
Step 4 – Go All-In on Your Strategy – Make Some Real Money!
Face it – you’re never going to really make any money by wasting your hard-earned money on lottery tickets. You might win a small payout on a scratch-off here and there – but overall, you’re going to lose money on the lottery.
Now it’s time to go all-in on something that really WILL make you money! Your new passive income strategy needs to become your obsession until you get it working for you.
As you can imagine – it’ll be hard to even think about winning a lottery when you’re excited about and focused on your passive income strategy.
One thing that I do, to keep myself motivated and excited about blogging… I read about, and listen to podcasts that feature, other bloggers who are having success. If they can do it, I know that I can do it too! As a result, I constantly daydream and think about how much money I can make blogging.
You see… how to stop thinking about winning the lottery simply comes down to shifting your mindset into thinking about something else. Since lottery winnings equate to more money in your life – that something else might as well be another way to bring more money into your life! Good luck! I’ll see you at the other end of the passive income rainbow, where the pot of gold awaits.
Matthew Allen
Matthew Allen is a full-time trucker, part-time blogger, and imaginary entrepreneur. He's probably not the only trucker who calls himself a dumbass. But, he is the only known trucker who is blogging about passive income."Might be crazy, but I ain't dumb!" ~ Crazy Cooter (also Matt's CB handle)
Matthew Allen
Matthew Allen is a full-time trucker, part-time blogger, and imaginary entrepreneur. He's probably not the only trucker who calls himself a dumbass. But, he is the only known trucker who is blogging about passive income."Might be crazy, but I ain't dumb!" ~ Crazy Cooter (also Matt's CB handle) Original Article