Live Like A Lotto Winner

Winning a National Lottery jackpot is often described as a life-changing experience, but you don’t actually need to win a seven figure sum to start enjoying some of the benefits of being a millionaire. In fact, if you follow the steps presented below, you could start living like a Lotto winner today...

Identify Your Values.

When people win the lottery, it tends to make them question their values in life, often for the very first time. Previously, the winners had been focussed on making a living, but when a jackpot win comes along and they find that they don’t need to do this, they have to find something else to get them up in the morning.

You can identify your own values in life by asking yourself the question: “If I had already won a lottery jackpot, what would I do with my time?” It could be that you love your job so much that you would keep doing it. Or you may decide that you would like to spend more time with your family, get in better physical shape or get started on that special project you’ve always wanted to do.

When you have identified your values, make a point of scheduling some time each day to do what you would do if you’d already won the lottery. This will make each day more fulfilling for you, and could improve your quality of life no end.

Learn To Handle Your Money

Lottery winners suddenly find that when they have seven figures in the bank, they need to learn how to handle their money more consciously. And a lot of winners realise that if they had done this before their win, they would have been better off all along. We can benefit from that observation by taking a good look at our finances and learning to manage them properly. Obtain a few books and magazines that discuss budgeting, saving and investing, and if you play your cards right you could retire wealthy regardless of whether or not you win a million in the meantime.

Choose To Be Happy

Once the excitement of winning a lottery jackpot wears off, many Lotto winners find that they aren’t automatically as happy as they expected to be. Instead, they have to spend a few weeks reminding themselves of their good fortune and consciously choosing to be happier until happiness becomes more of a habit. The good news for us is that we can all choose to be happier no matter how much money we have or don’t have. All you have to do is pause regularly throughout the day to be grateful for all that you do have and train your mind to focus on these aspects of life rather than on the more negative things like tax bills. And smile. Research has proven that if you force yourself to smile even when you don’t feel like it, you will soon end up feeling like it. Do all of this and you’ll find that you can be just as happy as any lottery winner.

So there you have it – three ways to live like a lotto winner without actually winning. You may not have the same bank balance as someone who has landed a jackpot, but you can certainly be as fulfilled, financially astute and happy as they are, so smile!

- 12/7/07