8 things you must stop doing immediately if you want to become richer and more successful next year

Most advice about getting rich focuses on what you should start doing.

Save more. Invest smarter. Build multiple income streams. Network better.

But sometimes the fastest path forward isn't about adding more to your plate. It's about clearing away the habits that are actively sabotaging you.

I've been freelancing as a writer for years now, and I've watched people with less talent and fewer connections build more successful careers simply because they weren't tripping over their own behaviors.

Meanwhile, I've watched incredibly talented people stay stuck because they couldn't let go of patterns that were holding them back.

From a behavioral science perspective, this makes sense. Our brains are wired to keep doing what's familiar, even when it's clearly not working. Breaking these patterns requires conscious effort and a willingness to feel uncomfortable.

Here are eight things you need to stop doing immediately if you want to see real financial progress next year.

1) Stop waiting for perfect conditions before you start

You know what I'm talking about. Waiting until you have more time. More money. More knowledge. More confidence. The perfect business plan. The ideal market conditions.

Perfect conditions don't exist. They never have and they never will.

I spent two years "preparing" to pitch larger publications when I was transitioning from music blogging to lifestyle writing. I told myself I needed a better portfolio, more clips, a stronger platform. What I really needed was to just send the damn emails.

When I finally started pitching, I got rejected plenty. But I also started getting assignments. The portfolio and platform I thought I needed? I built them by doing the actual work, not by waiting to be ready.

Successful entrepreneurs aren't necessarily more prepared or more talented than everyone else. They're just more willing to start before they feel ready. They figure things out as they go rather than waiting for certainty that never arrives.

What are you waiting to be perfect before you begin?

2) Stop spending money to feel successful

This one's subtle and it's everywhere.

The expensive coffee habit because that's what successful people drink. The designer work bag because you need to look the part. The networking events with hundred-dollar tickets. The courses and certifications that look impressive on LinkedIn but don't actually move the needle.

I see this all the time everywhere, and it's actually about signaling rather than substance.

Here's the thing about actually wealthy people. They often don't spend money to look successful because they don't need to prove anything. They're comfortable with the gap between their bank account and their appearance.

Spending money to feel like you're already successful is one of the fastest ways to ensure you never actually become successful. Every dollar spent on the performance of success is a dollar not invested in actual success.

3) Stop saying yes to opportunities that don't align with your goals

Not all opportunities are good opportunities. Some are distractions dressed up as progress.

The freelance project that pays okay but takes you away from building your real business.

The networking event that sounds prestigious but connects you with people who can't actually help you.

The side hustle that makes a little money but drains the energy you need for your main thing.

When I was building my freelance career, I took every assignment that came my way. Food blog posts I didn't care about. Corporate content that made me want to tear my hair out. Anything that paid.

What I should have done was get more strategic about which assignments I accepted. Some of those gigs paid my rent but also kept me too busy to pitch the publications I actually wanted to write for. I was making money but not making progress.

Successful people are ruthless about protecting their time and energy for the things that actually move them toward their goals. They say no more than they say yes.

4) Stop consuming more than you create

It's so easy to spend hours reading about success, listening to podcasts about wealth building, watching videos about productivity, and never actually doing anything.

Consumption feels like progress. It feels like you're learning and growing and preparing. But unless that information translates into action, it's just expensive procrastination.

I can scroll through behavioral science research for hours. I can tell myself I'm doing research for my writing. And yes, sometimes I am. But more often than not, I'm avoiding the uncomfortable work of actually writing because reading is easier.

The ratio matters. If you're spending more time learning about your field than working in your field, you're not building anything. You're just really well-informed about something you're not actually doing.

Successful people consume strategically and sparingly. They spend most of their time creating, building, doing. They learn what they need to know when they need to know it, not as a substitute for action.

5) Stop undercharging for your work

This is especially common for people just starting out or people who grew up without much money. You're so grateful someone wants to pay you at all that you accept whatever they offer.

I undercharged for my writing for years. I thought I needed to prove myself first. Build credibility. Get established. Then I could raise my rates.

But here's what actually happens when you undercharge. You attract clients who don't value your work. You build resentment because you're working hard for too little. You burn out faster. And you train the market to see your work as less valuable than it actually is.

The publications that pay me the least are also the ones that give me the most hassle. The ones that pay me well treat me like a professional because they value what I bring to the table.

Your pricing communicates your value to the market. When you charge too little, you're telling potential clients that your work isn't worth much. And many of them will believe you.

6) Stop isolating yourself from people who are ahead of you

There's this weird impulse to only spend time with people at your level or below. Maybe it feels less intimidating or maybe you're worried about looking stupid or inexperienced.

I do get it. But the thing is, growth happens in proximity to people who are further along than you are. Not because they'll magically help you. But because being around them recalibrates your sense of what's possible and what's normal.

When I was still primarily music blogging, I thought making a living from writing was some impossible dream. Then I started connecting with full-time freelancers through Twitter. Not mentors or anything formal. Just people who were doing what I wanted to do.

Being in their orbit, even digitally, shifted something in my brain. I saw that it was possible because I was watching people actually do it.

Their challenges became familiar. Their strategies became learnable. The whole thing stopped seeming like fantasy and started seeming like a career path with actual steps.

If everyone in your circle is exactly where you are, you have no roadmap for where you're trying to go. Find people ahead of you and figure out how to be in their proximity, even if it's just following their work closely.

7) Stop trying to do everything yourself

Independence is great. Self-reliance is admirable. But there's a point where refusing help or refusing to outsource becomes a bottleneck to your growth.

I resisted hiring any help for my writing business for way too long. I handled every email, every invoice, every social media post, every administrative task. I told myself I couldn't afford help and I needed to keep costs low.

What I didn't calculate was the opportunity cost. Every hour I spent on administrative tasks was an hour I wasn't spending on the work that actually generated income. I was saving money but losing opportunity.

You can't scale yourself. At some point, you have to either bring in help or accept that you'll stay exactly where you are.

Successful people understand this intuitively. They protect their time for the highest-value activities and find ways to handle everything else.

This doesn't mean you need to hire a full team tomorrow. It might just mean using scheduling software instead of going back and forth on emails. Or hiring a VA for five hours a month. Or paying someone on Fiverr to handle a task you hate.

8) Stop letting other people's opinions dictate your path

Your parents think you should get a real job. Your friends don't understand why you're working so hard. Your partner wants more stability. Random people on the internet have opinions about your choices.

Look, everyone has advice to share with you. But most of it comes from their own fears and limitations, not from any real understanding of what you're trying to build.

Your path isn't going to make sense to most people because most people are following completely different paths. They're projecting their own goals and fears onto your situation. Their opinions say more about them than about you.

The most successful people I know have a stubborn streak. They listen to feedback from people who've done what they're trying to do. Everyone else's opinion is just noise.

Final thoughts

As simple as these sound, I know that simple doesn't mean easy. These patterns are comfortable. Familiar. They feel safe even when they're holding you back.

That's why breaking free of them can be scary. But as Rudá Iandê writes in his new book Laughing in the Face of Chaos: A Politically Incorrect Shamanic Guide for Modern Life, "Fear is not something to be overcome, but an essential part of the human experience."

That reframed a lot for me. I'd been treating my fear of failure, of looking stupid, of taking risks as something I needed to eliminate before I could move forward. But the book helped me see that the fear doesn't go away. You just learn to act anyway.

Next year doesn't have to look like this year. You can make different choices starting right now. Not tomorrow. Not when conditions are perfect. Right now.

What's one thing from this list you could stop doing today?