One of the reasons most poor and middle-class people never become wealthy is that they spend too much time planning.
What I’ve learned from observing the wealthy is that their greatest differentiator is speed. They plan as they move, act quickly, and adapt even faster.
They’ve mastered the art of seizing opportunities long before the rest of the world even realizes they exist.
By the time others catch on, the opportunities have already been taken thus leaving them to work for the wealthy and help bring their visions to life.
This is the last part of Fineducke’s Billionaire Playbook, in part one of this wealth series, we covered billionaire mindsets, learning from four rich individuals; Will Smith, Mike Repole, Dean Graziosi, and Billy Ray Taylor.
In part two we explored how to build and scale wealth. The key secret in growing wealth lies in developing rich people's habits. As seen, Reid Hoffman’s secret habit is thinking and planning long term while John Morgan’s habit boiled down to team work, however, its not just any team, teams that are goal oriented and smart, he even said he likes hiring people who are smarter than him.
The third and last habit of the wealthy is embracing frugal living. This rich people advice was given by De’el Woods. According to him, if the poor and middle class want to be rich, then they should stay small enough, long enough and by doing that, there are high chances they will become rich enough soon enough.
In The Billionaire Playbook part 3, visibility stood out. If you want to be rich in 2026, then you have to be seen. Question is, how do you make yourself seen, answer is simple. Branding. Basically, the third part of this 4 chapter series teaches about how to invest, sell and brand yourself or your business.
Now we have come to the final part, the part 4 of this rich people series. The main themes of this last chapter are Speed, Adaptability & Execution.
Here, we will explore how billionaires make decisions quickly, embrace change as strategy, and design wealth that runs 24/7, generating passive returns on their investments while they spend their time doing what they love the most. Let’s unpack.
“Success loves speed. Don’t overthink your way out of opportunities. Start, then improve along the way.”
Thomas Kehinde is a Nigerian entrepreneur and investor. He has the habit of executing his ideas as soon as he gets them. This is a quality of many rich people in today’s world. They believe that progress beats perfection.
In business, the cost of hesitation is often higher than the cost of mistakes. Many people wait for the “perfect” time, the “right” conditions, or “enough” money. This is not what the 1% do, to them, they have mastered the game and know that action is the real edge.
A 2024 McKinsey study found that companies that make bold, decisive moves during uncertain times grow 32% faster compared competitors who take a wait-and-see approach. However, it is imperative to note that speed doesn’t mean recklessness. Actually, speed means learning through motion instead of analysis paralysis.
Kehinde’s approach mirrors what Jeff Bezos often reminded his Amazon teams: “If you wait for 90% of the information, you’re probably too late.” The world now moves too quickly for overplanning. The real winners are those who start early, iterate fast, and adjust as they go.
Look at how quickly inventions gain global traction today. When YouTube was created in 2005, it took nearly a decade before it reached massive worldwide adoption. TikTok, launched globally in August 2018, needed less than two years to explode across the world. Then came ChatGPT in November 2022. For OpenAI, it only took just a few months before it became a global phenomenon.
The pattern is clear. Every new major invention is being adopted faster than the last. This means the next big innovation could gain worldwide momentum in mere weeks.
That’s the reality and reason why execution and speed is very important in the modern world business.
The main lesson we can gain from Kehinde’s advice about becoming rich is speed in idea implementation and execution. Remember, perfection doesn’t exist, it’s a trap. One that keeps poor people poor. If you want to build empires, then the sooner you adopt a progressive mindset the better.
Rich people in the world who have a progressive mindset are the likes of Elon Musk and Richard Branson. For them, they always launch first and then optimize along the way.
“Change equals opportunity. The faster you embrace disruption, the more you grow.”
James W. Keyes, former CEO of 7-Eleven and Blockbuster, knows firsthand how embracing or resisting change can make or break billion-dollar companies.
At 7-Eleven, Keyes pushed digital innovation early incorporating things like mobile payments, loyalty apps, and tech-enabled delivery. It is these moves that helped the brand thrive even during retail slowdowns.
However, when you consider Blockbuster’s case, their resistance to streaming became one of the most painful business lessons in modern history.
Keyes’s philosophy is brutally honest. To him, ignoring change is more expensive than adapting to it.
According to PwC’s 2025 Global CEO Survey, 72% of CEOs now believe their company’s success depends primarily on how quickly they adapt to new technologies and social shifts.
AI, digital platforms, and automation are changing how wealth is built. The people who learn, pivot, and leverage these new tools first will dominate the next decade.
The poor and middle class are always reluctant to embrace change. However, if your goal is being rich in 2026, then know that adaptability is the currency and change is not the enemy.
In the face of change, try and learn it, experiment and use it before the rest of the world catches up. If you are reluctant and think that change is a bad thing, remember that Netflix didn’t kill blockbuster but blockbusters refusal to adapt to change is what killed it.
“If your money doesn’t work while you’re sleeping, you’ll be working until you die.”
Joshua Crisp, a real estate investor and wealth coach, sums up the endgame of wealth creation: passive income equals freedom.
Billionaires don’t trade time for money, they maximize by building systems that generate passive income. In this way, they don’t have to be physically present to expect returns.
A 2024 Bankrate survey revealed that 63% of millionaires have at least three or more passive income streams, including dividends, rental properties, or automated online businesses. The goal isn’t to escape work, but to make maximum use of time, a scarce commodity in this case.
Crisp’s approach is practical. If you want to be among the highest-earning individuals in 2026, then you should focus on creating scalable assets.
Examples of scalable assets include e-commerce platforms, SaaS, online courses, and subscription-based services. Always remember that, the average person earns from effort while the wealthy earn from ownership.
Across Thomas Kehinde, James W. Keyes, and Joshua Crisp, one universal pattern emerges: wealth grows in motion.
Speed, adaptability, and leverage form the final layer of the billionaire mindset. By now, you should notice that you will make more money by thinking faster than working harder. Besides speed, building systems that run with or without you is the key to becoming a millionaire or billionaire in 2026.
Currently, AI is reshaping industries, digital assets are redefining ownership, and opportunities appear and vanish in weeks. Those who hesitate lose ground while those who execute gain freedom.
To sum up, every billionaire once started as someone who simply acted sooner than most. Being smart isn’t at the center of wealth generation. Boldness, speed, automation and adaptation are the secret ingredient to be wealthy in today’s world.
You don’t need to be born rich to build wealth. What you need is courage to start, humility to learn, and the systems to keep going.
The Billionaire Wealth Series has come to an end, but your execution story begins now. As Thomas Kehinde said, “Start, then improve along the way.”
I’m Clinton Wamalwa Wanjala, a financial writer and certified financial consultant passionate about empowering the youth with practical financial knowledge. As the founder of Fineducke.com, I provide accessible guidance on personal finance, entrepreneurship, and investment opportunities.
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