8 things you say all the time that could be holding you back from getting rich

'I can't afford it.'

It's a seemingly harmless, but highly unproductive phrase.

"By automatically saying the words 'I can't afford it,' your brain stops working," writes Robert Kiyosaki in the personal finance classic, "Rich Dad Poor Dad." It lets you off the hook, and doesn't force you to problem solve your way to actually being able to afford whatever it is that you want.

Rather than stating "I can't afford it," ask, "How can I afford it?"

This doesn't mean you should buy everything, Kiyosaki emphasizes. The point is that you should constantly be exercising your mind, coming up with creative solutions, and thinking how can I make something happen, rather than I can't make this happen.

'Rich people deserve to be wealthy (and I don't).'

"There is a pervasive belief among the masses that tells them they don't have the right, nor are they good enough as human beings to ask, hope, or pray for prosperity beyond their basic needs," explains Siebold. "Who am I, they ask themselves, to become a millionaire? Who am I to live a lifestyle fit for a king?"

Meanwhile, he says, rich people ask, "Why not me?" They believe that success is natural — they believe that they deserve it.

"Being rich isn't a privilege. Being rich is a right," explains Siebold. "If you create massive value for others, you have the right to be as rich as you want."

'I'll never be rich.'

"Stop telling yourself that getting rich is outside of your control," Siebold writes. "The truth is that making money is an inside job."

He says that rich people have an "action mentality" — they commit to attaining wealth, and don't stop until they achieve what they set out to achieve. It takes focus, courage, knowledge, and a lot of effort, but the most successful people are the ones who are always up for the challenge.

'My house is my greatest asset.'

Many people tend to regard their homes as an asset, but at the end of the day, owning a home is more of a liability — mortgage payments, property taxes, and repairs take money out of your pocket, the opposite of an asset.

Rather than calling their home an asset, rich people think of it as a liability, Kiyosaki explains.

"I am not saying don't buy a house," he clarifies. "What I am saying is that you should understand the difference between an asset and a liability. When I want a bigger house, I first buy assets that will generate the cash flow to pay for the house."

'I can have one or the other.'

Rich people know that you can have it all. For that reason, they never say "either-or" — they say, and think, "both."

"Nowhere is 'both' thinking more important than when it comes to money," writes self-made millionaire T. Harv Eker in his book, "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind." "Poor and many middle-class people believe that they have to choose between money and the other aspects of life ... Rich people understand that with a little creativity you can almost always figure out a way to have the best of both worlds."

You don't have to choose between being rich or being happy, or being rich or spending time with your family. This mindset is limiting, or as Eker calls it: "poor programming."

"From now on, when confronted with an either/or alternative, the quintessential question to ask yourself is 'How can I have both?'" writes Eker. "This question will change your life. It will take you from a model of scarcity and limitation to a universe of possibilities and abundance."

'I'll do it tomorrow.'

Hill calls procrastination one of the most common causes of failure: "Most of us go through life as failures, because we are waiting for the 'time to be right' to start doing something worthwhile. Do not wait. The time will never be 'just right,'" he writes in "Think and Grow Rich."

If you want to build wealth, start today and use what tools you currently have. Pick up a personal finance book, listen to a podcast about money management, and form a financial plan.

'Money doesn't matter.'

Rich people would say the exact opposite. The wealthiest people see money for all the good things it can provide — freedom, opportunity, possibility, and abundance — and are not afraid to admit that, logically, it can solve most problems.

Meanwhile, the rest of us tend to view money with indifference, or as an enemy. "Most people have a dysfunctional, adversarial relationship with money," Siebold writes. "After all, we are taught that money is scarce — hard to earn and harder to keep."

However, there are times when money can buy happiness — the rich recognize and admit this. Money matters.