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TOM@RICHHABITS.NET
As artificial intelligence (AI) permeates every corner of the global economy, the question isn’t if your career will be touched by automation—it’s how deeply and what you’ll do about it. Reports from the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 paint a stark picture: by 2030, AI could displace up to 85 million jobs worldwide while creating 97 million new ones, resulting in a net gain but requiring massive adaptation.
PWC’s 2025 Global AI Jobs Barometer echoes this, analyzing nearly a billion job ads and revealing that AI-exposed roles are seeing wage premiums rise by up to 25%, but only for those who adapt—productivity in these sectors has quadrupled in some cases.
Yet, for the unprepared, the risk is real: Goldman Sachs estimates that AI could automate tasks equivalent to 300 million full-time jobs globally.
AI Exposure by Sector (WEF 2025 Data)
| Sector | % Jobs at High Risk | % New Jobs Created | Net Impact |
| Administrative | 46% | 22% | -24% |
| Legal | 44% | 28% | -16% |
| Finance | 38% | 35% | -3% |
| Healthcare | 25% | 45% | +20% |
| Creative | 20% | 50% | +30% |
Vulnerable jobs: Coders (40% tasks automatable, per WEF), paralegals (90% accuracy in AI research, Stanford 2025).
Enter the Rich Habits—a framework born from Tom Corley’s groundbreaking five-year study of 233 wealthy individuals (earning over $160,000 annually with $3.2 million in liquid assets) and 128 low-income counterparts (under $35,000 income with less than $5,000 in assets). Corley’s research uncovered over 300 daily behaviors distinguishing the rich from the poor, distilled into ten core principles that emphasize discipline, continuous learning, and strategic action.
We’ll explore how to “AI-proof” your career, not by resisting technology, but by building human-centric strengths AI can’t replicate: creativity, emotional intelligence, ethical judgment, and relentless adaptability.
These habits foster human strengths—adaptability, creativity, emotional intelligence (EI), and strategic thinking—that AI can’t replicate, per WEF and McKinsey reports on AI’s limitations in judgment and empathy.
Below, each Rich Habit is isolated with a summary of its AI-proofing application, backed by Corley’s data and third-party validation.
#1 Rich Habit – Live More Than 10% Below Your Means
80% of rich save/invest 20%+ of their net income while the poor are forced to spend 100%+ of their net income just to survive.
AI-Proofing Tip: Having adequate savings allows you to use some of those savings to increase core skills or to develop new ones. McKinsey & Company links savings to 2x faster reskilling amid 60% job disruptions. Use your savings to help gain certifications in AI-dependent jobs.
#2 Rich Habit – Continuous Self-Education (Read 30+ Minutes Daily for Growth)
88% of rich read 30+ minutes daily for self-improvement, whereas only 2% of the poor have this Rich Habit.
AI-Proofing Tip: Read 30 minutes or more each day in order to become more competent in AI. Use AI tools, like Grok, for personalized learning.
PwC data shows that adapters in AI-exposed jobs earn a 25% wage premiums via lifelong learning.
#3 Rich Habit – Maintain a Daily To-Do List and Focus on Goals
81% of rich maintain to-do lists and pursue long-term goals. The poor do not have this Rich Habit.
AI-Proofing Tip: The World Economic Forum notes that 44% of today’s skills will be obsolete by 2027. Goal-setting and pursuit forces you outside your comfort zone, enabling you to continuously grow and improve in skills and knowledge.
#4 Rich Habit – Exercise and Prioritize Health (30+ Minutes Daily)
76% of rich exercise 30+ minutes daily, while most of the poor are sedentary.
AI-Proofing Tip: Daily exercise, particularly aerobic exercise (running, biking, fast-walking), boosts the amount of oxygen that enters every cell in your body, including brain cells. This increased oxygen improves the performance of brain centers involved in critical thinking, decision-making and creativity. The increased flow of oxygen into cells also forces these cells to increase the number of mitochondria (the fuel plants within cells) in order to process this increased oxygen supply.
The result?
More mitochondria translates into increased energy, enabling you to focus longer and work longer hours on projects. This helps you to build resilience, which is vital for leadership roles.
Lastly, Columbia’s “transfer effect” research shows that forging the exercise Rich Habit creates Complimentary Habits that help enhance your performance. In AI eras, sustained energy combats burnout from rapid change – healthy employees are able to pivot faster into emerging AI roles.
#5 Rich Habit – Limit TV/Entertainment to 1 Hour or Less Daily
67% of rich watch less than 1 hour of TV per day. 77% of poor watch 2+ hours of TV every day.
AI-Proofing Tip: This Rich Habit frees time every day for networking, knowledge-building and skill-building, simply by reclaiming otherwise waisted hours from TV consumption. This habit compounds focus, aligning with Corley’s finding that time discipline correlates with increased wealth accumulation.
#6 Rich Habit – Network Effectively (5+ Hours Monthly with Success-Minded People)
79% of rich network 5+ hours/month with influencers. The poor do not have this Rich Habit.
AI-Proofing Tip: This Rich Habit builds human relationships, which is something AI simply cannot do as effectively as humans. Leverage LinkedIn AI for outreach but prioritize genuine connections.
#7 Rich Habit – Avoid Negative Influences (Limit Gossip, Cynicism)
The Rich avoid Negative Gossip (undermining others) and engage in Positive Gossip (promoting others), whereas the poor engage primarily in Negative Gossip. Negative Gossip eventually impairs or ends relationships. Positive Gossip improves and grows relationships.
AI-Proofing Tip: The elimination of Negative Gossip and the adoption of Positive Gossip helps build trust among your relationships, which insulates you to some degree, in an ever-changing AI environment.
#8 Rich Habit – Volunteer or Give Back (Time/Money to Causes)
67% of the rich volunteer, which helps build new relationships with other successful people, many of whom are found on boards or committees of non-profits.
AI-Proofing Tip: This Rich Habit not only helps you forge valuable relationships with other successful people, it also helps you develop empathy, leadership skills, decision-making and critical thinking skills, which AI simply cannot compete with. Volunteering allows you to experiment with new skills in a “safe, risk-free environment”.
#9 Rich Habit – Pursue Multiple Income Streams
65% of rich have 3+ streams, whereas the poor rely on one – income from their job.
AI-Proofing Tip: This Rich Habit diversifies and limits risk against economic downturns or AI job eliminations. Create side hustles like content creation or consulting to help insulate you from economic downturns that affect your full-time job. Side hustles also allow you to experiment in growing/emerging areas without a full career upheaval.
#10 Rich Habit – Focus on Long-Term Thinking and Delayed Gratification
80% of the rich think long-term, whereas the poor seek immediate, short-term gratification.
AI-Proofing Tip: This Rich Habit helps you to prepare and mitigate economic changes brought about by AI adoption. Investing in future-proof skills makes AI adoption less impactful on your ability to earn in an AI-dominated world.
Tom Corley is an accountant, financial planner and author of “Rich Kids: How to Raise Our Children to Be Happy and Successful in Life”, Effort-Less Wealth, Change Your Habits Change Your Life, Rich Habits Poor Habits and “Rich Habits: The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals.”
