In this age of instant gratification and short attention spans, even the highest earners are having trouble building wealth and saving for the future. A surprising number of NFL players, for instance, end up not on easy street but in bankruptcy court, even though they pulled down millions of dollars during their playing days.

If those highly paid NFL players are having trouble building wealth, what chance do the rest of us have? You might think the situation is hopeless, but that is far from the case. With the right approach and the proper attitude, even workers of modest means can build substantial wealth. Here are five ways to beat the odds and come out on the winning end of the wealth creation spectrum.

#1. Wait Until You Are Rich Before Acting Like You Are

It is tempting to act like you are rich, and the desire to "fake it until you make it" is a powerful one. Even so, living beyond your means and acting like you are rich before you are is a dangerous thing to do.

There will be plenty of time to live it up and act rich once you actually are rich, so ramp down your expectations, live within your means and build wealth for the future. There is no need to show off your nonexistent wealth, so focus benefits, on saving and investing your money instead.

#2. Focus on Saving, Not Just Earning

At the end of the day, it is not how much you earn, but how much you keep and how much you are able to save. Focusing on your paycheck alone will not make you rich but learning to save and invest from an early age almost certainly will.

Given the time and the inclination, even those earning modest paychecks can accumulate substantial nest eggs. On the other end, even the highest earners will end up broke if they continually spend more than they make.

#3. Pay Yourself First

If there is one thing you can do to build wealth for the future and set yourself up for success, it is adopting a pay yourself first strategy. The pay yourself first model provides a number of unique but interrelated benefits, and adopting it is a key prerequisite for building wealth.

The beauty of the pay yourself first model is it forces you to live below your means. By treating your saving and investing as just another bill to be paid, you force yourself to live on less than you make. Whether you pay yourself 10% of your earnings, or start out with just 1%, you are creating a habit that will last a lifetime.

The pay yourself first model also creates the kind of consistency that is key to building wealth. Once you adopt this powerful model, you will invest month after month and year after year, no matter what the market is doing.

#4. Invest Consistently and Do Not Try to Time the Market

It is tempting to time the market, but it is also nearly impossible to do. If it were easy to time the highs and lows of the stock market, every investment advisor would be rich and every broker would have their own private island.

If you attempt to time the ups and downs of the market, you need to be right not once but twice. You obviously need to call the top of the market, but you also need to know when to get back in. This type of timing is nearly impossible, and investing consistently makes far more sense.

If you invest consistently and adopt the pay yourself first model, you actually benefit from the ups and downs of the stock market. When the market takes a tumble, the money you put in goes further and buys more shares. When stocks are soaring, the same amount buys fewer shares. This dollar cost averaging is a powerful tool, especially when you are investing over several decades.

#5. Give Your Kids the Tools Then Need for Success

If you have a family, you want to give your kids the best of everything, but the best gift you can give them is your knowledge. Setting your kids up for success will give them the tools they need to live independently, and that is good for your finances and theirs.

It can be tempting to give your kids everything they want and bail them out when they get in trouble, but these financial crutches could actually cripple your children. If you want to build wealth and give your kids a gift, teach them to stand on their own - and pass on the financial lessons you have learned along the way.

Building wealth for the future is not an easy thing to do. If wealth creation was easy, everyone would do it, and everyone you know would be rich. If you want to beat the odds, you need to take a different approach, and the five tips listed above can help you get started.

#6. Help Lower Your Tax Bill During Uncertain Times

Beware of taxable investor double whammy. Capital gains distributions happen in both up and down markets. Tax cost of switching to a tax-managed approach may be less than expected. Plan for potential higher tax rates in the future. Inflation is out of control; taxes you can control.