Do You Know Why You Are Poor?
It is important to know why you are poor before you can find a way to become wealthy. But put aside the work “wealthy” until you can define how you came to be poor.
For many, it may have started with your parents or grandparents, based on their chosen career, limited job options, or bad choices.
Have you followed their lead? Before you give up and accept that your only choice is to follow their example, I want you to consider more options.
Your circumstances may be affected by where you live, which may make you feel trapped. Lack of work opportunities nearby, such as living in a poor neighborhood, with evidence of poor choices like drug and alcohol abuse, can also have you living in fear.
And, although your fears are real, your circumstances can change. The choice is yours.
Become aware of your circumstances. Face your truth. Define why you are poor. That is important to know before you can make plans for positive change.
Need to Move
In your assessment of your circumstances, you must consider where you live, who you know, what you know, and how you live each day.
You must decide if you want the power to direct how your life should go or will you defer that choice to others. Will you make your own goals or “climb the ladder on someone else’s wall.”
If you determine where you live is a big part of the problem, then you need to plan to move. You have the option to move. As Jim Rhone noted, “You’re not a tree. You can change your location.”
Power Plays
Insecure and evil people find ways to earn a living by intimidating and threatening harm to create cooperation. This practice is self-defeating because eventually they get caught in bad behavior or eliminated by competition or destroy those they prey on.
Do you have friends that display those characteristics? Get away from them as fast as you can! They will try to use you to their advantage and create a pit for you to fall in. There is no future in those relationships.
Find well-meaning friends, who want to make life better for others. They try to grow their potential with good habits like reading, learning from those who are older and more experienced, and getting more education for better work options.
You become like those with whom you associate. Be careful how you choose your friends.
Humble Beginning
What you know is important. But none of us know all we need to know. To claim otherwise is being foolish, unless you like being poor.
If your goal is to become rich, you must read about being rich. Becoming rich is a process and it begins in your mind. Most people who became rich never become front page news. They formed good habits that helped them make smart moves on purpose. And you can learn to do that too!
There are many good books to read but I will offer three books to start your quest because they contrast the habits of the rich and the poor:
- Rich Dad Poor Dad, by Robert T. Kiyosaki.
- The Millionaire Next Door, by Thomas Stanley, Ph. D. and William D. Danko, Ph. D.
- Rich Habits Poor Habits, by Tom Corley and Michael Yardney.
You will learn that most of any recent list of millionaires are first generation. That means that they had humble beginnings and found ways to build wealth with good habits!
Step Back to Step Up
You can accept what I am saying and read to find out why people become rich or you can accept your circumstances as your forever reality. The choice is yours.
But, if you step back to recognize the background of your reality and step up to learn how that can change, you will begin the process that can lead to a positive change in your life.
My hope in writing this blog post is to help you build a better mindset for money. And, to do that, you must learn the difference between good habits and bad habits and what you must do to make your life better physically, spiritually, mentally, and financially!
Good Habits Help
A good attitude will help your perception of a good habit. They lead to good results.
Perspective is important too. The poor say, “I can’t.” The rich say, “I will try.” The poor say, “I can’t afford that.” The rich say, “How can I afford that?”
As you will learn, there are more habits to build on than just saving first, earning more, and living on less than you earn. Your children will observe your habits. Do you want them to be self-sufficient? Then, you need to show them how with habits that will help you become self-sufficient!
Reset Your Mind
This process of replacing poor habits with rich habits begins in your mind.
First, recognize what needs to change. What are your poor habits?
Second, determine what good habits will be best for you to use to replace those bad habits to get better results.
Third, you must consciously start the daily process of change in habits, blocking the bad actions and building good actions.
You must work on your attitude to keep yourself aware of why you are doing this.
You must reset your mind. Instead of “I can’t”, you say, “I will try”. Instead of “won’t”, you say, “I will”!
If you make mistakes, learn from them. Learn what you don’t know. Don’t allow yourself to be lazy. Use time as an asset.
Build Your Potential
No excuses. Good habits get results. Learn what those good habits are. Stop the poor habits so you can build your potential.
There are very subtle differences between poor habits and rich habits. Like changing a frown to a smile, habits that will help make you rich are repeated actions that reflect a positive attitude and get positive reactions.
You may develop an impressive list of goals that could take you out of your poor lifestyle. But if you don’t develop the rich habits required to accomplish those goals you will have wasted your time.
Start your process to move from being poor to being rich by learning the right attitude, perspective, and habits to develop. Then you can build your potential!
Rich Habits Lead to Wealth
Since I have suggested those three books to read to enhance your change from living with poor habits to rich habits, I will reflect on what you will discover.
Robert Kiyosaki reflects on his observations of his real Poor Dad and the teaching of his friend’s Rich Dad that translate into the habits that can make us rich or make us poor, even with a high salary.
The study that was done by Thomas Stanley, Ph. D. and William Danko, Ph. D., was eye-opening to many because of how millionaires choose to live and the habits that helped them become rich. It was first published in 1996. I hope you can become a prodigious accumulator of wealth. Read the book to learn more.
Tom Corley and Michael Yardney did a similar study that was published in 2021, with similar popularity, regarding the effects of Rich Habits Poor Habits.
There is no excuse not to know. Learn what habits you need to change to take you from being poor to being wealthy!