What the world offers us is all a derivative of how we view the world. Our perspective shapes how the world treats us. I know that this will not ring true for many- but, some people can grab whatever they want from this world.
These beliefs start to form during childhood and are extremely hard to change as an adult. Depending on how our parents grew up, they may see the world through limiting beliefs. Some of these limiting beliefs have to do with racism, sexism, elitism, or a lack of finances.
Hopefully, our parents didn’t try to pass these beliefs down to us, but somehow they were transferred down. Now that we have them, we need first to discover the ideas that control us and take steps to break them.
Mentorship is Dead
First, let’s strip away all the bullcrap that surrounds everything we do. There are only two main goals of life- make a family, provide for your family. Everything we do falls into these two categories, yet we start to layer on careers, luxury items, and success metrics.
Multiplying all of these narratives into our equation complicates our lives and usually leads to unhappiness. My wife and I have done well for ourselves by focusing on those two main objectives. Don’t get me wrong, our lives are infinitely complicated, but all decisions are made based on our love for each other and our family. So things are quite simple.
My wife and I could easily let our limiting beliefs control the narrative of our lives. I am an African American, and she is a Russian immigrant to American. If we viewed those two pieces of information as limiting factors, we would not have been so successful in this life.
How do limiting beliefs dictate our narrative and shape our views and futures? When we boil down all the layers of social turmoil into a concise statement, I’d say, “How do you view the world, positively or negatively?”
Print Your Own Money
There are many ways to restate this, such as optimism vs. pessimism; or scarcity vs. abundance. No matter how you choose to state it, it boils down to these differences. The world that you perceive is going to affect you negatively at some point. Can you recover? Or will you choose the narrative to blame a third-party?
For this article, I will use the terms scarcity and abundance. When it comes to making money, I believe these two definitions best fit into this world. If you grew up poor, the chances are that you have a scarcity mindset regarding finances.
A scarcity mindset means that people see the world in a finite pool of resources. If one person has something, then another person doesn’t have that something. It can also be called a Zero-Sum Game. In the world of money, this can be a very dangerous mindset to have for many reasons.
1) A scarcity mindset will hinder your ability to find a job. When you see other people getting jobs, you will focus on all the things that they have versus what you have. They may be of a particular color, race, have family connections, have a certain degree, have money, etc. Getting a job is hard for everyone; the last thing you want to do is limit yourself with these beliefs- they will make you bitter and unapproachable.
Wealth is a Mindset
2) A scarcity mindset will hinder you from starting a business. Every day I see new YouTube channels popping into my feed. Video media is the new hot area. You will tell yourself that the bubble has already popped with a scarcity mindset, and all the money is gone. Poor decisions can happen with the stock market, writing books, starting a franchise, etc. The question isn’t, “How can I make money doing what they are doing?” It should be “What do I have that makes me unique?” For example, I follow a lot of Pokemon YouTubers. If I decided to start a Pokemon channel, I would be a Marine, family man, in his early 40s playing Pokemon. Unique.
3) A scarcity mindset will hinder you from running a business. I see this all the time. To run a business, you will have to create value for your customers before they like, know, and trust you. Usually, this means giving away free content. Over time, if you have provided enough value, customers will start to purchase items from you. It is a slow process and takes patience and willingness to serve others. With a scarcity mindset, you will try to shortcut this process. You will try to charge for everything upfront- this will not allow your audience to get to know you.
Living in such a violate, divided time can lead to many people forming a scarcity mindset because of the political climate. For example, if I don’t get selected for a job, I can easily blame the fact that I am African American and the interviewers were racists. I can go on a media rampage and get a loyal audience of people who hate this particular situation. I can spend hours upon hours spewing hate and converting others to my schedule of racism and anti-establishment.
Are You Retiring From Something or To Something?
It’s America, and everyone is entitled to freedom of speech- so have at it. But what does this line of thinking have to do with making a family or providing for your family? You still need a job or a way to earn income; nothing has changed.
A person with an abundance mindset would have walked away from the job interview and said, “Okay, how can I learn from this experience? There are many other options out there for me. Can I make money on my own? Is there any way that I can improve my interviewing techniques?”
This person understands the situation may not have been entirely fair but continues to march forward. Nothing will stop him from providing for his family. Yes, he may circle and deal with any issues he may have encountered along the way, but his primary goal is to provide for his family.
I still have a lot to unpack on this topic. It is worth addressing in further articles. Limiting beliefs are the bane of our existence. As I travel down the path of financial independence and educate myself on the ways of making money- I comprehend the depth of the lies. I will dig deeper into those throughout this mini-series. In today’s world, you can build your empire with self-education and action.
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Disclosure: I am not a financial advisor or money manager, and any knowledge is given as guidance and not direct actionable investment advice. I am an Amazon Affiliate. Please research any investment vehicles that are being considered. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
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