WHAT CREATES A POVERTY MINDSET?

Have you ever been frustrated about the lack of options that you have available to you? Are you stuck in a cycle of having more bills than money? Are you overwhelmed by your situation of living paycheck to paycheck and NEVER getting ahead and always being behind? Do you lack the ability, knowledge or endurance to get yourself out of your situation and make a better life for you and your family? If so you need to understand that your circumstances are a result of a mindset and a set of developed habits. You may not agree with me but I believe this is a poverty mindset, and in order to get out of this you need to understand what causes it. You need to get some insight on the basic differences between the individuals that get out of their circumstances and those that do not.

What Do I Mean by Poverty Mindset?

For the purpose of this blog post, when I refer to poverty I am not talking about individuals who are homeless, or destitute. I am referring to individuals who would be classified as the working poor. These are individuals who fall into one of two categories:

1. Consistently having more bills at the end of the month than money.

2. Consistently living paycheck to paycheck.

These two categories may be viewed as “normal” or perhaps “middle-income” to some, however, I believe that these two problems are the true indicators of poverty. I do not want you to feel that I am judging at all because I have been there and was there for a long time. However, my job and obligation is to help others and in doing so sometimes you may hear something that you may not like and may make you very uncomfortable. But in order for change to occur you MUST become convicted for it to happen. I pray today I am helping that change occur and will say something that will set you on fire.

Stop Focusing on the Wrong Thing

You may have thought my definition of poverty was a little uncaring and tough. Good, I am not going to be firm and harsh just because I have a platform, I am going to be firm and direct because I do not want you to get complacent with normal. Normal is not good enough, especially when it is about your well-being. I do not want you to focus on the end result but instead focus on what you did or the habit(s) you developed that created that result.

Suppose right now you do not have any money in the bank, well, that IS a result. Guess what, staring at it, praying about it, or wafting incense around it, won’t change it, it IS a result. I know some may say prayer changes anything and it does. However, we still have an obligation to DO something even when we pray because faith without works is dead. Instead of looking at what happened, the results, look at what got you there, the types of habits you have had that created that result. I am not saying that there aren’t circumstances that we face that are beyond our control that is not what I am talking about because I know that God uses some situations to teach us. But, if you are in constant struggle with money, paying your bills, not having enough and it has been years or generations, come on people a light bulb has to go on to make a change.

You Are NOT Meant to be Broke

Do you know that you were not created to be in lack or broken? Broke does not just apply to money; you can be broken or lacking in your health, relationships, etc. There are individuals who associate being rich with something bad or that you have to sacrifice time with your family and that simply is not true. These are some of the viewpoints that are developed and I use the word developed because we train ourselves sometimes unbeknownst to ourselves to think negatively which is the very thing that keeps people in poverty. (I am referring to my definitions of poverty).

When you associate having money with something negative you will stay in poverty. The LOVE of money is the root of all evil not money itself. Let’s be honest if you had more money, whatever your passion is or your calling is in life, do you think you would be a little more influential or effective? My belief is if there is a person who is charitable by nature, it would be extremely selfish to not be willing to do it at a greater level. Becoming wealthy would allow for you to impact more people’s lives than you currently are. The bottom line here is we were meant to have because we have been blessed to be a blessing. We were created to be SIGNIFICANT and money helps you to be SIGNIFICANT without boundaries.

Can you see why thinking negatively about being wealthy is one of the causes of poverty?

CAUTION: This writing may infuriate some people; guess what it is meant to. You have to know and embrace this at your core, that there isn’t an obstacle, a situation, or circumstance that someone with a beating heart cannot overcome especially if they really want to. Now this is the message I hope you receive.

Causes of Poverty Mindset

Years ago my friend and I use to purchase income property in lower income areas and most if not all of our tenants were on Section 8. Section 8 is a government funded agency that will pay a portion or all of your rent. One of our tenants had most of their rent paid except for $50.00. This particular tenant would pay the $50.00 often times late and was an able bodied individual who could work and sometimes would find employment. But this individual understood that they had to report all of their income, so this person would get a job just long enough to earn a little extra money and quit right before needing to report the income in order for her to maintain her Section 8 status. This individual was training herself to stay within a boundary of just enough. The problem is not only the government but it is primarily the person who is in the situation, because the individual has set limits to their potential. They have conceded that their lives will be deduced to a certain level and that they will only be able to earn a certain amount of money. This is truly being bound to something. What a vicious cycle it could be.

Let’s talk about what really causes poverty because there are individuals who have been homeless that have become multimillionaires so it is not about the money necessarily. What it boils down to is MINDSET. And during this time of year we see a lot of interesting mindsets. There is a new holiday which is “BLACK FRIDAY”. For all of you Network Marketers you may have experienced this where you were prospecting someone and they told you that they did not have money yet they were the first ones out on BLACK FRIDAY purchasing that DVD, XBOX, etc. When I am talking about poverty I am talking about the working poor which are a good portion of the people in America. People who do not have a savings, no retirement plan, living paycheck to paycheck. I know about this well because I have been there. I have experienced not having enough, I have experienced robbing Peter to pay Paul and it is not a place I ever want to go back to. So, what is the difference between someone who seeks a solution and finds it oppose to someone who becomes complacent and never gets out? The solution is the choices. Are you making choices that further place you into poverty or are you making choices that move you away from it.

I recently had a woman call my home and it was a wrong number, I was about to hang up and I told her to have a blessed day. That triggered her to respond to me “it is too late for me to have a blessed day.” I responded to her the fact that you are alive was a blessing (I meant that sincerely especially when earlier that day was one of my fraternity brother’s funeral). She then explained that her 14 year old was going to have a terrible Christmas because she had to use the money she saved to fix her car. I replied to her it was a blessing to have the money to fix your car because there are many people who have had that situation and did not have the money. I am speaking from experience. I told her how would it be for her to take her son out after Christmas and shop with him letting him pick out what he wanted and spending less because everything would be on sale. Her response was incredible. She said you might have just made a new tradition for us because Christmas is supposed to be about Christ and we can use that day to actually celebrate Him (meaning Christ) and we can shop and buy later and for cheaper. I told you this story because her epiphany believe it or not could spur her to becoming less poverty minded and thinking more prosperously.

I told you that story because of her initial mindset. A change in focus changes your situation. Therefore, the person that invests in themselves and their business by purchasing books, trainings and education, webinars, dvds, etc. is the person that sees these purchases as a LONG-TERM solution for their family which will help them to NEVER return to those days of lack. This solution would be the one to turn their situation around is how this individual sees this type of investment. When you invest in yourself to make yourself better that is the solution to beating poverty, not a scratch-off ticket or the lottery. The lottery is over $400 million this week and the odds of winning are ridiculous. But someone will win it. But what I find interesting is that many of the lottery winners end up worse off than they were before they won it and this is due in part to their MINDSET. So is it a win fall of money that makes the difference no, it is the mindset of the individual. Consequently, take a look at the people that you are hanging out with. Are they individuals that are bettering themselves by attending the events and seeking mentorship from individuals who are successful or are they individuals who rushed out to get a new Xbox or new DVD player. Do not get me wrong, if you have the money to do that and you are not scraping by or taking money for your light bill to buy one of these things then fine. But if you are barely getting by that is not the behavior that you want to exhibit because it will keep you bound in your circumstances forever. I am not against the Xbox or any other box. What I am against is a poverty mentality. I am against buying stuff when your lights are about to get cut off. I am against buying stuff when your car is barely making it and not trying to do something different to change your circumstances. I am against wrong focus and bad priorities and becoming use to it. The thing that a person who is lacking needs is a way to create more money and the wisdom to handle it wisely and that is where investing in you comes in. Knowledge comes by hearing.

There are people who do not believe in abundance but live in scarcity. This too is not the way you should live. There are people who may be save-a-holics but will not spend because they do not feel that they will ever have enough. They feel that money is scarce. Both of the individuals that I speak about neither have balance. The goal should be to get to the point where you are able to purchase the things you desire and those purchases not affect your well-being and you have developed a plan that continues. It is not a great place to be in when you have to make a decision to want to buy yourself something or pay a bill. You should be able to do both and still have a great life.

The Solution to Changing a Poverty Mindset

The bottom line the causes of poverty are poor choices. It is buying those things, using that credit card getting further into debt and not have a possible solution to it ever ending. If this is you and you have a desire to change, the next time you go to purchase a thing ask yourself is this something that will get me out of my situation or further bind me. If you are spending money determine if it would be smarter to purchase a book or attend a seminar or purchase the thing. Remember that from anywhere you can get to wherever you want to go. I find it interesting how many people quickly sharpen their defense skills when talking about their situation. “Oh, you don’t understand my situation”; “you do not realize what I am going through”. If you argue to keep your limitations I will gladly let you have them. Kudos to you. Stay in a poverty mindset. This is a disease that is taking over and creating more Uberconsumers instead of wealth builders, or prosperous generation creators. Take it from someone who has been there. It is time to pour your energy, efforts and passions into something that can help you and your family instead of hurting. You can create a different and better life for yourself if you eliminate the distractions if you just change your MINDSET.

This information probably stirred up some kind of emotions within you. Maybe you thought something like, “That’s easy for him to say” or “You don’t understand my situation”, all I ask before you consider sticking with a negative emotion is will that emotion serve you and your family or could that emotion be part of the problem?

Once the light bulb is turned on it should open you up to a different world. But what needs to happen in seeing things differently, you may have to admit to yourself that the old way of doing things wasn’t so smart. My wife and I lived from paycheck to paycheck and I would spend my little money on dumb stuff that I did not need before I had a disposable income. The world that I use to live in was extremely silly and clearly the model did not work. I want others to experience this new nirvana. Being enlightened is the only way to live which is not stressing over every single dollar. There is this misconception that people with money only care about money, truthfully it is the opposite. The individuals who do not have money are the ones that think about it all the time and that is because when you have money you do not worry about it nearly as much and you make different choices and have options available to you to live your life the way in which you desire. You can have PURPOSE DIRECTED SUCCESS today!

HUGE, HUGE message. If you feel that others need to know please share.

Yours in Christ!

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Original post date: 12/13/13