Are You Working Hard to Stay Broke?

Having traveled to about 70 countries, people often tell me how easy it must be to become wealthy in the United States.  And while it’s not necessarily easy to become wealthy, I do know you have to work very hard to stay broke.  And not only here in the United States.  You have to work very hard to stay broke almost anywhere in the world.  Really. 

I get that there are people who want to hold you down because of your religion, sexuality, race, level of education, caste, or some other immoral reason.  And that you may have started in a very weak socioeconomic situation and are facing systemic bias throughout the economic system.  It’s no doubt true that millions of people may have an easier pathway to prosperity than you do.  In fact, all of this is probably true.  But here’s what else is true... 

You still have to work hard to stay broke. 

You may not have had to work hard to be born broke; that probably happened on its own.  You may not have to work hard to be broke right now.  But you definitely will have to work hard to stay broke.  First of all, because believing in anything that is demonstrably false requires a great deal of denial, suppression of evidence, and choosing to ignore reality.  Expending this mental energy is taxing.  You have to make all kinds of mental distortions to accept false beliefs about prosperity – even in light of overwhelming evidence that they are untrue.  Some of these limiting beliefs include:

• You need money to make money.
• There is a secret to becoming wealthy that rich people are hiding from you.
• You need a college degree to be successful.
• Earning money is hard.
• Wealth can only be built by manual labor.
• Your DNA strain prevents you from being a successful entrepreneur.

When you buy into bad premises like the ones above, you are creating a certain view of the world, most specifically, a victim mindset.  Unfortunately, falling into a victim mindset is just the beginning of your efforts. A victim mindset will definitely make you broke, as millions of people have already demonstrated.  But to stay broke requires not just buying into some false beliefs, but also coming into conflict with universal laws...   

Universal laws govern our being. You may not believe in gravity, physics, or cause and effect, but that doesn’t diminish or discredit their power.  In terms of practical application in the way universal laws work, prosperity is manifested three ways:

1. Solving Problems
2. Adding Value
3. Envisioning Possibilities

Let’s unpack those a little bit, then we’ll explore where the bad premise of beliefs come into play again.

Solving Problems…

Any time you can solve a serious problem that is really bothering someone or something – they will eagerly crawl naked over broken glass to give you money to make that problem go away.  Imagine it’s the weekend and you have an abscess tooth flare up, causing you excruciating pain.  You desperately want and need a dentist with emergency hours.  You don’t worry about discounts, coupons, or early bird specials – you just want someone who can make your problem go away. 

Adding Value…

Any time you can add value to someone or something – you can be rewarded handsomely.  If you can show a business how to make their product faster, better, or cheaper – they’ll gladly pay you for that.  If you can show a restaurant how to get more delivery orders, an athlete how to train more effectively, or a Baby Boomer how to send an Instagram story – they’ll happily trade you money and material things for that.  And don’t be afraid to think outside the box…

I traveled to Indonesia several times to give speeches there. It’s a gorgeous but poor country, with many people looking for work, and the capital city of Jakarta has arguably the worst traffic jams in the world. Imagine my delight to see enterprising young people at the side of the road, offering their service as a rider.  Solo drivers pick them up and pay them to listen to the radio, in order to use the carpool lane and beat the jam.  These creative entrepreneurs need no skills, no experience, and no education – just a clever idea and a inclination to work it.

Envisioning Possibilities…

Sometimes the problem you can solve or the value you can add isn’t readily apparent to the people who can benefit from it.  No one in the world was thinking they needed a two-pound phone or half a computer, but Steve Jobs envisioned the possibility of the iPad anyway.  And when millions of people saw it, they instantly wanted one.   

This leads us back to our discussion on how hard you have to work to remain broke – and the beliefs you have to accept to do so... 

To stay broke, you have to believe you have zero ability to solve problems for anyone or anything, there is nowhere and no way for you to add value, and that you are incapable of envisioning a possibility that others might desire.  Not to mention, ignoring the opportunity to attend my Master Class and blow up those limiting beliefs. That’s some pretty hard work.   

Hopefully you don’t disregard this message, because you think I’m being heartless and insensitive, or have forgotten what it’s like to be poor.  I assure you neither is the case.  On the contrary, having been poor for so many years, it’s now possible to look back on that long dark period of time with clarity – and recognize how hard I inadvertently fought to remain there. 

Perhaps you’re thinking that you are a special case. Maybe you believe I’m foolishly missing the obvious – and that you have extenuating circumstances that will prevent you from becoming wealthy.

You might believe it’s not your fault that you’re broke.  That’s quite possibly the case.  But if you’re thinking this somehow negates the effort that will be required for you to stay broke…

Look at how hard you're working to justify that.    

Peace, - RG