They are poor. They do not even have homes. Business insider sited 11 homeless men who became a multimillionaire in dollars.
What do they have that you don’t?
They have a different mindset. They have a RICH MINDSET.
They used their minds and avoided the mistakes cited below. Mind is a powerful tool and if you set your minds into poverty, then that’s where you shall forever will be.
If you have these, then better stop doing them:
1. You often say, “Wala akong pera”
I used this phrase often before, because I hear this quite a lot. Hearing this phrase quite a lot especially from your parents and society during your youth can form into a habit and make you say this carelessly. Then, I found out the truth: Do you know that saying this often can also affect you psychologically? When it becomes your daily mantra, it also becomes your reality. Why?
If you say, “Wala akong Pera” – you are already putting an end on your ability to earn and close your doors to possibilities.
What do you think will happen if you keep on saying this to other people?
When they say, “Mag business tayo,” you say, “Wala akong pera.”
When they say, “Mag invest tayo,” you say, “Wala akong pera.”
When they say, “Mag save tayo,” you say, “Wala akong pera.”
When they say, “Pautang nga pare,” you say, “Wala akong pera.”
Instead of saying – “Wala akong pera” why not say:
When they say: “Mag business tayo,”
You say: “Anong business yan? Mapag-aaralan ba natin yan? If the business is worth it, then, you say, “Pag-ipunan natin yan.”
When they say: “Mag invest tayo,”
You say: “Anong klaseng investment yan? Paano tayo kikita dyan?”
When they say: “Mag save tayo,”
You say: “Paano tayo makakaipon? Tulungan mo ko, hirap ako makaipon eh.”
When they say: “Pautang nga pare,”
You say: “Wala kasi akong extrang budget para mapautang ko sayo ngayon eh. Yaan mo, if nagka extra ako, at kailangan mo pa, matutulungan din kita.”
What did you do?
Wala akong pera – is laziness. Telling it over and over again will become the REALITY of your life.
Saying otherwise, can make you explore opportunities instead of shutting it down. It will make you learn on how you can possibly have more money than what you have right now and will even keep your relationships intact.
2. You always reason out why you remain poor. “Mahirap magulang ko.” Or “Mahirap kasi kami eh.”
When you look at your friends and see that they have everything they want, you say to yourself, “Mayaman kasi magulang or pamilya nya. Swerte sya.”
Well, in truth, things like that can really make other people rich without getting their hands dirty.
But do you need to just stop dreaming because your parents/family is poor? If you sulk and pity yourself as you look around you, will anything change? No. Nothing will change, you remain poor.
But what if you take charge of your future and leave behind that mentality and make your wealth your own personal responsibility? Can something change? Definitely yes, right?
We cannot control everything, especially other peoples’ fortune but you can control yours and your children’s future. Let’s stop the blame and envy game.
“The moment you blame someone of your poverty, you throw away the power to change your life.” – Bo Sanchez.
3. If there is a new opportunity, you say, “Di ko kaya yan!”
Scientist conducted an experiment to Rats in a Maze. The rats were placed into a maze then they placed a stumbling block near the end of the maze, so every time the rats go into that block, they cannot pass. They did it for several times, until eventually, the rats learned that they cannot pass through that area since it is a blocked.
The scientist now, removed the block. The same rats are placed into the maze, the rats passed through all the paths except in the area where the stumbling block was once placed. Even if they saw there was no more block, the rats still refused to pass through that.
Humans are like that too, if in few tries they don’t succeed, they would always go back to the mentality of “Di ko kaya yan.”
This is much like saying, “wala akong pera”, and can be classified as laziness. Why not explore the possibility that “baka kaya mo na?”; be it in business opportunities, exploring business ideas or even learning activities.
“Don’t be the rat in the Maze.”
“Don’t ever let someone tell you, you can’t do something, not even yourself.” – Chris Gardner (the Homeless man who became a millionaire – Pursuit of Happyness)
4. You have such small dreams or no dreams at all.
My mentor shared to me a story of one of his few talks on financial literacy. He used to talk to affluent group of people, but this time, he talked to a group of employees which are in the lower income group. This was his sharing:
“I ask them – ano pangarap nyo.” Nobody answered him. He asked it several times, still, no reply. Thinking they might just be shy, he pointed one person to stand up and ask again the question, “Ano Pangarap mo.”
The person replied, “Wala ako maisip eh.” He followed up his question, he asked again, “Just think, ano pangarap mo?”
Reluctantly, the person said, “pangarap ko po mag ka bahay.”
My mentor followed up his question again, he asked, “anong klaseng bahay? Magkano ang bahay na yun?
“Di ko po alam eh,” the other person replied.
In contrast to the rich group, when he asked, “What are your dreams?” the rich knows exactly his dreams, in fact, he even have plans. He breaks his plans into achievable goals: short term, medium term and long term goals in order to achieve his dream.
You see the problem? The main difference between a rich person and a poor person is “DREAMING”.
A rich guy dreams big; a poor guy has small or no dreams for himself.
A rich guy knows exactly what he wants; a poor guy does not even know how much his dream is.
A rich guy makes his dream into a plan; a poor guy let his dream remain a distant dream; a dream that cannot be achieved.
5. Doesn’t know the price tag and timeline of your dreams.
In connection with #4, you should know the price tag and when you want this dream to come true. It also means you are converting your dream into a PLAN. If you say, I dream to have my own house, create the details of your dream:
How many bedrooms?
How many CR?
How big is the lot?
Do you want a lanai or a swimming pool?
Approximately, how much is your dream house?
When is your target year to start this house?
Don’t only dream about it. Imagine it.
“Imagination is the most powerful tool in existence, nothing was achieved without it.” – Lars Brant Stisen
“But if you don’t take the necessary steps to make them happen, dreams are just mirages that mess with your head!” – Chris Gardner
6. Believing the lie that to become rich you have to have a lot of money.
Yes, you heard me right. Money should not be your ultimate goal.
Let me tell you a story of our priest in a Sunday mass.
He has a rich friend among his barkada from High School; let me call him, Alvin. Whenever they have reunion, this rich friend will pay for everything. He described Alvin as the most sought after eligible bachelor that women will die for. Good looking, rich, and unattached.
One time, Alvin and the priest went to his condominium in BGC. The priest said the condominium was very elegant, large and modern. Then, he said that one advantage of being a priest, is that people opens up to you.
As the priest was admiring the magnificence of his home, Alvin told him, “Father, you know, every night I have a prayer to God.”
“Huh, what is that?” the priest replied.
“I have a death wish.”
“Huh? What did you say? Can you explain? You already have everything?”, said the priest.
“I pray to God that when I close my eyes to sleep, I pray that I won’t wake up anymore because even if I can have all the things money can buy, I still feel so empty inside. That is my death wish.” Alvin replied.
You see, becoming rich should not only focus on money. As you go through your life, wishing, praying and dreaming of becoming rich, I pray that you don’t only focus on material things because these will never ever satisfy you.
At the end of the day, becoming wealthy is not only wealth in terms of money but also wealth through finding the greatest desire of your soul and having the happiness and love you longed for.
“Don’t let your happiness depend on something you may lose.” – C.S. Lewis
Have a wealthy mindset,
Read more:
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- Is Employer Sponsored Life Insurance Enough?
Do you want me to guide your journey to becoming rich and create for you a personal wealth plan? Contact me here.
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These are all true! We’ve been practicing this since 2013. Back then, we wrote down that we’ll have our house built by 2017 and already created a budget in mind so we know how much we need to make it happen. In the years between, we slowly moved towards that dream – we bought a lot and this year, we’re looking at starting construction. If all goes according to plan, we’ll finally have our house built!
Side note: The only issue with many Filipinos I know is that when they meet someone who’s practicing all the things you mentioned above, they tend to pull the person down. I don’t know why, but every time we share our plans, people would either say they’re too big for us or we’re too young to achieve them. Ewan ko kung bakit! When people around us started to say things like those, we started keeping our goals to ourselves. Baka ma-jinx eh!
Thank you for sharing your experience Mommy Kim 🙂 Let me give you a positive reinforcement. Go, you can do it! Don’t mind the negativities just focus on your goal.
Thank you so much for your very inspiring and very informative blogs Dr. Pinky. =) You have ignited a spark in my heart to achieve what I want in life. =) God bless you. =)
Thank you. And God bless too.