“What’s keeping you from being rich? In most cases, it’s simply a lack of belief. In order to become rich, you must believe you can do it, and you must take the actions necessary to achieve your goal.”
– Suze Orman
Fear blocks us, paralyzes us, and stops us from developing and growing. You can’t let that happen! Luckily, it’s just an emotion, and you can learn to get it under control. Applying it to your finances, Robert T. Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, explains that fear of social disapproval is what stops us from exiting the rat race and getting rich. He defines the rat race as “the endless routine of working for everyone but yourself”.
Right from when we were little, we were told things like: “go to school, study hard and get a good job”. We still teach kids this, even though it’s outdated
advice based on last century’s ideas. Back then, it was possible to land a job right out of college, work for the same company for decades, and then retire with a nice pension. Unfortunately, nowadays that’s not at all guaranteed. As such, we need to shake off our fears and make it out of the rat race so we can ensure our futures.
It takes work to get rid of this fear. We have to learn how to manage it so that it doesn’t paralyze us. Only when we’re able to turn it into motivation can it become our ally. As we said before, it’s understandable that the thought of leaving our comfort zones makes us uneasy. The unknown is always scary. Our task is to switch that fear for curiosity, intrigue, and a desire to learn. If you fear a particular field, inform yourself, and study it. It probably won’t be as intimidating as it seems! That way, you’ll begin to transform your weaknesses into strengths. Every time you sharpen up a weak area, you grow as a person. This applies to the field of business, too.
A lot of these fears which affect us come from something known as limiting beliefs. These are little pitfalls or fears that we adopt from childhood through experiences we have lived or heard about. As children, we are like sponges – we soak up everything we see and hear, and it gets imprinted on our memory. This is especially true of negative experiences. As we grow, we need to work on that and look at whether we were being realistic or whether we amplified the experience in our minds. These beliefs limit us and stop us from moving forward. This means we need to face them head-on and stop them from holding us back.
CHALLENGE: FACE YOUR FEARS
Make a list of the excuses (fears) you normally give yourself or others for not starting to change your life. Don’t just think about them – get a pen and paper, and write them down.
This list you’re going to make is going to help you identify your fears so that you can face them. It has been proven that the simple act of writing them down will make them seem less daunting.
Your challenge is to face them head-on one by one, so that they become strengths, or at least so that they don’t negatively affect you. Start with the ones that seem easiest to tackle, and set a not-too-distant deadline for achieving them. Don’t let that go by – face your first fear today!
Now, let’s talk about some myths. Let’s start with a common one: golden opportunities. If you want to become a big investor, you have to surround yourself with competent people. It may be hard, but you have to leave your emotions aside a little. Don’t ask friends or family for advice – it could come back to bite you. You’ve probably heard an acquaintance saying they were going to invest in the business opportunity of the century. But all that glitters is not gold.
Before you invest in anything, you need to take a close look at what’s being offered to you. It’s good to be daring, but not reckless. This is why you need to surround yourself with competent people who know a lot about the areas you’re working in. This will significantly reduce your risk of getting burned.
It’s normal for a business on the up to have people investing in it like crazy. They get carried away by their emotions and swept up by the tide. These are things we must learn to control: not to believe in myths, nor to let fear or greed control us. It seems so obvious, but when it comes to investing, emotions often get the better of us and can end up being our downfall.
“It’s doing so well, they must be raking it in,” we think. Well, often, the opposite is true. A good business with a low listing on the stock market has a lot of room to grow and improve. On the other hand, one that’s already sky-high can’t grow much more, and is probably about to start declining. You must be very careful with myths. Too many uninformed people believe that they are naturally great investors or economists. It’s your job to identify them! That will help you avoid a lot of unpleasant surprises.
Another very common misconception is thinking that people get rich overnight by a stroke of luck. To give you an idea, 95% of millionaires took
more than ten years to get to where they are today. The majority of them did not earn their first million until they were forty-nine.
It’s also common to think that when we have higher incomes, we should spend more – but that’s not the case at all. Most millionaires have a limited budget for their everyday lives. When these rich people see an increase in their earnings, contrary to popular belief, they use them to invest, generate more profit, or guarantee their futures with pension plans.
Everything we have just read should serve as a lesson. There is no excuse to start improving your finances RIGHT NOW. Every step you take towards prosperity from today onwards will be a win. Your first achievement will motivate you to keep going, and bring others along with you, too. That’s how the knock-on effect begins.
No matter how small that first step seems, it’s the most difficult one to take – and also the most important. It enables you to eliminate any fears you may have had. Seeing the methods in this book get results will fill you with confidence. This first step will start to take you toward financial freedom. Remember, without that first step, you’ll never reach the end of the path!
All you have to do is start. Learn basic financial concepts and put them into practice. Thanks to the exercises, methods, and practical examples we’ll show you, you should find this simple and fun.
Ready? An exciting journey awaits you – one that will flip your worldview on its head. The way you see your day-to-day, and the way you see everything! You’ll appreciate every detail that bit more and value every step you take and things that were insignificant to you up until now. Dive straight into the workings of your economy. Now you’re truly mentally prepared, so it’s time to get started.
KEY IDEAS
- We often make excuses not to act at the moment, and these come from fears and blockages.
- Many fears and blockages are due to limiting beliefs, which are shaped by our experiences and what we were taught as children.
- We can learn to manage fear, and turn it into a powerful motivator.
- The first step is the most important: just begin. This will kickstart a virtuous cycle that will help your actions start snowballing.
Add comment