Why do some people have abundant money while others barely scrape by?
Maybe there is some secret magical formula behind their success.
For example, I used to believe that once you make one million dollars and have that kind of money in your bank account, you are sorted for the rest of your life.
There will be no more financial troubles again.
But is it the secret magical formula?
You earn, save and invest money to become wealthy. At first, it seemed logical. Money makes money. Right?
But then I noticed many rich people going broke. Many successful businesses going bankrupt. Even if they have been running profitably for decades.
I slowly realized that there was no endpoint. The struggles of life never end. You just pick up new battles after sorting your current ones.
This concept applies to almost every aspect of your life.
After going through a few failed relationships in my early twenties, I thought the solution was to find a committed person.
Once you find the right person, you are sorted for the rest of your life?
Right?
Nope.
With age comes wisdom.
A relationship isn't a product you purchase once and then have it.
Instead, it is an investment that you slowly build stronger and stronger.
Or you destroy it if you ignore the other person.
So, what's this magical formula that a small percentage of people have figured out while the rest of us struggle.
The secret formula is your mindset.
Henry Ford said, "Whether you think you can or can't, you are probably right."
Your mindset defines how you handle your life. The good and bad events.
For example, if you invest your money in crypto. And lose most of it. The loss is an event.
The conditioning of your mindset defines how you see events.
Some examples of different mindsets are:
- A humble mindset— You believe that you didn't do enough research and made a mistake. It's okay to make mistakes.
- The blaming mindset— The market conditions were not right. You lost money because of outside factors. If only luck was on your side.
- The limiting mindset— You are dumb. You can never make a good decision in your life.
- The growth mindset— You believe that trading and investing are skills that you can learn over time.
The term growth mindset was coined by Carole Dweck. In her book, "Mindset", she explained that intelligence and skill can be developed through effort.
The concept is interesting because most people believe that intelligence is innate. You are either born with it or not.
However, neuroscience has shown multiple times that your brain is not rigid. You can learn and improve till the day you die.
Your brain is malleable. You can develop it as much as you want. It's just that people pick up limiting beliefs in their early childhood. People tell themselves they are not intelligent. They fear making mistakes. With time, these beliefs grow stronger. And it becomes difficult to live like that.
But, if you want to grow, you have to take risks. Sometimes you get good returns from those risks. Other times, you focus on learning from your failures. You learn from your failures(only if you have developed a growth mindset).
What type of mindset you develop depends on several conditions:
- Your environment
- The kind of content you consume
- Your emotional strength
- Your financial background
Your beliefs are often a reflection of the environment you live in.
You are simply the average of five people with whom you spend most of your time.
So, if your friends firmly believe that life is harsh and unfair, guess what? You will somehow start thinking that life is unjust.
If your colleagues believe that they have to do just enough to survive at their job, you will adopt the behaviour.
In fact, I left my first job because I was working with a negative mindset.
I thought it was the company's responsibility to make me skilled enough to earn more.
I believed it was my boss's fault that I was not good at my job.
I felt that you must be super smart to succeed in the corporate world.
Of course, I was wrong at that time.
If my colleagues were more disciplined and focused on developing their skills and providing more value to the company, my life would be completely different now.
Sure, they were fun to be around, but did they try to improve? Nope!
They just accepted things as they were. Worse! They saw everything with a limited mindset.
So, you should be careful with who you spend your time with. What type of views you absorb? And what kind of energy is around you?
In simple words:
- A disciplined group will make its individuals more disciplined.
- A group of creative people will make you more creative.
- A group of depressed complainers will make you believe life is unfair.
The idea is to engineer your environment to work for your development.
It's your choice how you want to spend your time and where you want to focus.
People who follow influencers and celebrities feel unsatisfied with their life. They want more because celebrities live luxurious life. Whereas they have to work 10 hours a day to make ends meet.
You can engineer your environment your way.
I know I don't have enough money, so I consume books and courses to develop my skills.
My focus is on growth rather than thinking about how unfair life is for me.
Every piece of information you consume will affect you in some way.
That's why I stay away from news and negative information.
Why feed yourself with a pessimistic view of life?
Instead, spend time writing and reading. Connect with like-minded people through various social media platforms.
Progress Will Make You Happy
I have used various strategies to develop a growth mindset. Read hundreds of books. Spent time with creative people. Write on hive once or twice a week.
But the thing is, you can't modify your mindset just like that.
Most people develop their mindset in their early childhood days. They learn how to function in the world during that time.
They pick up growth or a victim mindset during that time. And these beliefs become more robust as they grow up.
It's not like you can change these beliefs in a week or a month.
For example, to wake up early, you can't change your habits by waking up for one day or a couple of days in a row. You have to repeat that behaviour for months to absolutely adopt it.
Similarly, to build up an exercise routine, you don't develop the habit of exercising after one day. You pick up the pattern by repeating it for months and then years to ingrain it into your mind.
I have been working to improve my mindset for the last 3 years. I think it will take another 2-3 years to entirely modify the beliefs that I have developed during the first 25 years of my life.
You have to unlearn your old beliefs to learn new ones. You can't overwrite your system; it will crash.
Adopting a new behaviour takes time and effort. You have to create a strategy. Then repeat it many times.
When you pick up an activity and improve in it, it stimulates the growth mindset. You will start believing you can grow in any area of your life with practice and perseverance.
To become a writer, you have to write daily. You don't become a better writer by just writing once a month.
When I picked up writing, I was terrible. However, I have significantly improved compared to my initial days.
Focus on Repetitions!
It might sound cliche, but believing in yourself that you can handle challenging situations opens up more opportunities. Your attitude towards every problem changes. Simply believe that you got this.