ACCOUNTING & FINANCE

Do You Have a Poverty Mentality?

The way you think about money can have a huge influence on your ability to create wealth. Poverty mentality is a mindset that people develop over time based on a strong belief that they will never have enough money. This mindset is driven by fear and can cause poor financial decision-making.

Are you suffering from a poverty mentality?

If so, it’s holding you back from living a full and happy life.

When you’ve got a poverty mentality, your mindset is fixed on a strong belief that everything is hard to get, i.e. it’s difficult to make money, get ahead in a career, make friends and so on. Everything in life is a struggle or an uphill battle.

But guess what? You can change your mindset. You are in control, and with know-how and practice, you can re-engineer how you think.

With a mindset driven by fear, there can be no comfort or contentment in your life, which is no way to live.

Life is not a rehearsal is it, so there isn’t a second to lose. Let’s look at the traits of a poverty mindset and how to train yourself to think differently about life and what you really want from it.

Poverty Traits

Do you have some of these common characteristics of a poverty mentality?

• Feeling guilty as soon as you buy something.
• Being constantly worried about money or thinking about it often.
• Having a strong dislike of ‘rich’ people, yet wanting to be just like them.
• Making decisions based on fear.
• Thinking small rather than thinking big.

With a poverty mentality, you set yourself up to fail. Your decision-making is poor, so the outcomes are limiting. For example, fear will instil a lack of confidence, and with it, your goals will be inadequate if you even set goals. We are all conditioned and learn our behaviour from people close to us. We are very impressionable when we are young, and we believe what we learn from our family, educators, and friends.

Over time we form our own opinions and seek input from more extensive sources, including the workplace, social and sporting activities, and other cultures when we travel abroad.

A poverty mentality is also commonly found in people who have experienced poverty in childhood. We know it is a barrier to enjoying happiness and financial security, but fear stops us from reaching out to learn new behaviour.

Abundance Mindset

Being consciously aware that you need to change how you think is the starting point, so well done! Now you can take steps to turn your negative thoughts around, so you can set far-reaching yet achievable goals, have confidence in your decision making and enjoy life.

To form a new habit you need to give yourself time, anything from 18 days to a few months. On average, you’ll need a couple of months of daily practice to make your new habit second nature to you.

When you start out, you’ll be consciously aware you’re thinking differently about money, and success and then, in time, the habit will be formed insofar as you’ll be unconsciously aware you’re thinking and acting in a new way.

An abundance mindset believes that there’s plenty of everything for everyone and lots of time to get it. We are what we believe. Therefore when we know we are full of energy, love, inspiration and desire, no one can say otherwise. Self-belief in our abilities to make money, invest wisely, empower and support others overrides everything, and this is where you need to get in your mindset to have an abundance mentality.

Learn from people who have the mindset you want. Mix in the same social circles with like-minded people. Read books, quotes, watch videos, and continue to seek out reaffirming input that keeps you on the right path. Remember, we don’t plan to fail. We fail to plan.