I have hung out with some of the wealthiest people on the planet, and some of the poorest. I have been to Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia. I went in the 2000s and 2010s, before all of the new development. Since then, millions, if not billions of people have been lifted out of poverty. And yet many people still remain poor. Sometimes, this is through no fault of their own. The financial system is rigged, and some people aren’t able to get their work done for health reasons among other things. But other times, people get stuck in a rut. For the purposes of this article, I wanted to delve into what frequently holds people back on a socioeconomic front.
The poor are too generous
The stereotype of the Native Americans being overly trusting always come to mind when I show up in some poor neighborhood. That’s because the poor are always giving me stuff, usually what little they have. I try to decline these offers as much as possible, but this trend is the exact same across multiple neighborhoods in multiple countries. If you’re poor, you need to focus on yourself. You can’t be helping everyone, especially not if everyone is dysfunctional. The people you help will only leave you broke and disappointed if you’re starting from the bottom.
The poor have negative attitudes about the rich
There’s a sense amongst the poor that you need to do bad things to be rich and hurt and ignore people. This is half true. In order to be rich, you often need to ignore and forget about the attitudes of the poor. Some poor people are poor as a result of lack of ability. Others are poor because they don’t know how the world works. Negative attitudes about money and wealthy people stop poor people who have the ability to learn from actually taking in new information. Let go of all negative attitudes, no matter your current socioeconomic status. Negative mindsets only serve to hold you back. Nobody’s above their own psychology.
The poor engage in immoral behavior
Unfortunately, what constitutes moral behavior is frequently dictated by those who have money. But some behavior is objectively immoral. When poor people do immoral stuff, it tends to be stuff that is really reviled by general society. When the poor act out, they push away far more winners than when the rich do. This is because behavioral standards are different across the world. The poor lack the cultural sensitivity to make themselves palatable to a wider audience. When I say this, I’m not talking about the majority of the poor. But of those who are able to create better for themselves, it’s often a lack of cultural sensitivity holding them back.
The poor don’t change their environment
Women are able to hop social classes more frequently than men because they change their environment in search of the right men and try to adapt. Men always tend to be loyal to their bros. This is in part because it’s easier for women to make new connections using their looks alone, but it’s also because men are less adaptable and emotionally intelligent. If you don’t change your environment, you can’t expect to be successful.
The poor care about external validation
If you care about what other people think, you’re highly likely to get average or below average results. This is because average people are of average intelligence, and they don’t care about you. You can’t hope to do well if you care what normal people think. You should care about the opinions of the people who you admire and respect. Don’t focus too much on what’s cool or current. You’ll seem weird to normal people, but you’ll live a better life in the long run.
The poor are (often) are around unhappy and unlucky people
When I’m in poor areas, people treat me rough, or they are fake and try to use me. When I’m in wealthy areas everyone is super, duper nice. I’m able to meet lots of women and make new friends. Every conversation is a cordial one, and you don’t feel the need to put on a front or dress extremely well to get respect. I couldn’t imagine growing poor and trying to make my way out of such an environment. When you’re surrounded by negative people, it rubs off on you.
The poor don’t work
This obviously depends on the person. But oftentimes, addiction and laziness are keeping poor people from being their best selves. I’ve noticed that around the world, the poor don’t work. The less you produce, the less you earn. Wealthier people have longer workweeks.
The poor don’t engage in productive activities
Knowing what to do is almost as important as doing stuff. People who work in Finance and Healthcare are much more likely to do well financially than those who work as (individual) cleaners. A cleaner can make a good living if they figure out how to train other cleaners, but this is because the nature of capital and labor. Generally speaking, the bigger of a problem you solve, the more money you make.
Want to be rich? Work really hard and stay positive
That’s pretty much your only hope. As far as I’m concerned, only about 5% of the world’s population is actually rich. This means that unless you’re born into money, the only way to guarantee that you’re in the top 5% is by having invaluable skills. This makes sense, right? If you’re looking to break into the top 5%, it means you can’t expect other people to be able to help you get there, beyond their acting capacity as professors or teachers. If you want mentors, you’re going to have to be lucky and gracious. In the meantime, you need to create something which gains you respect from others. The way to do this is to work hard at a skill of choice and provide value.
Be realistic about your talent levels and spending habits
If you’re the kind of person who likes to throw money around and spend a bundle, prepare to live a hard life. A lot of people like to pretend as though it’s easy to maintain a high-end lifestyle. In reality, we live in a world in which having a comfortable retirement is a luxury. There are millions, if not billions of people from extremely poor countries looking to eat our collective lunches. If you don’t think you’re going to be able to out earn 90% of people in the world, you should probably be capping your spending at about $1,600/month. That’s right, get used to the simple life. This is why I recommend becoming a passport bro as soon as possible. That kind of money goes extremely far in the right countries. Be realistic about your skill level and work ethic. Put a cap on your spending before the universe does. A lot of newly-rich people end up poor because they overspend. Learn to spend little and you’ll go far.
The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. This is a great thing for those who work, but difficult for the vast majority of people. Most people struggle to change their habits and find it impossible to leave people from the past behind. If you want to succeed financially, you need break out of poverty inducing habits. This should be simple, but not easy. Knowing which habits to break is also a big problem. Hopefully this article is accurate and helpful.
Thanks for paying attention.
