6 Habits That Will Keep You Poor For The Rest Of Your Life

You were born poor, but if you die poor
you have yourself to blame. Before you
finish reading this article, at least 8 out
of 10 people will have done something
that contributes to their future poverty.
Only 2 out of 10 will have done what is
required to remain prosperous in the
future. The question you need to ask
yourself today is, “I’m I among the lucky
2 or the not-so-lucky 8?”
Here are 6 habits that could easily draw
your route-map to a life of perpetual
poverty.
1.You focus on linear income instead of
passive income
Most people focus on linear income in
the name of salary, allowances and one-
off payments. Wise men on the other
hand focus on passive income in the
name of royalties, interest rates, value
addition and profit.
Relying on linear income is similar to
using buckets to fetch water from the
river. With time, you’ll get too old and
too tired to transport them to and fro
and that means you’ll have to starve for
as long as you don’t go to the river.
Relying on passive income on the other
hand is similar to building a pipeline. It
may require a lot of work at the
beginning but with time, you’ll no longer
have to go to the river to get water – the
river will come to you and you’ll not
starve.
This is the most fundamental principal
of wealth creation that most (including
you) are oblivious about.
2.You’re still waiting to start your journey
of success
Everyone wants to succeed but very few
people are willing to step into the cold
waters. Do you see the problem here? In
the history of the world, no marathon
race has ever been won (or even
finished) by someone who never left the
starting line.
As you’re stuck saying that you have no
enough capital to start, someone else is
busy making good use of whatever little
they have.
As you’re busy lamenting that there are
no business ideas, someone else is busy
sharpening his innovation claws.
When you’re busy complaining about a
problem in your society, someone else is
busy thinking how to start a business
that solves that problem.
Continue waiting at the starting line and
poverty will soon find you there to keep
you company.
3.When you earn more you spend more
Consistently raising your expenditure is
a good way to accumulate debt and to
remain stuck in the echelons of poverty.
To stay out of bad debt, you will either
need to find a way to earn more or
spend less. The first and best option is to
find ways to earn more and keep your
expenditure constant.
As you know this can only be done by
creating multiple streams of income and
lot’s of thinking is necessary in that case.
The second option is to simply cut on
unnecessary expenses. The money that is
saved from these budget cuts could be
used for embarking on future investment
programs.
4.You complain instead of committing
“Life is too expensive”; “It’s hopeless; I’ll
never get out of debt”; “I don’t earn
enough money.” Have you ever uttered
any of these statements before, or
perhaps all of them? Old habits die hard;
however, as long as you do nothing to
change; then you and your coming
generation have a direct ticket to the
land of poverty.
Stop complaining and making lame
excuses. Instead, take responsibility for
your non-productive habits and focus on
changing them – then do it!
5.You live for today, hoping tomorrow will
care about its worries
In the 1950s a scientist from Harvard
University studied the reasons for
upward socio-economic mobility. He
wanted to know how comes some
generations get wealthier while others
get poorer. All his research brought him
to a single factor that he concluded was
more accurate than any other thing in
predicting success – he called it “The
Time Pespective”.
Time perspective is basically how far you
project into the future when you make a
decision today. An example of a long-
term perspective is when a wise family
man buys land or insurance for their
child, even though he or she will not
need it for the next eighteen years. This
is a long-term approach that involves
sacrificing in the short term to assure
better outcomes in the long-term.
Most people remain poor because their
“time perspective” is focused on short-
term goals such as meeting basic lifestyle
needs, buying luxury items, paying rent
etc…are you one of them?
6.You just don’t get it!
The problem is that you keep learning
but you don’t get it. You’re educated but
you’ve never internalized what your
teachers told you. You have knowledge
but you don’t want to think too hard how
to use it. You’re still stuck at the starting
line all along because you don’t want to
start small and grow bit by bit from
there. You’re still stuck in the lottery
mentality hoping that one day you’ll
wake up and voila! discover “the newest,
incredibly easiest way to get wealth.”
Most people remain poor, not because
they don’t have the knowledge. Not
because they don’t read Kuza Biashara
and other business-related articles. But
because they don’t LEARN BY DOING.
They just don’t get it!
Final word
Being wealthy and prosperous requires
more than just physical ownership. It is
a state of happiness, well-being while
wishing the same for others. So while
you are working to escape from poverty,
remember to be happy along the way!