Broke vs. Poor: What’s the difference?

Everybody enjoys being right … right? Well here is some amazing news on that subject: no matter what you think, you will always be right! I have respectfully named this reality «the waiter syndrome».

Imagine yourself being assigned a table at a restaurant. The waiter gives you a quick look and evaluates how much tip you will give him. He acts accordingly, and sure enough, you leave him exactly the amount of tip he had guessed you would. And every time he is right, he becomes more convinced of his power to predict the future.

But how does the waiter do it? Is it magic? Hardly. When he thinks he will receive a good tip, he gives a good service. And when he thinks the tip will be lousy, guess what kind of service you will be receiving from him. This is a simple matter of self-fulfilling prophecy.

This reality is fascinating to observe in the business world, where the topic of money is a big deal, provoking the entire array of emotions, accompanied by the matching results. Let’s explore this eye-opening phenomenon.

My definition of Broke is «A temporary situation during which a rich person lacks positive cash flow».

And my definition of Poor is «A compulsive mental disorder causing one to permanently seek negative cash flow.»

I realize this topic stirs very strong emotions, but I trust our readers can handle it. So let me dive right into the heart of the matter: Do each of us choose to be rich or poor? The Rich say Yes and the Poor say No. Let’s find out what some of the most renowned authors have said about it.

In the early 1900’s, Harriet Hale Rix wrote «The Rich Mentality», and Napoleon Hill wrote «Think and Grow Rich». Then in 1997, Robert Kiyosaki wrote «Rich Dad, Poor Dad» and «You Can Choose to be Rich» in 2003. They basically all vehicle the same message, which is that being rich or poor is a choice we make based on our mindset, which is a direct result of the mentality our parents brought us up into.

When you see an overweight child on the street, standing next to his overweight parent, you might think it is genetics at work. But in most cases it is simply because of what the parent chooses to feed their child. The same applies to money and all other values.

Our mind has been moulded by our parents and it now follows that specific programming automatically … unless you choose to reboot your brain. Here are a few common situations that illustrate this point.

As soon as you decide you want to buy a silver Mercedes, you start seeing them everywhere. Or when a woman wants to have a child, she now trips over pregnant women at every turn. Our brain is constantly overloaded with information, so in order to keep us sane, it filters that information according to your conscious and subconscious instructions.

We tell our brains what we desire in many different ways, and that grey matter works 24/7 on guaranteeing our outside world (life) is perfectly consistent with our inside world (mindset). But the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Our brain filters to help us function better, but when the computer program running in the background is negative, so are the results.

Remember when you were learning to ride a bike? You did great as long as you watched the road ahead, but as soon as you got scared of hitting the sidewalk, you looked at the object of your fear, your hands automatically turned the handles in that direction, and sure enough, you took a dive courtesy of said sidewalk.

You cannot escape the wiring of the human brain, but you can understand it and run positive computer programs to replace the negative ones. Otherwise, you will keep sabotaging yourself, you will become resentful of those with success, and even try to sabotage them too because misery loves company.

In College I studied psychology and over the course of those three years, the one thing that stuck most in my mind was an extracurricular workshop on NLP (Neuro-Linguistic-Programming). Did you know that the brain does not register the negatives, such as «no» and «not»? If you tell your spouse «Honey, please do not forget to buy milk», their brains understand «Honey, please forget to buy milk».

This function of the human brain is one of my two favourites. When you are aware of it, you can ask your spouse, children, boss, employees and associates what you want in a positive way, and when someone asks you to remember something in a negative form, you can simply repeat it to yourself positively.

My other favourite function is manifestation. Everything you sincerely believe will manifest itself in real life. And I don’t mean repeating positive affirmations. I mean your «heart’s true desire». You can lie to yourself and to others, but your brain cannot be fooled. So it is of the utmost importance to be completely honest with yourself, even when you are upset or ashamed of what you discover.

The first step is to recognize the Poor mindset through three warning signs:
1. Constant fixation on the lack of money
2. Despising rich people and considering them evil
3. Making decisions based on fear of failure or loss

The second step is to compare the ideologies of Rich and Poor on different topics. According to Robert Kiyosaki, there are seven of them:
1. Poor Dad thinks wealth in inherited, Rich Dad thinks it is created
2. Poor Dad thinks a job is for income, Rich Dad thinks it is for experience
3. Poor Dad can’t afford opportunities, Rich Dad finds ways to afford them
4. Poor Dad stresses scholastic education, Rich Dad financial education
5. Poor Dad is a victim of the outside world, Rich Dad created his own circumstances
6. Poor Dad avoids risk at all costs, Rich Dad manages risk
7. Poor Dad is traumatized by failure, Rich Dad learns from his mistakes

The third step is to realize the impact of the Poor mindset:
1. It makes you settle for less by scaring you
2. It limits your opportunities by blinding you
3. It creates a false reality by lying to you

The fourth step is to identify your negative thoughts, decide to pluck them out, and the most important part of this is to replace each one with a positive thought.

«The rich mentality is so full of awakened consciousness, so absolutely certain of the Truth, the Ideal and the Real, that it never fears poverty. It is not being hindered by any effort to fight poverty, or lack, or want.»
– Harriet Hale Rix, The Rich Mentality

Raise your own awareness and that of others about working towards a Rich mindset, and the next time unfortunate circumstances arise, you will know you might be broke, but never poor.

I invite you to visit this page of our website to watch the video «What the Wealthy Buy on Payday», for an excellent illustration of the different mindsets towards money.

For more in depth and detailed information, Phoenix Alliance offers a FREE specialized «How to reboot your brain towards success » seminar to its registered members.

Interesting outside link: « Poor Mentality vs Rich Mentality in startups »