Poverty Mindset – What It Is And Ways To Escape It

A poverty mindset is a way of thinking that focuses more on what you don’t have than on what you do have.

And while a lot of this is about money, or the lack thereof, it’s much broader than this, because it affects the entire way you look at life.

The good news is that there are steps you can take to change your mindset.

This article describes some of the signs that you may have a poverty mindset, and some of the changes you can make that will affect your life for the better.

Symptoms Of A Poverty Mindset

The following are classic signs that this is how a person is thinking about life:

1. An aversion to investing in yourself.
2. Being more close-minded than open-minded.
3. Blaming “the world” or “life” for being unfair (instead of looking for opportunities and creating their own “luck”).
4. Considering image to be more important than reputation.
5. Devoting spare time and money on entertainment (e.g. television, sports).
6. Disliking the presence of competitors.
7. Dreaming about winning the lottery.
8. Driven by fear.
9. Focusing more on (short-term) rewards than risk.
10. Following trends and fads.
11. Is jealous of other people’s success or good fortune.
12. Lacking ambition.
13. Pessimistic.
14. Preferring to use excess resources immediately instead of reserving them for later.
15. Quitting for the wrong reasons (e.g. because the going gets tough, rather than planning in advance the criteria that will determine when it’s time to stop and move on with something else).
16. Quid pro quo attitude (e.g. wanting to know what’s in it for them now, instead of helping people with no expectation of reward).
17. Self-pitying.
18. Seeing wealth as a bad thing.
19. Short-term thinking vs. long-term thinking.

What You Can Do To Escape The Poverty Mindset

There are obviously clues in the above list that will help you change your mindset (e.g. be optimistic instead of pessimistic), but here are some specific recommendations:

1. Ask For Help When Necessary. Even if you could do everything yourself (or learn how to), is it always the best use of your time? Successful people delegate (or pay for) jobs that they either cannot do themselves, or that are not valuable uses of their time, so they can focus on the jobs that only they can do.
2. Assess Your Financial Situation. This includes understanding all of the money that you receive (and where it comes from), where your money goes (e.g. bills, entertainment, taxes), and what things you buy that are not necessary where you could use that money for longer-term goals. In other words, what are you willing to give up now for larger rewards in the future?
3. Celebrate Other People’s Successes. There is nothing wrong in congratulating others who are successful – if they have put in the effort, they deserve the rewards. It also shows that you are not the petty type, and their success can act as a motivator for you (e.g. if they can do it, then so can I).
4. Change Your Environment. The environment in which we grew up plays a large part in setting our expectations about life, but you can change your environment if you want (and should do, if it’s harming you), because a new environment can give you a fresh perspective on life.
5. Create Some Goals. When you know what it is you want out of life (and this doesn’t only have to be about material things like a fancy car or a big mansion), and you write it down as a goal, it gives you direction – everything you choose to do will either move you closer toward that goal, or further away from it. Some studies show that writing down your goals is a crucial factor in being successful. And once you have defined your goal(s), the next step is to try to create a plan on how you will achieve those goals. You could also create a vision board.
6. Define Your Principles. You need to understand the principles (e.g. honesty, integrity, consistency, loyalty, persistence) by which you want to live your life. Once you’ve done that, it’s easy to make some decisions – if they involve going against your principles then the answer should always be “no”. This is how you build a solid reputation, because people know what you will do in a given situation.
7. Expose Yourself To Opposing Viewpoints. You cannot make informed decisions without being aware of both sides of an argument. If you think your perspective on an issue is the only one and the right one, you may be discounting an option that could actually be of benefit to you.
8. Find A Mentor. Nobody has enough time to learn everything they need all by themselves, so find somebody who is already good at what you need to know and ask them to be your mentor. This may even be a business competitor.
9. Make Good Behaviours A Habit. The more often we do something, the more automatic it becomes (i.e. it becomes a habit). So, try to create new habits that reflect a positive, responsible mindset (e.g. saving a small amount each month, however small it is to begin with, or buying cheaper brands, especially if you cannot tell the difference).
10. Stop Speaking The Language Of Poverty. The poor mindset says something like, “I can’t afford that”, whereas the rich or successful mindset would reframe it as, “Is that something that will move me in the direction of my goals, and if so, what changes do I need to make so that I can afford that?”
11. Surround Yourself With Rich Mindset People. They say we are the average of the five people we spend most of our time with. If your circle all have a poverty mindset too, it’s time to upgrade your circle. Find people who are smarter and/or more successful than you, and learn from them.
12. Take Calculated Risks. This means making decisions based on a careful analysis of the benefits and the costs, and then deciding, based on the available information, whether the degree of risk involved is worth it for the potential benefit. Approaching decisions this way means you will no longer be rejecting opportunities purely out of fear.
13. Take Responsibility For Your Actions. It’s commonly said that we learn more from our failures than we do from our successes. It’s OK to make mistakes – and you wouldn’t be human if you didn’t – provided that you learn from them. And when you make a mistake, accept responsibility and stop blaming other people or “the world” – we are ultimately in charge of our own lives, so own that.
14. Teach Your Children Not To Have A Poverty Mindset. Not only will this get them moving in the right direction, but since they learn so much by mimicking their parents, it means you will need to practise what you preach, which benefits you too.
15. Update Your Perspective On Wealth. When you stop viewing wealth as something evil and something you don’t or can’t have, and see it as something that you can have that can help you achieve your goals, then you’re moving in the right direction. The caveat here is, you need to understand that the pursuit of wealth can easily turn to greed, which is why it’s important to understand your principles.

Conclusion

We are all programmed from birth, by our parents, family, teachers, etc., either deliberately or accidentally, and that sets us off in a certain direction.

And having a poverty mindset is one result of that.

But as adults, we can make our own decisions – we can question what we thought was true, we can make our own choices, and we can throw away beliefs that are either untrue (and maybe always were) or no longer applicable, so that we can define our own life’s purpose and create our own destiny. (Note that you can find the report linked to earlier in this paragraph here if you’re already a member.)

One final thought – there are those who say that the Law Of Attraction, when employed correctly, can be a way to attract all of the things (both material and intangible) that you want. I am undecided on this one, which is why it’s only here as a postscript, but check it out if you think you are interested.

Additional Resources

These are suggestions for those who wish to delve deeper into any of the above:

1. Law Of Attraction Book
2. Poverty Mindset Book