One of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned is the exact opposite of what your parents and teachers told you. Go to school, Get a good degree, Get a Good Job, and settle in life.
I think – You don’t want to stay grounded. Or be thankful you’ve got a roof over your head and food on your table. The thing I learned that helps me consistently achieve a goal after a goal is simply saying ‘no’ to middle-class thinking.
A Middle-Class Mindset can Keep you Poor
At first, it was tough rejecting my middle-class thinking.
My father strived his whole life to join the middle class. The middle class was his Holy Grail. My mother felt the same way. So I grew up thinking — if I earned a salary…
Saved my money…
Bought a house…
And didn’t get into debt…
I had made it.
I believed I should thank my lucky stars I wasn’t living in poverty.
But the longer I’ve been in business, the more I’ve embraced saying ‘no’ to middle-class thinking. Why?
Well, most people don’t realize it… but the middle class is a trap.
Think about it.
When you speak to most people…
They’re likely dealing with the same problems they dealt with one year ago…2 years ago… probably even 5 years ago.
Problems like, “Can I cover my bills this winter?” Or…“What happens to my family if I get laid off?”
These are the problems most people worry about a year in and year out.
I used to worry about these things too. For example…
I graduated from engineering college and got my job. At that time price of petrol was just INR 45 per liter.
People were freaking out. Incomes were stretched to the limit.
And everyone was asking, “Can I afford my next grocery bill?”
Now here’s what’s really interesting…
I stayed obsessed with petrol prices and inflation. Whenever petrol prices went up, I instinctively started cutting my spending and hoarding my money…
Even when I was earning lakhs of rupees per year. The reason?
The petrol price reinforced my middle-class beliefs and kept me trapped in that way of thinking.
When what I needed was to stop worrying about petrol prices… and start creating bigger problems for myself.
For me, creating bigger problems meant:
- Learning High-Income Skills and Gaining Financial Confidence
- Helping billions of people achieve financial freedom
- Donating millions to charity
And for you it could mean:
- Launching a new business, and setting yourself a million-dollar income goal
- Investing in multifamily real estate so you can start building generational wealth
- Building a team so you can impact the lives of more people
I could give you plenty more examples.
But do you get my point?
You can’t solve bigger problems like how to build a multi-million dollar business… or how to serve billions of people around the world…
When you’re worrying about getting laid off.
So, if you’re dealing with the same problems you were last year…
I recommend you stop being thankful you’re not living in poverty.
And you start saying ‘no’ to middle-class thinking.