Thread by @moritheil

A biologist asked the other day why everyone feels qualified to have opinions on biology and if his is the only field that is treated with this level of contempt.

Since I have talked publicly about #money #mindset for years, I had to laugh.

"Everyone knows what money is" is on the same level of logic as "look, everybody can read and write these days, so anybody can be a writer."

Theoretically this is kind of true, but in reality is it?

If people widely suck at a thing despite having an introduction to it, and don't accomplish their goals, consider that maybe the field actually has some depth beyond the introductory level.

#philosophy

The fact is money is tied into all kinds of details about the self: self-image, self-worth... That's why everyone has strong (if totally unfounded) ideas about it, and that's also why people can know intellectually what the right #money move is, yet fail to do it.

As always, the first step in improving your #money #mindset is to pay attention.

If you want to lose weight, you journal your food consumption.

If you want to get ripped, you journal your exercise regimen.

The same applies here.

It's absolutely necessary to fix your #mindset so that you do not fall into self-sabotage.

What is self-sabotage? Is it that big of a deal?

90% of lotto winners in the USA are dead, broke, or incarcerated a decade later.

That's self-sabotage.

This is also a clear proof that success with money is more than just being handed a pile of money.

Just yesterday I shared a sad story of a family that owned 100 properties 3 generations ago, was down to 5, and about to lose them.

They inherited the #money, but not the spirit.

Now, there are a bunch of common myths or misperceptions about money that "everyone knows."

Yet if they are most often repeated by people who aren't successful with money, does that suggest they are helpful or unhelpful beliefs?

🤔

Some of them even contradict each other!

"Success with money is 100% due to luck."

"Success with money is 100% due to hard work."

"Money doesn't grow on trees."

"I gotta be rich to invest."

"He's rich because his ancestors invested."

"Money stresses me out; my life is better if I don't think about it."

And my favorite one, "I can't afford the time."

You're stuck working from roughly 25-65 - 4 decades of your life - unless you find a better way. But you can't spare any time on finding this better way?

🤔

#mindset

What are some fields people are looking to as an alternative to 40 yr careers right now?

Tech startups
Cryptocurrency
Real estate deals
Coaching
Flipping products (shoes, cars, etc.)

I'm not saying one of these is perfectly suited to you.

But.

If you never investigated, how would you know?

I've interviewed hundreds of millionaires and even a couple billionaires.

3-5, 5-7, or 7-10 years is a normal amount of time in which you can become a millionaire. It depends on the field and your timing.

You don't have time to take 10 years to become a millionaire and eradicate 95% of your money concerns, like having to work a job?

But you have time to throw 40 years into a position you don't like?

🤔

This is clearly bad thinking.

#mindset

And that bad thinking doesn't come from nowhere - it is what we call "motivated thinking" in #marketing.

You want the answer to be no, so you fix that in place and then work out a plausible chain of logic to lead to that "no."

And where does that desire to find and justify a no come from?

Exactly what I brought up earlier: self-image issues.

You haven't faced those demons.

https://twitter.com/moritheil/status/1304479822392029186

You want to be excused for sucking.
You want to be excused for spending 5 years in what you know is a dead end job.
You want to be excused for not owning a house or a nice car despite the ads you see where 28 year olds flash these things.

And so what do you do?

Make excuses.

"Ah, his dad gave him that car."

"Ah, be got lucky and interned under a millionaire, if I had a mentor I would also be doing well."

"Ah, his family has always been rich."

"Ah, my boss just hates me."

Everyone makes excuses sometimes. If you do it often enough, you become proficient in it, and if you keep doing it, you become a master in it. Then it becomes your nature.

There are people like this. They didn't major in accounting or finance. They majored in excuses.

#mindset

But you don't have to live life that way.

I like to ask people basic questions. If they could remember what they originally held dear, was it the proletariat? Was it social justice? Or was it something simple like "I wanted mom to smile more and not be tired all the time"?

Once you remember what you originally wanted, go do that.

Keep the main thing the main thing.

Don't worry so much about everyone's elaborate theories of justice. They're all just figuring it out.

They're scared sometimes, just like you.

#mindset #philosophy

All the greats were not primarily interested in some bullshit theory. They were interested in helping themselves and their people.

Fred Hampton. Brother Malcom. Duncan Lemp. Teddy Roosevelt. Richard Lionheart. Saladin. Cao Cao. Qin Shi Huang.

Keep that energy.