Tobi OluwatoyinMany people struggle to manifest the wealth they’ve always wanted. Experts have given sustained thought to why abundance can be so elusive, and they’ve discovered that this could originate as the result of a problematic mindset, one that anyone or you may well have. This kind of mindset may be holding you back from the life you really deserve. It is called “the poverty mindset”. It infects and affects every aspect of your manifestation work so that it becomes extremely difficult to attract anything that relates to wealth in a positive way.
This guide from Legends Motivation will explain how to break the strong cycle of poverty, looking at the difference between “rich and poor mentality”, looking at the major signs that you may have a poverty mindset, and exploring the most effective strategies for attracting abundance.
What Does A ‘Poverty Mindset’ Mean?
Firstly, what exactly is referred to as a poverty mindset? It’s important to recognize that if you’re in the twenty percent (20%) of the world’s population who lives on more than $10 daily, then you’re not objectively in poverty. However, your thoughts and feelings may still align with poverty, and this alignment can stop you from manifesting what you want.
By definition, poverty mindsets are ones in which a person self-sabotages, accidentally undermining their quest for abundance by adopting a negative stance and ideas towards wealth. This makes it impossible for you to vibrate on the high frequency required to attract any sort of abundance.
Sometimes called poverty mentality syndrome, this certain type is a subtle mindset that creeps up on you without your conscious awareness. It’s something you can passively acquire from your social context or something that can start with just one thought that grows into a kind of top default negativity before you have a chance to intervene.
Although this kind of mindset is strong, the good news is that even though it’s hard to control whether you acquire a poverty mindset, there’s a lot you can do to get rid of one and create a better attitude.
Five Signs That Shows You May Have A Poverty Mindset
Common to all such kind of mindsets, it is a belief that this is the only sensible perspective to take, and perhaps even that it’s the only view you can take. However, if you’ve read much about the Law of Attraction, you’ll realize that an expensive, open-minded and positive mindset is absolutely essential for real-time manifestations. The reality is that once you determine, you can change even the most stubborn perspective!
As with all known problematic mentalities, there’s no “one size fits all” descriptions of a poverty mentality. However, if even one of the following signs sounds familiar to you, then you already have this kind of mentality or are at severe risk of developing it.
Now let’s turn to look at the major indicators that you are suffering from a poverty mindset in your own life.
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You Probably Lack Ambition
Most people who struggle to create abundance in their lives often have very limited dreams and goals. So, if you don’t make plans, it’s not news that you’ll find it difficult to picture a better life, tend to “settle” for whatever is offered to you or often nurture a kind of apathy towards your personal development, you may very well have a kind poverty mindset.
There are all sorts of reasons why you might lack ambition (e.g. low self-esteem, amidst what you live in and negatives messages in childhood), but the result is the same; you end up limiting your own potential and attracting more of the uninspiring things you’ve already experienced in life.
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You Are a Deeply Jealous Person
When looking at rich mentality vs. poor mentality, experts often note to point out just how much the poor mentality is defined by intense jealousy. Even if you really don’t pay attention, you might constantly compare yourself to others, wanting what they have and believing that they don’t really deserve it. If you have a particularly entrenched poverty mindset, you may find a reason to be jealous of virtually everyone you meet, paying more attention to this pathological envy than you do to your own strengths or what you want for yourself.
While everyone gets jealous now and again, a person whose emotional life is defined by jealousy will often fail to manifest anything good as long as it’s not eradicated.
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You Are Self-Pitying And Pessimistic
To be clear on this, we all find it difficult to deal with bad things that happen to us, and it’s not a crime to experience grief, sadness or anger. In fact, all of these emotions can sometimes promote growth and push you towards lessons that help you create a better future.
However, another common characteristic of the poverty mentality is a default position of helplessness and self-pity. You may find yourself asking “Why me?” on a regular basis, viewing yourself as a victim who has no power or control. In conjunction with this, you’re likely to be pessimistic, expecting more and more negativity to come your way.
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You Make More of Your Decisions Based On Fear
A poor mindset is primarily driven by feelings of fear. So, even when you exercise your bravery, you still do so feeling like your back is against the wall. This means you focus on avoiding bad things and on protecting yourself from harm rather than concentrating on obtaining good things or welcoming positivity into your life.
In addition, a life that is ruled by fear is also one in which the body is under a huge amount of strain, constantly producing stress hormones. This means it’s easy to get trapped in a never-ending cycle of anxiety, hardly ever sparing a thought to bring your own potential to reality.
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You Focus On What You Don’t Have, Not What You Do Have
When obsessing over how to break poverty cycles, you may naturally feel drawn to thoughts about what you lack. After all, it’s this lack that makes you want something different.
However, this way of thinking is itself characteristic of a poverty mindset. This sign often accompanies the above sign of jealousy, as when you think about what you don’t have, your attention quickly wanders to people who seem to have all those things you yearn for. As with any manifestation goal, training your thoughts on what you lack actually means that you unwittingly attract more lack into your life.
How To Break The Poverty Cycle In 8 Steps
Breaking poverty mindsets takes much effort, focus, consistency and a willingness to self-reflect. However, it’s entirely possible and it can produce fantastic results.
Following these eight steps to realign your attitude towards wealth and to create a new mindset that attracts abundance. As you look at each step, i’ll offer practical advice that will help you apply the tips throughout your average day.
As you’ll see, most of these positive changes focus on reprogramming your automatic negative thoughts and on adjusting the way you think about life’s challenges. In time, these techniques become entrenched habits, and you no longer need to concentrate on sustaining an abundance-promoting mentality.
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Drop Negative Language And Words
This might look funny, but to stop speaking the “language of poverty”, you need to remove negative references to wealth from your vocabulary. Many of these negative words and phrases will likely come from the family or community in which you were raised. Examples include “That isn’t for people like us”, “We could never afford that!” and more subtle references like “Money doesn’t grow on trees” (which, while strictly true, nevertheless, focuses on lack).
All of these examples place you in the role of the victim; a person who can’t control nor shape their own financial destiny. Starting to consciously change your language can change whether you achieve an abundance future.
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Change Your Personal View Of Wealth
The change starts from you. Changing how you see wealth itself is also a vital part of breaking the strong poverty cycle. In particular, you’ll benefit from viewing money not from the perspective of someone who lacks it and fears that lack, but from the perspective of someone who welcomes money and expects to receive it.
For example, you can do daily visualizations in which you see yourself manifesting money and feeling happy, calm and confident. The trick is to associate finances with opportunity, growth, and well-being, rather than implicitly linking money with anxiety, jealousy, and insecurity.
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Do Gratitude Exercises
I’ve written this point in most of my previous articles. When you spend time appreciating what you have right now (e.g. people, places, things, and character traits), you move into a much more positive mental space. This attitude should be one that vibrates on a frequency of abundance rather than lack.
Try to actively practice gratitude every day. The easiest way to do this is to write in a gratitude journal every evening. You don’t need to complete elaborate entries; you can make a big difference by simply listing 5-10 things you’re grateful for that day and see how this can also change your perspective.
Understand that your gratitude doesn’t have to be specifically linked to wealth. All that matters is that you increase the attention you pay to good things in your life.
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Learn To Relax
A major difference between rich and poor mindsets is that rich mindsets involve a relaxed attitude towards abundance. This might seem counter-intuitive, but it’s all about cultivating the expectation that you will be abundant, rather than believing you have to fight tooth and nail to get rich.
Any type of relaxation will help to promote this, whether it’s meditating, reading, creating art or listening to music. It may help to make a short list of the most relaxing things you can do, and make a habit of doing them just before (or after) events that would normally trigger anxiety about wealth.
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Make A Solid Plan To Achieve Your Goals
Making concrete plan(s) is of the most practical and empowering things you can do in order to shed a poverty mindset. It involves moving away from always being in the victim position, instead of viewing yourself as someone who is capable of taking action to change things. After all, creating plans involves becoming active rather than reactive.
If you have a large goal and feel intimidated by the idea of making a plan, try splitting it up into a series of smaller goals, and then make a plan for each of these sub-goals. Each time you tick off a sub-goal, allow yourself to feel proud of the progress you’re making towards your bigger aim.
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Don’t Forget Self-Care!
While you undoubtedly need to be consistently proactive to learn how to break the vicious cycle of poverty, it’s just as important to take time to recharge. Crucially, you need to be aware of warning signs that you’re burning out (e.g. low mood, exhaustion, irritability), and quickly take steps to address those. In time, you’ll learn to spot the potential for burnout before it actually happens, and will be able to step in before the situation becomes dire.
Remember, too, that self-care can take a wide variety of forms! Anything that promotes your health, happiness, and self-esteem falls under this category.
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Take Responsibility For Your Actions
As suggested above when we looked at being active rather than passive, there’s a stark contrast in accountability at rich vs poor habits. Viewing yourself as autonomous and responsible for your own future is a cornerstone of the abundance mindset. This means recognizing your own mistakes and learning from them, too.
In many cases, the lessons you take from your negative experiences may be the very lessons that lead you towards abundance. This is something you’ll miss out on if you avoid taking responsibility.
However, be sure not to take responsibility for other people’s feelings and actions! They are accountable for their own lives.
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Don’t Give Up
Finally, don’t ever give up on your manifestation dreams! Just because you didn’t experience abundance in the past doesn’t mean that you won’t again in your future. Trust that the universe will help you to manifest your dreams at the optimal time for you, and accept that you will have many opportunities to create the life you desire.
When you feel disheartened or inclined to give up, refer back to one of the self-care strategies you outlined during a previous step. Often, after some relaxation and rejuvenation, you’ll find yourself ready to once again adopt the positive wealth-attracting mindset you need.
Are You Ready To Break Your Poverty Mindset?
Hopefully, you now feel ready to truly leave your poverty mindset behind you and manifest the financial abundance of your dreams!
If you feel like you need an extra boost, be sure to get your copy of my book, Greatness in the Little You. It continues to highlight key tips and manifestation exercises to help you unlock your abilities and potentials.
