Money is like a drug. People get addicted to it. Not just the feeling of having it, but also the way they are used to earning it. This is the main reason that prevents the average person from earning a significant income.
According to Robert Kiyosaki’s Cashflow Quadrant, the way a person is used to earning money is often the way they continue to earn it, whether through a job, government handouts, stealing, or running a business. When people are taught to go to school, get a good education, and get a good job, that’s exactly what they do. Now, while it’s nice to have a job and be able to take care of yourself and your family from it, it usually causes a mental block on the subject of making money. This is now the way the average person is programmed to make money. Get up after hitting the snooze button about ten times, grab a coffee, run out the door only to sit in traffic, go eight hours or more, sit back in traffic, watch some TV, lie down and repeat (for about fifty years). The longer a person does this, the more comfortable they become, and the harder it is for the mind to grasp the idea that there are other ways to make money, no matter how miserable they are at their job.
The biggest problem for most people is that they don’t have anyone in their life who makes money differently than they do. So they don’t know and can’t ask anyone how to change the way they make money. Robert Kiyosaki says that addiction is beginning to come back into play, that struggle between breaking away to find a new way to make money and the same old comfortable ‘safe’ way of making money. The person says ‘I want to make more money but I don’t know how else to do it. I’m not even sure I’ll be able to find a new way if I try. I guess I’ll work harder at my job. The desire to find a new way to make money is often crushed by that addiction before any real progress is made. Why? Because it’s easier to do something you know and are used to doing than to push yourself to learn a new way to make money.
How can you change the way you make money? The first thing that must happen is that the person must have a burning desire to change their situation. The person must also be willing to sacrifice some of the time they are accustomed to watching television or other unproductive activities and spend that time learning new things. Also, it is very important to find a group or mentor who is doing what you want to do and is willing to help teach you. These people will be able to provide you with new ideas and help prevent that burning desire from being quenched, which is likely to happen if you only have family and friends who aren’t interested in changing your own situation. Once you have found a business that you want to be involved in or start, be sure to research it and find that mentor or group to teach and guide you. Please follow what they do and continue to give the business your constant and diligent effort. These steps will help you start changing the way you make money.