Let me paraphrase an insightful passage I read that describes the difference between someone with a welfare mentality versus someone with an abundance mentality.
A guy looked at a Corvette the other day and said to me in a disapproving tone, “I wonder how many people could have been fed for the cost of that car?”
I replied, “I’m not sure. It fed a lot of families in Kentucky who built it. It fed the people who made the tires. It fed the people who made the components. It fed the people who mined the copper. It fed the people who made the trucks that hauled the copper ore. It fed someone who helped sell the car.”
That’s the difference between having an abundance mentality and a welfare mentality. When you buy something, you put money in people’s pockets and give them dignity for their skills.
Do you remember the article in 2015 called, “
My biggest weakness is being unable to generate enough organic motivation to keep on hustling. I used to get up by 5am every weekday to work for 2-3 hours before work. Then I’d get home by 8pm and work another 1-2 hours on my side hustles. There was this massive internal drive to go all out to one day break free.
When an ambulance zooms by, sirens blazing, do you feel happy or sad? For the longest time, I felt sad. I’d imagine someone convulsing on their rickety living room floor due to a heart attack. I shared my feelings with my girlfriend at the time over brunch and she told me she actually felt happy hearing the sirens! WTF! No wonder why we broke up!
I’m on a financial journey just like all of you. The only real difference may be that I record my thoughts and feelings about my progress publicly. I do my best to be as authentic as possible. By sharing what we know, we’re able to learn from others. I think we all have blind spots that need illuminating.