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Which one to focus on, Opportunities or Obstacles? Almost all people will say that obviously on opportunities. But do we really focus on them? Most of the time, most people focus on possible obstacles during their financial journey in life.
Whatever you focus on, it expands. What is the focus area of rich people, its opportunities? And what is the focus for poor people, its obstacles. Rich people see potential growth. Poor people see potential loss. Rich people focus on the rewards. Poor focus on the risks.
I shall redirect this point to psychology. Our subconscious mind feeds us what we ask for each and every time. It doesn’t understand whether one particular word has a positive or negative meaning. It simply focuses on that word and keeps on feeding you similar or related experiences.
Some psychologists believe that the subconscious mind does not see the “not.”. Though you do not want obstacles in your financial life, if you focus on them even to avoid them, you will still get obstacles. So we must change our focus from obstacles to opportunities.
Role of the Subconscious Mind
It comes down to the age-old question, “Is the glass half empty or half full?” We’re not talking about positive thinking here, we’re talking about your habitual perspective on the world. Poor people make choices based on fear. Their minds are constantly scanning for what is wrong or could go wrong in any situation. Their primary mindset is “What if it doesn’t work?” or, more often, “It won’t work.”
Here again, fear is one of the strong emotions and totally influences our subconscious mind. Our conscious mind or intelligence says that we will succeed but at the same time, we have fear of failure in one corner of our mind. In such situations, fear of failure always wins over the desire for success. And this happens because more than 90 % of our life is controlled by our subconscious mind day to day & fear has a direct connection with our subconscious mind, so it wins.
We need to harmonize the conscious and subconscious minds together to become financially successful. If these two are not working together, there is a very rare chance that you will get a high level of success.
Middle-class people are slightly more optimistic. Their mindset is “I sure hope this works.”
Take Responsibility for Results
Rich people, as we’ve said earlier, take responsibility for the results in their lives and act upon the mindset “It will work because I’ll make it work.” Rich people expect to succeed. They have confidence in their abilities & creativity. If one way is not working, they find another way to succeed.
Generally speaking, the higher the reward, the higher the risk. Because they constantly see opportunities, rich people are willing to take a risk. Rich people believe that, if worse comes to worst, they can always make their money back.
Poor people, on the other hand, expect to fail. They lack confidence in themselves and in their abilities. Poor people believe that if things do not move in the desired direction, it would be catastrophic. And because they constantly see obstacles, they are usually unwilling to take a risk. No risk, no reward.
For the record, being willing to risks doesn’t necessarily mean that you are willing to lose. Rich people take educated risks. This means that they do research, do their due diligence, and make decisions based on solid information and facts. Do rich people take forever to get educated? No. They do what they can in as short a time as possible, then make an informed decision to go for it or not.
Getting Ready…But Always?
Although poor people claim to be preparing for opportunities, what they’re usually doing is stalling. They’re scared to death, hemming, and hawing for weeks, months, and even years on end, and by then the opportunity usually disappears. Then they rationalize the situation by saying, “I was getting ready.” Sure enough, but while they were “getting ready,” the rich guy got in, got out, and made another fortune.
In business, how many times have you heard of a guy who plops some money down on a piece of land in the boonies (where nobody lives), and ten years later, some conglomerate decides it wants to build a shopping center or office building on it? This investor gets rich. So, was it a brilliant business move on his part or sheer luck? My guess is that it’s a bit of both.
The point, however, is that no luck—or anything else worthwhile—will come your way unless you take some form of action. To succeed financially, you have to do something, buy something, or start something. And when you do, is it luck, or is it the universe or a higher power supporting you in its miraculous ways for having the courage and commitment to go for it? As far as I’m concerned, who cares what it is. It happens!
Focus Area Leads Life
Your field of focus determines what you find in life. Focus on opportunities and that’s what you find. Focus on obstacles and that’s what you find. I’m not saying that you don’t take care of problems. Of course, handle problems as they arise, in the present. But keep your eye on your goal, and keep moving toward your target. Put your time and energy into creating what you want. When obstacles arise, see yourself as bigger than any obstacle and handle them, then quickly refocus on your vision. You do not make your life about solving problems. You don’t spend all your time-fighting fires. Those who do, move backward! You spend your time and energy in thought and deed, moving steadily forward, toward your goal.
Do you want some simple but extremely rare advice? Here it is: If you want to get rich, focus on making, keeping, and investing your money. If you want to be poor, focus on spending your money. You can read a thousand books and take a hundred courses on success, but it all boils down to that. Remember, what you focus on expands.
Wait for 100 % Information?
Rich people also understand that you can never know all the information beforehand. Get ready the best you can in as short a time as possible; take action; then correct along the way.
It’s nuts to think you can know everything that may happen in the future. It’s delusional to believe you can prepare for every circumstance that might someday occur and protect yourself from it. Did you know that there are no straight lines in the universe? Life doesn’t travel in perfectly straight lines. It moves more like a winding river. More often than not, you can only see to the next bend, and only when you reach that next turn can you see more.
Better to Act Now
To harness opportunities, we need to take action. Action always beats inaction. Rich people get started. They trust that once they get in the game, they can make intelligent decisions in the present moment, make corrections, and adjust their sails along the way.
Poor people don’t trust in themselves or their abilities, so they believe they have to know everything in advance, which is virtually impossible. In the end, by telling themselves, “I’m not doing anything until I’ve identified every possible problem and know exactly what to do about it,” poor people never take action and therefore always lose. Rich people see an opportunity, jump on it, and get even richer. As for poor people? They’re still “preparing”! (content source inspired from ‘Secrets of the Millionaire Mind’ by T. Harv Eker)
“Wealth flows from energy and ideas.”- William Feather
