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Chapter Thirteen
Success and
Poverty Consciousness
Part of the personal
inventory which you'll have to conduct involves looking for aspects
of poverty consciousness.
Many people who find
their path to success blocked for inscrutable reasons may be
sabotaging themselves by their secret and powerful attitude.
This is an outlook which prevents them from exercising their
full potential. The simplest way to describe it is with the words
"poverty consciousness", but the poverty is more than
financial strength. It means the way you experience yourself,
the way you view the world. It is your attitude toward the universe.
Is it stingy or generous in its dealings with you and your enterprises.
Don't stay on the
surface, though that's where you begin your examination. Probe
your deepest feelings and your most primitive fears and irrational
expectations. Start by asking, "Is there enough room for
all the people who really want to be successful?" If scarcity
is a fact, will there be any chance of my ever experiencing abundance,
or should I just learn to accept subsistence and consider myself
lucky? While these might seem like strange questions for a mature
adult to ask himself, they really are not. In fact, many full-time
professionals have never bothered to conduct such a self-directed
survey.
As you repeat these
questions to yourself, see what kinds of association's spring
to mind, what sort of visual images float into your consciousness.
How do words like "abundance", "wealth" or
"scarcity" makes you feel? Can you honestly say to
yourself you have really experienced abundance? Do you know from
first-hand knowledge what true "prosperity" is? When
you think of "scarcity" do you see yourself as one
of the homeless, as fighting with others over scraps of moldy
bread or rancid scraps of meat? Let your imagination really go
to work now; don't hold back. This is important stuff we are
digging for. Even if your self-esteem is intact, a belief about
the lack in the Universe could sabotage your efforts at success
just as surely as believing you are not really worthy of success.
If, deep-down, you
believe that there is only so much wealth, prosperity and abundance
to go around out there, you may be holding yourself back, in
both tangible and intangible ways. You may feel guilty at the
very idea of wanting to be wealthy, prosperous and in financial
control. Ironically, even in a society like ours which places
such a high premium on financial success, there are plenty of
contrary messages, ideas which attack the ideal of wealth as
being selfish, immoral, ecologically suspect and even ungodly.
Don't be so sure you haven't assimilated some of these messages.
After all, many of us grew up in the shadow of the Great Depression.
From this widespread
phenomenon, many people developed a poverty consciousness. They
came to blame the wealthy and egocentric for the plight of the
whole nation, to value money and employment, on the one hand,
but to have strong feelings of ambivalence, on the other. After
all, if the pursuit of profits and financial power got the entire
country into this scrape in the first place, what lessons are
individual citizens supposed to draw from it? Supposedly, the
United States, like much of the Westernized Worlds at present,
accepts a work ethic. This declares that work is not only important,
but also even holy and consecrated by God.
At the same time,
there is an underlying suspicion of, even rejection of, a world-view
too centered only on financial success. Moral reformers, fearful
that something important may be lost in the scramble for money,
often cite the admonition about "not living by bread alone".
Which lesson did you hear during your most formative years? Probably
both of them.. .and a lot more, somewhere between the two extremes.
That is just what is meant by ambivalence, of course. Most of
us live with this mixed set of responses on a variety of levels,
and they conflict with each other. They conflict not only ideologically,
but also in terms of our pursuing goals in a straightforward
and focused manner. How can we do this if, in our heart-of-hearts,
we feel this is somehow suspect, tainted with a touch of evil?
Let's face it; even as members of a materialistic society, we
still have a love/hate thing with money. We want it but we are
not supposed to want it too much. Financial success is often
the yardstick for measuring other people and their contributions
to society. We even have the expression, "What's he worth?"
when we are really only asking about his wealth, prestige and
total financial assessment.
And this isn't even
to bring up more contemporary concerns about the environment,
ecological crises generated by greed and insensitivity to anything
but the pursuit of the almighty buck, and so forth, all of which
only makes an already muddy picture even more confusing. Which
way are we supposed to believe? Are there more important values
by which success should be measured or can we let it rest there
and try to ignore all other issues? (That is, if the planet will
afford us this luxury - and there seems to be a lot of doubt
about this.)
If we are not quite
as clear as we should be about how we stand as individuals on
the issue of financial success, perhaps our confusion only mirrors
that of the larger world. Even if this is the case, we still
have to take a stand ourselves. Decide, if only on a very personal
and private basis, what we are ready to do and what we would
refuse to do in the name of financial prosperity, because if
we don't our path to success will be blocked in ways which we
will only half understand.
Are you ready to believe
in your own success? Can you think of yourself as wealthy, or
at least comfortably well off, without experiencing pangs of
guilt? Probably not, though there are, almost certainly, contrary
feelings, which will rush in to collide head-on with such negative
responses.
You must somehow get your feelings focused about your relationship
to money and financial success. Even if warring emotions plagued
you before, taking an inventory can help you to better grasp
your internal dynamics. Even if our society seems almost schizoid
about its attitude toward success, you don't have to share this
same division of mind and spirit, but it is going to take some
work to be sure this division isn't part of you and your outlook.
Perhaps it will help most to remind you of some basic teachings.
If your goal is success,
and a financial component is at least a part of what is involved
when you think of it, you have to make friends with money. Sign
a truce with the part of you that would like to acquire wealth
and financial security. Perhaps the best way is to keep other
things in perspective while you are visualizing this basic goal.
All or nothing thinking is probably at work with those who can't
seem to be at peace with themselves when it comes to money matters
in general and prosperity in particular.
By developing an awareness
of other levels of your value system, you don't have to be forced
into a corner by your own feelings any longer. All you want is
prosperity, not to control the world's total resources. All you
truly desire is to experience financial security, not to steal
other people's resources, ideas or property.
Immense wealth may
be more than you can handle right now, but that is a bogus issue,
a red-herring, because you are probably not going to have to
face this issue for many years, if ever. So, you need to shift
gears. Can I accept myself if I honestly want to have more money
than I've ever had before? Putting it this way to your inner
self is crucial because you are really asking a part of yourself
for permission to release your energies, motivations and ideas
necessary in seeing success. Phrased properly, the chances are
you will receive permission. Put in a clumsy manner, or not dealt
with at all, you probably won't free up the inner conflicts and
mixed reactions which can block effective thinking and decision-making
required in any successful venture or project.
Too many people have
barged ahead with their plans and ideas without bothering to
engage in any kind of self-exploration. They consider such things
"soft-headed and impractical", yet notice what typically
happens to them. Their internal lives are strewn with strife
and conflict, they can't seem to focus their energies, reach
appropriate decisions or follow through when it comes to implementing
basic plans and proposals. Because they haven't done inner work
first, they are torn with all kinds of contradictions. One side
of them loves money; the other hates it. One side truly wants
success, the other associates success with guilt, shame and exploitation.
Since they have never achieved oneness of purpose, their energies
are diffused. Their goals, such as they are, remain unreached
and, perhaps, even unreachable.
By having the courage
and wisdom to conduct a personal inventory before getting back
on the path to success, you'll be light-years ahead. You'll be
able to move ahead of distractions, sidestep internal conflicts
generated by feelings of guilt or shame, and be able to clarify
your private value-structure in a way which will allow you to
be consistent, focused and single-minded. All without losing
your precious sense of perspective and proportion.
After achieving a
significant level of self-knowledge, even if it takes some time
and considerable effort, you will more than make up for it afterwards,
because, from this point forward, you will be able to concentrate
energies, reach decisions in a more efficient and less stress-inducing
manner and feel better about options you have followed up on,
and those you have decided to drop. No longer following a zigzag
path toward an ill-defined and elusive model of success, you
will stride boldly forward, confident in a way you have never
experienced before.
SUMMARY
OF CHAPTER THIRTEEN
"Success And Poverty Consciousness"
- Is there room in the world for
your success? Yes!
- Don't feel guilty about wanting
success. It in not evil in itself.
- Don't be double-minded about
wanting success. It is not evil in itself.
- Are you ready for success?
- Get rid of your zigzag path
to success. Make it a straight line.
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The Steps to
Power Up!
Ten Steps to Success
1. Understand Long
Term Potential
2. Set Short Term Goals
3. Start With the Warm Market
4. Get Your Spouse Involved
5. Retail, Promote and Sell
6. Sponsor 4-6 People Locally
7. Commit to Weekly Opportunity Meetings
8. Follow the Training Program
9. Show Success - Attitude - Appearance
10. Have
Fun!
The Negatives
Three Reasons Why
People Fail
1. Were not prepared to hear the word "No"
2. Not using the product or service
3. Not enough knowledge of the program
30-60-90 Day
30-Day Dream
Stealers
60-Day High Expectations
90-Day "Program Doesn't Work"
Land Mines
1. Stop Retailing or Promoting Program
2. Premature Full Time
3. Unrealistic Expectations
4. Too Much Geography
5. The Quick Fix
6. The "Answer"
7. Doubt
Chapter Fourteen
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