How To Break The Addiction Called Poverty
Addiction is a word most people often associate with harmful drugs, alcohol, gambling, smoking, sex, etc. When people talk about it, 99 percent of those times, they are making reference to either of the above mentioned habits.
But what is not popularly known is that people can be addicted to being poor in the same way others can be addicted to harmful substances or activities.
By now you may be thinking, “is it really possible for people to be addicted to Poverty?”
Well, when I first heard Robert Kiyosaki say it I couldn’t believe it either. But as hard as that may sound, the truth is that a whole lot of people are currently addicted to being poor.
Let me quickly say this, this post is not saying everyone who is poor is addicted to poverty. No that is not what I’m saying. People can be poor for several reasons. Most times for reasons beyond their control like war, terrorism, natural disasters etc.
It is not that a person is poor that determines whether they are addicted to poverty or not but their attitudes towards poverty.
Below I will be sharing some characteristics from my research of people who are addicted to Poverty and how to break the power of this addiction. So what are these characteristics?
I will start from the least.
1. Untold Hatred For Anything Called Work/Laziness: A lazy person is an addict of poverty. He hates anything called work and enjoys being spoon-fed everytime. He would rather stay idle than to work with his hands either for someone or his own business.
Instead of learning how to fish himself, he enjoys to be given a free fish everytime. A lazy person is born tired, he only live to rest. His favourite song is, “Too tired, more food please”.
He is so comfortable with being poor that he is already addicted to it. Of course not all poor people are lazy people but all lazy people are poor people. Even when they are born into wealth, they eventually end up poor.
2. Unreasonable Bitterness Towards The Rich: People who are addicted to Poverty can only celebrate you when you are poor. The moment you breaks out of poverty and becomes rich, you become their enemy for no reason at all.
From avoiding you completely, they start spreading false rumours and making negative remarks about you behind your back. Remarks like:
“He was so poor few years ago till he moved out to the city, how sure are you he hasn’t duped someone there to become rich.”
“His family used to be the poorest in this village, he must have done ‘blood money’ to have the kind of wealth he has now. No wonder he spends money anyhow. He’s a ritualist”
“I don’t think this lady’s money is genuine, she must have slept with all the men in the city to become rich”
“I was better than him when we were in school. In fact, he was the dullest kid not only in our class then but in the whole school. How come he is this rich? He must joined a bad gang and become a hardened criminal, how else could he have made his money” etc
People who are addicted to Poverty do not always understand or believe that it is possible to move from being the dullest kid in school to being the richest man outside school, without soiling your hands.
To them, academic excellence is equivalent to financial IQ. But these are two different things. That is why the most educated people in the world work for the least educated ones. That’s a fact.
To this set of people, every rich man or woman out there has a cockroach (an evil secret) in his cupboard.
3. No Value For Their Health Or Appearance: Most people who are addicted to Poverty believe so much in hard-work to the extend they practically have no time to care for their health or appearance.
Don’t get me wrong, hard-work on its own is good. But what is the point of working so hard (round the clock) only to spend the money on medical bills from one hospital to the other? It doesn’t make any sense to me.
To people who are addicted to being poor, eating junk food by the roadside is a norm. They simply have no time to prepare good meals for themselves and eat. Even when it is prepared at home by others, there is simply no time for them to sit down and eat properly.
How about brushing their teeth before rushing off to make money? No time.
Combine their hair properly? No time.
Ironing their clothes and dusting their shoes? No time.
Resting for a while? No time!
The only time they ever have is for money making. Little wonder the only time they ever get to spend that money is on hospital beds.
4. Total Or Strict Adherence To The Old Ways Of Doing Things: To people who are addicted to Poverty, it is always the old methods of doing things or nothing.
Same ways of doing business, farming, saving money, studying etc. Years after years after years. Anything outside the status quo is labelled evil and is a no no for them. The old ways of doing things are so religiously upheld to the point that there is no room for anything new.
While a man who understands the 21st century farming is busy looking for new crop varieties, fertilizers, machines etc to work on his farm, another who still believes in the 19th century method is busy looking for new hoes, cutlasses, animal dung, marrying plenty wives and busy giving birth to plenty children who will help him in his farm-work when they grow up. It is just sad. That pattern may have worked for those in 1960 but not for the man living in 2018.
The times are different. We have to do things differently so we can gain meaningful results.
To break out of this addiction, you have to understand and accept……
First, that we live in an ever changing world. The old ways of doing things cannot effectively meet up with the demands of today. A lot has changed and are still changing on daily basis.
Gone are the days when “I don’t have a job” was a valid excuse to remain poor. Nowadays that has changed. You don’t have to have a physical job that takes you out of the house to earn a living.
It is now very possible to make enough money even from the comforts of your home. I mean making money online.
Are you a graduate and unemployed? There are several skills that you can learn and start making money. For instance, website development and designing, app creations and other 5 Fast Money Making Skills I have written for every young person out there.
Do you know that even as a student, there are Simple Ways You Can Make Money While Studying. The world is advancing so fast technologically that the old ways of doing things are no longer effective. Study the trends and stay ahead of others.
Take time to look after your health and appearance. Be open to investment ideas and follow the rich closely. It wouldn’t hurt to learn one or two things from them that makes them money today.
Thanks for reading!
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Addiction is a word most people often associate with harmful drugs, alcohol, gambling, smoking, sex, etc.
What is not popularly known is that people can be addicted to being poor in the same way others can be addicted to harmful substances or activities