This Slave Mentality is Killing Your Chances of Success
Here’s how you can overcome the slave mentality
“You’re living a stressful life. You shouldn’t think about investing in your 20s.”
My sister uttered those words to me as we drove to Subway. She begged me to pay for her and a few other people.
Long story short, I didn’t want to pay for the meal — even though I had enough in my bank account.
All hell broke loose.
My sister called me every other word in the dictionary that meant selfish.
Then she went on a 10-minute rant to tell me how ridiculous it is that I want to save my money and invest.
For some reason, investing in your twenties is “stressful” to her.
And that, my friend, is what I call a slave mentality.
Here’s my definition of a slave mentality:
Someone who doesn’t think long-term. They live in a scarcity mindset. They use their income for the moment without thinking about the long-term repercussions.
I’d be damned if I let that poisonous mindset control me.
I come from a working-class family. It’s understandable why my sister, and everyone else, would have that mindset.
They hate how I saved almost $10k in my savings solely for investments and not for shiny cars.
Investing while you’re young isn’t stressful at all.
It’s a habit. When you get into the spirit of saving and investing, changing your spending habits is much easier.
I’m a lot more frugal than I used to be. That doesn’t mean I’ll never treat my family to anything.
But I refuse to be guilt-tripped into being in debt.
Investing is only stressful to people who have a slave mentality and don’t see your long-term vision.
Everyone calls it selfishness when that’s not the case.
I read this quote on Twitter and it spoke volumes to me:
“You’re being selfish now so you can be unselfish in the future.”
That’s what this is all about. Generational wealth should be on every person’s mind, no matter how old they are.
You shouldn’t be considered a nut job for worrying about your future children.
Now that this small rant is over, let’s think of some solutions.
How can you get out of the slave mentality?
Work on a skill for a year and apply it.
It took me 2 years to fully escape my slave mindset.
2 years ago…
- I was 50 pounds overweight
- My writing career was nonexistent
- I spent WAY too much money on random clothes
Now…
- I lost 50 pounds
- I’ve had success in my writing career
- I’m a lot more frugal than I used to be
All of this started from writing online every single day. I cultivated this skill for a year and it changed my whole way of thinking.
I thought if I applied that patience and discipline to weight loss and financial literacy, I’d excel in those areas too.
Lo and behold, it worked.
Big takeaway:
You can overcome the slave mindset once you realize that all it takes is discipline and patience to build a habit/skill and change your life.
Challenge yourself for a year and see what happens.
Ready?
Go!
Get my free writing guide that can teach you how to build a writing habit in 90 days or less here.