Limiting Beliefs You Learn When You Grow Up Poor

You gotta let it go

There’s a reason why people who grew up poor have a hard time climbing the economic ladder.

It goes beyond the literal lack of money and other tangible factors.

Growing up in poverty can infect your mind with ideas that are not only outright wrong but also straight-up counterindicative of success.

Here are a few of the ones I remember from when I was young.

“No one has money”

When you grow up with nothing, having nothing becomes the default lens through which you view the world.

It’s only natural.

Most people can only view the world through their own eyes.

Putting yourself in another person’s shoes is very, very, very difficult. I don’t just mean intellectually understanding that other people have a different life and a different outlook on things, but actually feeling it deep within your bones.

That is borderline impossible.

So when you grow up poor you really can’t imagine what it’s like to be someone who can casually drop hundreds or even thousands of dollars (or more) on an impulse purchase.

Yet there are millions upon millions of people out there who can do just that.

The feeling you have is that everyone is just as much of a penny-pincher as you are, and that getting them to part with their money will be like pulling teeth.

It’s wrong, and it stops you in your tracks before you even start.

“People aren’t interested in this”

You’re in permanent survival mode when you’re poor. Everything is about what you need. Everything revolves around saving money and buying the cheapest option.

But many of the most profitable products/services are much higher on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

Things that may seem frivolous to you are actually extremely lucrative products to sell, and there is a TON of demand for them.

Not everyone is just trying to get by.

Some people are thriving; they have cash to spend on hobbies, health, and aesthetics.

Once you realize that they exist you can start selling to them and being crawling out of the hole you came from.

“All rich people are evil”

This one is a real killer.

People at the bottom of the hierarchy aren’t always the kindest people.

You aren’t supposed to say that. You aren’t even supposed to think it. You’re supposed to view poor people as innocent victims of fate, kind-hearted people who are existing at the mercy of their evil rich overlords.

But it’s true.

Many people at the bottom are filled with jealousy and seething hatred of those who have more than them.

I remember when I was a kid my mom would point out the houses that had tons of lights and other Christmas decorations on them and say things like “spending all that money is such a waste when there are people who are struggling out there”.

Maybe you can say that little comments like that are insignificant.

Yet I still remember it decades later.

So for whatever reason it obviously ended up embedded in my psyche.

Everyone who grows up poor can remember their parents or people in their community who made similar snide comments.

It makes you hate the very thing that you should be trying to become (financially successful).

You have to realize you have those thoughts within you and then let them go.

Easier said than done.

No examples of successful people around you

I remember when I was a kid playing outside at night all I’d see was the blue glow from people’s windows because all anyone did where I grew up was watch TV.

It seemed like being an adult meant working at some random job then coming home to make Hamburger Helper and plop on the couch for the rest of the night.

The biggest advantage that rich kids have over poor kids is that they see examples in their daily life of adults who are successful.

It’s hard to become successful when you don’t know what success even looks like.

Bottom line

Growing up with nothing isn’t all bad.

It can even be a huge advantage. You can harness it and use it as rocket fuel for your ambition.

Hell, there are even VC’s who are looking for companies with founders who had shitty childhoods.

But as with anything in life, there’s both an upside and a downside.

You have to overcome the significant downsides associated with growing up penniless before you can cross the chasm and start using it to your advantage.

If you come from a bad background you know that everything I just said is true, and you likely had to overcome one or all of these limiting beliefs on your own path to greatness.

And if you aren’t there yet: start discarding these beliefs now before it’s too late.