Why You Should Never Call Yourself Poor and the Power of the Growth Mindset

Even if you have zero dollars to your name, you should not call yourself poor. This is because the way we think about ourselves and how we perceive reality can significantly impact the decisions we end up making and the actions we end up taking in our lives.

You should always strive to see yourself and your current situation in the best possible light instead of the worst possible light. Viewing yourself negatively by considering yourself to be “poor,” “broke,” or “desperate” is not going to help you in the long run.

Instead, it would help to think of yourself in a more positive light. Instead of viewing yourself as “poor” try considering yourself to be in the “pre-wealth” phase or the “beginning phase” of your journey to fortune. Anything that has a more positive spin on it is better than just viewing yourself as “poor.”

Our attitudes have a tremendous influence on our ability to ultimately go and create success for ourselves.

Fixed Vs. Growth Mindset

In terms of mindset, one of the most important things to be aware of is the fixed vs. growth mindset. The fixed mindset refers to a mindset that is not optimized for growth and tends to stay in a state of stagnation and fear. Most people have attitudes that will fit into one of these two categories.

People who have a fixed mindset tend to avoid challenges, give up easily when they are faced with obstacles, don’t believe in the value of effort, ignore useful feedback or criticism, and feel threatened by the success of others. As a result, people who have this mindset tend to never achieve their full potential. Instead of being open to change and development, these people fear anything that feels like it might be too different or difficult.

But the truth is that improving yourself and your financial situation is often difficult. As a result aspiring real estate investors, entrepreneurs, and business people need to cultivate attitudes that are optimized for change, development, and growth. The growth mindset is the perfect mindset for this.

The growth mindset is a mindset in which a person believes that intelligence can be developed. People who have a growth mindset believe that they can improve themselves by making an effort, therefore, they have a desire to learn, they embrace challenges, they persist when faced with setbacks, they see effort as being a necessary step to mastery, they use criticism as a learning tool, and they are inspired by the successes of others rather than being threatened by them.

People who have the growth mindset strive on and continue to make progress no matter what happens. People who cultivate a growth mindset become “anti-fragile.” They learn to roll with the punches and keep learning and progressing every day. Of course, their journeys are not always easy and are frequently filled with challenges. But, THEY DON’T GIVE UP.

As a result, they can frequently overcome difficult obstacles and reach success despite having to deal with many problems and challenges along the way. Many people who have achieved high levels of success are people who learned how to cultivate a growth mindset.

The Science Behind the Growth Mindset

The growth mindset is more than just a theory. It has been scientifically proven to be more effective at creating success than the fixed mindset. For example, a study was done on students in Chile. In this study, students who held a growth mindset were three times more likely to score in the top 20% on a national achievement test, while students with a fixed mindset were four times more likely to score in the bottom twenty percent.

This study proves that students who believe they can use effort to achieve mastery set themselves up for success. It is also important to note that people can cultivate a growth mindset. In other words, we are not simply born with either a growth mindset or a fixed mindset.

In fact, in multiple studies with thousands of students, researchers discovered that students could adopt a growth mindset through mindset programs that teach them about the neuroscience evidence that the brain is malleable. Mindset programs can also help students to change the way they think in order to be focused on effort and persistence. It was discovered in these studies that after implementing a growth mindset program, students tend to receive more course credits, get higher grades, and get better-standardized test scores.

Cultivating a Growth Mindset

Many of the people who will read this blog will be people who dream of making it in real estate, finance, business, etc. If you are one of these people, you should cultivate a growth mindset.

In your life, you will probably face countless challenges. It is rare for anyone to become successful without dealing with many challenges along the way. If you want to overcome these challenges, you should start cultivating the growth mindset and make sure that you break free of the fixed mindset.

Remember that effort and persistence can make all the difference in the world. There is no such thing as failure. There is just learning and adjusting. If you don’t succeed at first, just keep trying. If you hit a dead-end, then try to find another route. As long as you don’t give up, you have a chance at achieving your goals and accomplishing what you want to accomplish.

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About the Author

Ellie is the founder of Blue Lake Capital, a commercial real estate investment firm specializing in multifamily investing throughout the United States. At Blue Lake Capital, Ellie partners with both institutional and individual investors to grow their wealth by achieving double-digit returns by investing alongside her in exclusive multifamily deals they usually don't have access to.

A defining factor of Blue Lake Capital’s strategy is founded in utilizing machine learning/artificial intelligence throughout the course of all acquisitions and asset management. This advanced technology enables the company to produce accurate and data-driven forecasting for all assets on a market, property, and even tenant basis. In doing so, Blue Lake is able to lead commercial investments with the full capabilities of today’s technology.

Ellie is the host of REady2Scale, a podcast that highlights the assets, processes, and strategies for the multiple approaches to successful real estate investing.

She started her career as a commercial real estate lawyer, leading real estate transactions for one of Israel’s leading development companies. Later, as a property manager for Israel’s largest energy company, she oversaw properties worth over $100MM. Additionally, Ellie is an experienced entrepreneur who helped build and scale companies by improving their business operations.

Ellie holds a Masters in Law from Bar-Ilan University in Israel and an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management.

You can read more about Blue Lake Capital and Ellie Perlman at www.bluelake-capital.com.