Wealth File #10
Rich people are excellent receivers.
Poor people are poor receivers.
By T Harv Eker
If I had to nail down the number one reason most people do
not reach their full financial potential, it would be this: most
people are poor “receivers.” They may or may not be good at
giving, but they are definitely bad at receiving. And because
they are poor at receiving, they don’t!
People are challenged by receiving for several reasons. First,
many people feel unworthy or undeserving. This syndrome
runs rampant in our society. I would guess that over 90
percent of individuals have feelings of not being good enough
running through their veins.
Where does this low self-esteem come from? The usual—
our conditioning. For most of us it comes from hearing twenty
nos for every yes, ten “You’re doing it wrong”s for every
“You’re doing it right,” and five “You’re stupid”s for every
“You’re awesome.”
Even if our parents or guardians were incredibly supportive,
many of us end up with feelings of not being able to
continually measure up to their accolades and expectations. So
once again, we’re not good enough.
In addition, most of us grew up with the element of punishment
in our lives. This unwritten rule simply states that if
you do something wrong, you will or should be punished.
Some of us were punished by our parents, some by our
teachers... and some of us in certain religious circles were
threatened with the mother of all punishments, not getting
into heaven.
Of course, now that we’re adults, all this is over. Right?
Wrong! For most people, the conditioning of punishment is so
ingrained that, because there’s no one around to punish them,
when they make a mistake or just aren’t perfect, they
subconsciously punish themselves. When they were young,
this punishment might have come in the form of “You were
bad, so no candy.” Today, however, it could take the form of
“You were bad, so no money.” This explains why some people
limit their earnings, and why others will subconsciously
sabotage their success.
No wonder people have difficulty receiving. One tiny
mistake and you’re doomed to carry the burden of misery and
poverty for the rest of your life. “A little harsh,” you say? Since
when did the mind become logical or compassionate? Again,
the conditioned mind is a file folder filled with past
programming, made-up meanings, and stories of drama and
disaster. “Making sense” is not its strong suit.
Here’s something I teach in my seminars that might make
you feel better. In the end, it doesn’t matter whether you feel
worthy or not, you can be rich either way. Plenty of wealthy
people don’t feel overly worthy. In fact, it’s one of the major
motivations for people to get rich...to prove themselves and
their worth to themselves or to others. The idea that selfworth
is necessary for net worth is just that, an idea, but it
doesn’t necessarily hold water in the real world. As we said
earlier, getting rich to prove yourself may not make you the
happiest camper, so you’re better off creating wealth for other
reasons. But what’s important here is for you to realize
that your feeling of unworthiness won’t prevent you from
getting rich; from a strictly financial point of view this could
actually be a motivational asset.
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