Sometime ago I was on a road trip then an argument ensued amongst my co-passengers. Some were of the opinion that nobody can become truly wealthy without being dubious especially in Nigeria.
Then, one of them who obviously was a ‘church’ person quoted a portion of the Bible where David said “God don’t make me too rich lest I forsake you and don’t make me too poor that I can’t feed myself…
“He went further to quote what his mother told him whilst he was growing up. I will say it in Pidgin English just as he said it: “one day we hear noise of aroplane dey fly pass for up up.
As children dey sing aroplane bye bye yo, nai my mama call me go corner say my pikin, you see that aroplane wey dey fly pass so? Nor be everybody for this life go ever fit enter am.
But any day you wake up you see garri chop, na your own aroplane you don enter so…
“Amazingly, almost everyone in the bus agreed with him. They echoed, “na so my broda!”
That got me thinking. It sounded quite cool to the average man. But how in the world would someone equate eating garri to being able to fly in an airplane.
Would a wealthy man say the same thing to his son? Never!
A wealthy man would rather say, “you see that aeroplane, you can not only fly in it as a passenger, you can own an airline and have hundreds of your own private jet… “
In my own case, I remember my late mum always quoting “godliness with contentment is great gain… ”
True indeed but there’s a problem when that scripture becomes an excuse for not striving to get more out of life. It is a scripture that many church folks have used as an excuse to stay bound to the status quo.
Contentment is not resting on your oars because of the little you have achieved.
It is appreciating where you are whilst your focus is on where you could be. It is being grateful for your N10,000 whilst your gaze is on your N10M.
The same David who said “God don’t make me too rich was stupendously wealthy that he made provision for everything Solomon would need to build the magnificent temple.
It is this smallness of mentality that gives many a sense of early arrival once they can afford a decent accommodation and maybe one or two cars.
That’s not wealth really, it’s just the high level of deprivation in our society that makes it so. In the new world order, there’s going to be a massive shrinkage of the middle-class. It’s going to be either you are wealthy or you are poor.
Mental programming especially from childhood is stronger than the entire witches in your village put together.
Only a few ever break free from them in their entire life time.
I had to intentionally rewire my mind from my childhood upbringing and the words I heard to get to where I am today. I am not totally done but I have come a long way.
In my next post I will share two ways to hack your mind out of poverty. The mind is the battlefield. Lack of money is not the problem, the mind is the real problem.
So tell me, what particular words were you told at childhood that has shaped your mentality about wealth creation? Feel free to share, let’s learn from each other.
~ TK
#NoExcuseOnlyResults