RICHES OR POVERTY, CHOOSE ONE

I once knew two brothers who were raised in a poor family but one turn out rich why the other remain poor. When I asked the first brother “why are you poor?” He said you know how I grew up, we were very poor, my father didn’t send us to good schools, he drinks and womanize and he takes out his frustration on us by abusing and beating us. So what do you expects.

I reasoned about what he says and agreed it’s true. Then I asked the second brother “why are you rich?” He said you know how I grew up, we were very poor, my father didn’t send us to good schools, he drinks and womanize and he takes out his frustration on us by abusing and beating us. So what do you expects, I told myself “I will never be poor, I will not live the life my father lived, I’ll be different!

So one brother resigns himself to circumstance, while the second brother used all the pain, and anger, and frustration and deprivation to fuel his determination to rise above his limitations and claw his way out of poverty.

So, poverty or wealth is a result of our actions. 

See the points below:

S/N	HOW TO REMAIN POOR	HOW TO BECOME WEALTHY
1	Never wake up early. Keep stretching and turning in bed until you get too hungry to continue dozing. If there are no bed bugs, why hurry to get up?	Numerous studies of top successful men from all work of life shows that they wake up early, as early as 4am or 5am. They read the scriptures, pray, meditate, exercise then get about their daily task.
2	Never plan how to spend your money. Whenever you get money, start spending it right away and when it's finished, you try to count and recall how you spent it.	Failure to plan is planning to fail. Successful men have written plan of what they want to do with their money and they live within their budget.
3	Don't think of saving until you have real big money. How can you save when you earn so little? Those telling you to save are not sympathetic to your burning needs.	Poor people spend all they make then borrow some more. Successful people pay themselves first by saving then adjust their expenses within what is left.
4	Don't engage in activities usually reserved for the "uneducated". How can you, a graduate, engage in petty trade, marketing or home-based production? That's for people who never went to school!	Successful people are willing to get their hands dirty so long as the work is legitimate. Most “Big” business today started from the bedroom or kitchen of the owners
5	Don't think of starting a business until an angel comes from heaven and gives you capital. How do they expect you to invest before you get millions? Even though more than half the businesses in your town were started with little capital, you as a smart person can only start with millions.	The mantra of successful people is “think big but start small”. The most important factor in starting a business is your entrepreneurial spirit, courage, creativity, confidence and persistence. Every other factor – Land, Labour and Capital will be attracted to you. There are people and organisations out there with huge capital waiting for a profitable idea to invest into.
6	Complain about everything except your own attitude and laziness. Blame the system, the government and the banks that refused to lend you money. They are all bad and do not want you to get rich.	It is not what happens that matters, it is what you do about it. What happens, happens to us all. The question is, what are you going to do about it? I’m not educated enough, I don’t have connection, I don’t know the right people, the economy is bad etc etc etc. most of the top business in the world today are started during time of critical adversity.
7	Spend more than you earn. To achieve this, buy consumer products on credit and keep borrowing from friends and employers.	Most rich people live below there income. I’m not talking of the lottery winners or the movie or music stars. You see that these set of people quickly loses their fortunes once their fame diminish because their wealth cannot sustain their lifestyle. There is a popular saying “if your out go exceed your income, then, your upkeep will be your down fall” – think about it!
8	Compete in dressing. Make sure you're wearing the latest clothes. Intimidate everyone with your trendy fashions every time. Whenever your neighbour buys a new phone, you get one that is more expensive.	In the book “the millionaire next door” The author’s discovered seven common denominators among the people who become wealthy 1. They live well below their means 2. They allocate their time and money efficiently, in ways conducive to building wealth. 3. They believe that financial independence is more important than displaying high social status. 4. Their parents did not provide economic outpatient care (they don’t run to mummy or daddy when in financial jam). 5. Their adult children are economically self-sufficient. 6. They are proficient in targeting market opportunities. 7. They chose the right occupation.
9	Get yourself a nice second hand car that costs more than three times your yearly salary.	Ditto the above
10	Give your children everything they ask for since you're such a loving parent. They should not struggle for anything because you do not want them to suffer that way, they will grow up lazy and hence poor enough to ensure they can't help you at old age	The number 4 of the above 4. Their parents did not provide economic outpatient care (they don’t run to mummy or daddy when in financial jam). Adversity make people tough and develop the necessary skills to overcome such adversity. If you over pamper your children by giving them all they ask for, you’ll only succeed in making them handicap for life, always dependent on you. A yoruba adage says 'ise ki n pani, ayo ni maa pa eniyan' meaning poverty doesn't kill, pleasure does!

Your destiny is not predetermined nor etched in stone. It is not predictable or inevitable. It is not governed by fate or providence. Your life is in your hands and you determine the life you are living now and the life you will live in the future by the decisions and actions you take on a daily basis.

Success is a result as well as poverty is a result. The formula for success is this: A few simple discipline practiced every day, while failure is the opposite: A few errors in judgement repeated every day.

By knowing this, accepting it as the truth and then learning success principles, and actually doing what you learn, you will make your life the best life you can ever live.