How To Have A Poverty Mentality

Last night I was watching a DVR recording of a Travel Channel show called "Passport To Europe". The host, Samantha Brown does a pretty good job of reviewing destinations without sounding like a cheerleader.

So, as I watching, I heard her say a few things that were so surprising that I actually had to rewind and see if I heard her correctly.

Madame Tussaud's wax museum is one of the #1 attractions in London. It's remarkable. And, as Ms. Brown was talking about it, she pointed out that the line to get into the museum would take you about an hour and a half to get in. I thought, "Wow. Pretty popular".

She went on to say that the admission price was 22 pounds (roughly $43 US.) But that you could pay 25 pounds and get in right away.

Read that again.

For $43, you can wait 90 minutes to get in.
Or for $49, you can walk right in.

Six dollars difference. That's all.

This is classic lack consciousness at work. If the people in that line had any critical thinking skills, they would understand that time is more valuable than money. That it's far more preferable to spend the extra $6 than to spend 90 minutes of your life standing in a line.

You see this all the time.

Someone will park their car in the rain rather than spend $5 on the valet.

Ask the reservations clerk which side of the hotel fills up first: oceanside or city side. Why? Because city side is $20 a night cheaper. People will stare at the roof of an adjacent building to save $20 when they could be looking at a sunset over the ocean.

Flying is the same way. There's almost always a ton of extra seats in first-class simply because most people don't mind being treated like cattle and crammed into seats that were designed 50 years ago when the average height of a human was shorter. "Hey, I might feel like a sardine...I might not can use my laptop...I might have to beg for a refill...but at least I saved a few hundred dollars on this flight."

Sheesh.

Or do this: go into any clothing store in any major city and just watch people. They will walk up to a rack, pick up a piece of clothing and the FIRST thing they will look at is the price tag. Not whether they like it or not. Not whether it fits them or not. Not if they think it's the best-looking thing they've ever seen. But they'll look and see the price.

People don't buy what they want. They buy what they think they can afford. And what they don't understand is that you can afford anything you choose. You simply have to create a mindset of abundance and prosperity.

Now some of you are thinking, "Yeah, it's easy for you to do valet parking and fly first-class....you're making a massive income." That's true but I didn't always. I used to be the guy who made $6.25 an hour working as an assistant manager at Waldenbooks. I used to be the guy who went around the neighborhoods sucking the wet leaves out of the gutters.

What changed? Simply this: I decided to be excellent to myself. I decided that -- no matter what it took -- I was not going to live my life by "settling".

Being excellent to yourself is a choice. You can start from where you are today, right now. And you can make progress. Or you can simply throw up your hands, say "I can't do it" and stay stuck where you are.

Life is a choice. Choose well.

Tony Rush