Our core belief system creates the reality we live in.
Recently, my friend told me that he is fed up from his job. Something that a lot of people feel these days.
Maybe, it's because the way most people live their life, spend their money and time that makes them feel like that.
They go to work, earn money, pay bills. Buy stuff.
Then buying stuff becomes a habit. And people start using their credit card to find happiness in buying things, and fell under debt trap.
Once you are under debt trap, earning money is all about repaying the debt. Nothing more.
In order to try to impress other people with the luxuries you posses, sometimes you depress yourself.
Even people who are working on their side hustle to feel a little bit creative in their life, when under debt trap, their side hustle becomes all about making money. Which kills its creativity.
It starts to feel more like a second or third job, instead of the creativity gap you were looking to fill in.
But most people don't purposefully blow off their money. It's something they do without realizing it.
Take something like a subscription service. You subscribe to something, thinking that it will improve your life.
But then you subscribe to something else. A paid meditation app, a life improvement newsletter, an online movies platform, a paid service to keep check of your expenses.
And little by little it adds up. Before you know, you are paying a big chunk of your salary in subscription fees. And then you don't know where to stop because it is all important for you.
If you think this is stupid, remember that if you have high conviction about something, you can justify your actions, no matter how absurd they sound.
Just a few centuries ago, we used to go to war, lay waste of a whole country, kill thousands of people, and enslave the rest because our belief system did not match.
Our belief system is built slowly from our childhood days, by observing people around us. By listening to the news, by what we read and what kind of movies we watch, and what type of songs we listen to.
It's the invisible force acting behind how we act. What we say and do. And how we feel.
Consider three types of belief system people live with: The spender, the saver and the investor.
The Spender → people who spend all their money within the month they earn it, believe that life is short, and they have to get the most out of it while they can.
The Saver → people who save a big part of their earnings. They believe that bad luck can strike them at any moment. To be prepared for a rainy day, they don't take any risk at all. They just survive but don't grow.
The Investor →people who believe in building a better future. They invest their time and money, are a bit optimistic than others. They believe in creating a better future.
The only distinction between these people is that they grew up with a different belief system.
Sometimes the beliefs we hold so firmly for our growth can be harmful for us.
If instead of believing that you are successful and don't need to do anything else at all → you work on upgrading your skills, reading books to change your beliefs and mindset, you will have more opportunity for survival.
If instead of coming home from work and watching tv or a series till you go to bed → you work on alternate income opportunities, believing that future is unpredictable, you will live with more peace of mind.
Create beliefs that will help you grow
A person grows up in poverty and scarcity, his belief would be that resources are limited. It takes hard work to earn enough to eat.
But if the same person grows up around wealth and happiness, his core belief would be of abundance. There is no shortage of money, opportunities, let alone food.
Once you start questioning the significance of things that happen to you, the circumstances you were born in and grew up around, you will realize that most of what you believed to be true was not something you chose. It was determined by the people around you and the culture you live in.
At some point, we all need to step back and question our beliefs that we grew up thinking to be true.
To make a shift in your belief system, read works of different authors, critical thinkers, maybe move to a different country. Or live in a completely different culture to shift your belief system.
For example, a person who has been saving all his life for a rainy day, if put in a culture of people who live in the moment. Their belief systems will clash. And one of them will question their choices.
When we start questioning our old beliefs, and chose to adopt the new ones, the people around us wonder why we have become a significantly different person? What has changed in a short period of time?
Once you form a belief that you can do something. That you will make sure that something will happen, it changes you.
It's different than believing something is possible.
Believing that you will become rich one day is different from having a belief that you will make sure you will be wealthy one day.
The second has more conviction. A more chance of happening. Because you are putting your complete focus, and all your efforts on it.
There is always room for improvement.
When you are exposed to new ideas and beliefs, your belief system will start rearranging itself.
Question yourself:
- What are my core beliefs?
- Which beliefs are stopping me from making progress? How can I question them?
- What new beliefs and ideas should I expose myself to?
- What type of environment can I expose myself to help my growth?
It's fun. Expose yourself to a community that is completely different to your environment. Move to a new place, maybe a new country, a new culture. Try your luck in a new field.
I have tried some of these. Like living in a different culture and community. Writing, which I had no prior experience, I do it a lot now. Coding, which I had no prior experience, I am learning it now.
The next goal is to live for some time in a different country with a completely different culture and see how it changes my identity, my thought process and my decision making abilities.