RE: Can You Change A Negative Mindset?
Well I can tell you/him right now that having a degree doesn't really do anything for you in itself. I graduated with a degree in finance in December 2008, possibly the worst time ever with that degree, and I only used it once for about a month and a half since then. I only had labor jobs before that, and other than that I've had only labor jobs since.
When I was younger I really wanted to do something with my life. I wanted to make a difference and make the world a better place. I didn't. Now that I'm older(I'm 40) and have a little money saved, the most I'm really hoping for is to ride out the rest of my time in Southeast Asia without having to be a laborer anymore.
It's a nice idea to think that he will find the internal motivation to make things right for himself, but as time goes by the idea of potential starts to lose the battle as evidence starts to stack up to the contrary. This is a problem to fix when you're young.
I've read the books you mentioned. I think Kiyosaki is a con artist and the Dale Carnegie book tells you to blow smoke up people's arses to get what you want because people are stupid monkeys and that's how they work. I'm not saying the Carnegie book is wrong, but I find the ideas expressed to be depressing. I don't think this type of thing will work for him.
If he's logical, he needs evidence, not books about chicanery. You do make a good point with, “If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll have what you’ve always gotten. If you want something you’ve never had before, then do something different.” Opportunity doesn't come from being the best or even good. It's a sad fact that we don't live in a meritocracy, but opportunity does increase dramatically with increasing your potential for opportune moments. That means getting out and meeting people, becoming involved in projects, and showing what you can do. Go to meetups, volunteer, talk to friends, meet friends of friends, meet friends of friends of friends, etc.
To a degree it's a numbers game. The more you're out there, the more chances for luck. It can be explained through chemistry and thermodynamics. Entropy is comparable to meeting people and enthalpy is comparable to increasing the networking with people you already know. Increase entropy and enthalpy, and you'll have more effective collisions. Effective collisions is what you're looking for.
"but as time goes by the idea of potential starts to lose the battle as evidence starts to stack up to the contrary. This is a problem to fix when you're young." <---Eeek I know! I hope 27 is young enough.
True...he is logical and does need evidence. I don't know how to give him evidence other than story after story of myself, and people I've personally met who are able to do things.
Like for me, I haven't used my degree, either. I studied to be a spanish teacher.
Then I taught myself some marketing/ e-commerce skills and have been working online. I even got a job offer because of the skills I learned (I turned it down).
A degree isn't the only way.
Yeah, I read Rich Dad Poor dad while ago, same with the other one...I don't even remember them SUPER well...but I remember that they helped me go from thinking things like "why bother trying, 99 percent of businesses fail" to thinking "Ok, I can do things. I'm going to give myself a chance."
That's the main takeaways, just changing to a more believe in yourself sort of mindset. A mindset that says you're not stuck by society. Because you're not. I've proven it to myself. I don't HAVE to be stuck teaching Spanish just because that's what my degree is in, for example.
You can still do something with your life even at 40! You could still have 40 more years left in you!! Maybe more! All of my skills I've learned in just 2 years! I grew ig accounts multiple times over to 15k, 30k, and 100k followers! People will pay for that kind of stuff (I didn't like it though, so I sold all of my accounts and didn't help run someone else's social media when they asked. Lol I need to figure my stuff out, too haha. I def. don't have it all together yet).
Thanks for sharing your thoughts