If The American Dream Is Dead Mr. Clark, Then How Do You Explain Me? Part Two.


Welcome back!

As I said in part one of this article, I love it when the “experts” say something can’t be done and that it just so happens to be something that I’ve done! And there are so many experts saying that the American Dream is dead yet they can’t explain me, someone who has achieved the American Dream of financial freedom.

We left off in part one of the article, with me saying that your future social status is impacted by your environment. If you are born into wealth, you are more likely to stay in wealth, all things being equal. If you were born into the middle class, you will most likely end up in the middle class. And if you are born into poverty, you will most likely tend to stay in poverty.

That is, unless and until… you do something.

You see, for as much as you are influenced by your environment (especially when you are younger), your net worth is not predetermined. It’s not like your height, you can change it. Or as the great Jim Rohn would always say, “If you don’t like where you are, change. You are not a tree.”

And therein lies the fallacy in Mr. Clark’s thinking. Taleb’s book so wisely showed that rare events occur much more often than we expect. However, our minds are programmed to deal with what we’ve seen before, to “expect the expected”, so to speak. The tendency to discard rare events happens in part because people underestimate their own ignorance. There is a great deal we don’t know, but since feeling ignorant isn’t pleasant, it’s easier for someone to put something rare out of their mind. They just dismiss it.

In other words, Mr. Clark assumes what is common (people not achieving the American Dream), must therefore be a rule and that the opposite cannot happen. Or if it does happen it’s just random luck. But just because something occurs often, and even if it is backed by statistics, doesn’t mean it will occur every time.

And why is that? Because unlike the animals, we have the ability to reflect and more importantly, we have the ability to change. We have the ability to change what happens next in our life, to mold our future.

And change, especially financial change, is what this blog is all about. And I’ve taken it as my mission to help as many people as I can to change financially, by sharing what I know to be the absolute truth about wealth building, from my own experience. I’m not someone trying to sell you something, rather I’m someone who has walked the miles and has been in the trenches. So, I know personally whether the American Dream is dead or not. Know this: It’s alive…but for some it may appear to be dead.

Because of this simple fact…

A lot of people aren’t seizing opportunities for success because they don’t believe they can succeed. It never occurs to them that they can be wealthy and financially free.

Even if they are aware of the things that would make them successful, they simply don’t believe they can do it. You see, they are listening to the Mr. Clarks of the world and they are surrendering. And that self-limiting belief is enough to stop them from taking those critical first steps necessary for success.

The world is full of extraordinary people doing ordinary things

A lot of people are not aware that there’s greatness in them. They don’t believe that they can unleash it. As I’ve said before, the world is not full of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. No, the real truth, and greater tragedy is this – the world is full of extraordinary people doing ordinary things.

The reason they don’t do more is because they’ve been programmed to believe that they cannot do more. They’ve been programmed to believe that they’re not worth much. They’ve been programmed to believe that they have to stay mediocre all their lives. They’ve been programmed to believe that they can’t buy the big house or have the Ferrari because someone else said so. Because it’s not what normally happens to people like them.

But here’s the thing: Once a person lives with a certain belief, they are going to operate on those beliefs.

In other words, they are going to take action based on the beliefs that they have.

But the good news is:

Actions can dramatically change if your beliefs dramatically change too.

All there is to do then is change beliefs.

So, let’s start changing some beliefs right now.

If you believe what Mr. Clark says, it would be completely impossible for…

  • A dirt poor Russian immigrant to come to this country, start a business, grow that business into a multi-million dollar enterprise, and then transcend her financial beginnings to become extremely wealthy. But someone did. Thank you Rose Blumkin.
  • An orphaned kid, raised in a lower income family, to start a computer business in his garage that would later propel his low income net worth into billions and billions. But someone did. Thank you Steve Jobs.
  • A middle-class boy that didn’t even get a college degree, could start out as an errand boy on Wall Street and later trounce the stock market returns of all the financial experts, growing his wealth into the hundreds of millions. But someone did. Thank you Walter Schloss.
  • A kid from a low-income family whose parents didn’t even finish high school, could work himself out of the income class he was born into and go on to build wealth and a life of financial freedom. But someone did. That someone is me.

The question I have for you today is this: Has there ever been a time when someone else told you that you couldn’t be successful? That you don’t have what it takes to be great? That people in your income class don’t get to have what people in another income class have?

If that person was someone of influence, like a teacher or parent, you may have believed what you were told and have went through life accepting what they told you as the truth. As a sentence of mediocrity.

But I always say that adults should take lessons from their kids. What do the phrases “no” and “you can’t have that” mean to a child? Absolutely nothing.

Who are you listening to?

So here’s the challenge for you today:

Instead of listening to people who haven’t achieved success…

Instead of listening to people whose advice has gotten you mediocre results…

Instead of listening to people tell you why you can’t achieve something…

Choose to listen to a different type of person. Listen to and learn from successful people who are producing the results you want in life.

Listen to those who encourage you and tell you that you could do more than what you ever thought was possible. Continue to listen to those encouraging words even if you aren’t so sure if that is true. Because remember, the human mind tends to believe the things we’ve been told.

So if you love encouraging words that successful people tell you, choose to believe it. Get excited about it. Keep listening and let those positive words re-program the quality of your beliefs. Over time, you’ll discover yourself enhancing the quality of the actions you will take, and then you will get the results you want in life.

Remember, the American Dream has never been an entitlement. It has always been an opportunity, the opportunity to rise as far as your efforts and persistence will take you.

Be free. Nothing else is worth it.

Financial Freedom Monty Campbell

Ready for even more financial freedom information that dispels all the nonsense out there about building wealth? Check-out these articles from the blog archives:

What Albert Einstein Taught Me About Wealth Building

The #1 Reason Why Some People Are Financially Free and Others Are Not

How To Get Virtually Anyone To Mentor You, Including Famous People

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