15 Steps to Fix a Broke Mindset
It's not the empty pocket holding you back. It's not your lack of connections or being born with a silver spoon in your mouth. Unless you were born with a severe disability or a country ridden by war, you've got a real shot at building wealth. If you're watching this from the comfort of a home using modern tech, just know that for people like you, poverty is a mindset. Whatever excuse you're looking for in your mind could be disproved by hundreds of thousands of examples of people who had it worse than you did and still got out.
It's only after one accepts that they play a hand in their destiny will their destiny finally change. If you're ready to accept that your life will change once you change, we'll show you how. Here are 15 steps to fix a broke mindset.
Number one: admit that whatever you've been doing so far has not worked. You probably grew up in an environment where people never talked about money. Nobody around you was good at making it, and the only people you saw with money were crooked or you remember them from movies and TV shows. In reality, making money is a skill. Once you get good at it, making more and more money is actually pretty easy. The hardest part is going from having nothing to having something. Almost any idiot can make a little bit of money if they have a lot of money. The hard part is making some money when you have none.
This brings us to this first step: admitting that you lack the money-making skill. And it’s okay because you're here to learn it. Once you're honest with yourself and face the fact that you don’t know how to make money, you go from resentful to a learner's mindset.
Which brings us to step number two: admit that you've been getting pretty shitty financial advice. Not only do you not know how to make money, but nobody around you knows either. So, you can't go to them for guidance or put weight on their opinion. Poor parents cannot teach their children how to be rich. Everything you've learned about money comes from people who don't have it. The shortest way to override that is to stop taking money advice from the people who are poorer than you. From this moment on, you'll still have casual conversations with the people in your life, but you will stop talking to them about money.
Number three: realize that other people know and do something different from you. That's why they're getting different results than you are. So, between you and those who are successful, there are two gaps you need to fill. One, a knowledge gap: they know something you don’t yet know. They've learned a skill, a tool. They understand a certain market, a certain customer. They know how to sell to people, they know how to collect money from folks, and they know how to negotiate the price.
This is one of the two gaps you'll need to fill by learning to do what they do. Now, the second gap is an action gap: they work differently than you do. Maybe it's just a volume thing where they simply put in more hours, which allows them to learn faster than you do, or they're taking completely different actions than you are. The best part about this second gap is you don’t need to figure out the actions by yourself. You just try to mimic what they do, and in the process, you'll have some questions and figure out the answers to those questions.
Most people stay broke because they never start, and starting is a humbling experience. You don’t know anything and everything seems overwhelming. But at some point, things start to connect and slowly you begin to grasp how well all of this works. Then there's number four: change the altar you worship and hate at. This is not about religion; okay, this is about who and what you look up to. Let us put this bluntly: if your Instagram is filled with Russian models who hang out with mobsters flashing riches, you're only going to despise yourself and your reality even more.
There's nothing nutritious there. The same with athletes, movie stars, or celebrities. All through your feed, there's nothing for you to emulate, to absorb that fits into your reality that you can borrow from them. Here's a gold nugget: you can never become that which you hate. So, if you hate rich people, you will never become rich. Pay attention to where you focus your energy. Hating politicians, hating thy neighbor, hating your country does not contribute to your growth. It's just energy you spew into the abyss.
So, what do you do then? Number five: stop blaming society. Admit that you're not good enough yet and start learning. Once you realize nobody's coming to save you and you have to save yourself, the only option left is to get busy. You open up your eyes wide and you look for people who are doing it. You break what they do apart. You look carefully until you begin to see things that others can't see. You look for the ways those dots connect.
While everyone else just sees the final product, you try to figure out how that kitchen works, where the ingredients are from, and what goes into the mix. You take every opportunity to be around people who've already figured it out. Every time you find something useful, you save it up. Over time, you'll get more and more of these opportunities appearing for you to deploy what you learn. Many good choices will steadily lead to a better and better life. People stay broke because even if a great opportunity presents itself, they can't tell it apart from the rest of the junk out there.
But not to you; you've learned to see. You can distinguish between what's real and what's fake, and others are noticing your potential as well and will take you under their wing if you show good work ethic, discipline, and that you are trustworthy. This is the point where a mentor shows up in your life and shows you how it's done. They'll show you the way out. It might be in person; it could be someone you just relate with.
Getting to that mentor stage is probably the hardest part of the journey because everyone wants a mentor, but every mentor wants to protect their time and energy, so they'll only do it for someone who really wants it. Now, we realize that maybe where you are in the world, you'll never find such a person. Just like you, there are millions of other people who want to overcome their conditions but may have never had the proper guidance.
So, in an effort to dramatically change the world through education, we built something for you. We've found the smartest and most successful people in the world and have them mentor you on our behalf. Here's how you can take advantage of this opportunity: you go to alux.com/slapp and download it. You get yourself a yearly subscription so you have access to all of the experts in the app, and then you'll fill out the survey so we know exactly what you need.
Every morning, while you have your cup of coffee or your tea, you spend 10 to 15 minutes in that app. You'll begin looking at life differently. In just the first week, six months in and your reality has begun to shift. Every three months, we check in with you via another survey, and we alter your learning path in order for you to get real life results as efficiently as possible. There are just no other tools like the Alux app out there.
We've invested over a million dollars of our own money into it so far, and we are not stopping, okay? You're literally getting over a million dollars worth of value: a yearly membership for the price of a decent meal. But if pricing is still an issue for you, scan the QR code on screen for 25% off your yearly plan because your life is about to change once you open up that app and begin working on your new goals.
Number six: don't tell anyone from your old environment about your new objectives and dreams. As you begin to make progress and finally find yourself a path, you'll feel the need to share the good news with them. But we strongly advise against it, okay? Never share good news until it's fully materialized. Telling someone about what you're going to do will make you feel like you've already done it. It's satisfactory but counterproductive.
This is why broke people always tell you about their next big thing but never actually do anything. They fall victim to this trap. Work hard in silence; they'll see the result once you get it. The reason we advise against telling them is because you're working toward a future that their minds cannot comprehend. They simply can't see what you see. You'll become successful because you materialize something that only exists in your head.
Because they love and want to protect you and protect their own ego in the process, they'll find millions of reasons and excuses why what you're trying to do won't work. Don't listen to them, okay? Do not believe them. If others could do it, you can as well. But does this mean you'll become a lone wolf in the process? No, not at all.
Number seven: find new people who are working their way out of broke, but the key is they have to be new people. People outside of your usual environment. One of our in-app mentors, Claudia McLa, has this great example in her pack about going from a circle to a triangle that resonates really well with her students. You need to be surrounding yourself with people who embody your new identity and ideology. People who have new habits and will accept you as one of them because everything you do is evidence that you are like them too.
Once you find them, you can brainstorm with them, you can partner with them, you can build together, you can help each other out. People who are confident that they will make it out know it is easier to do it together. Although everyone eventually has their own path, for this portion of the journey, you will make more progress with them while also working on your own. This is where you make the friends that will be valuable to you 20 years from now. Not everyone will make it, but some of them will, and make sure that you are one of them.
Number eight: you stop making dumb choices that you know are dumb. Broke is different from poor. Poor is an overall condition; broke simply means you're really bad with money. You lack what is called financial discipline. You don't really respect money and how hard it is to earn. That's why you give it away in exchange for the most random things you don't really need. Half the things in your life yet you still paid for them. You still have vices that are costing you money regularly.
The lowest hanging fruit in your life is to stop digging. You stop falling for the same negative behaviors you had in the past. This stops the self-sabotage and gives you enough fuel to move your life forward. This is why being broke is a choice. You know you shouldn't be doing these things, yet you choose to do them. You overcome a broke mindset once you take control over your actions.
Number nine: show up for everything, always on time. You show up over and over again. You go to all the interviews, you reply to every email, you apply to everything. You are persistent and on a mission. Yes, it's hard, but what's the alternative? The people who make it are built different on the inside. You have to need it more than others want it. It's only then that you'll outwork and outmaneuver everyone else.
One email, one opportunity, one conversation can alter the trajectory of your life. What if it was the one that you decided to skip? Number ten: develop the habit of investing and pretend that you've never had the money in the first place. Here's something that nobody's ever told you: when you're broke or poor, investing isn't meant to make you rich. No, the purpose of investing when you have very little money is to get you out of poverty and into a position where you have enough resources to access opportunities.
Investing is superior to just saving money because you're accelerating your progress. It'll take you less to get there compared to just saving your dollars. You work your ass off and you get yourself 1,000 bucks; you invest 200 into something simple like the S&P 500 or just pick a company you like and buy that stock. $300 you'll invest in your education and your ability to learn more. You buy books, you go to events, you use this to increase your likelihood of success.
Every time you make another 1,000 bucks, you repeat this practice. Now we know temptation is going to be big to spend it, but that's where discipline and self-control come in. The person who can't invest 200 bucks out of their thousand will never invest 2,000 when they have 10,000. Your investment nest egg will grow, opportunities will present themselves, and you'll use that money to access them. Even more importantly, you'll have acquired this new skill and discipline of investing.
Once you've laid a personal foundation, it's time to strengthen the actual strategies you use. That means taking your time and money and investing them into things that have historically made people wealthy. A typical portfolio of 60% stocks and 40% bonds is a great start, although we always want to seek improvement. As we've learned from overcoming our limiting beliefs, the richest and most successful people put a portion of their money into additional assets like real estate, private equity, and luxury assets like fine art.
Thankfully, we can make this diversification part of our own journey with our sponsor Masterworks. Masterworks art investing platform has distributed back a total of over $55 million in investor proceeds across their 22 exits to some investors who didn't even know a thing about art. Masterworks art investing platform offers Blue Chip paintings to investors in the form of shares. This way, if it works for you, you can diversify into multiple artworks while controlling the amount you invest.
Some of Masterworks' previous offerings include legendary artists like Picasso, Basquiat, and Banksy, and they're nearing over $1 billion in invested capital with over 900,000 members. Shares of some of Masterworks' paintings have previously sold out in minutes, but since so many Alux subscribers have signed on so far, you can still skip that waiting list and start investing today by going to the QR code on screen or masterworks.io.
Number 11: start applying to jobs or opportunities outside of your league. When you get rejected, ask how you can improve. The second part is where the value actually is. You know it's beyond your scope, but the gatekeepers will actually tell you what changes you need to make in order for them to let you in. This is like a secret cheat code to life. They'll mention tools, experience, certifications, specific skills, and you'll write all of this down, okay?
And then you go back home, get yourself all of that, and then come back knocking on their door. You're getting a free real life education on what's important to them, and you'll use that information to craft yourself in such a way where they say yes next time. If you show up consistently, your luck surface area increases. My friend, if you hit it right, if you're smart in those first 10 minutes that matter, they might just say, "Why not?" You'll learn on the job. Never underestimate the value of showing up and having a good head on your shoulders.
Number 12: you start consuming success stories. Now that you're in, you've got clarity on what you can do from the inside. There are multiple ways for you to navigate this, so pick your path and find your success stories. If in the beginning you were looking for fundamentals because you lacked them, well now you're looking for the details that make all the difference. You're looking to learn systems, processes, secret sauces, if you will.
You're able to reverse engineer how they did it so you can do it too. If you're smart, you'll give it your own twist and run with it. If in the beginning you had no idea what to do, now your mind is buzzing with opportunities, so you have to pick one carefully. The more time you spend with successful people, the more you realize they're not that different from you. They just focus their efforts differently, so you get to work.
Number 13: you start using new tools to build something similar to what made other people rich. Every generation has a unique competitive advantage in terms of what tools they can use to build wealth for themselves. There are new tools, new platforms, new marketplaces you can tap into that the previous generation had no idea how to navigate. The way you win at life is by getting tested wisdom and putting it to use in a new way.
Use the device in your hand to make yourself rich. Learn to use the new tools of the trade. Embrace technology and use it for what it is: a tool. The internet allows you to sell to millions of people instead of just a few. AI gives you the productivity of an army instead of just yourself. YouTube is more valuable than any university out there to your self-development. Merge them together and build something of value.
Number 14: you tie your earnings to your effort and brains and start earning nonlinearly. You are broke because back in the day you exchanged one unit of time for one unit of reward. Now you've learned better. You use your units of time to build something that leads to exponential rewards. You build once and sell a million times. Welcome to the digital economy, where we use tech to leverage your way into extraordinary wealth.
You no longer earn with your back but with your mind. Instead of working for money, you work to build the machine that earns for you. You make money while you sleep, and all of a sudden, you realize just how different you look at life now than you did before. We've made millions of dollars from digital products and for the past six months, we've been working on something that we'll release later this year called Digital Product Mastery.
It's an online learning experience where we show you exactly what tools we use to build our own digital products and how you can do the same. Go to alux.com/digital and make sure you're on the email waiting list. We'll send you a secret discount code once we open up, because once you learn how to earn in a digital economy, you'll never want to go back to the old ways of doing it.
And number 15: you don't look back as you enter your new reality. As you become this new individual with a new way of looking at life, there will be a last attempt of the forces of the past to pull you back. They'll show up in your life trying to bring you back, trying to mess with the progress you've made, even trying to assume credit for the hard work that you've put into it.
It's important to set boundaries here. Help those you want to help without sacrificing your future. Don't allow anyone from your past to guilt you into trading your future for their present. Remember, a sinking ship can save no one, so take the time to make yourself strong before you try to help others. Those of you who grew up with a limiting broke mindset know exactly what we're talking about.
And just to provide everyone else with a little more context, what was it like growing up with a broke mindset and what did it take for you to overcome it? Let us know in the comments. And since you watched this already long video until the very end, here is your bonus, my friend: you can save a few, but not everyone. And this is incredibly important: not everybody wants to be saved. Not everyone can be saved.
People grow up in different directions and it's okay to part ways. Some will resent you for your success because it makes them feel like they deserved it more. They don't know it yet, but they suffer from the broke mindset that you have worked so hard to overcome. They want your outcome without all the effort you put into it. But now you're in a position to help, so pick the ones who are worthy and mentor them.
Time has gone by and now you've got the moral responsibility of showing them the way. This is how we all win. Even showing them this video will be enough to separate those who are real from those who are just talking about it. If you'll never go back to a broke mindset, write the word "never" in the comments. Let's see how many of you live in a world of abundance just waiting for you to have your peace.