Limiting Beliefs

It is like I have an antennae. A radar. I attract these people like moths to a flame. I was just finishing up with a talk that I was giving to a medical conference, and I decided to partake in the buffet served directly afterwards. I really enjoy having the time to hob knob with conference attendees. Especially because I usually swoop in as a speaker and then leave. It’s a lot more fun to actually interact with the audience.

So I sidled up to a table with a plate full of sumptuous food spilling over the edges, and asked two gentleman if I could join them. Of course, the conversation eventually somehow turned to real estate.

And that’s when things got interesting!

“I Could Never Do That”

One gentleman was espousing the benefits of real estate. He was an avid investor, stock market studier, and a young retiree. He left his physician job in his forties when he realized that he had more than enough wealth to live on. He owned ten properties, and had his hands into a number of small business ventures. He was exactly what most people in our community aspire to be. The physicians at least.

Yet, the other gentleman who was at our table, looked at him incredulously. It was like he couldn’t grasp what he was hearing.

How do you have enough money if you are not working as a doctor?

How do you afford life?

Isn’t real estate risky?

The questions came a mile a minute. Each one of them more negative and unbelieving than the last. Clearly he wasn’t buying what was being sold. Especially the real estate part. He just couldn’t wrap his mind around how anyone could make money on real estate.

Not In My Area

According to our naysayer, real estate was too expensive in his area. After mortgage, upkeep, and other extraneous costs, there was no way a profit could be made. He was convinced, and there was no telling him otherwise.

Yet, when I dug deeper, it was clear that he only had a superficial knowledge. He had no clue what real estate actually cost in the area. He hadn’t studied the rental market. His estimate on yearly repair costs was way off. In fact, he had no idea even how much he would have to put down for a property, or how he would finance it.

He simply had every excuse and no inkling of hope or understanding. And he was rather happy about it. He was happy to complain about his current employment and financial situation without the interruption of any proposed solutions.

It Can’t be Done

He had already decided that it can’t be done before he ever even tried to learn a better way. His limiting beliefs were so powerful that it would take more than a few successful strangers to persuade him otherwise.

Like so many, he was trapped in his own little world of doom and gloom with an air of helplessness and mediocrity.

And we (me and the other gentleman) were wasting our breath. Because he had no interest in hearing that with a little work and knowledge, he could live a better, more free life.

Pissing In The Wind?

Are we pissing in the wind? We write our blogs and give our talks, but is anyone listening? Does it matter?

The answer is both gratifying and sad at the same time. Probably seventy five percent of people are stuck in these same type of limiting beliefs, and are no more apt to listen to logic and reason than the gentleman I describe above.

Twenty five percent, however, maybe will do better if they know better. So we are talking to those twenty five percent.

Not perfect, but it’s better than nothing.