Hard Work Will Not Make You Rich

        

There is this strange idea in our culture that says, “If you work really hard, you’ll be okay.” What a pile of baloney! And what’s so tragic about it is that most people have been brainwashed to believe it, and they do believe it, even though we’re all surrounded by tons of evidence to the contrary.

       What evidence? Just look around you. Do you know anyone who has worked really hard his entire life, only to end up living a life that hovers just above—or just below—the indignity and heartbreak called “subsistence level”?. 

Of course you do. We all do.

The world is full of people who work hard and are most definitely not okay. And perhaps the worst part about it is that many of these unfortunates come to the conclusion that it was their fault, their personal failing. They did all the right things, right?  But it still didn’t work. Maybe they just didn’t try hard enough, or didn’t get the lucky breaks. Maybe they were just not cut out for success. Nonsense!!.

        The problem is that the hard-work myth is just that: a myth. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that building wealth and financial freedom doesn’t take hard work; it does, and lots of it. I hope you’re not naive enough to believe the idiots who will tell you they can show a way to wealth that’s easy, that’s quick, or that’s painless. Because if you are, I know a bridge you can buy real cheap—and an entire system of sub prime mortgages and credit-default swaps that might be just right for you. No, it takes hard work, all right. The question is, hard work doing what? I can already hear you thinking, “Doing what?! Making money, of course!” But not so fast, because here’s the cold, hard truth lurking behind that sad error of our culture’s thinking: "Working hard at making money will never create wealth". People who work for income work harder and harder, only to be taxed more and more. Forget working hard at making money: All you’ll do is spend it, and then have to work hard all over again.

You might be asking, “Okay, so what do I do?” You take control. Take control of what? After all, most things in life you cannot control, no matter how hard you try. You can’t control the market. You can’t control employees. You can’t control the economy. What can you control?, You can take absolute control of the source of your income.

to be continued. Culled from Business of the 21st Century by Robert Kiyosaki