Does your hometown define you?

“Leaving home in a sense involves a kind of second birth in which we give birth to ourselves.” – Robert Neelly Bellah

Bill Gates was born in Seattle. Grant Cardone was born in Louisiana. Mark Zuckerberg was born in New York. Do you know what is similar about all these guys? They all were born in different places.

What I’m trying to get at is that where you are born does not determine your future. You do not need to be raised in Silicon Valley with all the tech gurus or Calabasas with all the celebrity folk.The only thing that you need to be is BORN. Many people have been brought up to believe that they will be a representation of where they were born. In other words, if the majority of the people in a person’s neighborhood make $50 thousand a year, he or she is destined for the same. If that were the case, I wouldn’t be on the pathway to reaching a million dollars before I hit thirty years old.

You would not believe how many people from my own neighborhood and neighboring areas have become extremely wealthy and even famous. For one, DRAKE. Two, Rachel McAdams (who actually went to my university FYI). Three, JUSTIN BIEBER. Aside from celebrities, one family that you might not have heard of are the Thomsons. The family is worth an estimated $30 billion thanks to a majority stake in the Thomson Reuters media empire. Think about the many people who may have made it big in your neighborhood.

You may be thinking, “How will I become a billionaire? Or even a multimillionaire? IMPOSSIBLE!”. Well actually, nothing is impossible. You, in fact, determine your own future net worth or salary. A man who works in retail and makes $25 thousand a year is making that amount because he determined that that figure is one he is comfortable with. A woman who worked hard at her business and is making $2 million a year is making that amount because she believes that she is worth that figure. The same way that people say “you are what you eat”, you equally are what you say you are worth. I have yet to meet a person who believes that he isn’t worth millions but actually has millions.

It is imperative that you get yourself out of the mindset that your fate is set in stone because you were born in a poor area or rich area. What determines your future is the work you put in, your focus, your determination, the relationships you have built, and a bit of prepared luck. That is it. Where you are born has literally NOTHING to do with your future success. If you want success and wealth, you will get it. That is it. You may reach your high goals, you may not. But the greater your goals are, the more likely that you will at least land on one part of your ambitions. You for one will definitely not be where you started.

One book that I recommend is Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence. The author, David Goleman shows why high-achievers need all three kinds of focus, as demonstrated by rich case studies from fields as diverse as competitive sports, education, the arts, and business. Ultimately, Focus calls upon readers not only to pay attention to what matters most to them personally, but also to turn their attention to the pressing problems of the wider world, to the powerless and the poor, and to the future, not just to the seductively simple demands of here-and-now.

Until next time,

Live Long and Prosperous.

J.M.