By David Harder on October, 13, 2019

Why Is Demonizing the 1% a Horrible Idea?

Demonizing wealth is one of the most reliable ways to get stuck in poverty.

Demonizing any particular group of people is what humans do when we are frightened and either unaware or unwilling to solve our problems.

When we blame others for our plight, we also suspend our study of success.

Bob Maurer, the Director of Behavioral Science at UCLA Medical School, tells us that we “learn nothing of value by studying dysfunction. We become successful by studying people who are succeeding in areas in which we are failing.” From his teaching and examples, I have learned not to go to my single friends for advice on marriage. Nope. I go to friends with long, healthy, loving, and successful marriages. Then, I follow their suggestions to a T.

The people who push back on suggestions from role models fail. Our culture’s top teachers, mentors, and coaches will not work with someone who directs cynicism and contempt towards their most excellent ideas and humble suggestions.

Let’s go back to the “blame game.” When we blame others for our circumstances, we absolve ourselves from taking action. Instead of creativity, we settle for creative thinking. The world’s mental institutions are filled with creative thinkers.

If any of my readers are feeling a need to pushback and get angry, good. Please complete one 24-hour exercise and when you are finished, you can throw all of my suggestions away and block all future blovating.

Find a beautiful headshot of the person who ruined your life. Next, find a life-sized mannequin, preferably one made out of foam so that you can bring it with you. Glue the photo onto the mannequin’s face. Now, take fabrics, paper, and other craft supplies to dress and personalize your dummy. You will also need a pair of handcuffs. When the likeness of the person is ready, move to phase 2. Ask a friend to attach the dummy to your wrist or ankle with the handcuffs. He or she is instructed not to return the key for 24 hours.

By the next morning, don’t you think you’d be over it?

And yet, many of us do this every single day. We drag around the individual, the evil force, the government, politics, ex-spouses, bosses from hell, and let’s not forget those parents. You know, the one’s who said, “that’s a stupid idea.”

Perhaps this is the time to point out that misery doesn’t love company. Misery loves comfort.

It takes courage to change our lives. It takes even more courage to transform our selves. It takes a particular commitment to finding the work that we love so dearly we become willing to draw attention to ourselves, to ask for help, and to even risk looking silly as we stand up. Progress might include getting someone whose toxic out of your organization or your life. Because, we are the average of the people we spend out time with.

I have been around people as they give birth to work that matches their unique career DNA. After three decades experiencing that energizes my life. For me, helping sincere people orchestrate their success is far more preferable to doing mindless tasks.

So, instead of demonizing people who make a billion dollars, what would happen if you figured how out to become a billionaire by helping a billion people?

Or, instead of waiting for another job just like the one we hated, why don’t we lift our eyes upward and study the very people that started in the same place who now lead lives that are fulfilling and beautiful?

I want to be in the .5% of the wealthy. I want to sit in a deep marble bathtub and bathe in 50 million bucks. Because I have already learned that being poor isn’t better, it’s poor. I’ve also noticed that money is not related to being good or evil. At least within my vision, I see just as many poor, middle-classed, and filthy-rich pie holes in equal measure. And, I’ve been with people who use their abundance to create more wealth for all of us.

If we have young people over to our house on Oscar night, we dress up in fabulous clothes. Why sit there in stained shorts critiquing everyone on the red carpet? And, when each and every person yammers on for hours thanking the people who put their reputation on the line, who stayed late, who gave money and time, the ones who stood up to them when the script was delusional, yes, those people. That’s when we turn to our kids and tell them, “Pay close attention because they are telling you how to succeed. Go find something you love so much that is so meaningful to you that you are willing to do anything to make it work. Yes! Do that! Then, find the best people in the world to help you.

And when someone shows up filled with cynicism and contempt, someone aimless and resigned with the bitterness of life, tell them, “I’m in a hurry. Gotta go and meet with my mentor.”

Brought to you by David Harder, President – Inspired Work, Inc.

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