Breaking Free from a Poverty-driven Mindset

By Wu Man Lan Jiang

I have a friend who has an unusual surname with an unusual pronunciation, Gang. For Chinese people, it is hard to remember.

Buying Ostrich and Selling Chicken

Old Gang used to be miserably poor. He was fined because he violated the then one-child policy and gave birth to three sons.

To help his sons marry good wives, Mr. Gang was wholeheartedly devoted to making money. Yet people in the countryside didn’t have many ways to make money, so Gang didn’t even know where to start on his road to riches. One year, the local government called for chicken raising which was a profitable industry, so Mr. Gang got himself a bunch of chicks and set up a chicken farm. But it’s not easy to look after chickens. Despite the huge effort he put into his chicken business, tragedy still struck.

Now that there were too many chickens in the market, the price fell sharply. In the past, large chicken farmers could support the whole family by selling 2,000 chickens a year, but Gang couldn’t even retrieve his cost by selling 5,000 chickens when he was in the business. What’s worse, while the price of live chickens fell, the price of fodder and land kept growing. Many farmers had no choice but to close their farms.

Mr. Gang believed that the price of chicken was falling not because of a bad market, but because of the poor quality of the chickens. He turned to raising high-end chickens.

After that, the old man left town and nobody knew his whereabouts.

Four months passed before he came back, during which more than half of his chickens had died.

When Mr. Gang came back four months later, he brought back an odd-looking chicken, which was taller than he was, with two big feet and a pair of huge curious eyes. It scared the locals, who asked, “Old Gang, what is it?”

To which Mr. Gang replied solemnly: “This is my new goods, the latest chicken breed. I named it Little Four. It will help my three sons get wives.”

“What?” The locals were befuddled, “Who are you trying to fool, Old Gang? We have seen these on TV. It’s obviously an ostrich.”

After Mr. Gang brought Little Four home, his business instantly started booming. For a long time, his family became a local tourist attraction, with people from near and far coming to see this rare animal. Among those ostrich-seers, there were children from local officials and business families, with whom Mr. Gang made friends. Through their connections, Gang successfully got himself into many government and enterprises associations, where he tried to sell his chickens. Having seen his face and heard his name, local slaughterhouses thought he was the only chicken farmer in the area and only purchased chickens from him.

After he sold all his chickens, Mr. Gang brought in live chickens from farmers who couldn’t sell, and sold them to the slaughterhouses as well. With this hand-changing play, he got all his money back and earned some.

Gradually fewer and fewer people came to see his ostrich. So every once in a while, he deliberately put out Little Four and let it run wild along the national road, which created hot news and attracted people from afar to see the ostrich.

In short, the old man is an unusual person, who deserves our attention and consideration.

The Cost of Low Quality

The story of Mr. Gang tells us what poverty is.

Poverty is not formidable. Getting trapped in poverty is formidable. Poverty means being used to a low-quality life and unable to break free.

Old Gang tried to be a chicken farmer, yet found himself surrounded by big chicken farmers who were more competitive. In order to stand out of the crowd, he put an ostrich among his chickens, which attracted people’s attention. Reputation gave Mr. Gang more opportunities and he got to make money in more than one industry.

We normal people have to tend to ourselves, our children, our careers, and our lives. This process is just like Mr. Gang’s chicken farming business: the lower the quality, the higher the costs, and the fiercer the market competition.

On the contrary, if you aim to go high, to cultivate virtues, get a decent job, find a good spouse, and raise good children, you are more likely to step out of the low-end market with fierce competition, break free from hardship, and win a new life.

Mr. Gang likes to drink wine and keeps some drinking buddies. People in the countryside don’t have much money on hand, and can only afford poor quality spirits. On one occasion, one of his drinking buddies had fake spirits and lost his sight forever. As a witness, Mr. Gang was shaken up deeply. He realized that low-quality lifestyles cause huge costs to one’s life. People think that inferior products can save money, yet on the contrary, they come with huge cost—sometimes one’s life.

A high-quality lifestyle is more cost-effective, with higher value.

Mr. Gang vowed to develop good habits, and thanks to Little Four the ostrich, now he only drinks good quality wine. He has a small cup before going to bed every day, which is enjoyable and healthy. While sleeping in bed and looked back on his life when he indulged in shoddy alcohol, he felt as if that was someone else’s life.

Thinking Outside the Box

In fact, all those who fall into poverty have some bad habits. They usually don’t want to change themselves, which means they need to pay huge costs to maintain these bad habits. The so-called “poverty-driven concept” also means being used to low-quality life, while “rich thinking” is just the pursuit of high-quality goals.

Thinking determines one’s way out. In a low-quality lifestyle, people have no protection, and they tend to stay in the status quo; they also tend to find spouses on the same level. As a result, their next generation is bound to be inf luenced by their impoverished thinking. A vicious cycle is formed here, which is difficult for them to get rid of.

On the contrary, the pursuit of high quality goals will help one develop good habits, for which you don’t have to pay. It’s bad habit that requires big costs. With high goals and a broad vision, one also tends to find good partners and raise hard-working children. It’s a positive cycle people can build in their lives, which will soon put a low quality lifestyle far behind.

High quality does not mean you will have money right away, but continuous innovative thinking and high-level pursuits will get you out of the entangling meaningless competition at the bottom. Those who are trapped in their own lives will instinctively hope others stay in their kind of life too. The Engel Coefficient shows that the poorer one is, the higher is the proportion of expenditure for fundamental needs; the richer one is, the smaller is the proportion, and the more likely people are going to pursue goals of higher level.

Thinking is an interesting thing. It takes just one spark of enlightenment to lift people out of dullness and meet wisdom, while one good choice can open up the road from poverty to prosperity. Everyone is limited by his or her own habitual ways of thinking. When one steps over the limit, and goes one step further into a place one has never trodden, the whole world can suddenly open up.

(From Say No to a Low Quality Life, China Friendship Publishing Company. Translation: Lu Qiongyao)

擺脫貧困思維

文/霧滿攔江

我有個朋友，有個奇怪的姓，姓冮。這個姓念剛音，姓怪字怪，不好記。

買鴕鳥賣雞

老冮以前是個窮人，窮到凄慘。他窮是因為超生，生了三個兒子。

為了給兒子說媳婦，老冮一門心思琢磨發財。鄉下人門路窄，老冮想發財也不知從何發起。有一年，當地政府號召養雞致富，老冮就搞來一堆小雞崽，辦起養雞場。雞這東西很不好養，老冮花費一番心思，把自己搞成養雞專家，然后悲劇發生了。

雞滿為患，市場價格下滑厲害。以前的養雞大戶，一年只要賣2000只雞，就足夠解決一家老小的衣食溫飽。現在老冮賣到5000只連本都回不來。生雞價格下跌不說，飼料和地皮還漲價。許多養殖戶一籌莫展，紛紛關場。

老冮認為，雞價下跌，不是市場行情不好，而是雞的質量不高。他轉向養高檔雞。

說完，老冮就不知去去向，一走就是四個月，家里的雞死了大半。

四個月后，老冮回來，身后跟著一只比他個頭還高大的怪雞，兩只大腳板，一雙好奇天真的巨眼。這東西把當地人差點沒嚇死，就問他：老冮，這是啥東西？

老冮嚴肅地回答：這是我進的貨，最新的生雞品種，我給它起名叫小四，讓它回來替我那三個兒子娶媳婦的。

什么呀……當地人滿臉懵懂：你欺負誰沒看過電視咋地？你這明明是只鴕鳥。

自從老冮把小四兒帶回家，他的生意瞬間爆棚。好長一段時間，他家成為當地的旅游勝地，三鄉五里的人成群結隊來看稀奇。老冮又在來看鴕鳥的孩子中，找出當地政商家庭的孩子，通過他們拉上關系，時不時地出席個政企聯誼會什么的，捎帶賣掉家里的雞雛。而下游屠宰商受此事影響，以為老冮是當地唯一的養雞戶，只從他手中進貨。

他把雞全賣掉，又收購別人家賣不掉的活雞，賣給下游，就這一倒手，本錢又全都回來了。

再此后，來看鴕鳥的人越來越少。老冮每隔一段時間，就故意把小四放出去，讓小四沿國道撒歡狂奔一段時間，制造新聞熱點。把遠方的人也吸引來看鴕鳥。

總之，老冮是個很奇怪的人，有研究價值。

低品質代價

老冮的故事告訴我們什么叫貧困。

貧困不可怕，可怕的是被貧困住。貧困，意味著對低品質生活過度沉迷，無由掙脫。

老冮是養雞的，但當鄰近全都是養雞大戶時，老冮尋求破局，結果雞群里鉆出來一只鴕鳥，讓老冮鴕立雞群，盡顯其高大上。這時候他的選擇空間寬廣，盡可以好整以暇，哪個行業賺錢，就在哪個行業多撈兩瓢。

我們也都在養自己，養家人，養事業，養人生。這個過程，一如老冮之養雞，其特點就是品質越低，成本越高，市場競爭越是慘烈。

相反，如果你有心往高處走，飼養自己高貴的品質、高尚的事業、高價值的配偶及孩子，就會步出競爭態勢慘烈的低端市場，破局而出，贏得人生。

老冮喜歡喝點小酒，還有幾個酒友。鄉下人沒錢，只能喝低劣的散白酒。有一次，有個酒友喝了有毒的假酒，導致雙目失明。老冮目睹此事，心里極受震動。他清晰地感覺到，低品質的生活習慣，是需要巨大的人生成本來維持的。不要以為便宜的低劣產品能為你省錢，恰恰相反，你為低劣習慣支付的成本，重一點是自己的生命，輕一點是自己的人生。

唯有高品質的生活習慣，才是最省錢的，成本最低的。

老冮發誓要享受高品質習慣，托小四的福，現在他每天只喝品質好的酒，每天睡前一小杯，享受又養生。臥睡于床上，再回首當年沉迷于低劣酒精中的自己，恍如隔世。

走出慣性思維

事實上，舉凡陷入貧困的人，都有一些壞毛病、壞習慣，他們自己不想改變，這意味著，他們需要支付巨大的人生成本維護這些壞毛病。我們通常所說的窮人思維，也是對低品質生活的迷戀，而所謂的富人思維，不過是對高品質目標的追求。

思維決定出路。低品質的人生，生活沒有保障，甘于生活現狀，如果再尋找與自己品質相當的配偶，勢必以同樣的觀念影響下一代，形成一個惡性循環，難以擺脫。

相反，高品質的追求會形成高品質的習慣，而好習慣多數是不需要付費的，壞習慣才要支付大成本。再加上目標高遠，眼界開闊，尋找伴侶時更注重內在品質，在對孩子的教育上，也是鼓勵孩子自己努力奮斗，讓孩子成為一個高品質的追求者，這個過程是非常省心的，很快就會和低品質的生活拉開距離。

高品質不意味著馬上就會有錢，但持續的思維破局與高遠追求，會讓你擺脫開人類觀念金字塔下的糾纏性競爭。那些困死自己的人，也會本能地希望以低品質觀念困住別人。恩格爾系數說明，越是貧困，用以維持溫飽的開支比重就越高；越是富裕，用于維持溫飽的開支比重就越小，就越是有余力追求更高層次的快感。

思維這東西很奇怪。從愚鈍到智慧，不過是個開悟而已。從貧困到富裕，不過是個選擇而已。每個人都被自己的慣性思維困住，只要你打開它，向那不曾涉獵的地方前行一步，你的整個世界，就會豁然開朗。