So, stereotypes have influenced my life in ways I didn’t even know. But, the important thing is that I learnt the truth about them and now atleast I know how I can overcome them. So, the thing is a lot of times, we may hold a belief that is way too strong in our minds and at times, we may refuse to believe something that is contrary to that belief.
Now, in my case stereotypes affected my life in several different areas but I would like to talk about one particular aspect – ie. money. Now growing up, I never placed too much importance on money. What I mean by that is that I never thought about earning a large amount of money. I knew I wanted a decent income but I was not really the type of guy to dream about being a millionaire or something. At that point of time, I just wanted to have a government job and live a secure life.
However, as I grew up my perceptions and desires changed. I realized that my perceptions were holding me back from growth and living a great life. Now, the thing is we look at our circumstances outside and tend to develop the beliefs accordingly. A millionaire’s kid would think of money as something that is naturally easy to get. But someone who has had a tough childhood or grew up in poverty, might think of money as something that is difficult to get. Now, I have seen in middle class families that the parents usually push their children to get high grades. They look at things from their own perspective. They want them to get a govt. job so that their future is secure. That is the scenario in several middle class families that I have seen. Parents want their kids to become IITians or get into good colleges like IIMs etc. Now, we tend to look at the packages that these institutions have to offer. Then, usually we make up our mind accordingly. If the average package offered by such a great institute that is so difficult to get admission into is this much, then it must be really hard to earn money beyond this amount.
So, this was a perception that was there in my mind too. It caused me to think that earning money is hard which perhaps was a wrong belief to have regarding money. So, that was something that I learnt over the years. When I didn’t make it into an IIM or an IIT, I used to think that maybe I won’t be able to earn an amount more than these colleges offer. But, now I feel glad because of not making it there I learnt several different important lessons that I wouldn’t have known otherwise.
So, the thing is don’t have fixed beliefs especially those that are negative about anything. Life is pretty unpredictable so anything can happen. Having such stereotypes can actually limit you in ways that you might not even know about.
