Universe 25 Showed Me The Real Reason People Stay Poor

“We never free a mind once it reaches a certain age. It is dangerous. The mind has trouble letting go.”

Those were the words Morpheus spoke to Neo in the 1999 film “The Matrix”—the movie some of the teenagers in my boxing class describe as “The one that came out last century, where nothing is real.”

While that description is technically correct, it sure did make me feel a little old.

And while yes, that movie where nothing is real came out 27 years ago, that line holds the key to understanding why the poor get poorer.​

If your parents were broke, there’s a good chance you’ll be broke too.

And not because they did something like put a phone bill in your name when you were 5, after they got the phone cut off and couldn’t pay it off. This was a common occurrence in the hood, and it happened to me. I don’t even know if they can even do that anymore, but it happened.

The real reason is that you picked up their habits and beliefs about spending and money, and even as an adult, those stuck with you.

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Hard Lesson Of The Week: What Teaching Boxing Has Taught Me About Teaching

For the past two months, I've been teaching boxing. I don't say "coaching" because I'm not explicitly training fighters and working their corner—yet.

Still, I'm having great fun teaching people how to punch and move.

Having taught physics, math up to and including calculus, and now boxing, here's what I've realized:

1) If you didn't struggle before, you are at a serious disadvantage as a teacher. If you were naturally talented and took to the skill like a fish to water, you're probably going to get annoyed teaching people anything.

That doesn't mean that if you reach a high level or do great things, you won't be a good teacher. But if your path there wasn't rocky, uncertain, and required a fair amount of catch-up at some point, you're gonna have trouble breaking down beginners' mistakes.

And they make a lot of mistakes, because that's what beginners do.

2) More than patience, you need a sense of levity and humor.

If you can't make hard things fun, you will lose your students. They will not do well, and they will lose faith in you and in themselves.

3) Giving correction is an art and a science.

It's not enough to tell someone they're wrong, and you can't just solve the problem either. You need to focus on improving their thought process and approach.

It is slower but more rewarding to teach someone how to think than what to do.

4) You have to be likable. You have to care.

This probably should have been number 1, honestly. If your students don't like you, they won't respond.

This is especially true for beginners who don't understand that how you feel about the person who delivers the information is irrelevant if it's true.

Number 2 and 3 go a long way in this goal. What goes even further is admitting when you've made a mistake, or you don't understand something.

But the best way, I've found, is to be genuinely interested and curious about their development. People can tell when you're just going through the motions, or you're really about that life.