Lately I’ve heard a lot of people concerned about their finances and money. They are worried and afraid. This fear is generating a horrible stench of desperation which is further destroying actual financial security or the possibility of it.
What perhaps is most interesting to me (yet not surprising) is that the numbers in these worried people’s bank accounts vary from $176.32 to over $20 million.
Despite my thinking in my youth that there was a magic number I could hit that would make me forever financially secure, I was wrong. For as I have seen through my years of coaching individuals, even those who if they didn’t make any money for the next ten years would not be effected, can and often do choose to be worried.
One such young self-made business owner recently sat in my office rationalizing with me that despite having a very sizable bank account and a few million dollars of paid off properties, he would not feel “free” or financially secure until he paid off a relatively small amount on one of his last five commercial properties.
This was a man who had not been to college and at one time played guitar in bars for money. As we talked, he kept trying to prove he wasn’t financially secure yet and that the resulting stress was negatively affecting his marriage. (The latter part, I believed.)
After a few minutes of his one-way conversation, with no persuading by me, he recognized the failure in his logic and started sobbing. In a ‘light bulb moment’ he said, “I already am free.”
He pointed out, “I can sit outside of my workplace in the middle of the day with ideas in my head and the ability to make more money whenever I want it. And I know I can make more money if I need it.”
What he realized was that the number in his bank account never affected his financial security. It had and would always come from his awareness that he can get more money whenever he wants it. This is the same perspective shift necessary for anyone who really wants financial security and well-being.
Why is this perspective change so important? Because, when it comes to money, nearly all of us have learned to protect and motivate ourselves by creating feelings of worry, doubt, fear and even desperation. The problem with this perspective is that it nearly always limits our visions and cuts off our creativity for new means to creating more of it.
Right now the biggest mistake and worst approach with regards to money is “If I worry enough then I will stay safe and keep myself in line to move forward.”
Your internal logic may continue, “If I punish myself regularly for the past, focus on what I did wrong and what I don’t have, the self-flagellation might motivate me.”
Honestly how inspired do you feel to do anything after you have given yourself a healthy dose of criticism?
The problem is that in this space there is little room for creativity or inspiration to create more money or experience true peace.
If you operate with this approach you are also likely seeing the toll it takes not only on your bank account but on your health, happiness and relationships with your family and loved ones.
Many of you might be thinking, “Well I am not a millionaire and I have real bills, kids to put through college, aging parents who need care and a mortgage under water that needs to be paid.”
If you do, I imagine you have at least two or three months before you are without a home. If so, then you have enough time to find your way to add value and make money for doing so.
Here’s the real deal. In order to create true wealth you must master the art of providing service. Identify how you can add value in your current place of employment, your business, or strike out in a new direction to do so.
In summary, financial security doesn’t come from the amount in your bank account. It comes from your ability to get more of it when you want it.
Remember, what got you here is not going to get you there. In other words, continuing to come from your current perspective and approach is not going to transform your life and finances.
Here are four steps to change your relationship to money and to access immediate peace and power regardless of the number in your bank account today.
1. Add value. Wherever you can add value and make a difference in people’s lives, there is money to be made. Find your natural and most fun way to contribute and you’ll secure your financial security.
2. See the abundance that is already around you. If you have five cents in your pocket, be thankful for it rather than putting your focus on what you do not have. Where focus goes, energy flows. Therefore, be specific about where you are putting your focus. It makes a difference on your bottom line.
3. Stay inspired to create more money versus moving into fear and worry about not having it. (It’s amazing the strategies and creative solutions that come from inspiration versus desperation.)
4. Ask the question: “If I knew for a fact, I could create (fill in the amount) in the next three months, what value would I create and where would I exchange it?” Then lean in and begin! Progress is made by engaging not by thinking about it.
The bonus to this shift is that you don’t need the money, but it is fun to have the unique feeling of calm and peace in your life knowing you can get more when you want it!
