I like this one:
If you think that money is green slips of paper...think again!
It takes a bigger person to make $20,000 in a month than it does to make $20,000 in a year. Not a better person, but a bigger one: a bigger risk taker, a bigger thinker, someone with bigger willingness and creativity. In the same way that creating any kind of measurable success and Harmonic Wealth(TM) requires more from us -- as in a long, happy marriage or a satisfying and meaningful career or a fit and healthy body -- earning the bigger dollar amount requires a bigger person.
How big are your results?
Many of us want to be that bigger version of ourselves, to expand our consciousness to include all the riches life has to offer, including money. Yet many of us are held back.
More money will only magnify your current situation
Before we go any further, let me be clear: I don't believe money solves all of life's woes. On the contrary, I see money as a magnifier, both in lack and abundance. Any time you move outside your comfort zones with money, it magnifies the circumstances of your life. If you have a great relationship, if you're spiritually connected and you're healthy, then an abundance or shortfall of money will make that seem even greater. (The high life with extra cash will be fun and joyful; the tough times will make you appreciate what you have in other areas of your life.)
If you are sick and tired now...
If you're experiencing the converse, money will magnify that, as well. (Life will seem bleaker and more lonely at the top and more impossible and desperate at the bottom.)
In the last e-mail you received from me, I introduced you to the idea of a TBS (Total Belief System), a governing set of ideas and feelings stemming mostly from past experiences. Indeed, the TBS also gets magnified by money. Nowhere else is the TBS more blatantly at work than in the realm of our finances, either restricting or expanding our income potential and influencing our spending, saving, investing and planning habits.
A Couple of Bad Ideas
In my events, I frequently meet people whose TBS puts undue limitations on their wealth. For most of us, our TBS has not set us up for monetary wealth. The most common problems in this area are two beliefs: I'm not worthy; and Money is bad (or will make me bad). People may not articulate those two beliefs so clearly, either to themselves or to others, but of the unconscious limitations that hold people back from the wealth they consciously desire, these two are the most likely psychological roadblocks.
Where the heck do these ideas come from?
They are usually the result of early conditioning. "I'm not worthy" can stem from any number of childhood events or issues that wind up leaving us feeling as if we don't deserve more than anybody else. As an adult, it looks something like this: "I'm not good enough to earn that much money," or "I'm not any better than anyone else, so why should I expect to earn more money?" But who among us would say to a friend, "You know, you're smart enough. Stop learning because you're bound to make someone else feel stupid," or "You're already very healthy. Don't you feel bad that you can bench press 220 pounds when there are those who can't do 40?" or "Your daughter is quite well adjusted. Maybe you should back off on encouraging her self-esteem or she will be more confident than her peers"?
One down...one more to go
The "I'm not worthy" idea about money is on pretty shaky ground when you put it in the context of other accomplishments, isn't it? How about the other one, Money is bad? More often than not, this equally insidious idea comes from a misinterpretation of religious principles about wealth. Although according to John 10:10, Jesus Christ announced he had come to earth to give us life more abundant, many of his followers today have somehow decided that lack was Christ's legacy, that abundance of any kind, and particularly monetary wealth, is sinful.
So many of the scriptures have been misquoted or taken out of context to support this idea. For example, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God" (Matthew 19:24). The point here was not that there's something wrong with being rich, as it's often interpreted. Instead, according to Paul Pilzer, economist, biblical scholar, and author of God Wants You to Be Rich, Jesus was explaining what God expects of us of where we are to experience heaven, and pointing out that for those of us who acquire material wealth are called to do even more.
But wait! I didn't mean to turn this into a Bible lesson...
My point is simply that church leaders have abused sacred texts to make us feel bad about achieving economic success. Why? So we feel compelled to give away much of what we earn. (I'll let you figure out to whom.) Yet some religious groups have gotten it right. They encourage their followers to do well, and to continually put forth an equivalent amount of value to all those they meet. This is part of what Pilzer refers to when he says that more material wealth means a higher obligation, I think.
Balancing on the Teeter-Totter of Wealth
We bump up against some interesting beliefs when we start talking about giving, too. What most of us need to remember is that giving is an integral part of receiving.
Wealth is something like a teeter-totter, requiring balance on many levels. One of those levels is giving-receiving. Many of us say, "Oh, I'll give money away when..." When we make "enough." Or when we make "extra." But giving is a habit that's easiest developed with less money instead of more. Do you think it's easier to give $1 out of $10, or $100 out of $1,000, or $10,000 out of $1 million?
Please don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying that by giving away money, you will earn more money, though there are those who do say that. My point is balance.
Notice I said wealth is a teeter-totter, not a train. There are several balancing elements that affect one another but don't necessarily precede or cause one another.
There are two kinds of wealth...
A great example of this is income, which has two balancing elements: psychic rewards and monetary rewards. Monetary rewards are the paycheck; that's obvious. The psychic rewards come from doing something in alignment with your purpose, from doing something that has meaning for you.
In any profession or career, the ideal is to balance both types of rewards. If one is insufficient for you -- either your pay is great, but the job stinks; or you love the job, but can barely cover the mortgage -- then you will ultimately be unhappy in that role. The mistake most of us make is thinking that if we just hang on long enough, the income will balance itself: in time, the sacrifices we make will be noticed and compensated, or the money will come to be fulfilling in and of itself. Sorry, it just doesn't work that way.
Then how can we increase our income, both in terms of psychic and material rewards? It all comes down to mindset. Remember these keys:
You are compensated based on three factors:
1. the perceived value,
2. the actual value you deliver, and
3. the ease with which you can be replaced.
Improve one or all of these areas to increase your income.
It's noble to ask a fortune for your service or product, if you provide a fortune in value. If you don't feel comfortable asking for that fortune, you need to ask yourself:
1. Am I providing enough value to earn what I want to earn, and
2. Am I providing that value but afraid to ask for it because of my TBS?
Remember, money is a magnifier, both in your life in general and in the workplace in particular. What you do well will be magnified with an increase in pay, and what you need to improve will also come into sharper focus. Be the first one to notice and take action.
When you address the TBS (Total Belief Systems) many people find they can increase their incomes immediately. More important, they experience what I call Harmonic Wealth(TM) -- greater abundance in almost every area of their lives -- spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, as well as fiscally.
I hope you're ready to make the decision to become the bigger version of "you" that you've perhaps dreamed of but never attained. And I look forward to seeing you as you discover and enjoy a more abundant life!
To your continued wealth and fulfillment,
James Ray Arthur
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