Stop Telling Yourself “It’s because you don’t have the money…”

A lack of money seems to be the reason most people give for not having, not doing and not becoming better, smarter or further ahead in life. “If I just had more money I would…” We all have a response that we could plug in there. But is it really about money?

I had the pleasure of meeting up with Meagan Holub author of ‘The Magic Touch: How to make $100,000 per year as a Massage Therapist’ in Seattle WA, who shared her strategies and business model for growing her business and some tips for her own success. In a recent Facebook update she shared – “My mentor said to me “It’s never about the money. It’s the same story for every entrepreneur. This is the process. If someone were to hand you money right now, you’d think it’s about money and you wouldn’t learn what you need to learn about the entrepreneurial process. You have to trust me. It’s not about the money. It never is”. The tired and grouchy version of me wanted to say “That’s easy to say when you’ve always had it”… but in my heart I knew he was right. I knew that doing this on my own would teach me to be invaluable to myself and every future endeavour I am involved in. Stop telling yourself it’s because you don’t have the money. That’s a lie designed to hold you back from living the life you want to live.”

Along the same lines as Meagan’s mentor, Paula Deen said that she was thankful to not have been given $250,000.00 back when she was starting her business – The Bag Lady – because she would not have had as great and as deep a learning experience and definitely would not be the person that she is today.

Although we go to motivational seminars or sometimes attend mandatory inspiring in-house sessions because it’s “part of our job” most times we manage to stir up feelings of resentment versus feelings of “I can climb any mountain!” This is because we look at the person doling out the advice and like Meagan think “That’s easy for you to say. You HAVE money!”

Whenever I ask the question in my workshops “can money make you happy?” The answer is usually a resounding “YES!” This is because prosperity is viewed as a fiscal bottom line. In ‘The Prosperous Heart’ author Julia Cameron says most people think “when I have X amount of money, I will feel better.” The truth is that prosperity is a spiritual bottom line. The formula should actually be, “when I have X amount of FAITH, I will feel better.”

So let’s dig a little deeper shall we? How have you been using the lie of not having enough money to hold you back from living the life you were meant to live? We often overstate the importance of things we don’t have. What about starting with what you DO have?

Coach John Wooden, perhaps one of the greatest coaches ever said “Don’t let what you cannot do keep you from doing what you can do.” Having no money is no excuse for not developing the discipline and tenacity for finding answers to the questions you have. It’s not an excuse for not working tirelessly to arrive at a doable solution. It’s definitely not the reason why your business strategy is fraught with problems and the business model you chose does not suit you or your business.

In his book ‘You’re Born and Original’ author John Mason shares this nugget – “prolonged idleness paralyzes initiative. To the vacillating and floundering mind everything is impossible because it SEEMS so. Don’t wait for extraordinary circumstances to do good; make use of ordinary situations.”

And still digging – is it money that is the problem or are you addicted to guilt? Our mind has a great appetite for guilt. Author D. Patrick Miller says that “We accept guilt as “natural”, and we seek a constant infusion of it to maintain our sense of normal. What guilt creates is a false sense of stability, an internal condition more akin to perpetual crisis management. This is the state of existence most of us are used to.”

To constantly feed our minds with guilt we MUST do something guilt inducing. Do you overspend when you know that you shouldn’t? Do you buy things that you want but not necessarily what you NEED right now? Do you waste time on line and then spend hours into the early morning working on an important proposal for business that your company needs to survive? Do you renege on financial commitments preferring instead to spend the money you DO have on something that is only going to bring you short term pleasure?

And what about counting? Do you really know how much you’re spending on what? Are you guessing numbers or do you know for sure? Are you constantly playing catch up, having to borrow from here to pay a bill over there? If you choose to remain oblivious then you are never going to FIND available money. Only when you address the trends in your spending will you begin to SEE what you shouldn’t spend on – and take that money to do what needs to be done.

Not knowing and being vague will keep you in limbo. Choose instead to move forward in faith – committed to continuous learning. View your mistakes with an honest and open compassion to learn. Mr Miller says “Never consider the struggle to change yourself a failure, consider it always a learning process whose duration and final outcome are unknown to you”

Guilt will tell you that the battle to improve yourself is lost. Responsibility knows that the process of growth is always beginning. We don’t need more strength, ability, greater opportunity or more money. What we need is to use WHAT we have, where we are – today!