Increasing your net worth

Being rich is a state of mind. Your mind is like a garden which contains rich, fertile soil, and it will bring forth whatever you sow in it. You can sow a mentality of lack and poverty or a mentality of abundance. The harvest will be a life of poverty and struggle or one of ease and comfort. Which one would you prefer? The answer is obvious, but it is surprising how many people choose the former. The rich have sown an abundance mentality, and here are ten ways you can start to tend your own garden of riches.

Think more about money. Our experience of the world starts in our mind, and what we focus on will expand and push its way out into the physical world. If we focus on lack and poverty, this is what we will experience, but if we concentrate on wealth, it will start to appear in our lives. I have noticed that the rich spend a lot of time talking about money. So do the poor, in fact, except that they are talking about the lack of it.

Admire people who have money and associate with the wealthy. How do you feel when you see someone who you know is rich? Whether it be a movie star, the boss at work or a guy who lives down the road, if you are jealous about the success and wealth of others, you are never going to attract it into your own life. You need to admire these kind of people and ask yourself ‘what can I learn from them?’ The best way to learn from the wealthy, of course, is to be around them, so you should try to associate yourself with successful and wealthy people.

Be comfortable carrying money around. What do youy find when you open your wallet? I used to withdraw money from the ATM only when I needed it and I was habitually running short of money. The message an empty wallet sends to your subconscious is ‘got no money.’ So sure enough, this will play out in your life. Maybe you say to yourself ‘I can’t carry money around or else I’ll spend it!’ Well, if you can’t trust yourself with cash on the hip, you’re never going to be rich.

photo credit: rimages

Get used to spending money and buying nice things. If you have a poverty mentality, as soon as you get some money you will spend it. People who think like this cannot trust themselves with cash. Having an abundance mentality means spending money and enjoying it. It does not mean living above your means and getting into debt, but it’s also important not to scrimp and save. Your money is there to be enjoyed, and so long as you are sensible, you can go out and treat yourself. Go to a nice restaurant, get your hair done at an expensive salon, buy a designer suit or bag. These things will send out signals to your subconscious mind (and other people, and the universe) that you have an abundance mentality and that you are comfortable with money.

Get into the habit of investing. Hoarding money and spending all your money are signs of a poverty mentality. Both cause stagnation and an end to wealth. But growing money is at the heart of an abundance mentality. Money is like a living thing – it has to move and it to grow. If you win $100 in a competition, what would you do with it? The rich would think about how to turn it into $1000. The poor would just spend it or bury it. There’s an important difference.

Don’t be too attached to money. Hoarding money is also symptom of a poverty mentality. Because everything in life is in flux, money – as well as all other things – cannot sit still. It cannot lie dormant. It has to move. Either you can move it or it will move of its own accord. If you try to hoard it, it will find a way of moving on anyway – an unexpected bill or other expense, a car or house repair that needs to be paid for – so keep your money flowing. Put it to work in investments, spend some of it on nice things, be generous and, above all, enjoy it! Otherwise, what’s the point?

Feel that you deserve to be rich. Don’t feel guilty about it. Many people have been deeply scripted in a mentality that equates money with guilt. How can the rich live with themselves when there are starving people in the world? Why don’t they give their money way to help others? These are the things I used to say to myself, until I realized the truth: if all the money in the world were redistributed equally, in a matter of months, there would once again be massive inequality. And this is because poverty is a disease of the mind. Of course we should support the needy, the homeless, the sick and the hungry, but giving a person with a poverty mentality a large sum of money will not make that person rich, because so long as the poverty mentality is running, their subconscious autopilot will find a way of bringing them back to poverty.

Associate money with a healthy, balanced life. Many people think that money is tainted. They use phrases like ‘filthy rich’ and associate making money with dishonest practices and unsavory ways of living. But the reality is that money is not bad: it’s just money. And there’s no more or less reason to acquire it than there is a reason to be happy, healthy or successful. Money is good and necessary, since it can allow you to experience more of life and to help other people.

photo credit: nerdcoregirl

Take responsibility. Don’t blame anyone or anything for your situation. There are other people in that same situation who are making it! It is not your parent’s fault that you are poor. It is not the government’s fault. It’s not your age or education. None of these things have stopped others from getting rich. Many people just stay poor because it’s easier – they don’t have to face up to their part in creating their own reality. But if you truly want to be rich, stop making excuses and take responsibility. When you have done this, it clears the way for amazing things to happen.

Believe that anything is possible. Henry Ford said, ‘Whether you believe you can or believe you can't, you're probably right.’ People have come from abject poverty and made billions. Others have started at the top and lost it all. Anything is possible in this world. So start believing it!