Increasing your net worth

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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.

Why the rich get richer

For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him
Jesus of Nazareth (Matthew 13:12)

When I was a child, I used to look out at the world, watch the news, and think to myself how unfair it is that some people are so rich and others so poor. But now I have come to the conclusion that if all the money in the world were divided equally between everyone, within a short time, the rich would be rich again, and the poor would be poor again. Why? Simply put – money is a symptom or an effect. The cause of money is our attitude, our thoughts, and our self-image.

We attract more of what we focus on. We create our own financial condition. Being rich is the effect of our thoughts, not the cause. Most people have got this the wrong way round. As in all spheres of life, what we sow is what we reap. Our thoughts create our reality and if we sow good, positive thoughts, thoughts of abundance, these thoughts will yield a harvest of money and abundance. If we sow thoughts of poverty and lack, we will manifest that in our lives. Some people’s minds are like rich, fertile soil where the crop can grow strong and healthy; others’ minds are more like rocks and dust which will not support a good harvest.

photo credit: Hélio Costa

Many people spend their lives building a ‘money monster,’ made up of the negative thoughts about money and wealth. Many of these thoughts came from parents, teachers and other influential figures which they were exposed to when young, and those thoughts get built on and expanded until eventually they become a huge and terrifying monster which, eventually, turns around and devours them. Others, however, spend their life building a powerful and obedient genie, an unshakeable collection of positive thoughts and convictions which free you from worry and lack; the genie does your bidding and you are always rich. We must realize that money doesn’t control us, we control it – money is our servant, not our master.

We must take responsibility for this. Where we are now is a result of what we have thought and how we have acted in the past. We must accept this. Either we are responsible or we are not – which is it to be? Do you want to carry on feeling that you’re at the mercy of chance? Maybe you do – maybe you get something out of that. But know this – if you do not accept that you are responsible for your financial condition, you will always be poor.

That more gathers more is true on every plane of existence and that loss leads to greater loss is equally true.
Charles E. Haanel (1866-1949)

Many people have self-defeating beliefs about money (which I have written about elsewhere). We cannot be wealthy if we think of money in a negative way. Money is just a way to be free, and creating financial abundance should be top of our list of priorities. Clear out your old ideas about wealth and fill your mind with new and positive thoughts about money. Flaunting wealth is a sign of insecurity and tells of a poverty mentality, but to wish and strive for financial freedom is a good thing – as someone once said, ‘the more you know, the less you need to show.’ Know that whatever your beliefs, the world will support them – so think positive and abundant thoughts, and these will be played out in real life.

One of these self-defeating beliefs is that there is a shortage of money. But in reality, there is not a limited supply of wealth and abundance – if I go out in a boat and fill a few buckets with water, does that mean there is less water for everyone else? If I pump water from the sea night and day, does that mean the ocean will run dry? Hardly! There is so much of it that it can never run out! Even the wealth of the richest person in the world is just, well, a drop in the ocean!

Another reason the ocean never runs dry is that water is constantly on the move. Water evaporates, it forms clouds, the clouds release water as rain, the rain falls into streams and rivers, and the rivers flow back into the sea. Just like water, money needs to flow. If you try to hoard money, it will stagnate, like a pool with no inlet or outlet. But if you keep money circulating, it will grow, just as a pool with a constant flow of fresh water sparkles and teems with life.

photo credit: teadrinker

In fact, money flows whether we like it or not, since that is its nature. If you try to hoard it, it will find a way of moving on – a big tax bill, an unexpected expense – so keep things moving, keep your money flowing. That doesn’t mean give all your money away or keep buying and selling investments; it means don’t let your money stagnate and die – don’t kill the goose that lays the golden egg. It's also important that you don’t try to control the process – who knows through which wonderful channels money and wealth will come to you? Your subconscious mind is wiser than you can know, and will orchestrate events in a marvelous and unexpected way to bring you what you desire. It is also important that you be ready to receive. Sometimes you don’t get what you want – you get something better. So be ready and be open to all possibilities.

Making money is not hard work – it’s easy when you do it right. Like all things in life, see which way the wind is blowing and sail with the wind, not against it. Sailing against the wind is madness – it will take all your energy and you’ll stand still (at best). So sail with the wind, go with the flow of life, and you can be effortlessly abundant.

Do you want to be rich? Just say yes!

Money isn’t real. If you were on a desert island with a suitcase full of money – I mean millions and millions of dollars – and nothing else, you’d probably starve to death. Your only chance would be to learn, and learn fast, how to keep warm (possibly by burning the money, though that wouldn’t last very long), how to catch your dinner, what kinds of plants you can and can’t eat, how to build a shelter, how to treat your inevitable injuries, and so on and so on. You money wouldn’t help you. You might survive, but I doubt it.

The only reason it helps you in your non-desert-island-life is because we live in a big community where everyone has different skills and we trade those skills (sometimes in very indirect and convoluted ways) with the brilliant concept of money.

And that’s all money is. A sophisticated form of barter. There is nothing intrinsically good or bad about money. It’s just money. In our community, it helps us get along, and if we have more, we can get along better.

So far so good. Unfortunately, the concept of money has become mixed up with all sorts of other concepts over the years. How about these? Blessed are the poor. Rich people must be dishonest, cruel, selfish, greedy. How can rich people live with themselves when there are people starving out there? Why can’t all those rock stars give their money away instead of holding charity concerts? It’s outrageous that CEOs and footballers get paid so highly when doctors and teachers get so little. Filthy lucre, dirty cash, Balh de blah de blah …

Heard any of this before? Ring a bell? Do you believe this stuff? If you do, then you’re saying NO to money. Sure, some rich people are horrible, cruel and selfish. But so are a lot of poor people. Sure, a lot of poor people are lovely, kind and giving. But so are a lot of rich people. I’ve met a lot of selfish, bitter and twisted poor people, many of whom use the beliefs I mentioned above to justify being poor (it’s not their fault; it’s the way of the world, if only things were different…). And for the record, I’ve also met a lot of kind and generous and wonderful rich people.

Money is just money. Many rich people have done untold good with their wealth. Money allows you to live the life you always wanted and to do good. You can use money to make the world a better place – and you can have a wonderful life at the same time. Who says that you should suffer just because everyone else does? That’s just another of those self-defeating beliefs. If you choose it, it’s yours.

Money doesn’t go to the smartest, the best qualified, the most refined, the most in need. It goes to those who choose it. The rich are not all alike – they are from all walks of life, they have all sorts of backgrounds, businesses and careers (including none), they adhere to all sorts of codes of ethics, all religions (including none) and philosophies, the full range of IQ and EQ, … the only commonality is that they all said YES.

They say if you give a man a fish, he ca feed his family for a day. If you teach him how to fish, he can feed them forever. Well it’s the same with money. You can write a cheque but soon the money will be gone. But if you teach other people the right attitude and help them to make more money themselves, they’ll generate income for the rest of their life.

Don’t be ashamed. Don’t be embarrassed. Don’t think that money is bad and you have to hide it. It can give you everything you ever wanted, including the ability to make the world a better place.

So why not say yes?