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I can remember learning how to drive. My mom had a Chevy Malibu that had a stick shift on the column, of all places. She would take me to All Souls Cemetery so I couldn’t hurt anyone or anything and let me “have at it”. I would let up on the clutch, try to give it gas, go lurching forward, slam on the brake and stall the car. She would explain to me in her calm, patient voice that no matter how much I pressed on the gas, if the other foot was on the brake or clutch, I was going nowhere.
How many people try to go down the road of life with one foot on the gas and one on the brake? If you live with negative beliefs surrounding money, then you have one foot on the brake, but may not even know it. Your beliefs, even when well hidden or unknown to you, can do more to hinder you than any economic downturn, plant closings or sell-off on Wall Street.
So why do so many of us have money hang-ups? I’m not a proponent of victimhood, but we get to blame someone else on this one: our parents. They have instilled beliefs so deeply in us that we don’t always know we believe them until someone brings them to our attention.
Here’s a quick quiz… Money doesn’t grow on ______________! What do you think I’m made of__________? Was this subliminal message one of want or one of abundance?
As we are striving for that well-paying job and a house in the suburbs, we’re also led to believe that “money is the root of all evil” (even though that is a misquote, many don’t know it). And who teaches us this? The people with NO MONEY!! Is it no wonder we’re confused into hitting the wrong pedal?
T. Harv Eker refers to these messages as Wealth Files. When they are negative, they are our brake pedal. We hear them long enough that they get filed away in the belief files in our brain, where they subconsciously effect our every move. While it is not easy, it is also not impossible to change your Wealth Files to those that benefit you rather than inhibit you. They can become your gas pedal.
The truth be told, there is nothing wrong with money, it’s our gas pedal. Money can do too many good things such as: providing us with food and shelter, or providing third world countries with vaccinations and clean water. Even Mother Teresa needed money to fund the needs of the poor of Calcutta. It is the love of money, the misuse of money or the place of importance money plays in ones’ life that can and will cause the heartache and pain.
Isn’t it amazing that of all the financial tools our society offers us, from mutual funds, to online trading to spreadsheets, graphs and reports that all we really need in order to alter our financial path is up here (tapping on head right now)? Our mind is the key to hitting the gas and going where we want to be.
One of the first things we do when we meet with a potential client is to see how well they drive!
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Filed under: Cashflow and budgeting Tagged: | beliefs, cars, learning to drive, money, principles, retirement
