A Mindset Shift on Money That Will Empower You
Is your view of money secretly holding you back from achieving your dreams? Mine was for sure, until I had a mindset shift. To be honest, the shift was really a gradual awakening rather than a particular event. Here I will share with you that shift, and why it’s made all of the difference.
I’ll start with a story about the genesis of my initial view on money.
I was in college, but I honestly don’t remember the exact moment. I do, however, remember the exact sequence of thoughts that led me to my view on money in my younger years. I think it is quite normal for all of us when we are at this age, no matter if you go to college, or to the military, or simply start working, to start figuring out our thoughts on career, life, and what it all means. I was an engineering student and wrestling with figuring out “what I want to be when I grow up”.
I remember pretty vividly arriving at the following thought sequence (Full disclosure here: I am a Christian and my worldview and moral compass are firmly shaped by that position):
- There is a finite amount of money in the world
- The only way to get MORE for YOURSELF is to TAKE it from SOMEBODY ELSE
- I don’t have the right to TAKE anything from ANYBODY else, especially money
- More money is BAD
So…money is bad…that’s where I started out.
But here’s the thing, over the 25 years of my life since then, I’ve seen many people who have had the financial resources to:
- Make a difference as a significant donor and/or investor
- Live life as they choose in a moral way
- NOT be destroyed by it
So…more money can be good? Hmmm…
Since my initial thoughts were formed those many years ago, I’ve been trying to coalesce the two seemingly incongruous concepts. BUT…over time I think I’ve figured it out, and I see that my initial view was so simplistic. The shift in my mindset was this: MONEY is simply a physical, tradable RESOURCE that is a representation of VALUE.
And guess what: VALUE is INFINITE!
Why is VALUE INFINITE? Because there is literally no end to the amount of value that can be provided.
Here are some things that have VALUE:
- Physical things like natural resources and man-made products. I guess that you could argue that there is a finite limit to physical items (maybe, but I’m not convinced…at least not a practical limit), and therefore, the value is finite as well.
But…
- How about knowledge and the teaching of that knowledge? What is the value of that? It is INFINITE! There is literally an infinite amount of knowledge to be gained as well as the teaching of that knowledge.
- How about creative endeavors like stories, poetry, music, painting, etc? Also INFINITE, with infinite collective value.
- How about software? Also INFINITE. There is literally no end to the amount of software that can be developed.
- How about your health? To you, the value of your health is INFINITE!
Here’s the empowering part of this mindset shift…
When you are providing real value, you will likely receive some sort of compensation in exchange. One form of that compensation is money. There are other forms, of course, but money is certainly a popular one. If someone has received value, and is providing compensation, they are providing it FREELY. They are GIVING it. They are GIVING, and you are RECEIVING.
When your mindset changes from trying to TAKE or GET MONEY to providing VALUE and RECEIVING commensurate COMPENSATION, then the whole world opens up for you. Now you realize that when you have noble goals, money is just one of the resources you are likely to require in your quest to achieve them. You realize that money is just a thing that you need to accomplish a vision. Depending upon your vision, you may need more, just like you may need more wood and nails to build the deck. Your goal isn’t more wood, your goal is the deck. Same with money. Set your sites on the vision, and view money as just one of the required resources.
Here’s an outstanding side effect of this mindset. It fosters the GIVING and RECEIVING cycle in the world! Most people who view money and other resources as something they have RECEIVED, are the very ones who are happy to be GIVERS in exchange for value! It seems that in the world today, we’re constantly trying to “break the cycles”, but here is one that we should be actively trying to foster and encourage. And it’s a natural side effect of this mindset.
So go on a mission to provide value, and freely receive compensation.
I hope this helped you in some way, and if so, please share it with others, and please connect with me. I would love to hear your thoughts and the experiences you’ve had as well.
Have a great day!
