The title of this article is a quote from one of my all time favourite comedians Spike Milligan.
I love quotes and often turn to them for inspiration when researching an article to write. My topic this time being ‘my personal quest to love money’ – the quotes pages didn’t disappoint as there are literally thousands concerning money:
Money is good:
Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons – Woody Allen
Money is easy come easy go:
I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered – George Best – Footballer
There’s never enough:
I have enough money to last me the rest of my life, unless I buy something – Jackie Mason
The State takes it all anyway:
I love to go to Washington, if only to be nearer my money – Bob Hope
And so on!
Over the years I personally have had a struggle to get a handle on my own relationship with money but have visited the subject recently as a result of my work. I develop the website for a successful young guy Adam Eason. When putting one of his audio products on-line I decided to check it out as it is entitled “The Millionaire Mindset”. This really got me thinking and led to my self analysis which is really revealing
Since starting in business 10 years ago I have always come to a certain level of income and things would happen to just not let me get past that point. I am not talking poverty here, but, almost as if by design my income was pegged. I had a barrier which I know now was my money mindset which put a cap on making any more than a certain amount. It was my own money mindset that needed attention.
As I analyzed I recognized some important beliefs that were sown way back in my youth.
My father was a typical Yorkshire man. Most people in the UK will understand the stereotype that I refer to. He was a thoroughly good man, but dour and blunt (called a spade a spade). We were poor financially as a family despite his hard grafting work but rich in so many other ways.
He only ever gave me one bit of financial advice delivered in a thick northern accent “If ‘e borrow ‘owt – ‘e will owe ‘owt”. Translation for the rest of the world – If you don’t get in debt you will keep out of trouble. My father if he were alive today would not be part of the statistics of record credit card debt.
I was also brought up as a Christian with values that didn’t place much importance on the attainment of material wealth. Another strong marker for my sub-conscious learning.
I further reinforced my money belief mindset by going into the nursing profession (a long story for another time) which particularly for a man was unusual at the time and also not very financially rewarding. I justified it in my own mind because I thoroughly enjoyed the job. It certainly did have rewards of a non financial nature and led to me having a fantastic career and working in places abroad I would never have visited but for my employment.
I used to say to friends “I don’t care about money – it’s the job I love”.
How much harder could I have been pushing my negative attitude to money?
Roll on the years – wife, children and all those responsibilities later – and guess what? Money became more of an issue.
Why not run a business and make some money? – thought I.
There was a glitch in that plan though, namely a sub-conscious mind brought up with one education and one belief set that ‘money isn’t important’
No wonder that making real money has proved difficult for me.
Sure enough the business made survival level income but nothing more – till now. That money barrier is finally and easily being breached and the proof is my bank account.
The good news is that I have a new weapon to change my mindset – self-hypnosis. You simply teach your sub-conscious mind and implant a different money mindset. The important part of your brain, the sub-conscious CAN be taught new things. I could go on about self-hypnosis but it is for others much more qualified to teach and educate you further.
I just use self-hypnosis. What a discovery!
There are no regrets about my past and in fact many of my former beliefs remain intact – you can choose what to keep and what to dump with this hypnosis stuff. One of the reasons I want to make money is to have money to give to causes and situations that I would like to help. There’s a surprise – Not.
My mind is at ease because the altruistic side of my nature is being satisfied with this new money mindset.
Oh well – on to my millions.
There is one thing I do know though – my dad was right about those wretched credit cards. Bless him!
It’s amazing how fast later comes when you buy now! – Milton Berle
