The Money Game

Have you ever left a meeting with someone and felt really really good about your own situation in life?  I’m not writing about one in particular with this post, but over the past couple of weeks, I’ve had MULTIPLE instances where I leave feeling a huge sense of relief at what I’m going home to.

So, after having these experiences, my subconscious has been stirring about what exactly keeps people in a perpetual state of “stuckness”.  I’ve gone through the conversations I’ve had with these folks over and over in my mind and there’s a couple of things that constantly rise to the surface. 

The first is a series of really bad choices that ultimately led them to the place they currently are.  The choices are usually not thought out, unplanned, completely random happenings that lead to a very negative outcome for the person.

The second, and probably worse thing that happens to people in these situations is a feeling of, “this always happens to me” OR “I can’t do anything about it now”.  It’s as if their minds shut down completely and it’s easier to ignore the situation instead of doing something about it.

So, What’s Keepin’ The Man Down?  My theory is that somewhere in everyone’s past there was a moment where they either decided they were in complete control over their destiny, or they weren’t.  And that decision is like putting a thousand pound weight on your dreams and telling them to fly.  Or better yet, it’s like how circuses train elephants.  They anchor an elephant to the ground with an 8 foot stake hammered into the earth until the elephant no longer tries to escape.  Then, even a 6 inch stake will keep an elephant in place.

Peter Senge wrote about this stake that we all have in his book The Fifth Discipline.  The stake in question is your perceived reality.  And Senge says that it’s easy to achieve what you want to achieve.  You simply have to adjust your perceived reality.  Move the stake. 

So, to the people that are stuck, those that have made poor choices and believe they have to live with them, I suggest you do one thing — change your perceived reality.

It’s not that you don’t make enough money to start a business, it’s a matter of finding the resources, or decreasing your debt, or building it on the side.  It’s not that you don’t have the education to get a better job, it’s a matter of changing your focus to finding someone that can help you get a better job.  It’s not that you attract the wrong men or women into your life, it’s that you haven’t decided exactly what you want in a man or woman and once you do, they will appear before you.

What’s keepin’ the man down?  It’s you.  It’s what you are allowing your mind to tell yourself.  Your mind is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master.

To Be prosperous, you must THINK prosperous!