Becoming ultimately wealthy starts from the inside not the outside. Ultimate wealth brings together multiple facets about ourselves including leadership, responsibility, accountability, systems, an abundance mindset and the belief that we can have abundance because we are worth it.
Being able to claim you feel worthy, loved and enough are the foundations to believing you can have wealth. Having this mindset lays the foundation for your ability to create wealth and have wealth because you believe you can have it and are worthy of having it.
However, being able to say this does not come easy to most. In fact, most people have two types of mindset: a poverty mindset or a middle-class mindset
Let’s explore this.
Every tribe (ie a family/people you were brought up in) has its rules. Rules around how we think, how we feel, how we behave, what we talk about and what is expected of us. When it comes to money, every tribe has a rule around what money means. In my tribe it meant “if you work hard, study to get qualifications and get a job, you will have money”. The tribe has a rule around how to feel about money. In my tribe I recall hearing “having money makes you feel happy, when you buy a house you will feel happy”. The tribe also has rules around what is expected of you. In my tribe I was expected to work as a teenager so I could buy my own stuff – this went on to mean if I wanted stuff then I had to work for it and buy it myself.
Tribes also condition our beliefs and values. Money may be an essential commodity to live, but wealth can mean a lot more than just the dollars. It can also mean abundance, what you get to experience, how you get to help others and how you choose to behave with integrity to achieve happiness. This is what I believe.
Our tribe also influences our values about wealth. My experience working at World Vision taught me that people who live in poverty value the essential basics in life such as access to clean water, food and shelter.
On the other hand, very rich people may value things like security (ie of their homes), comfort and variety. Those that value money beyond what it’s worth, may also value giving back through volunteering their time and or donating money.
Someone that has been brought up in a tribe with a poverty mindset may say, “I am poor and can never have that”. They have strong beliefs that money is hard to get and that they can never be rich. They may value responsibility and use their money sparingly or they may not and use their money gambling, hoping and wishing they will win a lot of money one day.
My dear mother in law had a poverty mindset. She was brought up in Malta by nuns in a very poor environment. When she moved to Australia and met her beloved husband (also Maltese), they both worked very hard to put food on the table and provide shelter for their five children. She often spoke of money and having the lack of it, but she loved to play the poker machines and give her winnings to the grandchildren which brought her great joy. Wealth for her was determined by money, although I could see she also valued giving back and providing, which was her legacy from both her and her husband as they worked to own their home out right.
Those with a middle-class mindset may say, “I am rich because of all the stuff I have. They see themselves as middle-class and with this mindset they have a vision to have all the nice things in life – a nice house, a nice car, a nice holiday, a nice wardrobe full of clothes and a nice job where others can see that they are “wealthy”. But with all this external success lives internal pain because the price of nice is high, and it comes in the form of bad debt, not good debt. Most middle-class people will borrow on top of their loans to buy and have more stuff, than pay off the stuff they have already bought. It creates a vicious cycle because the bad debt grows and grows. So whilst they continue to focus on their middle-class lifestyle and a vision to look good, sadly they miss the opportunity to clear their bad debt and just keep borrowing on top of borrowing.
I consider I am work in progress from middle-class to wealth mindset. I was brought up with middle-class beliefs and values and whilst I am in touch with my inner world, this is my development as I start to make better decisions year on year to build my wealth. On my journey to becoming a lcoach, I learnt that having a wealth mindset was key to having a successful business. Before launching my business, I worked hard at my mindset and now have much stronger beliefs and values about wealth, I became educated about how to grow my wealth and I continue to take action that leads me towards my vision to be financially free and live an abundant life. But there are still slips ups where I spend money on stuff! But I am much better than I was and focus a lot more living in congruent with my values of responsibility, accountability and determination.
To sum up, I do believe there are three components to building wealth: (1) mindset that matters including a strong self-esteem, empowering beliefs and values that serve your mindset; (2) knowledge and educational (3) plan and action.
A strong self-esteem is the backbone to a wealthy mindset. It is a key factor that drives our ability to handle having wealth. Sharon Pearson, author of the Ultimate You, says a strong self-esteem is supported by our ability to manage our needs, boundaries and our emotions.
She basically says that when we have the freedom to see, hear, and sense and own what we feel, we are in a better position to make better decisions that further support our ability to manage our needs, boundaries and emotions.
In the context of developing a wealth mindset, I believe when we can take actions without worrying about what other people think, start saying no to spending money on wasted stuff or falling victim to the tall poppy syndrome that is sadly part of the Aussie culture, then we will have an opportunity to build wealth.
If our self-esteem has decreased on our journey to adulthood, it can still be restored because we always had it, it was there when we were born, it came naturally to us, and it’s still there…it just might be hiding in the form of shame, judgment or rejection. The good news is, we can restore it.
When we have a strong self-esteem, we are also open to more possibilities and see the world through an optimistic lens. With this lens we are more curious and willing to learn more. There is a lot of information available to self-educate about wealth. I believe if you are starting up your business or rebuilding, educating yourself about wealth and how to grow your wealth is critical. Some of my favourite references I have drawn my knowledge and continue to learn from are:
- Instant Cashflow, B. Sugars
- The Barefoot Investor, S. Pape
- Why the Rich Get Richer, R. Kiyosaki
- Unshakeable, T. Robbins
- Success Habits, N. Hill.
But with mindset and education must also come a plan and action that we take over time.
As Oprah Winfrey eloquently quotes, “create the grandest vision possible for your life, because you become what you believe”. And quite simply, when we have a vision to be wealthy then everything you do next will lead to this belief. If you don’t believe you will be wealthy, you will take actions that play out a poverty or a middle-class mindset.
Even if you were born into wealth, there is always the possibility of loosing it. It doesn’t matter where your starting place is, I do believe we all have the opportunity to grow our wealth and live abundantly when we have a vision and take action to get there.
“The size of your success is measured by the strength of your desire; the size of your dream; and how you handle disappointment along the way.” – Robert Kiyosaki
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