Lesson 1b: Steps
for Taking Charge of Your Financial Life
Objective: To
prepare yourself for real change in
your life |
"An object at
rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to
stay in motion."
- Newton's First Law of Physics |
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over
and over again and expecting a different result. In
making a change in your life, you sometimes need to stretch
yourself beyond what
you
normally do. In other words, you need to overcome the inertia of
where you currently are. This will take new energy to get you
to past the inertia and reach your goals and meet you commitment.
To
help you accomplish this, it is important to realize that prosperity
comes from within. The key is to take responsibility for your life and
your beliefs so that you can create new energy and overcome your resistance.
To prepare yourself to move forward with your journey towards financial
prosperity, I ask you to keep five important
steps in mind as you continue through this educational series:
1) Determine your willingness and
reasons to make a change.
We
are creatures of habit - we take the path that is well traveled. As
mentioned above, making a change takes effort. With
every difficulty and every bump in the road, we may be tempted
to revert back to our old patterns.
To make the change easier, determine your willingness
to change and your reasons for wanting a change. Understand
the
payoff of making a change compared to continuing
your current path. If the payoff is not worth
it, then it may not be worth making the change. If the
payoff is worth it, having a clear picture of your goal will
motivate you (create energy) to be persistent.
What is your willingness to make a change in your financial life? Why
do you want to make a change? Create a clear picture of what
you want to accomplish.
2) Know that your current situation
can change.
When we have grown up in a particular situation, it becomes familiar
to us (the path well traveled). It may seem like life is
supposed to be this way because we do not know any other way. If
we doubt that our situation can change, we create excuses and an
expectation that it will
not (resistance).
That expectation, in turn, often turns into reality. If
you want to make a change, you need to
know and believe that a change is possible.
Look at your thoughts as you read this. What disbeliefs
or questions do you have about creating an abundant and prosperous
life? Do you have some self-doubt? If so, that is fine,
just continue reading and experiment with some of the ideas this
website offers.
3) Be open to new ideas.
There will be many ideas in this website that may
sound strange at first or that you may disagree with. I
am not asking you to change your beliefs, but to temporarily challenge
them. It is like trying on a new pair of
shoes
to see
if they
fit.
If they fit, keep them. If not,
discard them. Yet, if you do not even try them on (resistant),
you will never know and no change will ever occur.
They say Edison tried 1,000
different ways to create a light bulb before he finally succeeded. He
maintained his energy in creating energy. Where would we
be if he had given up on his third try?
If you have not succeeded with your financial plans in the past,
don't give up. Try a different approach.
Keep reading about new ideas.
5) Take responsibility for your
life.
In our society, we tend to blame
others for negative outcomes in our lives. When we blame
others, we tend to get stuck in a situation. Blame is a form
of resistance. By blaming others, we lose sight of finding
a solution to the problem. We
may not have caused the situation, but we are the only ones who
can control how we deal with it. In other words, we can
not change what has already happened to us, but we can control how
we
view the
situation in the present and how we move forward in the
future.
For example, there has been many discussions about how China and
India are taking jobs away from Americans. For those who are
laid off because of this, there can be a lot of blaming management
and
our government for allowing this to happen. Yet, this blaming
will not bring their jobs back. Their energy is pointed in
the wrong direction which is resistance in miss directing them from
their goal of having a job. Their energy would be much
more productive if it went towards find
ways
to get
retrained
for a new job. When their blame is place on others, the remove
their responsibility on what they could have done and can do to make
themselves the employee that any other employer would be crazy not
to hire.
So
take responsibility for finding a solution rather than finding someone
to blame. This website will focus on your role in your financial
situation, through
education, and by asking you to look inward at your beliefs and
ideas about money.
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