I work with a large cross section of clients. They range from Fortune 500 CEO’s to Artists (some of the artists are doing better than the CEO’s). Remember that, Mom and Dad, when junior likes to draw and doesn’t love calculus.
In any case, no matter what the client’s title is, there is one commonality. The people that are the most positive have more financial success than those that are negative. Now before you go all “of course people with money are more positive than people without money” on me, lets do one thing together. Let’s define financial success. You may have jumped to a conclusion (see rules 3 and 4 for advice about not being reactive or anxious). My definition of financial success is – having a positive relationship with money and meeting your own expectations for where you are financially. Need an example? Lets use a teacher. Do you know any teachers? If you do, do you think they became a teacher to make a ton of money? I can tell you that I have many friends and clients that are teachers and I don’t know any that are flying on their own private plane to their vacation home in the South of France. That said, I do know plenty of teachers that are happy, have a reasonable amount of debt and live in nice homes with a comfortable lifestyle.
The reason? I believe that teachers may be realistic types that have understood for a long time that their career choice comes with many benefits (serving society, positively influencing young people, some time off in the summer) in exchange for an income that is often less than they might earn had they chosen another profession.
The important factor is that most of the teachers that I know love to teach. That makes them happy with their job and lifestyle. As long as they live within their financial means they would be, according to my definition, financially successful.
We can check our math by looking at the other side of the equation. I also have experience with many folks who live in giant homes, drive fancy cars and have every toy you could imagine. They work at a frenzied pace to keep the money rolling in to pay all of the bills that they accumulate. They “work hard and play hard”. Unfortunately, many of them worry constantly, are physically worn down and have no time for many of the things they really want to do. Is this an example of “financial success”? I don’t believe it is. The main reason is that it is difficult to remain positive when you are in this situation. And without positivity there can be no real success.
Today’s rule is simple. Just keep thinking positive thoughts. Don’t worry. If you find yourself always worrying about the same things, maybe it is time to let go of those things in order to make more room for the positive things that you desire. “How am I going to make my car payment?” can be replaced by selling your expensive car and trading down to something that is easier to afford. Maybe you’ll work a few hours less now that you’ve reduced the pressure on yourself. Maybe you’ll start an exercise program with the extra hours or spend more time with your family. That extra time will bring things into your life that no automobile ever could. What if that first step led you to feeling more relaxed and seeing things and people a bit differently than you had before? What if it took the edge off of you? What if your employees, co workers and customers took notice of your positive change and started responding differently to you? Maybe wanting to be around you a little more. Maybe wanting to do more for you and with you. What if it actually helped your business rather than hurt it? What if you made more money because you were a positive influence on all of the people around you?
That is what I would call “financial success”.
Good luck selling your car! Let me know if you need any help negotiating with the buyer.
