Prosperity Tips #118
In This Issue
+ Achieving Financial Freedom
+ Ready for the Next Step?
+ Hot Links
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Achieving Financial Freedom
When I ask people what they want to achieve financially, they often say, "I want financial freedom." The next logical question that I ask is, "What would it take to achieve that?"
After a long pause, I usually get an answer like ""Five million dollars," or some such number. Invariably, the number is so far beyond a person's financial experience that, short of winning the lottery, they will never achieve what they believe is financial freedom.
Another question I often ask is, "What does financial freedom mean to you?" The most common answer is some variation of "Having enough money so I never have to worry about what things cost and I can do whatever I want and buy whatever I want whenever I want."
"OK," I say, "What do you want to have and do and what will it cost?
Answers to this question vary from "I want to have lots of money to give away," to "I want a big house with tennis courts and a pool." And then there's the old standby, "I want to travel."
Nice goals. But really far from their current reality for most, which means they will have to spend years not feeling financially free.
So here's the big secret: to experiencing financial freedom right now. Financial freedom is as much a feeling as a financial condition. I know people who make under $50,000 a year who are perfectly happy financially. They watch their spending and save up for the things they really want. And, most importantly, they are satisfied with their lives and feel good about themselves.
Then there are others I know who have millions of dollars and worry a lot, especially with the stock market fluctuating the way it is. They worry about losing what they have, and if worry is their habit, they'll find lots of other things to worry about. .
When I was homeless and wandering around, never knowing where my next dollar would come from, I was really free. I had no bills to pay, no one had any control over anything I was doing, and there was nothing I had to do from day to day. I also had nothing to lose. Because I was on a strong spiritual path, I felt protected and safe.
Am I free now that I have a house and car and obligations? I have two businesses that need attention every day and I can't always control what happens each day. Since I'm starting a new business, I have to carefully manage the cash flow and there are times when I have to pull in the financial reins and be really careful with my spending. So am I financially free?
For me the answer is yes. I don't feel trapped, I am doing what I love, and I have the freedom to make choices. Do I need a million dollars to feel this? No. Because freedom is a feeling not a financial condition.
When you are seriously in debt and not earning enough to cover your expenses feelings of being trapped creep in. So financial freedom paradoxically requires discipline--keeping track of your cash flow, dealing with your debt, spending less than you earn, and putting something aside in a "life happens" fund, so unexpected expenses don't knock you over.
And you always have the option of finding ways to earn more. That is within your power.
So how do you experience financial freedom?
I think there are two important areas that need developing. The first requires gradually increasing your financial literacy, no matter what you current level of understanding might be. Secondly, developing an understanding of your financial identity and why you occupy your current financial position, so you can change it.
If you are willing to accept the theory that your finances are congruent with your current state of being, then by altering that state of being you can alter your finances. By focusing on your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, you can alter your state of being.
Sounds simple, doesn't it. Well, in reality it takes commitment and almost an obsession with developing new thoughts, emotional responses, and financial behaviors because it takes that kind of focus to transmute a lifetime of internal and external habits.
In my book Build Your Money Muscles, I provide you with simple steps to take in order to develop the mindset and financial flow that will allow you to feel free financially.
If you already have the book and still feel trapped, read it again and focus on the concept of the Identity Factor which is introduced in Exercise 1. There are layers of old stuff that have to be peeled off and this takes time and effort.
If you haven't read it yet, give it a try. I absolutely guarantee that if you actually do the exercises suggested in the book, that within a few months, you will have a whole new way of perceiving your money and you will be moving towards a new financial position.
http://ProsperityPlace.com/bymm
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Ready for the next step?
In my book, I outline the five major emotions that people act out through their finances--abandonment and its companion aloneness, shame, deprivation, anger, and a sense of being trapped.
It takes a while to understand all of the nuances of these emotions and how they relate to money. So, I'm putting together a series of audios addressing each of these emotions in depth. I'm working on the shame audio now.
Already completed is the CD called Let Go of the Aloneness Blocking Your Prosperity. This highly acclaimed audio has already helped hundreds of people let go of the hold this emotions has on their finances.
Like all of our products, it comes with a satisfaction guaranteee.
You can read about this audio and listen to a sample at
http://prosperityplace.com/catalog/cd_alone.html
**********************Hot Links*********************************
Improve your relationship with money with our book
Build Your Money Muscles
http://ProsperityPlace.com/bymm
Add to your collection of Prosperity Tools
http://ProsperityPlace.com/catalog/
Rapidly remove emotional discomforts with Be Set
Free Fast (BSFF), an easy-to-learn energy psychology technique
http://ProsperityPlace.com/bsff/
Start a BYMM Support Group
http://ProsperityPlace.com/groups/
Download all of the forms used in the BYMM book at
http://ProsperityPlace.com/1001/
Listen to past episodes our podcast, The Prosperity Show
http://theprosperityshow.com
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