Story Telling Secrets To Living A Rich Life

Your relationship with money might be ruining your business. Let me explain.

Our early experiences define our relationship with money.

What we see and hear as kids set the story we tell ourselves about money. Remember how your parents acted around money, what they did when they bought things, and the social rules they taught you about making and spending money?

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The choices they made remain with and affect you.

Money is a story.

How we think about money makes our story better or worse. If you see money as good you are probably leading a rich life. For you money is about growth. Money is the pathway to a rich life. Price is irrelevant when living a rich life because you understand the value behind your purchases and you don’t get upset when random bills pop up.

Then there is the the bad story about money. In this story you will never feel like you have enough money. In this story life feels like an endless parade of bills and bad news. A bad money story makes it hard to invest. Not investing creates a scarcity loop trapping you in the number value of your bank account. When it goes up you know something bad is ready to happen and bring it down. When your account is low every price tag seem like a punishment. If you find yourself getting angry at what you think as ‘frivolous’ spending this is probably your story.

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Why I’m Talking About Money

The last two years I shared tactics and strategies to book your schedule full. Then something changed. Last year I sensed a shift in my audience. Readers were making more money but they weren’t happy. Their emails with me revealed issues and limiting beliefs surrounding money.

They were booking their schedule full but still felt poor. Think about that. They had more money, more work, and more freedom-but even with a rich life they still felt poor.

And to be honest at first I didn’t get it.

To be really honest I thought ya’ll were crazy. Then I had a breakthrough.

I was at a large well known corporate coffee shop. I was in line behind a woman  struggling with paying an extra fifty cents for an additional shot of caramel. She wanted the extra shot. She had the money to get the extra shot. She had left her home to get this drink but was worried about paying an extra fifty cents to get the experience she wanted.

She skipped the additional shot of caramel, paid for the drink, and left unhappy. Skipping an extra shot of caramel is not living a rich life. I know a whole bunch of you are reading this and thinking ‘She’s nuts!‘ The crazy thing is we have all done this.

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Our Resistance With Paying A Premium

It is common to skip out on increasing the quality of an experience. Our minds are lazy and don’t perceive the value of experience the same as the value of quantity. Think about it. When was the last time you knew a massage would make you feel better but you popped some pills instead because you think massages are ‘extravagances’?

Or maybe you shop discount stores for produce even though you KNOW it tastes funny. Perhaps you hate the idea of paying more at the higher end store even though you know you’ll enjoy their produce more?

Be honest. Did you settle on a cheaper laptop in place of a high quality one because you honestly felt like you didn’t deserve it. Does spending that much money on yourself make you feel ‘wasteful’?

You aren’t alone. I suffered from what I call ‘The Clearence Rack Mindset’ for years. Let me explain.

The Clearance Rack Mindset

My dad loved finding deals. He would  enter a store and beeline to the clearance rack. He told me that it was the same clothes (which it was) at a better price. I picked up the habit. When I needed clothes I’d walk by what I wanted hoping the clearance rack had something. It never did.

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Do you pass up things you want because you feel you don’t deserve them? I have nothing against getting a deal. In fact I love negotiating for a better price.

What I take issue with is the clearance rack mindset. This value for quantity mindset colored how I made decisions and the story I told myself. This crossed over into my professional life. Since I couldn’t imagine paying a premium for writing I didn’t get it.

I Changed My Lens

Eventually I put down the clearance rack lens and started exploring different ways to see the world. I’m going to help you to finally stop using your current lens.

In the next couple posts we are going to explore the psychology behind these lens, booking your schedule full to create the rich life you want, and how to build a team of mentors to accomplish more than you think is possible.

What stories about money do tell yourself on a daily basis? Share them in the comments below.