Money has power.
It makes things happen.
It can build schools. Buy health care, fund startups and pay for holidays.
It can buy better houses, better cars and send cars to space.
That’s precisely why it will forever remain a universal obsession.
It really can do those things and much more.
Despite how powerful money is, though, it can’t change the way you feel about yourself.
That’s where most people go wrong.
Money is never guaranteed.
We all know someone who is a good, intelligent, noble person who never has any money in their pocket.
I’ve had long stretches in my life where I didn’t have any money.
Many, I ‘hope that payment clears’ moments.
Quite a few, ‘hope my card doesn’t decline’ moments.
One or two ‘$20 to my name until next Monday’ moments
They all sucked. That dread and powerlessness sitting on you like a weight.
The human condition is to chase things we don’t have.
If you don’t feel you’ve got enough you are compelled to chase it.
How do you get away from the chase?
Two things:
Purpose and standards.
Money makes a terrible ‘why’. Purpose doesn’t.
EVERYONE has an unfair advantage in something and deploying that to change other peoples lives gives a purpose that money cant buy.
Money isn’t guaranteed, so setting your standards to a high level is essential.
An uncomfortable level that forces you to become the person you’re capable of becoming. Who you spend time with, the quality of your work and the quality of your decisions.
You control all of them.
If you have a goal then you must set the standards today and be the person who is capable of achieving that goal. The goal wont come to you, you must go to it.
You have more control than you think, you just have to decide to exercise it.
I’ve worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs and one of the noticeable differences is that the most successful entrepreneurs are always the biggest action takers.
They act even if they don’t have all the answers.
Meanwhile the entrepreneurs achieving less get stuck in their own heads and analyse and over-think and their brain goes in circles.
Setting the standard to act like you’ve already achieved your goals means you can actually achieve them.
Get off the money train. Your goals are waiting at the station.
