Have you ever considered this question? What’s your money for?
Why do you work long hours under stressful conditions? Why have some of us allowed ourselves to be reduced to an economically productive unit? Why do others fret about the insufficient returns on their investments?
Beyond providing for our basic needs, every additional hour worked, every sleepless night and every stressful peek into our bank balances is a choice. What drives those choices?
Are you keeping a primal fear at bay with your frantic effort to amass more wealth?
Are you craving a fabulous lifestyle?
Does money equal success?
Does your money serve as a substitute for the lack of support from friends and family?
Does your bank balance make you feel more powerful?
Are you just doing what you saw your parents do, or alternatively the exact opposite?
Is it your belief that other people need to take care of you, that drives your lack of interest in money?
These questions may offend you, but the truth is that few people have the courage to examine and admit what the drivers behind their money decisions are. Our money choices are rarely what they seem on the surface. They need to be. There needs to be a reckoning at some point in your life, or perhaps an ongoing recalibration about your drivers.
An adult stance is one of conscious choices, decisions, and money patterns. It requires the kind of internal work most of us shy away from. It is a stance where money becomes your servant, not the other way. Your money becomes a tool for powerful choices about the life you want and need to live.
There comes a time in every person’s life when they need to face what drives them. Divorce. Death. Near-death. Deepening depression. Serious illness. Burnout. Loss of family. If you do not choose this moment of reckoning, it will choose for you. Among the questions you will need to answer in that moment will be this one. What’s your money for?
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