by Elisabeth Donati | May 19, 2009 | Latest News, Uncategorized, WEALTHwork™, What you can do
People who do great things don’t sit around wondering what can go wrong; they sit around imagining all of the things that can go right!
One of my favorite things to teach is the power of the mind to ‘choose’ what it thinks about. At first, the person learning this concept usually doesn’t want to admit it. They say things like…
“But I can’t help it!”
“I can’t stop thinking about…”
“My mind just wanders.”
“I just can’t keep myself from thinking about…”
Yet the fact is, we CAN control our thoughts; it’s just that before we can, we must become aware of them.
This means we have to take time to notice what you’re thinking…and when you DO notice your thoughts, what kind of thoughts are they?
To find out, simply ask yourself these questions:
- Are my thoughts positive or negative in nature?
- Are my thoughts optimistic or pessimistic in nature?
- Am I thinking about the past, the present or the future?
- Am I creating my life or pretending to be a victim in some way?
Yes, noticing your thoughts takes practice because, for some reason, human beings have such a hard time accepting the idea that WE are at the root cause of all things life-related. And yet, when we do, we are all powerful in creating the exact life we wish to live.
Once you get pretty good at being aware of your thoughts, you’ll start to notice that you have certain thought ‘patterns’ that replicate themselves day in and day out. It’s these thought patterns that must be changed in order to change our lives. After all, even if you don’t want to admit it, we ARE what we think about most of the time.
Have you ever noticed that there is one thought that comes into your mind over and over again that then leads to the same additional thoughts that then leads you to the exact same conclusion or idea every single time? We often refer to this as a ‘chain of thought’ because one thought leads to the next and so on.
A friend of mine once told me that every time he thinks about getting himself a scooter to ride around town on in order to save money on gas (he has a large truck for work), he ends up deciding he should get a Harley!
What are some of your thought patterns? Take time today, and every day, to follow your thoughts. Then make a decision about whether you want to continue following them or you want them to follow you.
Just something to think about…
by Elisabeth Donati | Apr 26, 2009 | Financial Literacy, Financial Literacy Principles, Uncategorized, WEALTHwork™, What you can do
It’s all about you!
Habits, discipline, choice, appreciation, & gratitude:
- Form new habits that serve your goals, not undermine your goals.
- Control your money – tell it where to go so you do not have to ask it where it went.
- Choose wisely in all areas of your life, not just financial. Remember everything is a choice.
- Be disciplined in creating those new habits until they become a natural part of your daily life.
- Appreciate what you have. While dreaming big and working towards your goals, don’t forget to enjoy the moment you are in. Find something special to appreciate and be grateful for whatever your circumstances.
- Be grateful for what you have rather than always wishing for more, different, or better.
These are the things I have learned and taken to heart since my time with Elisabeth in February. I never would have believed how that few days would change my life. My whole outlook on life is more open, more positive. I am paying myself first in more ways than just financial.
I did have to dip into my account this month. I haven’t seen my mother in two years and I needed a plane ticket to England. Combined with house insurance and preventative vet bills, this was financial overload. BUT these were also planned expenses I knew were coming and the money I was using had been put away to cover these expenses. What was so exciting was that in January, B.E. (Before Elisabeth!) I was positive that in February I would have to pay my regular bills from that money also. I made it until the end of April! I called that cause for a celebration…so I counted the money in my money jars–drum roll–$80 in each excluding living, $45 in the donation jar.
I mentioned that I was paying myself first in other ways too. After the Easter vacation I didn’t go back to work as a substitute teacher, but took the very empowering step to stay home and spend my time creating my dreams. Now I bounce out of bed earlier than I crawled out before, stay up later, and am not tired all the time as the enthusiasm and passion I have for what I’m doing, my so-called “work”, energizes me. Already many of the things on my dream board are showing tiny shoots of growth.
Freedom, whether financial or otherwise, does come disguised as hard work. I am actually working harder and longer than before, but loving every minute of it.
Which brings me to a final, important point:
Beliefs, thoughts, attitudes, and feelings determine your wealth potential. Don’t let your financially free future be compromised by your own head! Take control today. Remember today is earlier than tomorrow however young you are.
by Elisabeth Donati | Apr 3, 2009 | Coaches Corner, Latest News, Train-the-Trainer, Uncategorized, WEALTHwork™
So, how did I pay my bills last month? I began by changing my scarcity thinking to abundant thinking. I was determined to meet my bills and put at least a little bit in each of my jars, using only the money in my checking account.
Changing your thinking requires effort and the creation of new habits.
First, starting on the last day of the coaches camp, I began to keep a brief evening diary listing everything I had done that day that was a step towards the creation of my new financially free life. This made me conscious each day of doing at least one thing: reading a few pages of a respected financial book; searching the web to learn about stocks; making a phone call to solicit more business, etc.
Second, I began to really pay attention to what I was spending my money on. Piddlyjunk is anything that loses its value the minute you walk out of the store. I included food items like chips, speciality ice cream, candy, donuts, Dairy Queen, all fast food, etc. as Piddlyjunk that, if bought too often, would destroy my dream of financial freedom. I stopped and thought before I bought anything: “Do I really need this, or do I only want it? What purpose does it serve?” I had to buy ink cartridges for my printer. I tutor students and printing the Latin worksheets was essential to create wealth; they were a need. I wanted to buy one of Donald Trump’s books that I had checked out from the library. There was not sufficient money in my Education jar and I had already read the book. This was a want and I did not buy it.
Third, before going into the grocery store I now check to see how much cash I have. This is the maximum I can spend. Doing this makes me much more careful about what I decide to buy.
Fourth, I continued to log all my income and expenses.
Fifth, I constantly thought about “more” not “less”. Out of the blue I received an e-mail from the mother of a five-year old. She had processed the DBA for my Latin program and wanted to enroll her son in classes with me. I had one new student!
Sixth, I made time to read every day – Cameron Johnson, Donald Trump, Robert Kiyosaki, Stephen Leeb – anything to increase my financial knowledge.
I am creating new habits. I am thinking abundant thoughts.
These abundant thoughts brought me a tax-windfall from the State of Michigan. I have money in my jars AND I can pay all my bills from my checking account! I celebrated with an on-sale cheesecake using money from my living expenses and not my credit card, and a friend had chips out as munchies at her house on Friday!
Mr. Kiyosaki, Mr Trump, Ms Donati, I think I am getting it!
by Elisabeth Donati | Mar 29, 2009 | Coaches Corner, Latest News, Train-the-Trainer, Uncategorized, WEALTHwork™, What you can do
“Pay Yourself First“…this is a vital ingredient in the recipe to gain financial freedom, state many of the most respected authors on the subject – Robert Kiyosaki, Donald Trump, & Elisabeth Donati, to name my 3 favorites. To those of us whose income fails to accomplish all we need it to in the month anyway, paying ourselves at all, let alone first, simply adds to the pile of bills we are already struggling to meet.
“Can I pay myself first by going to the grocery store on the first day of the month?” I wondered only partly in jest.
“If I pay myself first, where do I take that money from?”
If you pay your expenses first any money that might be available to save gets spent–sometimes you know not where! Most of us don’t really know where our money goes, even if we track it by dutifully writing down all our purchases. I have done that for years and still I have been left wondering how I could have spent all that money. Everything I bought seemed so essential.
The idea behind paying yourself first is that if you find there is not enough to meet your expenses you will be forced to 1) Cut those expenses, or, better according to Kiyosaki, 2) Find a way to make up the shortfall. He claims that we become more creative when we are put in this situation.
I don’t know about you, but when I first read this my reaction was to scream, “How on earth am I supposed to create more money in a month? Jobs don’t just appear like magic especially in this economy, and when do I have time for another job; I already have three!” All through my Creative Wealth training with Elisabeth in February, I whined about this, but I listened, and I kept reading. I knew that if I wanted to be financially free I had to be a different me.
The key is in a change of mindset. “What you think about you bring about” – so I started thinking differently.
First of all, I knew that if I was going to teach financial literacy I needed to educate myself around the topics I was going to be exploring with the students. Secondly, I knew that when the kids asked me what I was doing to become financially free, I could not and would not lie, and was not going to have to tell them “nothing…yet”. To be a great coach, I not only had to talk the talk, but I had to walk the walk.
I found some jars gathering dust in the garage, washed them, and began by putting just one dollar in each: Living, Financial Freedom, Savings, Education, Play, & Donation. This was liberating! My jars now proudly boast over $25 each in less than a month. Not bad for someone with way more month than money!
BUT, I hear you cry, how did you pay your bills?
That’s the next part of the story…first start your jars.
Good luck!
by Elisabeth Donati | Dec 28, 2008 | Financial Literacy, Latest News, Uncategorized, WEALTHwork™
The last week of the year is typically the week people start to really evaluate what they did last year and then, based on this information, set some goals for the next year. But many of us forget to include our children in this amazingly powerful process.
If you have a child or two of practically any age, you can include them in your own goal setting processes and help them set a few of their own. And if you’ve never set goals before, now is the perfect time to start.
Did you know that the major thing that sets successful people apart from unsuccessful people is that successful people write their goals down on paper AND they write them down on a regular basis? How hard is that?
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All I have to say is that if THAT is the major thing that defines whether or not a person is successful (that and a bit of action!), then teaching kids to set and achieve goals may be one of the many life-skills you should seriously consider modeling for your children.
FIRST TIME GOAL SETTERS
OK, if you’ve never ever really sat down long enough to consider WHERE you’re going or WHAT you want in life, it’s OK because you can start now. The past is the past; let it go. The future, however, is like a brand new sketch book ready for you to create, repleat with colors and shapes and feelings and expression.
Oh, you thought you had to WRITE your goals down on paper? Well, that’s a great start but my suggestion is to create what we teach in Camp Millionaire and Creative Wealth for Women and that’s called a Dream Board or Vision Board. Napoleon Hill, the author of Think and Grow Rich, once said something like, “What the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve.” Great quote! We need to teach our children this concept early in life!
CREATING A DREAM OR VISION BOARD
This is a fun and simple process but it will take some thought and the proverbial question: What do I want in life? Before you begin the actual building a the dream board, write this question on the top of a piece of paper and just sit quietly and answer it. Have each child that is creating a board with you do it as well. Kids generally love this part!
My 2008 Dream Board
Here’s what you and your kids will need:
1) Two to three hours of uninterrupted time to relax and create and some great music to create by.
2) Poster board. Half sheets work best but if you want to use full sheets, by all means…have at it. Note: posterboard generally has a shiny side and a matte side. If you’re going to be using markers, use the matte side as the shiny side smears (ask me how I know!).
3) Lots of old/new magazines filled with great photos, alphabet letters (for ransom note like cut out words), etc. Magazines of your favorite hobbies and interests are great. Thrift stores often have lots of magazines for pennies if you don’t have a ready stock on hand.
4) Tape, glue, scissors, markers, other art supplies for cutting out and attaching images to your poster board.
That’s it. Just assemble the things you need, set aside the time for your whole family to create the next year of their lives (or more) just the way everyone wants it and have a great time.
HINT: After everyone in the family has created their own dream or vision board and put it on the door or wall of their choice, create a Family Dream Board for 2009 and put it on the fridge because refrigerators have magical powers. Oh, you don’t know about that? Maybe I’ll explain that one later.
Now go plan your life! You’ll be suprised at how much fun it is. And when things start coming true and showing up for you and your kids, you’ll be even more excited about creating one for next year.
P.S. For other great activities and ideas for kids, get a copy of The Ultimate Allowance. It’s the only finanical parenting book you’ll ever need!
by Elisabeth Donati | Jun 1, 2008 | Uncategorized, WEALTHwork™
What are YOU worth?
Have you ever decided how much you are worth? Have you ever experienced that awkward time when someone asks you, ‘What do you charge?” and your mind vacillates between amount you’d LIKE to charge and the amount you think they might pay and then to an amount you know someone has already paid you for a similar service? Why do we do that? Why can’t we just say, “I charge $250 per hour for my time?” and be done with it? Is it feelings of fear, insecurity, not wanting to be greedy, not wanting to be successful, unworthiness, not being good enough?
Here’s another interesting thought to contemplate…why do so many people feel like they don’t get paid what they are worth but if given the opportunity to ask for what they are worth, can’t come right out and say it?
It’s that glass ceiling thing but this glass ceiling is in your mind and like anything see through, you probably can’t even see it. The other tricky thing about this glass ceiling is that it started forming inside you when you were so young that it takes a monumental shift in your awareness just to be able to see it.
OK, let’s go one step further for those of you who have a job. If you quit your job tomorrow, and someone asked you what you do for a living, what could you tell them and what would you charge them? The key here is to watch your thoughts around this one. What IS it that you do well? What IS your skillset? What is it people would pay you for? And if you’re reading this and your mind goes blank, it’s probably because you just don’t want to listen. There has to be something you’re an expert at. What is it and what’s it worth to someone.
Let me give you a real life example. There is a man I know who I started coaching almost three years ago very informally. We would spend time together, I’d share with him my thoughts about earning and making money (there is a difference, you know) as well as a lot of information I was learning from many seminars I was attending and books I was reading to educate myself. He wanted aspects of his life different and so look my words to heart. He started thinking about the idea of worth and as an experiment, he started charging people a bit more for his services. They paid him. No problem. He told me about it and was very excited as you might imagine. As he dared to charge more, he started to feel better about his work and get better at his work and as his mind about his work and his worth changed, so did his actual work and worth. He is making more than $400 an hour now at times, depending on the job, and he continues to expand and grow his business with the same dedication to his expanding worth. It’s been wonderful watching him grow and change and become the type of man who was not only able to see his worth grow but grow into his worth at the same time.
So, I will leave you this June 1, 2008 with this thought…if you want to be able to charge a certain amount for your time (whether it’s a product or service), and you can’t tell people what you’re worth, and you charge less praying that they will be pay it, aren’t you just making sure you only work for people that can pay you that amount? If you want to be paid more, you must work for people who CAN pay you more and in order to do that you have to stop working for people that can only pay you what you’re willing to do the work for. See how those things are all tied together?
So, what are you worth?
Oh, and the seminar that I went to that started me down this road? It’s called the Millionaire Mind Intensive, created by T. Harv Eker who is the author of the great financial belief system book, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind. For more information on how you can attend this great three day program for free, click here.
