The key? Stop thinking you have a means at all!

When it comes to learning to be financially secure (as if there really is such a thing), we constantly read that we must learn to live within our means. Talk about a scarcity mindset.

I just returned from a one-day financial literacy conference for teachers and I heard this saying many times in just the few hours I was there.

Now I’m not talking about Making More Money Than You Spend at any given point in time. That makes total sense. Or even Spending Less Money Than You Make. That, too, makes sense. I’m talking about the idea that each individual person has a ‘means’ that they must live within. It’s a different connotation altogether.

The first two are habits that just speak to not spending money you don’t have. The latter causes any number of emotional responses that are tied to putting each person in a financial box and making them stay there. Yuk.

What if, instead, we learn to focus on expanding the amount of money and resources we have access to as opposed to being focused on a constant state of limitation?

As I heard this phrase over and over again, espoused by the employees of the nonprofit organizations who were allowed to present their programs, I began to ponder these words deeply. The more I pondered, the more constricted I felt and the more constricted I felt, the more I realized the problem inherent in this seemingly wise financial advice. And the more I realized I needed to explore it with you.

Restriction vs. Expansion

This feeling of constriction or perhaps restriction, is the same feeling I believe many adults experience when they think about creating a budget; IF they don’t understand the powerful tool that it really is to make their dreams come true, that is.

I started wondering if the people who advise others to live within their means do so because they think THEY have to live within THEIR means so it’s the only thing they know. The answer is probably, Yes, they do.

Let’s explore the beliefs underneath this advice and see how this belief can play out in your life if you grow up believing that’s what you have to do with your money in order to be financially secure.

Abundance vs. Scarcity – The beliefs that make the difference

It’s hard to explore the world of money these days without being exposed to some extent to the idea that it’s our thoughts, beliefs and attitudes about money that dictate our wealth potential. This is one of the important financial principles we teach in our Camp Millionaire programs.

(To learn all 26 Creative Wealth Principles)

It’s my experience (almost 53 years of it!) as well as working with hundreds of adults over the years, that as we mature, a good percentage of us ‘big kids’ begin to see how the nature of our thoughts is reflected in our lives. In other words, what we think about, we bring about. I’m not sure who coined those words, but they are brilliantly simple in terms of explaining how our thoughts affect our lives.

Dreaming Makes The World Go ‘Round

I’m a big believer in teaching kids to dream beyond their wildest imaginations and to set goals that inspire them and motivate them toward greatness. I’ve had many parents over the years come up to me and ask, “What do you say to a child when they come to you with a goal you know is impossible?” I simply ask the well-intentioned parent, “How to you know it’s impossible and how would YOU feel if someone told you your dream was impossible?” Most parents get my drift.

I say let them dream. And then give them the tools to make those dreams come true, whether financial goals, sports goals, music goals, career goals, or any other goal they might have. The point is not that the dream always comes true. The point is to dream, to expand. To grow and learn and evolve and experience.

If you’re constantly taught that you have a means and by George, you better live within it or else, there’s not a lot of room in there to dream big. And it’s dreaming BIG that provides the ideas that change the world and the people in it.

Right now, we have a lot going on in the world that’s going to require some pretty big dreams to change.

• We have wars we don’t understand who started or why.
• We have federal spending that is out of control and money spent on things most of us disapprove of.
• We have technology that allows most of the people who use it to bury their heads below awareness level.
• We have several generations of kids and adults whose brains are being changed, literally, by computer abuse.
• We have a national school system that everyone I talk to knows is messed up and needs a complete overhaul.

And yet, at the same time…

• We have videos on Youtube like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_uRIMUBnvw
• We have the ability to spread information virally about government spending, wars and the horrendous problems that are going on because of the computer technology that allows us to be connected in a whole new way.
• We have people who are studying the effects of computer use on our brains, eyes, bodies, etc. and that information will eventually get out and become mainstream so we can change the way we use the technology and control the ways our children use it.
• We have individuals who are doing their best to change individual schools within the larger system to enable teachers to teach again and children to learn again.
• Everyday, we have people’s dreams coming true and those dreams are changing lives and the earth, for the better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Point

The point is that certain financial sayings and principles tend to create thoughts, beliefs and attitudes in us and our children that keep us stuck in cycles of scarcity, restriction and dependency.

It’s only through stopping to notice those sayings and principles at a deeper level that we begin to see the problems inherent in them so we have the opportunity to change the way we teach financial principles to our kids (and adults).

The next time someone says you have to ‘live within your means,” notice how you feel. Then instead, say to yourself, “I make more money than I spend.” and see how THAT feels.

I bet you’ll notice a discernible shift in your thoughts, beliefs and attitudes about that principle and about the money in your life.

What do you do then? Start dreaming of course!