We all grow up with money myths. We get a lot of them from our parents and the way they bring us up. I can still hear my mother saying, “A penny saved is a penny earned,” and to this day I still have no idea what it means. Maybe I’m lucky. My money myths are based on a lot of nonsense like that. But most of us have the following ingrained beliefs:
Money is the root of all evil.
Money is dirty.
I don’t deserve to be rich.
Money is only made by the greedy and dishonest.
Money corrupts.
You must not brag about money—never say how much you
earn, are worth, or paid for something (unless it is a bargain).
You can’t have money and be “spiritually pure.”
You lose your friends if you get rich.
You have to work too hard to get rich (see Rule 5).
Happiness and money make poor bedfellows.
The more you have, the more you’ll want.
It is somehow better to be poor.
I wasn’t meant to be rich—if I were I would have been by now.
I’m not the right type to be rich.
Have a quick look through. Check which ones you believe. Check which ones strike a chord with you. Now you have to do a bit of that old-fashioned hard work. Write down ones that mean something to you. Add ones I’ve missed—there will be a few. Now work out why you hold these beliefs. Is it something you have actively thought about, reasoned out, dedicated some research to? Or are they inherited, left over, picked up along the way?
Get rid of any that you can question and accept are nonsense. Discard any that simply aren’t true. And chuck out any that stand in the way, hold you back, stop you making some money.
What you should be left with is none at all, nothing, a blank sheet. Now you can write new beliefs such as
Money is OK.
Wanting money is OK.
I am going to be wealthy.
I am prepared to put in the work.
Wealthy people have none of the troublesome money myths we poorer people have. They have purged them or never had them. If we too purge them, we stand a better chance of getting there.
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