This Week's Insight...

Stop - Reflect - Choose

Obviously, I’m not sure at what time of day you’re reading this.  Undoubtedly, however, you are surrounded and pre-occupied by the priorities (rightly or wrongly) of the day, the cares of the world.  “Pre-occupied” is a very expressive way of summing up the way our minds can be hijacked by squatters – thoughts, cares and worries that are already there when we try to calm ourselves and clear our minds.

But clear our minds we must.   So, as you read these words, simply stop yourself in your tracks.  Check to compare whether your state of mind is all that it should be – clear and present, just to this moment – nothing more, nothing less.

If you find that you’re mind is pre-occupied, you’ve a choice to make.  Otherwise, you will fumble through your day like all the other mindless morons who credit themselves on being normal.   You need to choose to take at least five minutes out of your busy day – to make sure that you’re at your very best for the rest of the day and that you can do just what you need to do (the right priorities) whole-heartedly.

Over the many years  that I’ve been working with clients who want to better their lives I’ve come across the goal of “financial freedom” – people looking for an end to financial worry (over 905 of males claim that it is their greatest source of worry), people looking for “passive income” or people wanting to have “more than enough”.   But, what is “more than enough”?  

In a comment once attributed to Rockefeller (I’ve really no idea whether he said it or not) he is reputed to have said that “Enough is just one more!”  Enough, perhaps, is never enough.
It strikes me as, at the very least, odd that, as supposedly the most advanced species on the planet, the vast majority of humans in the so-called developed world are obsessed with money (people in less “developed” regions often have more pressing matters on their mind).    How is it that, even when we have more than what we need to lead the lives that we are currently living, we always want that “extra security” or “safety net” (both quotes from clients)?  

In the greater scheme of things, is money the be all and end all?   Were the last cell ‘phone messages from passengers on the hijacked ‘planes on 9/11 about money?   I wonder if those who lost their lives on the Air France flight from Brazil to Paris wondering if they’d enough passive income in the moments that it dawned on them that their time was up?  And, in just the same way that no one on their deathbed ever wishes that they’d spent more time in the office, I suspect no one in that position grieves for a bigger bank balance or greater investment returns when it’s time to “check out” (as my father called it).

“Financial freedom” a lot like beauty (or fear for that matter) – it is in the eye of the beholder.  It is a state of mind that plagues modern society, a concept of the modern rush for more.    In the process, we lose track of what is really important, we lose track of the simple things in life, we lose all perspective on what it is to be fully alive in the here and now.

If you have been or are, at any stage, caught in the trap of worrying about your finances, you have lost sight of reality – you are being tricked by your “personality” which, generally speaking, conceives success in comparative and competitive terms.   People who have said to me “I’ve lost all my money” or “We’re running out of money” simply do not realise that, in the here and now, generally speaking, not only do that want for nothing but, in fact, they have more than enough to live a wonderful life – right here, right now.

More importantly, they’ve missed the point in terms of achieving greater financial wellbeing.   If you’re worried about money, money worries is what you’ll get.  Remember how the universe works?  Energy in : energy out.   If you’re obsessed with achieving financial freedom, it’s a bit like trying to give up cigarettes – you’ll be so focused on your finances you’ll forget to do the important things that need to be whole-heartedly done to achieve that freedom.

See the point I’m making?   You need to stop focusing on money and start focusing exclusively on what you’re supposed to be doing – on what really needs doing – in the present moment – whatever that task is.   If you make more than 1% sure (remember, normal people only put 1% energy into what they’re doing) that the really important things get done to the very best of your ability, then money actually flows.  It’s that simple.    I’ve seen it happen – my clients have seen it happen – there are loads of examples that graphically illustrate how easy it is on my website.  

But, unfortunately, almost everybody has put the “financial cart” before the “quality of life horse”.   As a result, they end up wondering why it is so difficult to push that cart up the hill!   Stop worrying about money and it will flow.   Start doing all the important things that you have to do without looking through the lens of “I need more money” or “I want more money” or “I want my financial freedom”.   Put all of your energy into what you’re doing – the important things that you need to do each day – and you will get your reward.

How do you put more than 1% of your energy into what you have to do?   Well, imagine that you’re going on two weeks’ vacation tomorrow and you have to get all the important – only important – things done today.    A flight at 06h30 tomorrow morning concentrates the mind!   And concentration is the key to being more all here in the present moment than the pathetic 1% that normal people are.   Your clear and present focus will get all the important things done and you will have your financial freedom – whatever that means to you.

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