Transforming My Beliefs To Be Wealthy

My beliefs will define my destiny.

In a small town in Johore, the foreman of a textile factory would pass a bakery shop every morning. He would adjust his watch according to the clock that was hung outside the shop.

On the day of his retirement, he went into the shop to thank the owner.

“Every day, I have to blow the whistle to let the workers out for lunch at noon time. I want to thank you because your clock has helped me to whistle at the right time all these years”

When the owner heard it, he started to laugh, “It’s so funny. All these years, I have been setting the clock according to your whistle.”

This joke reminded me that in the past, I have wrongly set my beliefs about wealth.

As a result of my upbringing, education, experience, relationships, and many other factors, my beliefs have been influenced by other people’s fears, biases and errors.

I have also reinforced these beliefs through my self-talk.

These are voices that talk to me in my mind. They sent messages to me and influenced my beliefs. They control the way I feel and act.

Over time, these beliefs were unconsciously programmed in my being. I lived by these beliefs for awhile and it could have led me down the slippery slope of poverty and failure.

What are the differences between the beliefs of the poor and the wealthy? Please let me share some of the major ones with you.

Â	The Poor Believes…	The Wealthy Believes…
1	I am a victim of life	I am a victor of life
2	I am not born to be wealthy	I am created to be wealthy
3	I don’t have what it takes to be wealthy	I have everything I need to be wealthy
4	I don’t know how to be wealthy	I can learn how to be wealthy
5	I am unlucky! I keep losing money	I am blessed! I keep attracting wealth
6	I play the game of life so as not to lose	I play the game of life to succeed
7	Money is the root of evil	The love of money is the root of evil
8	Money is not the most important thing in life	Money is one of the most important things in life
9	Money cannot guarantee happiness	With or without money, I can be happy
10	I don’t like money	I love what money can do for us
11	Money will bring out the worst in me	Money will bring out the best in me
12	I am suspicious and resentful of the wealthy	I admire and learn from the wealthy
13	Money will create more problems	Money will create more solutions
14	I want money because… (negative reasons eg make me look good, prove myself etc)	I want money because … (positive reasons eg. to make our world a better home, help others live a better life etc)
15	I see problems to be wealthy	I see opportunities and I turn problems into opportunities to be wealthy
16	I need money to make money	I need ideas and action to make money
17	Money does not grow on trees. It’s hard to make money	Money is everywhere. It’s easy to make money by implementing a Wealth Plan.
18	I need to work hard to make money	I need to work hard and smart to make money
19	I leave my money to the experts	I manage my own money
20	I dream of being wealthy	I plan and work on my plan to be wealthy
21	I work for a living	I enjoy life for a living. Work is exciting, meaningful and fun
22	I deserve the money for the time I spent	I earn the money for the results I get
23	I work to keep myself alive	I work for a higher purpose to serve others
24	Selling is not for me. I cannot cheat, lie and con others	I need to sell to be wealthy. I can tell the truth in a loving, exciting and professional way
25	I feel uncomfortable when I am trying to become wealthy	I learn to enjoy, live with, and overcome whatever discomfort in the process of becoming wealthy
26	I work for money	Money work for me
27	I can only have a maximum of $____ in my life	I can have any amount of money in my life (See item 16)
28	I know I am right	I know I can be better

If you examine the above beliefs, you will find they broadly fall into three categories as follow:

• Life Management,
• Money Management, and
• Wealth Management.

Life Management

Our Creator wants me to succeed but He will not control me like a robot and force it upon me. He wants me to be successful, happy and wealthy.

Sadly, at the early stages of my life, I have directly or indirectly condemned myself to a life of poverty and failure.

I have invariably subscribed to the following lies at different points in my life:

• I’m not born to be wealthy.
• I cannot be wealthy.
• I don’t like to be wealthy.
• I don’t know how to be wealthy.
• I cannot discipline myself and take action to be wealthy.

I held on to these negative beliefs and live it out in my life.

I wished someone had enlightened me earlier and helped chart my direction to become wealthy. Unfortunately, there were not many people who knew how to create wealth, let alone coached others to do it.

Many people perceive themselves to be victims rather than victors of life. They are paralysed to changing their lot and will not take proactive action to improve their life.

Looking ahead, they see problems holding them back rather than opportunities to move ahead. They will not take charge of their problems and work at turning them into platforms to achieve wealth.

They will not take responsibility to craft their destiny. In other words, they will not improve their ability to respond to changes and improve their future.

Instead, they lay blame, justify, and give lots of excuses when things do not happen accordingly to their expectations. They will not learn, improve, and take action to overcome challenges and press on to achieve their dream life.

They leave their life to the winds of change instead of raising the sails to catch the winds so as to propel themselves forward to the harbour of wealth.

Money Management

Money is amoral. In and of itself, it is neither good nor bad.

It is what I do with money that makes it right or wrong.

Money is not the root of all evil. The original proverb states, ‘The love of money is the root of all evil.’

When a person is so obsessed with having money that he will not do anything good with it or worst, he will do even the wrong thing to possess it, the ‘Pandora Box’ of evil will be opened.

I also believe it is the lack of money that probably is another cause of evil. I have never seen a rich man robbing a bank before.

Money can be addictive. The more I want it, the more I will desire it. If I am not careful, it can consume my heart and mind.

When I feed myself with it, I will discover a bottomless pit and along the way, I will become greedy and dissatisfied.

It is like salt. The more I take it, the thirstier I will become and, eventually it will destroy me.

Money is not the most important thing in my life. There are other more important values, including our Creator, wisdom, integrity, character, reputation, family, friends, society, and planet Earth.

That’s why H. L. Mencken said, “Make money your god and it will plague you like the devil”.

Many of my friends told me, “Money cannot guarantee you happiness.”

Half in jest, I might reply, “I agree. However, without money, I guarantee you will become unhappy.”

If I wanted to stretch the humour, I would quip, “People who are rich and not happy just don’t know where and how to use their money.

“They actually have more opportunities to shop around.

“At least, with money, they have more choices in dealing with unhappiness. They can also be more comfortable during difficult times.

“They can pay others to do what they don’t like to do and handle some of their problems.

“Between being wealthy and being poor, it makes more sense to be wealthy. Obviously, the best choice is to live for the highest calling.”

The above argument has flawed logic. Still, it may be food for thought.

When the motives to be wealthy, the means to achieve wealth, or the end-results of having wealth are negative, it will cause problems. However, if they are positive, it can lead me to a life of positive emotions, contributions and results.

For example, I’m writing this Love Note in Rimini, a beautiful costal town in Italy.

I’m here because a good friend of mine whom I’ve been out of touch with had asked me earlier on, “Patrick, I’m going to Italy for business. Why don’t you hop on to the plane with me so that we can catch up with one another?”

I replied without hesitation, “Sure, afterall, I’m free this weekend.”

I’m happy I had the freedom to spend time with a friend and enjoy a great learning experience at the same time. Without money, this would not be possible.

By the way, my friend sponsored the trip. Any more friends out there?  🙂

Money, as they say, is a good servant but a bad master. It won’t make a good master out of me too. That’s why I endeavour to use it to support worthwhile causes.

Money is an important resource to help me fulfill my individual and organizational vision. It is a useful tool that can be used to help people live a better life and make our world a better home.

Wealth Management

In my years of studying wealthy people all over the world, I realized they do not necessarily have better personalities, brains, looks or even resources than anyone of us.

In fact, many of them have faced more odds in life. They have had to overcome greater challenges to be wealthy.

To be wealthy, what is needed is have a Wealth Plan, an effective and ever-improving blueprint to create wealth. I need to continue to work on refining and implementing it throughout my life.

Unfortunately, many people do not have a plan. Even if they do, few are willing to commit themselves to it.

Many people are not willing to invest time, energy and money to make it work. Few are willing to learn, improve, and take action to achieve wealthier results.

The motives, means and ends to achieving wealth must help me contribute to the people and the world around me.

To rephrase the words in one of the movies about Spiderman, my favourite ‘Super Hero,’ ‘With great wealth comes great responsibility.

I like to conclude by quoting a saying, ‘What you sow, that you will reap.’

The seed of belief that I sow in my mind will produce the fruit I will reap in my life.

Wealth creation begins as an inside job. Becoming wealthy starts with an internal journey.

In my wealth-creation journey, I must continue to transform my limiting beliefs to become powerful beliefs so that they will support me to be wealthy.

The time to change my belief system is and will always be – NOW.

Please help me – even through my unbelief.

Now.

Go4It!

I hope this message will find a place in your heart.

By the way, I have also recorded other reflections.

Please go to ‘Notes’ found below my profile picture.

Visit my Transformation blog at http://hsrpatrickliew.wordpress.com

Visit my Inspiration blog at http://liewinspiration.wordpress.com

Please read them and continue to teach me.

Life is FUNtastic!

Definition

Wealth – Wealth refers to the condition of well-being. It includes my physical, emotional, social and environmental well-being

Wealthy – Having the resources to help others and myself live a meaningful, exciting and fulfilling life in a healthy environment

Asset – Anything that grows wealth

Liability – Anything that decreases wealth

Rich – Having the money and material possessions to achieve the same aspiration for being wealthy

Money – Money is the instrument to facilitate transaction of products and services. It is a measurement of the results of a Wealth Plan

Wealth Plan – An effective and an ever-improving blueprint to create wealth