I was reading Marc Allen’s The Millionaire Course and wondering why I’ve always seemed to have problems with money. Growing up, my family turned from being well-off to struggling and it seemed like I got stuck with this ‘poverty consciousness’ along the way.
Then I got to wondering about difficulties at work. Why was it that something I could have finished in much less time took much longer for me to complete – and why was it such a struggle to get it done?
I decided to turn to Lesson Eight of Allen’s book; ‘Discover Your Core Beliefs and Change Them’. After just 10 minutes of soul-searching, I was shocked to discover what I did.
Change Your Beliefs About Money Or Sabotage Your Financial Wealth
After doing some reflection, I discovered I had these unconscious beliefs about money:
1) The more money I want, the harder I have to work.
2) If I really want to make a lot of money, I must have an immense amount of knowledge and skills.
3) I don’t deserve to make more than I do now.
Writing these beliefs down brought home how they were sabotaging my financial success. It even felt ridiculous because I knew people who worked very little and made very much, who didn’t know more than I did and made much more than I do. And I certainly deserve as much as anyone else to make as much money as I wanted!
It was clear I had to change my beliefs about money or I would never be able to achieve the level of financial wealth I desire.
Beliefs – Why Are They Such A Big Deal Anyway?
Your beliefs are the filter towards how you see the world. Like the mental patient I talked about in my ‘Warning: Are You Trapped in a Thought Virus?‘ post who believed he was a corpse despite evidence to the contrary, our beliefs filter what we see, hear and accept.
Imagine you held the belief that people were rotten to the core and they were all out to get you, would you experience life differently than if you were to believe that people are basically decent and will help you if given a chance?
6 Easy Steps to Change Your Beliefs
I knew I had to change my beliefs fast about money fast – or I would always be broke and working hard for it. These are the 6 steps I took to change my beliefs.
1) Identify your limiting beliefs.
You can’t change your beliefs if you don’t know what they are. Write down an exhaustive list of what you believe about money. If you don’t have any limiting beliefs about money, congratulations – you’re done and you should be doing nicely for yourself. If not, use the following steps to deal with each belief one at a time.
2) What’s the worst that could happen to you if this belief were true?
Investigate this belief to the core – what do you believe is the worst that could happen to you if this belief were absolutely true? Write down your worst fears, by facing them you break down their power. The more painful you make this 2nd step the easier it will be to change your belief.
3) Ask yourself if this belief is always true?
Answer these 3 questions to start breaking your belief down;
- Is this belief always true?
- Is it true for everyone?
- Has there ever been a time when it wasn’t true?
4) What would be an empowering alternative to this belief?
Create an empowering alternative to this belief. State it positively, in the form of affirmations. For example, for my 3 limiting beliefs I wrote down:
- I am making, even more, profits while working even less.
- I am making, even more, profits now with the wealth of knowledge & skills I already have.
- More and more wealth flows into my life because I richly deserve an abundance of it.
5) What’s the best that could happen to you if your new empowering belief was true?
Dream big with this one. Write down all the good changes that would happen in your life if your new belief was true. The more fun and pleasurable you make this answer the more your mind will be drawn towards your new belief.
6) Place your new beliefs in a place you’ll see often.
Place your new beliefs in a place you’ll see often, pasted on the mirror, in your wallet or on your desktop. You can also write your new beliefs down or say them aloud to yourself for a week, or ideally for 30 days.