Tuesday, May 02, 2023
Let’s talk about money. Specifically, how to make more of it. This is not for you if you have negative thoughts about money or are not looking to increase your income. This information is for you if you are a career executive looking to increase your earnings so that you can create a fair exchange for the value you bring.
You are in the right place if one or more of these resonates with you:
There are 3 reasons why your income is not growing along with three principles to break the income ceiling.
The first myth is that “income is determined by the economy”. This leads us to believe that our income is the way it is and there is nothing we can do about it because of the economy.
We are programmed to work harder or wait for the government to enact policies to rescue or protect us, such as waiting for the government to provide tax benefits. We have been programmed to wait for the government or some authoritative body outside of ourselves to come and rescue or protect us.
This myth could show up as the belief that you have to work harder to increase your income. The resulting philosophy focuses mostly on our performance and productivity. Many of us have this personal philosophy by default.
The beliefs, values, and decisions we make in our lives stem from our personal philosophy. Some of these beliefs may have been established as the default choice if we have not taken the time to question or design what we hold as our true personal philosophy. This could mean the philosophies we have been basing our finances around may have been put there without our careful consideration.
The principle to overcome this myth is to work toward having a philosophy by design instead of subconsciously choosing the default philosophy. Instead of living by a personal philosophy that is there because someone told you that is how it is or how it should be, from this moment forward, you can live by a personal philosophy that is your mindful choice.
An example of philosophy by choice is the philosophy of wealth. Ask yourself how you can provide a service to many people by doing something you love to do. Something that is truly inspiring to you, so you can get handsomely rewarded for the value you’re providing.
You may have heard the phrase “time is money”. Society is filled with messages that perpetuate this belief which leads us to think that our money is more valuable than our time.
We can see this play out in our daily lives. It shows up when we drive out of our way for cheaper gasoline or stand in line for hours because a store is having a sale.
When this myth is in the driver’s seat, we will spend a whole lot of our time just to save a little bit of money. This could lead you to spend a lot of time on tasks that are not inspiring or high priority in your values. We could spend a lot of time building someone else’s dream instead of our own, or it could lead us to try and impress someone else so they may grant us the opportunity to grow.
The outcome of this belief is wondering where the time has gone. Weeks turn into years that turn into decades and we wonder where all the time went and why we have not made valuable achievements. When we believe that time is money, time will pass us by.
The myth that time is money is another default philosophy that has been programmed into us. Most of the people who approach me are afraid to invest their money in coaching or education because they are afraid to let go of the money. Here’s the truth: if you run out of money you can always get more money, but if you run out of time you cannot get more time.
The key here is to realize that time is not money. Time is infinitely more valuable than money.
The principle to overcome this myth is to use your money to buy back your time. Investing in yourself is going to buy back your time. When you invest in the right help, they can help take you through the process and help you answer any of the questions that come up along the way. This saves you time because you are not trying to figure everything out on your own, but instead are getting insights and guidance from those who have gone before you to achieve the success that you desire to achieve.
In my years of practice as an executive coach, I have seen that most adopt a permission-based modality of operation by default. Most were born into a society that is run by systems like education and government systems where seeking permission is a requirement to do what we are inspired to do.
The outcome is a default mode of “do as you are told”. Through these systems many received extensive training to follow directions and in doing so, feel the urgency to impress another person by following directions, in hopes that they will open doors to better opportunities.
No one else will care more about your life progression than you do. Only you understand the depths of what you value and the details of your situational context.
Would you trust anyone else to make these decisions?
When we operate under the permission-based assumption, we give other people the power over our decisions and this causes us to not think for ourselves. Have you ever faced an important decision for your career and life, but you did not know what to choose? This has caused a pandemic of indecisiveness.
The principle to overcome this myth is to adopt an entrepreneur mindset. By contrast, most are used to having an employee mindset. An employee waits for directions, does as they are told, and waits for someone else to allow them to grow.
Adopting an entrepreneur mindset means actively and proactively identifying problems you can solve and then creating and communicating solutions for them.
Entrepreneurs are problem-solvers. They do not wait for others to give them a structure to solve problems. They seek to identify problems, articulate those problems to others, collaborate, and come up with solutions.
It is not enough to be able to identify a problem, we must also be able to effectively articulate the problem to others.
The converse is also true. It is not enough to come up with solutions, we must be able to tell others about the solution to be able to gain their support.
When we can effectively communicate the value of what we bring to others, they are grateful to accept the value of what we say.
Now it is time to move away from the knowledge-gathering stage and move on to the application. If you’d love to learn how to put the principles covered in this blog into action, join me in my executive coaching program where I’ll introduce you to a powerful self- and career-development process.
This is an implementation-to-results program for growth-oriented executives who seek greater career fulfillment through becoming a more skilled version of themselves. It is designed to help you master your mind, develop deeper insights, elevate your communication skills, and become inspired in your career growth.
If you’d love to find out how my methodology can help you with your career goals, apply HEREfor an opportunity to work with me.