Thinking About Money And Financial Freedom
Reflecting on our standing in life brings us to a point where we are forced to describe our goals. For self-made millionaires, they have written off the goal of financial freedom in their lives long before other people realized its importance.
However, while others are starting to catch up on the trend of wealth creation, financial freedom is just too abstract a concept without the right mental shift. Called the millionaireís mindset, it involves a lot of different approaches to oneís lifestyle while learning financial strategies through searching for opportunities. By turning goals into reality and acting responsibly, financial freedom seems a much closer idea than before.
Yet, the philosophy of financial freedom is still too large a concept for people to grasp. One can ask what freedom really means. Then we can search the meaning of financial freedom for each one of us. While financial freedom can be measured through oneís monetary standing, people do not realize that the philosophy behind financial freedom relies on our attitude towards money. In order to achieve financial freedom, we must describe our priorities which include how we look at money.
Caring for Money
The first fundamental perspective of a millionaireís mindset is thinking that people are interested and should be interested in money. Why not? Money is a vehicle to make your life work and to make our system go round and round. But then more people do not value money the right way. People who seem to be satisfied with the money that they have end up getting rung down in the bottom of the financial pyramid. For some, money represents your paycheck that pays your bills. These people often find an ethical standard since they donít care for money.
However, ethics and interest and money should not be removed from each other. The reality is, money is a vehicle not only to make a living, but also to make a quality life. Learning to value money gives us a perspective that makes us responsible with our finances. Finding the balance of how much money means to you is important in seeking financial freedom.
Making Money Work for You
A millionaireís mindset always assumes that money should always work for you and not the other way around. While hard work is important, people who stop thinking and continue pounding their routine end over and over again. Hard work and struggle begets more hard work and struggle. Being a slave for money can just be the same problem for greedy people and hardworking people. The critical key however is to find ways to rise over it and make money work for you. Learning to empower yourself with the resources that you have will give you more room to help yourself and inspire others.
The Love of Money is the Root of all Evil
This is a saying that has stood for thousand of years. Until today it stands true. Yet what is more important to believe that financial freedom is NOT love for money. Why? Freedom over money is about seeing money as a tool and a means to and end. Meanwhile, love for money is seeing money as the end. Thus, love for money continues to put you under the spell of getting more money that you become a slave for it. Remember that we cannot eat money. Being a slave for money is far from the concept financial freedom.
For many, money is tangible. We all see it, we all have it, and we all see it go away. For the simple minded, money is a medium to buy what we want making it an integral tool for trading in a wealthy economy. However, a millionaireís perspective looks at money rather differently. By putting the idea of money in our priorities and in the right balance, one can be effective in setting up financial strategies to achieve financial freedom.
Think Rich And Grow Wealth
We are starkly set today to be in the glimpse of great wealth. Today, successful people are finding endless opportunities to advance their financial freedom while helping a lot of people. However, while these stories are inspiring, most see it as impossible or ìout of their realm.î This thinking is a reflection of the plight of people in the bins. Our effort in achieving wealth therefore starts with changing that mindset.
Napoleon Hillís Think and Grow Rich is a good initial action to change that mindset. Although this book was written more than 70 years ago, it still communicates the same shout that by the most successful people today; that achieving financial freedom is an exercise of continuing shift in thinking.
This is a book of conceiving and achieving. It first argues that ìwhatever your mind can conceive and believe it can achieve.î This argument is the essence of Napoleon Hillís interview with the 500 richest men in America during his time. This is certainly the idea that has come across the likes of Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Henry Ford, Elmer Gates, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and many more. Hillís book is therefore the summation of the thoughts of these great men.
Background of Think and Grow Rich
Think and Grow Rich was borne out of the efforts of the famous Andrew Carnegie. As a Swedish immigrant that grew from poverty, Andrew Carnegie saw the need for communicating the practicalities of money making. Carnegie tabbed Napoleon Hill for such ambitious project. Today, the book has sold over 7 million books and is the main source of inspiration for highly successful people 70 years after it was written.
This book outlines thirteen steps to achieve financial freedom. Napoleon Hill first talks about desire as the starting point of all achievement. In this book, desire is not a wish, a dream, or a leaning. Instead, desire talks about the emblem of passion, which allows one to focus on his goal at all cost. For Edison, the desire to invent allowed him to be what he is. In short, desire is burning, not just a silly figment of our actions.
Secondly, he talks about faith or the belief that desire can be attained. Faith allows us to be continually focused on our desire because we know that we can achieve in the future. Napoleon Hill implied that faith makes miracles. In a parallel view, in order for a desire to be all encompassing, it must border on miracles. Thus, faith and desire are strong suggestions in achieving financial freedom.
A Step by Step Approach to Changing Mindset
While there are thirteen very helpful steps to achieve wealth creation, Napoleon Hill also outlines action within our fundamental minds. Thus, in Think and Grow Rich, the art of decision making and the mastery of procrastination are discussed. Procrastination and decision go hand in hand. Most people tend to hold decisions because they lack a sense of judgment, or they do not like risk taking. However, every pause that we make is time lost in what could have been a productive action. Napoleon Hill states that most successful people do act quickly and decide often. Therefore procrastination is not a problem of laziness but a myopic view on the value of decision making. It should be our attitude to put action ahead of us.
This book is definitely a must read for people who have not grasped what thinking rich means. While most people will continue to believe their status quo which puts them at the bottom of the financial chain, Think and Grow Rich will help you change a lot of your values and help you see the world in a different light. Taking steps to financial freedom as set out by a timeless book starts from our heads. After that, you will be surprised what a change of perspective will do to you.