This post is about the memorable journey on thoughts about money and richness that I embarked on few years back. It made me realize True Freedom Starts with the Journey. 

Money is one of the most emotional subjects on the planet. In fact many people are more comfortable sharing the intimate details of their lives with friends than sharing the intimate details of their finances. But what is money-a piece of metal or paper? It’s purpose – to allow the smooth exchange of goods and services. But we consider money to be powerful. What gives money the power?  Let’s look at the history of money.

History of money

Earlier people bartered, People literally shelled out(conch shells) in exchange of food and labour. Roman soldiers were paid in salt or salirum (the origin of word Salary). Commodities like shells, salt were replaced with precious metals and then IOUs(abbreviated from the phrase “I owe you“.)  Pound got it name because few hundred years ago it could be exchanged pound-weight of sterling silver. In the 19th century a gold standard was set up which allowed for a universal and stable unit of valuation.

Finally the governments of the world decided to abandon the gold standard system. Promises of exchange were replaced by article of faith – the faith that government that printed it will continue to back it with or without reserves of gold. So money does not have any inherent or  intrinsic value.  The value of money, whether in the form of dollar, Euro, Rupee is now based entirely on the value we and others place on it. So what is money really ?If we take away all of our beliefs about what it should be and shouldn’t be, money is simply a tool we can use to make our lives easier and reach our goals faster.

Our Beliefs about Money

How do you react when you read these statements

• I deserve money
• Money can come to be easily
• There’s more than enough to go round
• It’s OK for me to be rich.

Do these words feel untrue, uncomfortable or even unforgivable? Most of us have inherited a mixed bag of beliefs about what having more money in our lives would mean. As a child we hear such statements:

• Money is root of all evil (Bible actually says The love of money is the root of all evil)
• Money doesn’t grow on trees.
• The rich get richer and the poor gets poorer
• In order for someone to make a lot of money, they have to ride over other people
• You will have to sacrifice your time or health or family to make money at all costs

A study was conducted into happiness and compartive wealth. People were asked to choose between two scenarios

• They would be paid 90,000 and their friends and colleagues 80,000
• They would receive 100,000 but their friends and colleagues 110,000

An overwhelming majority said that they would prefer to have less money as long as it is more than everyone’s else! Do people hate to see when other people are achieving more than they are? Very often we experience the jealousy and rudeness from people when you start to succeed.(Nazar lag jayegi !)

We end up resenting people with money. We hear terms like filthy rich which are indicative of an underlying mistrust of people with money. We are angry with the people who have mastered the art of creating money. Articles like DailyMail:So rich you want to slap them, Susan Baker:So Rich you want to slap mirrors the views of a large number of people.

Do I Deserve money?

We use money as a personal value, status or worth but are we comfortable with the thought that we can get more?The autor Brandon Bays has been using the following scenario as part of an ongoing study into the psychology of wealth:

You have been shortlisted for a job for which you are well qualified. You interviewed well in the preceding rounds and are now one of the final five up for the job. Just before entering the final interview room you discover that the salary is not what you thought – it is actually ten times more than you thought it was! it has an extra zero on it!How would you feel as you were about to go in and face the interview panel?

What would you do?For most people,it brings up all sorts of emotional issues ranging from unworthiness and worthlessness to overwhelm and even rage. A number of people wouldn’t even go in for  the final interview. A job that pays ten times more than they are used to earning is simply too far out side their comfort zone for them to even consider it. We are carrying an unconscious upper limit  on how much money we would be comfortable earning. 

Because people often define being rich as having a lot of money, they think the way to feel rich is to act like their idea of a millionaire.They buy expensive clothing and flash cars and jewellery in an attempt to make themselves ‘feel’ rich. This can work up to a point , but it often backfires.

People who come in to sudden massive wealth, be it through lottery wins or inheritance, are likely to get rid of it just as quickly. In fact, as many as 80% of these people wind up being worse off financially within two years than they were before they received their windfall. 10 People Who Won the Lottery–Then Lost it All As one of lottery winner who lost it all said My life is a shambles and hopefully now it has all gone I can find some happiness. It’s brought me nothing but unhappiness. It’s ruined my life.

On the other hand if some of those rich people lost all their money tomorrow, they would have it back within a few years.

• Abraham Lincoln declared bankruptcy in 1833 and spent 17 years paying his dept yet he managed to rise, regain his wealth and became the president of the united sates.
• Donald trump was burdened with 900 million dollars of dept, lost many of his business ventures yet he rose once again to be one of the famous billionaires
• Henry ford managed to become one of the richest men in America at his times even though he lost all of his money six times.
• Walt Disney founded a company called Laugh-O-Gram in 1921 and filed for bankruptcy 2 years later. Yet  he became one of the highest paid animator.

Just try to give the same amount of money to different people and see how will each person deal with the money

• Some will wasted it completely
• Some will saved the whole amount and will be afraid to spend it
• Some will invested the money and make some returns

Now give the person who wasted his money more money and you will discover that he handled the additional amount the same way he handled the initial amount. The same goes for the other person who managed to make some returns, if you gave him more money he will use them to earn more money.

A study found that If money was equally distributed among all living people then within few months those who were already rich will become richer and those who were already poor will become poorer. Why is it so?

Our thoughts

Rich people aren’t the lucky ones who found great opportunities in their lives but it’s about the way they think. There is certain way of thinking that allows a man to be rich and there is a certain way of thinking that forces another man to be poor

Years ago legendary industrialist Andrew Carnegie convinced that he had discovered the real secret of creating wealth, commissioned a young reporter named Napoleon Hill to interview 400 of the richest people alive to see if they too had used this secret to create their fortunes. Hill spent the next twenty years meeting up with nearly every person on the list, and discovered that, without fail, they had followed the same simple blueprint for wealth. The book he eventually published, Think and Grow Rich, has become one of the bestselling non-fiction books of all time. The secret Carnegie and all the great achievers used to create riches in their lives was :

All wealth is created with the human mind

Wealth is the product of man’s ability to think.

The difference between the rich and the poor is that the rich have learned to recognize the value of their thoughts. The difference is not in rich people and poor people but in rich thinker and poor thinker. 

Beyondthequote:inspirational-poems has motivational poems like Don’t Quit, You Can Be Whatever You Want To Be! – Donna Levine and more.

Thoughts and Money

Recognizing that our riches are not in some far-off place, but that they are waiting for us to find them inside our mind, right where we are now is the first step.We need to realize that making money is neither a mysterious process nor a cosmic reward – it is just a skill, like learning to juggle or riding a bike.

Money is ONE of the rewards you get for adding value to the lives of others. Your ability to make money is linked to your ability to add, create and provide value , whether to a person, a project, a company. Just think why does a movie star make more money than a teacher? While the impact of a teacher can be far greater on the thirty or so people he or she teaches each year, the movie star adds a unique value to millions and is rewarded accordingly.

Richness of Life

Please note that True and lasting richness never is and never will be the result of how much money you have in the bank – it’s the product of living a life rich in value , meaning and purpose . You can’t necessarily spot the richness of a person’s life by the car they drive or the size of their bank account. If you had no time, you wouldn’t be rich no matter how much money you had. If you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything – all the money in the world can’t buy you another minute of life. And if you give up the love of your family for some more money, your life will only be come poorer in relationships. Hence the title of post is Journey to Richness and not Journey to Money.

My Journey To Richness

I have had a normal life. A normal childhood with loving, doting parents and a younger sister. Went to college, got a job, got married and had kids. Few years back felt some restlessness. With growing kids one hardly gets the time, but whenever I did get catch few moments for myself I felt something was missing. So on suggestion of a friend, I picked up books Robert Kiyosaki:Rich Dad Poor Dad & Robin Sharma:Monk Who Sold His Ferrari,(Earlier I used to read only fiction stuff – Sidney Sheldon, Danielle Steele, Perry Mason, Jeffery Archer . I still read them!).  It was as if a new world opened before me. I realized the importance of thoughts. I went through a roller-coaster of thoughts about money, richness and myself! What I learnt was:

What you focus on, you get more of it! 

Journey to richness is not easy! Expect obstacles, learn from setbacks and keep moving towards your goals.

This post is submitted for Indiblogger contest:XUV500 Incredible Stories Contest  sponsored by Mahindra XUV500

You have 50,000 thoughts a day – you might as well make them big ones- DONALD TRUMP, billionaire entrepreneur

What are your thoughts about money? Your beliefs about money?Do you think that difference between rich and poor is in terms of their thoughts? Do you believe that All wealth is created with the human mind? Please share your thoughts with us!