The First Influence: Verbal Programming
Did you ever hear phrases like money is the root of all evil, save your money for a rainy day, rich people are greedy, rich people are criminals, filthy rich, you have to work hard to make money, money doesn't grow on trees, you can't be rich and spiritual, money doesn't buy happiness, money talks, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, that's not for people like us, not everyone can be rich, there's never enough, and the infamous we can't afford it?
In my household, every time I asked my father for any money I'd hear him scream, "What am I made of... money?" Jokingly I'd respond, "I wish. I'll take an arm, a hand, even a finger." he never laughed once.
Here's the rub. All the statements you heard about money when you were young remain in your subconscious mind as part of the blueprint that is running your financial life.
Verbal conditioning is extremely powerful. For example, when my son, Jesse, was three years old, he ran over to me and excitedly said, "Daddy, let's go see the Ninja Turtle movie. It's playing near us." For the life of me, I couldn't figure out how this toddle could already be a master of geography. A couple of hours later, I got my answer in the form of a TV commercial advertising the movie, which had at the end the usual tagline: "Now playing at a theater near you."
Another example of the power of verbal conditioning came at the expense of one of our Millionaire Mind seminar participants. Stephen didn't have a problem earning money; his challenge was keeping it.
At the time Stephen came to the course he was earning over $800,000 a year and had been doing so for the past nine years. Yet he was still barely scraping by. Somehow, he managed to spend his money, lend it, or lose it all by making poor investment decisions. Whatever the reason, his net worth was exactly zero!
Stephen shared with us that when he was growing up, his mom always used to say, "Rich people are greedy. They make their money off the sweat of the poor. You should have just enough to get by. After that you're a pig."
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what was going on inside Stephen's subconscious mind. No wonder he was broke. He was verbally conditioned by his mother to believe that rich people are greedy. Therefore, his mind linked up rich with greedy, which of course is bad. Since he didn't want to be bad, subconsciously he couldn't be rich.
Stephen loved his mom and didn't want her to disapprove of him. Obviously, based on her beliefs, if he were to get rich, she wouldn't approve. Therefore, the only thing for him to do was to get rid of any extra money beyond just getting by, otherwise he'd be a pig!
Now, you would think that in choosing between being rich and being approved of by Mom or anyone else for that matter, most people would take being rich. Not a chance! The mind just doesn't work that way. Sure, riches would seem to be the logical choice. But when the subconscious mind must choose between deeply rooted emotions and logic, emotions will almost always win.
Let's get back to our story. In less than ten minutes at the course, using some extremely effective experiential techniques, Stephen's money blueprint changed dramatically. In only two years, he went from being broke to becoming a millionaire.
At the course, Stephen began to understand that these non supportive beliefs were his mom's, based on her past programming, and not his. We then took it a step further and helped him to create a strategy whereby he wouldn't lose his mother's approval if he got rich. It was simple.
His mom loved Hawaii. So Stephen invested in a beach-frond condo on Maui. He sends her there for the entire winter. She's in heaven, and so is he. First, she now loves that he's rich and tells everyone how generous he is. Second, he doesn't have to deal with her for six months of the year. Brilliant!
In my own life, after a slow start, I began doing well in business but never seemed to make money with my stocks.
In becoming aware of my money blueprint, I recalled that when I was young, each day after work, my dad would sit down at the dinner table with the newspaper, check the stock pages, slam his fist on the table, and shout, "Those stinkin' stocks!'
All I can say is, by digging out this massive, toxic weed from my inner "financial garden," I began getting inundated with more fruits! Virtually the day after I reconditioned myself, the stocks I choose began to boom, and I've continued to have amazing success in the stock market ever since. it seems incredibly strange, but when you really understand how the money blueprint works, it makes perfect sense.
Again, your subconscious conditioning determines your thinking. Your thinking determines your decision, and your decision determine your actions, which eventually determine your outcomes.
There are four key elements of change, each of which is essential in reprogramming your financial blueprint. They are simple but profoundly powerful.
The first element of change is awareness. You can't change something unless you know it exists.
The second element of change is understanding. By understanding where your "way of thinking" originates, you can recognize that it has to come from outside you.
The third element of change is disassociation. Once you realize this way of thinking isn't you, you can separate yourself from it and choose in the present whether to keep it or let it go- based on who you are today, and where you want to be tomorrow. You can observe this way of thinking and see it for what it is, a "file" of information that was stored in your mind a long, long time ago and may not hold any truth or value for you anymore.
The fourth element of change is reconditioning. We will begin this process in Part II of this book where we will introduce you to the mental files that generate wealth.
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