Wealth File #12
Rich people think “both.” Poor people think “either/or.”
Rich people live in a world of abundance. Poor people live in a world of limitations. Of course, both live in the same physical world, but the difference is in their perspective. Poor and most middle-class people come from scarcity. They live by mottos such as “There’s only so much to go around, there’s never enough, and you can’t have everything.” And although you may not be able to have “everything,” as in all the things in the world, I do think you can certainly have “everything you really want.” Do you want a successful career or a close relationship with your family? Both! Do you want to focus on business or have fun and play? Both! Do you want money or meaning in your life? Both! Do you want to earn a fortune or do the work you love? Both! Poor people always choose one, rich people choose both. Rich people understand that with a little creativity you canal most always figure out a way to have the best of both worlds.
From now on, when confronted with an either/or alternative, the quintessential question to ask yourself is “How can I have both?” This question will change your life. It will take you from a model of scarcity and limitation to a universe of possibilities and abundance. This doesn’t just pertain to things you want, it pertains to all areas of life. For example, right now, I’m preparing to deal with an unhappy supplier that believes my company, Peak Potentials, should pay for certain expenses they’ve had that weren’t originally agreed to. My feeling is that estimating his costs is his business not mine, and if he’s incurred higher expenses, that’s something he has to deal with. I’m more than willing to negotiate a new agreement for next time, but I’m big on keeping agreements that were already made.
Now in my “broke” days, I’d go into this discussion with the goal of making my point and making sure I don’t pay this guy one cent more than we agreed upon. And even though I’d like to keep him as a supplier, this would probably end up in a huge argument. I’d go in thinking either he wins or I win. Today, however, because I’ve trained myself to think in terms of “both,” I’m going into this discussion completely open to creating a situation where I’m not going to pay him any more money and he’s going to be extremely happy with the arrangements we do make. In other words, my goal is to have both ! Here’s another example. Several months ago I decided to purchase a vacation home in Arizona. I scoured the area I was interested in, and every real estate agent told me, if I wanted three bedrooms plus a den in that vicinity, I’d have to pay over a million dollars. My intention was to keep my investment in this home under a million. Most people would either lower their expectations or raise their budget. I held out for both. I recently got a call that the owners of a house in the exact location I wanted, with the number of rooms I wanted, had reduced their price $200,000 to under a million. Here is another tribute to the intention of having both! Finally, I always told my parents that I didn’t want to slave away at work I didn’t enjoy and that I would “get rich doing what I love.” Their response was the usual: “You’re living in a dream world. Life is not a bowl of cherries.” They said, “Business is business, pleasure is pleasure. First you take care of making a living, then, if there’s any time left over, you can enjoy your life.” I remember thinking to myself, “Hmm, if I listen to them, I’ll end up like them. No. I’m gonna have both!” Was it tough? You bet. Sometimes I’d have to work at a job I hated for a week or two so I could eat and pay the rent. But I never lost my intention of having “both.” I never got stuck long-term in a job or business I didn’t like. Eventually I did become rich doing what I loved. Now that I know it can be done, I continue to pursue only the work and projects that I love. Best of all, I now have the privilege of teaching others to do the same. Nowhere is “both” thinking more important than when it comes to money. Poor and many middle-class people believe that they have to choose between money and the other aspects of life. Consequently they’ve rationalized a position that money is not as important as other things. Let’s set the record straight. Money is important! To say that it’s not as important as any of the other things in life is ludicrous. What’s more important, your arm or your leg? Could it be that both are important? Money is a lubricant. It enables you to “slide” through life instead of having to “scrape” by. Money brings freedom—freedom to buy what you want, and freedom to do what you want with your time. Money allows you to enjoy the finer things in life as well as giving you the opportunity to help others have the necessities in life. Most of all, having money allows you not to have to spend your energy worrying about not having money. Happiness is important too. Again, here’s where poor and middle-class people get confused. Many believe money and happiness are mutually exclusive, that either you can be rich or you can be happy. Again, this is nothing more than “poor” programming. People who are rich in every sense of the word understand that you have to have both. Just as you have to have both your arms and your legs, you have to have money and happiness. You Can Have Your Cake and Eat It Too! So here’s another major difference between rich people, middle-class people, and poor people: Rich people believe “You can have your cake and eat it too.” Middle-class people believe “Cake is too rich, so I’ll only have a little piece.” Poor people don’t believe they deserve cake, so they order a doughnut, focus on the hole, and wonder why they have“ nothing.” WEALTH PRINCIPLE: Rich people believe “You can have your cake and eat it too.” Middle-class people believe “Cake is too rich, so I’ll only have a little piece.” Poor people don’t believe they deserve cake, so they order a doughnut, focus on the hole, and wonder why they have “nothing. ”I ask you, what is the use of having your “cake” if you can’t eat it? What exactly are you supposed to do with it? Put it on your mantel and look at it? Cake is meant to be eaten and enjoyed. Either/or thinking also trips up people who believe that “if I have more, then someone else will have less.” Again, this is nothing more than fear-based, self-defeating programming. The notion that the wealthy people of the world have and are somehow hoarding all the money, so there’s none left for anyone else, is preposterous. First, this belief assumes that there is a limited supply of money. I’m not an economist, but from what I can see, they just keep printing more of the stuff every day. The actual money supply hasn’t been tied to any real asset for decades. So even if the wealthy had all the money today, tomorrow there’d be millions, if not billions, more available. The other thing people with this limited belief don’t seem to realize is that the same money can be used over and over, to create value for everyone. Let me give you an example I’ve used in our seminars. I’ll ask five people to come onstage and bring an item with them. I ask them to stand in a circle. Then I give a $5 bill to the first person and ask them to buy something from person number 2 for that money. Suppose they buy a pen.
So now person number 1 has a pen and person number 2 has the $5. Person 2 now uses the same $5 bill to buy, say, a clipboard from person number 3. Then number 3uses the same $5 bill to buy a notebook from number4. I hope you get the picture and the point. The exact same $5was used to bring value to each person that had it. That same$5 went through five different people and created $5 worth of value for each and a total of $25 in value for the group. That$5 did not get depleted and as it circled around, created value for everyone.
The lessons are clear. First, money does not get depleted; you can use the same money again and again for years and years and thousands and thousands of people. Second, the more money you have, the more you can put into the circle, which means other people then have more money to trade for more value. This is exactly the opposite of either/or-based thinking. To the contrary, when you have money and use it, you and the person you spend it with both have the value. Put bluntly, if you’re so worried about other people and making sure they get their share (as if there is a share), do what it takes to get rich so you can spread more money around. If I can be an example for anything, it would be that you can be a kind, loving, caring, generous, and spiritual person and be really frickin’ rich. I strongly urge you to dispel the myth that money is in any way bad or that you will be less “good” or less “pure” if you are wealthy. That belief is absolute “salami”(in case you’re tired of baloney), and if you keep eating it, you won’t just be fat, you’ll be fat and broke. Hey, what do you know, another example of both! My friends, being kind, generous, and loving has nothing todo with what is or isn’t in your wallet. Those attributes come from what is in your heart. Being pure and spiritual have nothing to do with what is or isn’t in your bank account; those attributes come from what’s in your soul. To think money makes you good or bad, one way or another, is either/ or thinking and just plain “programmed garbage” that is not supportive to your happiness and success. It’s also not supportive to those around you, especially to children. If you’re that adamant about being a good person, then be “good” enough not to infect the next generation with the disempowering beliefs you may inadvertently have adopted. If you really want to live a life without limits, whatever the situation, let go of either/or thinking and maintain the intention to have “both.”
DECLARATION:
Place your hand on your heart and say...
“I always think ‘both.’ ”
Touch your head and say...
“I have a millionaire mind!”
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