Essential Ingredients

(Part 2)

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Issue No.2 "Mindset"- Why Money is Good -

Today our focus article is by Brian Tracey. More
information on Brian follows his article. What is at issue here is                                                                    'your relationship to money?' Do you like to burn money? Well your                                                        relationship has a bearing on how it will treat you, whether it stays                                                                  or leaves in a hurry. Enjoy!

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WHY MONEY IS GOOD - Brian Tracey
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The way you think about money will determine how much
of it you accumulate more than any other factor. Your
attitude toward money affects your emotions and your
motivations.

DO YOU FEEL THAT YOU HAVE ENOUGH?

In psychology, money is what is called a "deficiency
need."

This means that it only motivates you when you feel
deficient in it, when you don't feel that you have
enough. Above a certain level, when you feel that you
have enough, it is no longer a motivator. Put another
way, when you have enough money, you don't think about
it very much. But when you have too little, you think
about it all the time.

DETERMINE YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARD MONEY

The effect money has on your emotional life depends on
your attitude toward it. If you feel that you have too
little, money can become an obsession for you. It can
dominate your thinking, feelings and actions. Arguments
over money are a major reason for marital breakdown.
Problems with money are the primary reason for business
collapse, the ruination of friendships and
psychosomatic illnesses of all kinds. It's not uncommon
for people to even kill themselves over money problems.

PRACTICE THE REALITY PRINCIPLE

The Reality Principle applies especially to matters of
money. This principle states that, "You must deal with
life as it is, not as you wish it were, or could be."
Most people live in a world of partial self-delusion,
or even fantasy, with regard to money. They wish, hope,
and pray about their financial futures while at the
same time, deep in their hearts, they know their dreams
will never materialize. In Lewis Carroll's book, Alice
in Wonderland, one of the characters says quite happily
that he is quite capable of believing several
impossible things before breakfast each day. In the
same way, many people believe quite impossible things
about money and then they wonder why they are having so
many financial problems.

OVERCOME DEEP SEATED BELIEFS

One of the most common obstacles to achieving financial
independence is a deep-seated belief that somehow money
is wrong and that people who have a lot of it are
inherently evil. This belief is not based on any
factual foundation. It goes back to early childhood
conditioning when the growing child is often told this
because of other people's desire to rationalize away
their own financial failures.

MONEY IS GOOD

The fact is that money is good. It takes money to buy
homes, cars, clothes, toys, food and most of the good
things in life. Money has an energy of its own and it
is largely attracted to people who treat it well. Money
tends to flow toward those people who can use it in the
most productive ways to produce valuable goods and
services, and who can invest it to create employment
and opportunities that benefit others. At the same
time, money flows away from those who use it poorly, or
who spend it in non-productive ways.

ACTION EXERCISES

Here are two things you can do immediately to improve
your attitude toward money:

First, be perfectly honest to yourself with regard to
money and to the amount you want to acquire in life.
Pretending that you don't care about money when you
really do will only make you unhappy.

Second, begin today to think about all the wonderful
things that you could have in your life if you had more
money. Then, begin to think of all the things that you
could do to increase the amount you earn and the amount
you keep.

About Brian Tracy

Brian Tracy is a leading authority on personal and
business success. As Chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy
International, he is the best-selling author of 17
books and over 300 audio and video learning programs.
Copyright © 2001 Brian Tracy International. All Rights
Reserved

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The next issue will focus is on the successful and most
prosperous author and educator Jack Canfield. You may know                                                                       him along with Mark Victor Hansen as one of the co-authors of                                                                      the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" series.

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