The principle of power says that you’re responsible for your own financial situation. If you dislike your current circumstances and want something better, it’s up to you to make it happen. You can yield control of your financial destiny to others, but final responsibility always rests with you. You’re the one who must live with the results you experience.
Self-help literature often recommends that we set clear financial goals. We’re told to decide in advance how much money we want to earn and how much we want to have in the bank. I (Steve Pavlina) have often set such goals for myself. Sometimes I achieved them; many times I didn’t. Eventually I learned a more important lesson: in order for our financial goals to be sound, they must reflect our truest, deepest desires. A goal is worthless if it doesn’t empower you.
When I gave it some serious thought, I realized that I just didn’t care about making specific amounts of money. A million dollars has no real meaning to me. By putting so much emphasis on certain sums, I was giving my power to money instead of wielding power over it. Money was becoming my master instead of my servant. So instead of focusing on specific financial goals, I decided to aim directly for what I thought money would give me. I thought it would provide me with the freedom to travel, so I set travel goals instead. I thought money would get me a nicer house, so I set a goal to have a nicer house instead. I thought being wealthy would allow me to make a bigger contribution, so I set a goal to make a bigger contribution instead. Ironically, when I stopped treating money as an end unto itself, I had more of it flowing through my life than ever before.
The truth is that you don’t need any specific sum of money in the bank or a specific level of income to achieve your goals. There are countless way to do so, and many of them require little or no money. People who are dead broke have traveled around the world. Why not you? When you decide in advance that a lack of funds is an obstacle to achieving your goals, you disempower yourself. If you want something badly enough, target it directly. Your path may lead you to earn and spend money to get there, or it may not. Don’t automatically assume that money is necessary to achieve a particular goal; this narrows your options and stunts your creativity.
Since money is a medium of exchange, it only has power when it flows. A number in a bank account is utterly worthless. Money’s value lies in the exchange, not in its possession. When you earn it, you create value. When you spend it, you gain access to value created by others, thereby enabling them to create more value as well. It’s wise to save a portion of your income, but know that saved money must eventually flow back out again, if not during your lifetime then certainly afterward.
* Source: Personal Development for Smart People by Steve Pavlina