The biggest limiting factor we face when it comes to attaining financial independence and freedom is our self-limiting beliefs, belief systems, disempowering internal dialogues, low self-esteem, and the conclusion that we cannot achieve it. We listen to our minds tell us the lie that because we tried and failed several times in the past, we cannot go past where we are now unless perhaps by divine intervention or an event outside of our control.
Financial independence and freedom are not primarily about money, but our belief system when it comes to money. If we look at our income as a seed, we sow (invest) it. If we look at it as harvest, we naturally consume it. A farmer who consumes his seed is bound to become a spectator at the next harvest. That is the same thing that happens to an employee who spends all his income. There is nothing to multiply. His only increase comes from pay raises, bonuses, etc.
The natural tendency is to approach financial independence and freedom from the standpoint of how-to’s – steps, formulas, methods, etc. As good as they are, this is not the whole story. As a matter of fact this is about 20% of the story. If you know what to do, but lack the will to follow through consistently to get the desired results, the know-how is not of much use. Knowledge not applied is useless. The spirit may be willing, but the flesh is weak. You may plan to save and invest, but you find yourself doing exactly what you did last month – spend first and try to save after the fact.
Until we grow up or mature in the area of finances – attaining attributes like focus and delayed gratification which are part of emotional intelligence, we will end up like folks who make new year’s resolutions but do not have what it takes to follow through. Until one conquers self and exercises self-control, it is difficult to steer our lives in the direction we desire, be it in diet, or physical and financial fitness.
If you desire to attain financial freedom, you need to work on yourself and who you are determines what you become. If you are the same old you, you will do the same old things and get the same old results. If you do not change your thoughts and feelings towards money, you will relate to it the way you always have, and get the same results. You are your deadliest enemy.
I have sat my security man down countless times and tried to impress on him the possibilities before him, all to no avail. I told him he can go to evening school to finish his secondary school education, and offered him a used computer and whatever assistance to gain more education, skills, etc so as to have more options and opportunities, but he has been as stubborn as a mule. He has declined my offers and insisted his dream is to be a driver or an auto mechanic without any plan for further education.
He believes further education is beyond his scope of achievement, and that he will do just fine as a primary school dropout. Sometimes I feel like beating him to the point of coma and wheeling him in for brain surgery for a brain transplant. I have made him realize he is the one limiting himself, but it does not make any difference to him. His past is his future. He has made up his mind how far he can go. He is ready to marry someone who is ready to go much farther, but that is not for him.
An average employer believes there is nothing he can do with his finances to get a different result. The solution is more money. He conveniently forgets that more money in the past made no difference. We set our limits in our minds, and go no further. Until the mindset changes, the status quo reigns. The moment we overcome the enemy within, a new horizon unfolds, including an abundance of the financial variety
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