Solutions Oriented
"If money is the problem, then its not a problem", this is one of my tropes in life, i live by this mantra, which most when initially read or heard wont agree with. Many people will immediately concoct scenarios, and excuses as to why money is a problem for them, trust me I get the immediate knee jerk reaction to this sentiment. However don't get lost in the sauce, and miss whats actually being said, being a sentient enlightened human being you are endowed by your maker with an awesome ability to utilize critical thinking, and in that process of dynamically breaking down situations, scenarios, issues, etc, you and I both have an almost Godly like ability to problem solve.
It is safe to assume that anyone reading this has, experienced rough patches and hard times in your lives, and even to the point where sometimes those periods felt like you would not survive them, you had no ideal when you were in the situation how you would overcome it or get out of it. But you did, obviously because you're still here. And to those of you who may be going through your tough times at present, fear not you will get through it.
How can I be so certain of this, because you have the power of critical thinking, and you have the ability to utilize it to problem solve. Everything in existence today as we know it created by man, is the solution to a problem which was thought up by someone.
We started off talking about money, and how I propose if its the problem, then it isn't a problem, i probably should say, "If money is a problem, then money isn't the problem.", and because most people reading this are seeking out solutions to their money problems, we will address this one. So when we approach the lack of financial resources, from a solutions oriented standpoint, we can walk through the actions and events that lead us to the point we are at today.
Lets time travel, a part of your critical thinking capabilities, which only humans have, as far as we know of. Lets travel back to when you last had money, and right before you received it, whether it was your paycheck, a dividends earning, your social security check, a scratch ticket win, whatever, think about what you thought and felt before cashing it. What thoughts were pervasive in your mind, did you think of all the things you wanted to buy, and all the ways you could spend it, and essentially get rid of it, or did you think of how much it would increase your already growing holdings? Well if it was the first then your problem isn't money, you have a consumption problem. You are a consumer, you want stuff more than you want the outcome of what the tool money can provide.
Side not, a couple years back the famous singer Rhianna attempted to sue her accountant when he informed her she was going broke, she asked, "how could that be?", the accountant answered, "When you spend money on stuff you get the stuff but you loose the money."
Have you ever been to any Americans home in main street America who has a garage, the garage is typically packed with stuff, just stuff on top of stuff, that is the American way consume consume consume. American is the worlds richest nation, not just country nation, on a pro rata basis the wealth America has as a nation is unparralled by any other nation even China, but the American people are by far and large some of the poorest people of any developed first world Nation. Ask yourself why is that?
Back from my tangent, the consumer problem is deeper than just wanting stuff, and it stems from different places for different people, some of us feel inadequate so we purchase more stuff to make us feel more adequate, some of us are lonely, some of us are bored, and many of us simply want attention. Whats one of the best ways to receive attention than being spotted walking out of a one of the high fashion designers store with their insignia latent bags, or being spotted purchasing the new iphone at an Apple store. My point is it is not your fault, this was all by design, you have been cultured, groomed to be a Corporate pawn. Now we know the problem its time to begin using our super human power of critical thinking to overcome it.
How do you begin to overcome years of indoctrination? How do you begin taking back your mind, and God's greatest gift to humanity, Your free will, so that you completely eradicate this seeming money problem.
Lets do some more deep diving and discover how we got here. Im going to state an old American public such mantra, which I wont complete but I will allow you to echo your own response, and even without being there I know exactly what you will say. Its the first day of Kindergarten and the teacher quiets the class room and says to us all, Good morning class, Im Misses so an so and welcome to my class, now i want you all to get ready to learn and put on your thinking _ _ _!
Huh so even before you were ever taught anything about the society you live in, the teacher, the person you were lead to believe had your best interest at heart and wanted you to learn all you could, capped your thinking on day one. To no fault of the teacher this was part of another design, but there you were told to limit how you think from the beginning.
Now lets keep going the school year in the American public school system usually starts in August, no logic to this what so ever, besides the fact that August is the third quarter of the fiscal year, which all Corporation operate on, (besides that every 4 years is an election in November and every 2 years is midterm for the American political system)and what happens in the fourth quarter? All the holidays you say, lets see we have Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanza, ... you name it. The time of year all the Corporation know they can legally plaster you with Advertising. Then as a child since your thinking has already been capped, your told you want candy on Halloween, and to dress up like your favorite Corporate created cartoon character, or super hero, then leading up to Christmas you're convinced that if you don't have a festive looking display at home, with the tree, the lights, and all the wrapped presents under the tree, you should just go hang it up, you're worthless. You know how many men and women are sitting in prison today because they wanted to fulfill this ideal of Christmas for themselves and their family. smh! All this to say you are a consumer before you are even old enough to earn your first dollar.
Lets keep going on our time traveling adventure, call me the Ghost of Solutions Past. Remember when you turned sixteen, and if you're in the Hispanic culture even before for ladies your fifteenth was a cultural/Corporate affair, for Americans though sixteen was sweet not just for us but really for the Auto dealers, because every sixteen year old in the country wanted their first car. Maybe your parents were more fiscally responsible, and purchased you an old jalopy, or maybe they went half with you the purchase, money which you may had saved up from odd end jobs, and getting paid for chores, either way you were ushered into the first of most Americans largest purchase in their lifetimes, a house and a vehicle. You at sixteen years of age were expected to fully comprehend what the implications of having a money guzzling car on the tax ridden streets of America actually were. Impossible, there is no way you could have known that even if you were sixteen in the 90s, that you would need $30 - $50 a month just on gas, and how it would cost you anywhere from $80 - $130 per month for something called insurance, and before you could even get that car on the road legally you would have to pay for a drivers license, purchase a vehicle registration, and even get that vehicle smogged, hundreds of dollars before even driving the vehicle home. You were bamboozled!
We are going to make one last stop on this time traveling journey. Oh look at the baby, yes that you, no not you as a baby any more thats your new baby, your son or daughter, and now you're in your 30s, and you have a family to support, you look so determined. So you go and purchase a home, you've been working at your job for the last 10 years you have some money saved, and your parents are willing to help, so you go and sit down at the loan officers desk and sign your life away in the book called a mortgage loan contract. You are expected at 30 to make the decision that for the next 30 years I will live in this house, I will pay the agreed upon amount, and I will stay at this job to get it done. How realistic is that, we wont even begin to go into everything that could, and does go wrong within that time, we will simply focus on you and your mind state, how now the grooming by Corporate America has reached a climax, and this roller coaster has no off switch, you are flooded with offers to succumb to more and more debt, theres always something the house needs, or the family needs, and lets not forget you've just created the Corporations next best customer with your new born, so the saga continues.
Back to present day, even if your story was somewhat different than this narrative, the fact of the matter is you were taught to be a consumer, which is the root of your money issues, and now you can retrain yourself to not be a consumer, to be a producer.
You can easily spot the differences between Producers and Consumers, producers usually are the ones with the old flip phones still till this day, or they are some serious privacy centric people. Producers drive ten year old vehicles paid in full, with limited liability insurance. Producers, live in houses which were owned by their parents, and possibly their parents parent, paid in full, with only a tax bill, and the life insurance policy. Producers own their own business, or simply put work for themselves, for a Producer money is a tool, thats all it is, and the tools greatest use is to purchase more and more time to do what you want. Consumers do just the opposite, they buy the latest and greatest Iphone's every year, they drive 1 to 5 year old vehicles financed through the bank with an absorbrant interest rate, forced to have and pay for full coverage Insurance because they don't actually own the vehicle. Consumers typically rent, and if they do own they live in a house with a mortgage which consumes more than 60% of their take home pay. Consumers usually give birth to other consumers, who because they are too young themselves to earn, become a bill of their own. Its the difference between Abundance and Scarcity, and Producers are abundantly scarce. Consumers don't typically care whether there is abundance or scarcity in their world as long as they can afford the minimum monthly payments. All this is a mind state, which can be trained, no one is relegated to poverty if they don't want to be poor, wealth is a state of mind, and a poor mindset cannot produce wealthy habits.
Im not saying the solution to lack of financial resources is simply changing your way of thinking, Im saying changing your way of thinking, and you wont ever see this as a problem to begin with. I tell many of my clients, and few of them want to hear this, but the quickest way to get rich is to lower your ambitions, stop desiring stuff. Soon as you realize nothing you buy will change the way you feel about you, economic life becomes very simple. You then become the person who when you are paid you simply think of how much it will increase your ever growing wealth. If life was a game of cards, and at the end you won by tally, how many cards would you have left if it ended now? When President Donald Trump, told Vladmir Zelensky President of Ukraine, a couple years back that Zelensky had no cards left to play, he wasn't saying he had no money, he was saying you have no options left. What Zelensky knew that Trump could never know a man who has never had to develop solutions oriented thinking, is that men who had to get it out the mud, always play their cards close to their chest, and now years later even without Trumps financial assistance to Ukraine, Zelensky fights on. P.S. This is not an endorsement or indictment to either of the politicians mentioned, they simply make fun punching bags so i couldn't help myself.
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