Making the most of your potentials

Ponder on this—money will have a greater influence on your life than almost any other commodity you can think of. The sudden loss or acquisition of money will affect your attitude to a tremendous extent. Therefore, you must agree that everyone should have a deep understanding of exactly what money is and of the laws governing its attraction. Yet, the sad fact is that not one person in 10 does. Ninety-five people out of 100 settle for whatever they get, wishing they had more all the way from the cradle to the casket, never  understanding that they could have had all they wanted.

The Importance of Money
One of the most prevalent misconceptions concerning money relates to its importance. For example, how many times have you heard people say in conversation, “Money isn’t everything,” or “Money isn’t important,” or “I don’t care about money”? The people who say these things might not care about money, but I’ll bet their car dealer cares about it; their grocer does; and so does the person who holds their mortgage. In truth, there can be no denial of the fact that money is important to any person living in a civilized society. Therefore, to argue that it is not as important as this or that is absurd, for nothing can take the place of money in the arena in which it is used.

You Are in Charge
Now that I have affirmed the importance of money, let me backtrack to add this one word of caution—always remember, money is a servant; you are the master. Be very careful not to reverse that equation, because many people of high intelligence have already done so to their great detriment. Unfortunately, many poor souls loved money and used people, which violated one of the most basic laws governing true financial success. You should always love people and use money, rather than the reverse.

Another myth many people like to accept about money is that it only comes as a result of luck or good fortune. For instance, whenever people gather to talk about someone they know who has been financially successful, there is always someone among them who will say, “Harry was just lucky,” or “Harry was just in the right place at the right time.” But I want to assure you in no uncertain terms that although luck obviously plays some part in financial success, it is never sufficient in and of itself. Money is an effect and it must always be earned. Believe me, there are no free rides in this life and the only people who are making money the easy way either work in the mint or are on their way to jail, if they have not already arrived there. Therefore, always bear in mind that while good fortune is a factor in financial success, it must always be coupled with effort and hard work.

Increase Its Value
A third thing you should know about money is that it is valuable only as long as it is being used. Once it has been taken out of circulation, it becomes as worthless as the old newspapers or empty beer cans stashed away in the attic. To understand the truth of this principle, consider the following story. On a bookshelf, in my home, I have a silver beer stein that was given to me as a gift for a speech I made. Now, whenever I go into my house, I take all the change from my pockets and put it into the cup. Then, when the cup is almost full, I give it to one of my children, or one of two young cousins.

Each of them takes turns receiving the cup and, of course, they eagerly anticipate their turn. The point I want you to notice, however, is that while the cup is being filled, the money in it has absolutely no value whatsoever; it just sits there, serving no useful function and drawing no interest. But as soon as the cup is filled and the money is turned over to one of the kids, it literally flies into action. No, there really isn’t any dispute about it; money is not meant to be taken out of circulation—rather, it is meant to be used, enjoyed and circulated.

Visualizing Wealth
Now that we have touched upon some of the characteristics of money, let us turn briefly to a simple technique you can begin using immediately to start attracting the amount of money you desire. The first thing that I want you to do is to picture yourself, in your mind’s eye, sitting in a room with several of your friends. Then, I want you to visualize yourself announcing to them your intention of becoming wealthy; at least, wealthy enough to live the way you choose to live. Now, imagine how that would make you feel.

If you are like most people, you would probably feel very uncomfortable. Perhaps you would feel so uncomfortable that you might even retract what you had said by informing your friends you were only joking. You should understand, however, that people who are wealthy never feel uncomfortable when the subject of money is brought up.

“Why don’t they?” you ask. The most obvious answer would be because they already have lots of it. But that is not the correct answer. You should realize that people don’t feel comfortable about money because they have it; they have it because they feel comfortable about it. In other words, one of the reasons that wealthy people have money is that they have developed that state of consciousness we can refer to as a “prosperity consciousness.” Therefore, it follows, if we wish to attract money to ourselves, we must begin to foster a prosperity consciousness as well.

The question you should now be asking yourself is: “How do I go about developing this prosperity consciousness for myself?” The best way to develop a prosperity consciousness is to start seeing yourself, in your mind’s eye, already in possession of the amount of money you desire. Since the subconscious mind cannot distinguish between the actual possession of money and mere visualization, you will soon become very comfortable with the idea of money. As a result, you will start attracting it to yourself.

This may sound like a game you are playing, but let me assure you, it is one of the wisest things you can do. When you succeed in convincing your subconscious mind that you are wealthy and that it feels good to be wealthy, your subconscious mind will automatically seek ways of making your imaginary feelings of wealth manifest themselves in material form.

Be Wory-Free
Now that I have touched upon a technique that will help you acquire greater wealth, let me offer this further word of warning. If you want to have money, one thing you should never, ever do is worry about whether you will get the money you desire or whether you will keep it.

If we insist upon constantly worrying about not having enough money, or if we habitually worry about losing the money we have, we are guaranteed not to worry in vain. Worrying about money is always extremely counterproductive. This principle holds true even if you rationalize your worry with the old platitude that you are “just saving a little for a rainy day.”

I must put forward one other caveat: If you want to significantly increase the amount of money you are currently earning, the first thing you must do is learn to pay substantially less attention to what others around you are saying and substantially more attention to what that quiet voice that speaks within you is saying. Put more prosaically: You must strive to become much less susceptible to influences outside yourself and much more inclined to trust the instincts and feelings that lie within you.

Most people who fail to accumulate enough money to live in the style they choose are the same people who are most easily influenced by other people’s opinions. For instance, they are often the people who let the writers of economic doom and gloom—whether in newspapers or on news broadcasts—do their thinking for them. But, as Napoleon Hill pointed out in his great book, Think & Grow Rich, opinions are the cheapest commodities on earth; almost everyone has a flock of them ready to be foisted upon anyone who is willing to accept them.

Therefore, if you know you have been unduly influenced in the past by other people’s opinions, make up your mind right now, before you read any further, that from now on, you are going to heed your own counsel while keeping an attentive ear open for wise counsel. Remember, if you do, there is absolutely no reason you cannot become financially successful within a reasonable time.