Your Financial Life- Day 19 - Meditation — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:06Hello and welcome to day 19 of
2. 0:08Lifebook's 30-day challenge. It's so
3. 0:11good to have you here with me today as
4. 0:13we explore a category that's really
5. 0:15important to all of us, your financial
6. 0:17life.
7. 0:18You know, people have always had a
8. 0:20love-hate relationship with money all
9. 0:23throughout history, but nowhere has it
10. 0:26been more apparent than in the 21st
11. 0:28century when wealth is exploding all
12. 0:31around us. And nowhere has it caused so
13. 0:34much confusion and so much emotional
14. 0:37violence to so many people.
15. 0:40We're living in the richest time in
16. 0:41history by a mile.
17. 0:44As a species, we've created more wealth
18. 0:46in the last 200 years than the whole sum
19. 0:50of human history before us. I mean,
20. 0:52money is everywhere. Nothing is
21. 0:54untouched by it. It permeates every
22. 0:56aspect of our lives. But what exactly is
23. 1:00money?
24. 1:01What do we know about it?
25. 1:03Where does it come from?
26. 1:05Why do we need it?
27. 1:07Why do some people have a lot of it
28. 1:08while other people have very little?
29. 1:11Why is something that's so incredibly
30. 1:12important to our overall quality of life
31. 1:15so perplexing and so mysterious?
32. 1:19What have we been taught about the
33. 1:22subject of money?
34. 1:24From a very young age, most of us are
35. 1:26taught that money, or the love of money,
36. 1:30is the root of all evil.
37. 1:32That's a belief that deeply permeates
38. 1:34our society.
39. 1:35And I'll tell you, it represents a huge
40. 1:38emotional hurdle to a great many people.
41. 1:41I mean, to claim that the love of
42. 1:43anything is the very foundation of evil,
43. 1:47well, that is a terribly frightening
44. 1:49assertion, especially in the mind of a
45. 1:51child.
46. 1:52Nevertheless, our society teaches and
47. 1:56we've been led to accept that loving
48. 1:59money equals evil.
49. 2:02And yet, all of us would like more
50. 2:05money. Doesn't that seem a bit odd?
51. 2:08Pursuing money, in one form or another,
52. 2:11is how most of us spend most of our
53. 2:13waking hours. The act of earning money
54. 2:16takes so much of our time that we
55. 2:18literally characterize it as what we do.
56. 2:22Now, why in the world would we want to
57. 2:25spend so much time and energy pursuing
58. 2:28something that we regard as evil? Many,
59. 2:31many people associate wealth with greed
60. 2:35and with selfishness.
61. 2:37Many people view rich people with
62. 2:39resentment, not only because of what
63. 2:41they have, but because we're kind of
64. 2:43suspicious about who they must have hurt
65. 2:46on their way to making all that money,
66. 2:47right?
67. 2:48I mean, many of us assume that in order
68. 2:51to become wealthy, you got to take
69. 2:53advantage of other people.
70. 2:55And yet, everyone wants to be rich.
71. 2:59Would anyone really rather be poor?
72. 3:02I mean, despising rich people and
73. 3:04wanting to be rich, that just doesn't
74. 3:06make any sense. It's like saying, "I
75. 3:09really hate the members of that club,
76. 3:11but man, I'd sure like to join."
77. 3:13Doesn't that strike you as a little bit
78. 3:15strange? Our conflicting messages and
79. 3:18feelings and beliefs about money are
80. 3:21just so confused.
81. 3:24We know that we need money to have a
82. 3:25good quality of life, but we're taught
83. 3:27to be very afraid of it.
84. 3:29We want more of something that society
85. 3:32has defined as the very foundation of
86. 3:35evil.
87. 3:36We resent wealthy people, but we want to
88. 3:39be like them.
89. 3:40We tend to demonize the corporations
90. 3:43that create the products and services
91. 3:44that we all enjoy. I mean, doesn't this
92. 3:47seem odd to you? Why would this be?
93. 3:51Well, I believe that it's because none
94. 3:53of us were ever taught anything about
95. 3:55money. I mean, we don't teach the
96. 3:56subject of money to our children in
97. 3:58school in any meaningful way, what money
98. 4:01is, how to make it, how to manage it.
99. 4:03These are things that are just simply
100. 4:04not addressed in the course of a
101. 4:06standard education.
102. 4:09And here's the problem. We go to school
103. 4:11for 15 or 20 years, and we learn about
104. 4:15dozens and dozens of subjects,
105. 4:17everything but money. And then we
106. 4:19graduate, and we spend most of our
107. 4:21waking hours every day for the rest of
108. 4:24our life what?
109. 4:26Trying to make money.
110. 4:28A subject about which we've learned
111. 4:30absolutely nothing in school.
112. 4:33Does that ring a bell with you? Because
113. 4:35just about everyone I know has had that
114. 4:36experience.
115. 4:38I know so many intelligent, talented,
116. 4:41disciplined, hard-working people who are
117. 4:44completely dumbfounded
118. 4:47when it comes to the subject of money.
119. 4:49It should be no surprise that we have
120. 4:50serious money problems.
121. 4:52Most of us are in debt up to our
122. 4:54eyebrows. You know, we're bewildered and
123. 4:57angered by the widening gap between the
124. 5:00rich and the poor.
125. 5:01Financial problems are among the leading
126. 5:03cause of divorce for couples.
127. 5:06Poverty, which is lack of money, is a
128. 5:09leading cause of crime in this country.
129. 5:12And many people wonder how poverty can
130. 5:13even exist in a country that's so
131. 5:15incredibly wealthy.
132. 5:17We do have serious money problems.
133. 5:20But when have we attempted to educate
134. 5:23anyone on this issue, especially our
135. 5:25children? I mean, what kind of
136. 5:27disconnect allows us to totally
137. 5:30disregard such an incredibly important
138. 5:32subject from an educational perspective?
139. 5:36How do we expect people to learn
140. 5:37anything about money if we don't teach
141. 5:40it to them?
142. 5:41Well, here's the sad truth.
143. 5:43When it comes to money,
144. 5:45we're expected to figure it out on our
145. 5:47own.
146. 5:48We're not expected to discover the
147. 5:49principles of physics out there in the
148. 5:51real world after we graduate.
149. 5:54We're not expected to figure out
150. 5:55geometry on our own.
151. 5:57We're not left to wrestle with verb
152. 5:59tense or multiplication or igneous rocks
153. 6:03or cumulus clouds.
154. 6:05But we're somehow expected to discover
155. 6:07the principles of money all by
156. 6:09ourselves. And I'll tell you, that's a
157. 6:11really, really hard thing to do.
158. 6:15Now, I had the good fortune of getting
159. 6:17an education on the subject of money.
160. 6:20Didn't learn any of it in school because
161. 6:21they don't teach it in school.
162. 6:23But it's in my blood. It's programmed
163. 6:25into me because I had a role model, my
164. 6:28father, who's a money maker, a real
165. 6:31rags-to-riches story. And it made a
166. 6:34gigantic impact on my personality.
167. 6:37I saw how to create wealth first hand,
168. 6:40the entire process, and then I did it
169. 6:42myself.
170. 6:44When I was a kid, I thought that what
171. 6:46you were supposed to do when you grew up
172. 6:48was to find something that you're really
173. 6:50good at and then nurture and expand
174. 6:52those talents,
175. 6:54work hard to discover how to use your
176. 6:56talents to make the lives of the people
177. 6:57around you happier or more beautiful or
178. 7:00safer or better somehow, and not only
179. 7:04get wealthy doing it, but gain a whole
180. 7:07lot of personal fulfillment along the
181. 7:09way.
182. 7:10And you know what?
183. 7:12I still do.
184. 7:14I'd like to share a clip from the
185. 7:15Lifebook program with you right now that
186. 7:18talks about my beliefs about money.
187. 7:43During the course my journey from
188. 7:45poverty to financial abundance, I
189. 7:47developed a deep understanding of what
190. 7:49money is, where it comes from, what it
191. 7:53means, and what it can do.
192. 7:55At a very young age, I remember looking
193. 7:57around me at how people viewed money and
194. 7:59thinking to myself, "Something's very
195. 8:01wrong here."
196. 8:03If people understood what wealth is,
197. 8:05where it comes from, and what it can do
198. 8:07for people, it wouldn't be this way.
199. 8:10So, I studied it. I read about it.
200. 8:13I found out that if we want to begin to
201. 8:15remove the mystery, the chaos, the
202. 8:18confusion surrounding money,
203. 8:20the best place to start is by answering
204. 8:23this question.
205. 8:25What is money?
206. 8:28And it turns out there's actually an
207. 8:30objective answer.
208. 8:33Money is simply a tool of trade.
209. 8:37It's a medium of exchange. Nothing more,
210. 8:40nothing less.
211. 8:42Money is an invention that allows us to
212. 8:45trade the goods we create and the
213. 8:47services we offer more easily.
214. 8:50It's one of the most important
215. 8:51inventions in the history of our
216. 8:53species. Without money, civilization
217. 8:56would not have even been possible.
218. 8:58Money has two primary purposes.
219. 9:01To standardize value so that people can
220. 9:04trade things more easily
221. 9:06and to store value so that people can
222. 9:08save it and trade it at a later date.
223. 9:12And these two things are the foundation
224. 9:15of the civilized world.
225. 9:17Here's an example of what standardizing
226. 9:20value means.
227. 9:22Say I was a wheat farmer a few thousand
228. 9:24years ago before money was invented. I
229. 9:27want some eggs. Well, I'm going to have
230. 9:29to barter. I need to find a guy with
231. 9:31chickens and try to trade him some wheat
232. 9:33for some eggs.
233. 9:35But if the chicken guy doesn't want
234. 9:36wheat, say instead that he wants beef,
235. 9:39now I got to find a guy with cows.
236. 9:42And if I find the guy with cows, but he
237. 9:44doesn't want my wheat either, say he
238. 9:46wants three clay pots instead.
239. 9:49Now, I'm going to have to find a potter.
240. 9:51So, finally, the potter is willing to
241. 9:54trade me three pots for my wheat. So,
242. 9:56now I can trade the pots for the beef
243. 9:59and the beef for the eggs.
244. 10:01That's what people used to have to do to
245. 10:03trade their goods and services. They had
246. 10:05to trade their stuff directly for other
247. 10:08people's stuff, and it was really
248. 10:09clumsy. Well, money got rid of all that.
249. 10:13It allowed me to turn my wheat into
250. 10:15silver coins.
251. 10:17And those coins were recognized as the
252. 10:19standard of value by everyone.
253. 10:23I could trade them for eggs, or beef, or
254. 10:26three pots, or jewelry for my wife,
255. 10:29anything I wanted in one step.
256. 10:32It's more efficient.
257. 10:33Money is a medium of exchange.
258. 10:37Money standardizes or equalizes value.
259. 10:40It makes everything worth X amount of
260. 10:44these little things.
261. 10:47Money also allowed people to store
262. 10:49value, which is huge.
263. 10:52As a wheat farmer, I work all year long
264. 10:55in my fields, but the harvest happens
265. 10:57all at once.
266. 10:58If I don't trade my wheat quickly, it's
267. 11:00going to mold, and all my work is going
268. 11:02to go down the drain.
269. 11:04So, I have to trade it for whatever is
270. 11:06available at the time.
271. 11:08If I want to trade my wheat for a horse,
272. 11:10but there's none available at the time,
273. 11:12too bad for me. Maybe next year there's
274. 11:14going to be a horse available when I
275. 11:16have some more wheat.
276. 11:18Money changed all that, too. With money,
277. 11:21I can turn my wheat into coins, and then
278. 11:23I can trade those coins not only for
279. 11:25what I want, but when I want. I can wait
280. 11:28a month. I can wait a year. I can even
281. 11:31pass that money on to my children.
282. 11:33Money allowed people to save.
283. 11:37And what is it that we're saving? What's
284. 11:40What's in there?
285. 11:41Our productive accomplishments, our hard
286. 11:44work. Money is stored energy.
287. 11:48Your work, your sweat, your thinking,
288. 11:51your talents are in there. You traded
289. 11:54those things for these things.
290. 11:58Today, we use paper money. In America,
291. 12:01we use dollars.
292. 12:03Dollars are pieces of paper printed by
293. 12:05the government.
294. 12:07By themselves, they're worthless. You
295. 12:09can't eat them, you can't live in them,
296. 12:12you can't do anything with them other
297. 12:14than what they were invented for, trade
298. 12:17products and services.
299. 12:20It's not the dollars themselves that
300. 12:21have worth.
301. 12:23It's only what the dollars represent.
302. 12:26Now, why is this important to
303. 12:27understand?
304. 12:29Stop chasing those pieces of paper and
305. 12:32focus on what they represent, and you'll
306. 12:34find out.
307. 12:38Money represents the very best things
308. 12:42that people have to offer each other,
309. 12:44the goods and the services that people
310. 12:46produce.
311. 12:47With money, people can easily exchange
312. 12:50their work, their talents, their skills,
313. 12:53the very best that's inside of
314. 12:55themselves for the best that's inside of
315. 12:57others.
316. 12:58Money is quite literally a symbol of
317. 13:01human productivity and achievement.
318. 13:04It represents all the good things that
319. 13:07we create for each other.
320. 13:10Today, we trade our work for money,
321. 13:12which we then use to trade for the work
322. 13:14of other people.
323. 13:16Steven Spielberg, his work is to make
324. 13:18movies. And the rest of us go to work,
325. 13:20and we trade our various talents and
326. 13:23skills for money. And then we trade a
327. 13:25small part of what we've earned to
328. 13:27Steven Spielberg's company so that we
329. 13:29can enjoy an evening's entertainment.
330. 13:32The value Bill Gates has created is
331. 13:34software that's changed the way that
332. 13:36people live and he's wealthy because
333. 13:39he's positively affected the lives of
334. 13:41literally billions of people in a
335. 13:43profound way.
336. 13:45A doctor, a teacher, a lawyer, a
337. 13:48janitor, they all provide valuable
338. 13:51services to other people. They exchange
339. 13:54those services for money so they can
340. 13:56acquire the valuable services of others.
341. 14:00You trade your work for money and the
342. 14:02better you are at what you do, the more
343. 14:04valuable you become, the more money you
344. 14:07can trade your work for.
345. 14:09Money is a symbol of the best that
346. 14:12people have to offer each other.
347. 14:15Do I love money?
348. 14:17Well, if you mean do I love little green
349. 14:19pieces of paper with pictures of dead
350. 14:21presidents on them, the answer is no,
351. 14:24not really.
352. 14:25But if you mean do I love what money
353. 14:27represents, what it means, and what it
354. 14:30can do,
355. 14:31the answer is absolutely.
356. 14:34Anyone who has collecting those little
357. 14:37pieces of paper at the center of their
358. 14:39life's aspirations to me is way missing
359. 14:42the point.
360. 14:44If you want to enrich yourself,
361. 14:46stop concentrating on those pieces of
362. 14:48paper
363. 14:49and start concentrating on the value
364. 14:51that you can contribute to the people
365. 14:53around you.
366. 15:00What if you were taught at a very young
367. 15:02age that money is a symbol of human
368. 15:06productivity and human achievement?
369. 15:09That it represents all the good things
370. 15:12that people create
371. 15:14and that it's absolutely worthy of your
372. 15:16respect and your admiration.
373. 15:19What if you've been taught that the love
374. 15:21of money is really the love of the human
375. 15:24mind, of production,
376. 15:27of progress, of freedom?
377. 15:30That it's actually the love of humanity.
378. 15:33What if you've been taught that wealth
379. 15:36and progress and prosperity
380. 15:39are what eliminate poverty and human
381. 15:41suffering?
382. 15:43That making money equals not some sort
383. 15:46of spiritual defect, but the highest
384. 15:49form of contribution.
385. 15:52If you'd been encouraged by everyone
386. 15:54around you to develop and apply your
387. 15:56unique talents to the pursuit and the
388. 15:58creation of wealth, how might your life
389. 16:01be different than it is right now?
390. 16:04If your children grew up believing this,
391. 16:06how would their lives be different?
392. 16:10Your beliefs and your attitudes toward
393. 16:12money and wealth can have a major impact
394. 16:15on whether or not you're going to be
395. 16:17able to create financial abundance in
396. 16:18your life.
397. 16:20How you think about money will determine
398. 16:22your financial condition.
399. 16:25Your beliefs, whether they're true or
400. 16:26not, whether they're helpful or not, are
401. 16:29going to determine your actions, and
402. 16:31that's why they're so incredibly
403. 16:32important. Choose them consciously.
404. 16:36Don't let a limiting lousy belief
405. 16:39control your life, especially not if
406. 16:42someone else put that belief in your
407. 16:43head.
408. 16:44Decide for yourself what you want your
409. 16:47beliefs to be about money.
410. 16:50Now, tomorrow we're going to go deeper
411. 16:52into this unique and fascinating
412. 16:53category of your life, and you're going
413. 16:55to do a really, really powerful exercise
414. 16:58that's going to be a game changer for
415. 16:59you. I'm really excited about it. Until
416. 17:02then, have a fantastic day, and I'll see
417. 17:05you tomorrow as we explore your
418. 17:08financial life together.
419. 17:23Mhm.