According to success guru, Jack Canfield, “Everything you want also wants you. But you have to take action to get it.”
I thought of that quote when a woman, in one of my groups, recently posted: ‘Even though I say I want to create wealth, I keep signing up for more courses that kept putting me deeper in debt.”
I hear this all the time. Taking endless classes feels like you’re taking action, but it’s actually an act of self-deception.
So, I responded with a question: why don’t you want wealth?
Here’s the good news about creating wealth. Believing that you can do it, or not, is inconsequential. You just have to decide that’s what you want and be willing to do whatever comes next.
Powerful intentions produce sheer miracles. There’s a sort of magic inherent in a strong intention that will carry you through the toughest and scariest of times.
Here’s a 2 part exercise for creating a powerful intention.
I’m often asked this question: I want to become wealthy, but how do I do it?
I am tempted to respond with a line from Hope for the Flowers by Trina Paulus:
“How does one become a butterfly?” she asked pensively. “You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar.”
In other words:
You must want to soar so much, that you’re willing to give up playing small and staying safe.
Because creating wealth is about far more than amassing riches. It’s about becoming the powerful woman you were born to be, soaring higher that you believed possible.
In my book Sacred Success, I issue a warning: When you commit to Greatness, everything unlike itself will come up to be healed. Life gets in the way. Obstacles arise. Shit happens. Breakdowns occur.
To the masses, obstacles are like ticking time bombs, something to quickly defuse or avoid altogether.
But for those pursuing Greatness, obstacles are doorways to healing and growth. What seems to get in the way is the way to transformation.
As A Course in Miracles tells us:
If intentions are so powerful, why don’t they always pan out? What if you swear you want to make more money, but try as you might, nothing changes?
For one reason: You get what you want, not what you ask for.
The distinction is critical.
We all have numerous intentions, many we aren’t even aware of. You run into trouble when your expressed intentions are at odds with your unconscious ones.
When an implicit desire—say, to feel safe—is stronger than your spoken intention—to be profitable (which always requires going outside your comfort zone)—you’ll stop yourself at every turn.
You’ll water down your efforts, make misguided choices, and justify your actions with a variety of excuses (“I’d love to, but…).
You may say, and believe, you want to make more, but that’s not the message that’s reaching your brain.
If you want to know what your strongest intention is, regarding money, look at your life. If cash flow is tight, if your job pays too little, if your debt is spiraling out of control, then you either have not set an intention, or you actually intend not to be financially successful.
Why in the world would anyone intend not to be successful?
In part, because it’s scary. Think about it.
You may say you want something, but deep down, a muted voice is persuasively arguing, ‘No you don’t.’
Part of this is human nature, says psychologist Abraham Maslow. “We crave and fear becoming truly ourselves.” Which is what’s required to achieve and sustain financial success.
This is why the inner work is so critical, especially at the outset. You have to make sure your declared intention is an authentic reflection of who you are and what you want, that conflicting intentions aren’t inadvertently impeding your progress, and that your intent to profit doesn’t run counter to the way you were raised, the role you’ve assumed, or the beliefs you embrace.
Where do you suspect your implicit desire is in conflict with your spoken intention? Tell me about it in the comments below.
I can personally vouch for the incredible power of a strong intention!
Years ago, I noticed that just about every High Earner described a moment in her past, when she said to herself, with utter conviction: “It’s time to make more money.”
She didn’t always believe it possible or know how she’d do it. But she was definitely determined.
Compare that to Underearners. Almost without exception, they’d tell me “I’d love to make more money, but…” as they listed off a litany of excuses.
And indeed, their incomes remained consistently low.
I was quite struck by the difference in their responses. So one day I took a post-it note, wrote $125,000, and stuck it on my computer. That was my earnings goal for the year.
I hadn’t the slightest idea how I’d do it, especially since I’d never earned anywhere even close to that in my entire life. But there was no ‘but’ in my decision, no reasons why I couldn’t.
I’ve recently had a number of conversations that centered on 3 questions.
Today, I’d love to share my responses. Let’s begin with the first.
Wealth is having more than you need…so money ceases to be a source of stress and becomes a tool for living life fully.
Have you thought about the legacy you want to leave? Not just the business you want to build or the career you want to pursue. But how you want to be remembered after you’re gone?
Every one of us leaves a legacy—be it Greatness or Mediocrity. But surprisingly few reflect on what they want theirs to be. Yet it is an important point for us all to ponder.
Your legacy need not light up the sky. It need leave only the slightest footprint in the sand.
Whenever life gets hard, doors won’t open, nothing goes right—I know I need to ask myself a question. Where am I out of integrity?
The word integrity comes from a Latin root, meaning wholeness or entirety.
Whenever you’re not asking for what you want, spending money you don’t have, or your behavior is out of synch with your most cherished values and highest aspirations, you’re giving away your power, sabotaging your success.
Conversely, you take your power back by identifying, verbalizing and living your truth, moment by moment by moment.
Or, as A Course in Miracles puts it: “there is nothing you say that contradicts what you think or do.”
Can you guess what the biggest hazard to your financial success is? Those devilish how-tos. You know, thinking you have to have it all figured before you begin. Because that’s exactly what slows you down, or keeps you stuck
Those who have the most trouble thinking bigger are the ones who have to know exactly how they were going do it. If they can’t figure it out, they lower their sights.
I was in this category most of my life…until I interviewed six-figure women.
I learned a three-step plan from these women that made a huge difference.
Set a goal.
Commit to reach it (without knowing exactly how).
And grab hold of any unexpected opportunities that fall in your lap.
The second step is where the power is. Commitment, like a magnet, attracts coincidences. I always say, once you commit to a goal, if you’re not experiencing coincidences, you need to go back to the drawing board. You’re obviously not totally committed.
