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.

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.” 

I’ve long known that women’s difficulties with money have little to do with money per se and everything to do with their fear of power.

In a 2012 study, “Women and the Paradox of Power,” 38% of respondents said they’d rather be well-liked than powerful. As if the two were mutually exclusive.

Our confusion around power should come as no surprise. Historically, girls haven’t been groomed, expected, or encouraged to be successful, powerful adults.

If anything, we were raised as the power behind the throne, often punished for even aspiring higher.

I’m convinced, beneath our dislike of or discomfort with power, lurks a deeper, more ominous concern—the dire consequences we might suffer if we become truly powerful.

Historical narratives of strong, assertive, outspoken women being harshly punished, even burned at the stake, have permeated our collective unconscious.

Do you realize it’s been 20 years since The Secret was released. I’m still a big fan of the movie and occasionally watch the video.

Thanks to this wildly popular movie and subsequent book by Rhonda Bryne, the Law of Attraction is part of our vocabulary. And that’s a very good thing…to a point.

The Law of Attraction states that you attract whatever you want into your life through your ability to feel good, think positively, and focus only on the desired outcome. Simply put, if you want to be rich, don’t focus on lack.

But here’s the problem.  How many times have you said you really want wealth, believe riches are on the way, refuse to focus on anything but abundance….and still, nothing happens?   Your bills go unpaid while your bank balance dwindles.

What the Secret failed to mention is that the Law of Attraction is only part of the equation. There is also The Law of Congruency.

For over 20 years, I’ve been baffled.

Sure, we women have become excellent dollar watchers and bargain hunters. But investors? Forget about it. We want to learn, but lack the confidence to act.

And here’s what’s really baffling. Once women enter in the market, we’re actually better investors than men.  Key findings in a recent article on The Motley Fool, (https://www.fool.com/research/women-in-investing-research/) show that female investors earn better returns than men—up to 1.8% in some studies.

But only 9% of women think they make better investors than men according to a Fidelity report.