RESOURCE THREE:
Overcoming Fear of Financial Success: How Much Money You Make is Between You and Your Mother
by Marilyn August
What if you had enough money to pay for all the things you want and desire? How would your life change if you had financial success?
Many people strive to succeed, all the while harboring real or imagined fears about being successful. Someone in your past may have said or inferred that "you'll never amount to anything," or "who do you think you are anyway?" Even if you did not experience any negative input while growing up, you may have drawn certain conclusions about yourself that keep you stuck. You may have decided that you're just not good enough, smart enough, or simply don't have the required "luck."
Many people sabotage their opportunity for
financial success due to the uncomfortable
changes success can bring. Failure, worry and
financial stress may be such familiar miseries
that they become part of you. I believe that
those lottery winners and celebrities who make
millions, and yet still find themselves in
debt and bankrupt, have an unconscious fear
of success.
I've actually seen a divorce caused by financial
success when a couple attending my seminar
found they no longer had anything to talk about
once they stropped arguing about money. Not
only didn't they have anything else to talk
about, they found they also didn't even like
each other very much. Money had been a convenient
mask for them, covering up the real problems
in their marriage.
The transition to financial success, prosperity and abundance can be made in a healthy and less stressful manner by preparing yourself for positive change. Financial success means that you are able to be clear and honest with yourself and your friends. For example, a client of mine was invited to the theater. Rather than be honest and say, "I don't want to go tonight," she told her friend she couldn't afford the ticket. She thought she was avoiding offending her friend, but, in reality, she was using money as her excuse. Her friend, realizing that my client has sufficient money to do just about anything, was angry because she knew that it was a lie.
Look into your heart and soul and ask yourself if you are ready to give up, for all time, the poor-me story you've made up about yourself. Your vision, your dreams, your purpose and your passion become your new story. If you don't have one already, make up a new story of financial abundance so your mind has a direction in which to go. One way to do this is to pretend that you have just won an award for the Best __________________ of 1999. You are asked to write your own introduction. Write a paragraph or two on your accomplishments and contributions.
The best way to dissipate fear of success is to plan for success. Write down 50 things you would do with an unlimited supply of money. This self-discovery exercise may just give you the information you need to overcome your hidden fear of financial success.