Over the past five years of being a coach, I’ve had a number of insights into how I think and talk about money that have made it easier for me to create what I love (money) while doing what I love (coaching).

Recently I began listing them out for my apprentices and this list quickly turned into ten separate articles.

I am sharing them here in case you too love money and want to make more of it. If so, I hope that thinking and talking about money in these ways will help you like they have helped me.

—

Scarcity is kryptonite to human connection. If you’re worried you haven’t got enough money, you may as well piss all over yourself before you offer someone coaching. They’re just going to want to get away from you.

When facing the problem of scarcity I used to look for a way to ‘feel secure’.

The most obvious path was to make some money so I didn’t feel broke. When I was first starting my coaching business, I continued taking side projects through my web development company to keep the bills paid.

A more subtle path was realizing that I didn’t actually need what I thought I needed – that I could survive and be happy on little to no money at all.

An even more subtle path, popular amongst spirituality enthusiasts, was focusing my mind on the idea that the universe is abundant and all of the things I want and need will come to me if I just have faith.

What I see now is that ALL of these paths share a common thread – they all exist to solve the ‘problem’ of scarcity.

Paradoxically, any ‘solution’ to the problem of scarcity actually sustains it. Seeking security – in any way – actually perpetuates scarcity thinking.

By believing in ‘abundance’, making myself able to survive with less or even just making more money on the side so that I can continue, I am saying ‘YES – scarcity is a problem that needs solving’.

I’m not suggesting these paths don’t work. They have for me. What I am suggesting is that there is another path that doesn’t emerge from scarcity at all. In fact, it’s another way of seeing that makes the problem of scarcity go away completely.

The trick is seeing the glass as half full instead of half empty.

Allow me to be more specific before you discount this for being too simple.

When I’m in scarcity, my focus is on what’s NOT in the glass – the half-empty bit.

“Shit! I’m missing all this! I can’t survive without it!”

When I go make more money doing something ‘on the side’, I’m acting based on what is NOT in the glass.

When I remember that I can survive with less, I’m saying “It’s OK it’s half empty – I don’t need the other half”.

When I believe in abundance, it’s OK my glass is half empty because the universe will fill it for me.

However, when I shift my attention to what’s still in the glass, at first I’m seeing my ‘security’ . The power though is in deciding that what’s still in the glass is not for me, but for others.

When I look at what’s in the glass as being the resources I have to serve other people, I essentially shift my focus from security to capacity. From what I’m not able to have for myself to what I am able to do for others.

For example, there was a time when I had barely enough money to get me through the month. I was freaking out. Once I switched to a capacity perspective, it blew me away that I had almost an entire months’ capacity to serve people. Even if I didn’t make a single penny that month, I had enough money to be free to spend the ENTIRE month – all 30 days – only serving people!

Sure, at the end of the month I’d have no money, but that was only true when I was looking at the empty part of the glass.

Notice what I’m saying here:
– It was only true that at the end of the month I would have no money if my attention was on what was NOT in the glass. –
By shifting my mindset from security to capacity, I went from being gripped by fear to ELATED with how free and able I was to be of service in the world.

Today, when I look at the money I have as a resource that empowers me with the freedom to serve others, I am automatically oriented towards serving people.
And that’s a good orientation to have if I want to make money.

 

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF

• How have I been solving the ‘scarcity’ problem?
• What resources do I actually have?
• What capacity does that give me to serve people?

 

[pexcirclecta pex_attr_small_title=”JOIN MY EMAIL NEWSLETTER!” pex_attr_title=”Get Insights & Stories I Only Share by Email” pex_attr_button_text=”SIGN UP” pex_attr_button_link=”https://jpmorganjr.com/email/” pex_attr_button_link_open=”same”][/pexcirclecta]