3 Toxic Beliefs That Severely Stunt Your Earning Potential
These beliefs are holding you back from making more money.
PublicDomainPictures, vkstudio | Canva You've probably heard of most of these ideas already:
- Get promoted
- Get a better job
- Increase your education
- Save more of your income
- Decrease your expenses
Here's an idea you may not have heard of: increase your financial thermostat. What's a financial thermostat and how do you increase it? In his book, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, T. Harv Eker explains that your financial thermostat is the set point of how much money you can make and keep. Similar to the thermostat in your home, your financial thermostat regulates your finances so that you don't make more or less than what it's set for. If you make more, you'll lose it in some way. For example, an unexpected expense may come up. If you make less than what your financial thermostat is set for, you might receive unexpected money. Your financial thermostat is set by your subconscious beliefs about money. That's why 80% of lottery winners lose all or more of their winnings within 5 years, even after taking classes on managing large amounts of money, wreaking havoc on your happiness.
These 3 beliefs severely stunt your earning potential:
1. If I make more money than my family, they will be upset.
This leads you to make only as much as your family members in order to remain a member of your tribe.
2. If I make more money than my friends, they will be jealous.
Fear of being rejected by friends can be a powerful subconscious motivator to remain in the same income bracket.
3. I'm not meant to be rich.
Lots of people justify this belief by telling themselves that money isn't that important or that it's wrong to want to be rich.
Your subconscious mind is full of beliefs — beliefs from your parents, your culture, your environment, and your thoughts. These beliefs are evident in the way your life shows up. If you don't like what's showing up, you can put a lot of effort into changing the circumstances of your life or you can change things at the root level — your subconscious mind. You don't have to feel stuck, stressed or depressed.
You can take control of your subconscious mind and change your financial thermostat. Our subconscious mind is estimated to be a million times more powerful than our conscious mind. Imagine a tug-of-war. Your conscious mind wants one thing (to be wealthy) and your subconscious mind believes the opposite ("I can never be wealthy.") Which side do you think will win? You need to put in an enormous amount of conscious effort to get life to go your way if you don't have supporting subconscious beliefs on your side. The key to having more money is finding the beliefs that keep you from having more money and changing them.
Sandra Thébaud, PhD is a psychologist, and stress management expert with over 30 years of experience. She is the author of The Art of Loving Life.