I read a book recently that talked about the importance of saying affirmations daily for things you want to become. The author encouraged you to speak it until you become it.
Truth be told, I’m sort of on the fence about this idea.
On the one hand, I think it’s fantastic to know what you are aiming for and I think it’s much, much more effective to visualize yourself winning and succeeding in life than to envision yourself failing at everything.
There’s a good chance you will end up making a lot more progress if you believe that you can do something than if you assume or predict you can’t do something. In fact, there’s a high probability you won’t even bother to try a lot of things if you tell yourself that you can’t do it from the get-go.
For instance, if you believe, “I’ll never get out of debt.” There is a very good chance that you won’t even be motivated to make a plan to try to get out of debt. Because, why bother if you already think it’s a hopeless cause?
On the flip side, I think that this whole repeating daily affirmations things can become detrimental or unhealthy if your affirmation is based on a self-focused premise or an unrealistic ideal.
One of the affirmations this book encouraged people to repeat over and over was, “I am a multi-millionaire.”
That just rubbed me all kinds of wrong.
Why? Because our culture is obsessed with the belief that money is the answer. That if you just made twice as much money (or five times as much money) or inherited a million dollars or won the lottery, then all your problems would be solved.
As someone who has been on both ends of the spectrum (having very little and have an abundance), I can tell you this: money is not the answer to all your problems. Money can do a lot of amazing things, but having money doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t have problems. Just like not having money doesn’t necessarily mean your life will be filled with all kinds of terribly hard things.
If you chase after more money and make more money your end goal, you’ll never, ever be satisfied. Because there’s no such thing as “enough money” when more money is your goal. If you finally end up making $100,000, you’ll then aim to make $200,000. If you end up becoming a millionaire, you’ll then shoot to become a multi-millionaire.
And on and on it will go.
Money doesn’t satisfy. Money isn’t the answer. If you chase after money, you’ll always be chasing after more.
If you are struggling with this concept, I encourage you to ask yourself two questions that have changed my entire perspective in how I run my business and the choices that I make in my personal life:
- When is enough, enough?
- Would I be content if I knew that where I am right now will never change?
I cut back, streamlined, said no, and stripped away so much from my life as a result of these two questions. Why? Because I realized that I was chasing after more when I already had enough.
Instead of spending most of my days pursuing new opportunities, researching new possibilities, planning and mapping out new ideas, exhausting myself trying to reach new goals, or stressing over setting up new strategy, I want to spend the bulk of my time just loving the life right in front of me and embracing and being grateful for the more-than-enough life that I already have.
From first hand experience, I can promise there is much more joy, fulfillment, and life right there.
Now, let me be clear: There’s nothing wrong with wanting to increase your income, grow your business, or hit certain financial goals, so long as you have a healthy WHY in place for doing so and you have healthy boundaries in place for achieving these goals.
Instead of chasing after more or coming up with a daily affirmation or goal of becoming a millionaire or multi-millionaire, start with a WHY that matters.
Maybe something like, “I will help as many hungry children as possible have nutritional meals.” Or, “I will find ways to help eliminate hunger in our city.” Or, “I will make an impact in teen girls’ lives.”
You know what’s different with those goals/affirmations? All of them are ones that you can start right now. You don’t have to wait until you are a millionaire or a multi-millionaire. You can begin today!
Your why might be something that requires a lot of money to pull off. Some of my goals and the whys behind those goals definitely do or will require a significant amount of money to make happen. And for me, this is certainly a reason to be strategic with opportunities I accept, to work on growing the business while having healthy boundaries, and to look for ways to work smarter, not harder.
But I can tell you from personal experience that there is so much more joy and fulfillment and purpose when you have established your WHY and you’re not just chasing after something for the sake of chasing. Not only that, but it also helps me be a lot more intentional about how I spend my time, what I say yes to and what I say no to, and it allows me to embrace and enjoy the here and now instead of just focusing on trying to get where I want to go.
So, I challenge you to stop chasing after more for more’s sake, to establish your WHY behind your goals, and to begin today to embrace exactly where you are. Don’t wait until you get where you think you want to be to start loving the life you have.
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