One great way to motivate yourself is to increase the flow of money into your life. Most people are embarrassed to even think this way. They don’t want to “think and grow rich” because they think they’ll be seen as selfish or greedy. Or maybe they still believe in the thoroughly discredited Marxist economic superstition that in order to make money, you have to take it from other people. Or they don’t want to be seen as obsessed with money. But you know who is really obsessed with money? People who don’t have it. They obsess about money all day long. It’s in their family discussions, it’s on their minds at night, and it becomes a destructive part of their relationships during the day.
The best way to stop being obsessed with money is to trust your game plan to get you on the road to financial freedom. “Our first duty,” said George Bernard Shaw, “is not to become poor.” The road to not becoming poor is always through your professional relationships in life. The more you serve those relationships, the more productive they will be, and the more money you will make.
“Money is the life energy we exchange and use as a result of the service we render to the universe,” writes Deepak Chopra in CreatingAffluence. When you understand that money flows from service, you have the opportunity to understand something even more valuable: Unexpectedly large amounts of money come from unexpectedly large levels of service.
The way to produce unexpected service to the people in your life is to ask yourself, “What do they expect?” Once you are clear about what that is, ask, “What can I do that they don’t expect?” It is always the unexpected service that is talked about. And it is always the talk that increases your professional value. As Napoleon Hill has repeatedly pointed out, great wealth comes from the habit of going the extra mile. And it is always a smart business move to do a little more than you are paid for.
It’s nearly impossible to enjoy a self-motivated life when you’re worried about money. Don’t be shy about giving this topic a lot of thought. Thinking about money a little earlier frees you from having to think about it all the time later. Allow yourself to connect financial well-being with an increased capacity for compassion for others. If I live in poverty, how much love and care can I give to my children or my fellow human beings? How much help can I give if, through lack of creative planning, I’m always worried about getting into debt? “Poverty is no disgrace,” Napoleon Hill said. “But it’s certainly no compliment.”