Brian Tracy argues that although opportunities for financial success are abundant, the major barrier is psychological: many people unconsciously believe they don't deserve wealth due to childhood criticism, which creates guilt and self-sabotage when they acquire money. He outlines behavioral consequences (spending, poor investments, addiction, infidelity, personality change) and prescribes changing one's attitude—viewing money as a skill to learn, courting and respecting money, and believing in an unlimited personal capacity to acquire it. He clarifies that money itself is neutral and only the love or misuse of money causes harm.
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There are more opportunities to achieve financial success in our society than have ever existed before, even in the current economy. So the question is, why is it that more people do not achieve financial success? What we have found is the major mental obstacle to financial success is that some people believe that they don't really deserve to be rich. They've been raised with a steady drumbeat of destructive criticism, as I was. That has led them to conclude at an unconscious level that they don't really deserve to be successful and happy. Now, the worst effect of negative experiences in childhood, which are all too common, is that when people actually do succeed as a result of hard work, they feel guilty. These guilt feelings then cause them to do things, to get rid of the money, to throw it away. They spend it or invest it foolishly, they lend it or lose it or give it away in some way. People who have been raised with destructive criticism and feelings of guilt engage in self sabotage in the form of overeating, excessive drinking, drug usage, marital infidelity, and often dramatic personality changes. So to change your results with money, you have to change your attitude toward it. The fact is that money is very much like a lover. It must be courted and coaxed and flattered and treat it with care and attention. Money gravitates toward people who respect it and value it and who are capable of doing worthwhile things with it. Money flows through the fingers and flees from people who do not understand it or who do not take proper care of it. Sometimes people say that they are not very good with money. But being good with money is a skill that anyone can learn through practice. Usually saying that one is not very good with money is is merely an excuse or a rationalization for the fact that the person is not very successful or disciplined with money. The person has not learned how to acquire it or how to hold on to it. Now, the starting point of accumulating money is for you to believe that you have an unlimited capacity to obtain all the money that you'll ever need. Look upon yourself as a financial success just waiting for a place to happen, and see yourself as deserving all that you can honestly acquire. Money is good. Money gives you choices and enables you to live your life the way you want to live it. Money opens doors for you that would have been closed in its absence. But just like anything, an obsession can be hurtful. If a person becomes so preoccupied with money that he loses sight of the fact that money is merely a tool that is to be used to acquire happiness, then money becomes a harmful thing. The Bible says the love of money is the root of all evil. It doesn't say money is the root of all evil. It says the love of money is the root of all evil. It's the preoccupation with money to the exclusion of the really important things in life that is the problem, not the money itself. Money is essential to our lives in society. It's also neutral. It's neither good nor bad. It's only the way that it is acquired and the uses to which it is put that determines whether it is helpful or harmful. Thank you for viewing this video on the major obstacle to financial success. If you enjoyed this video, please press the like button below and click on the link on the screen to subscribe to my channel.
