7 Days to a Financially Abundant Mindset - Lesson 1

Hey, this is John Assaraf, New York Times best selling author and founder of NeuroGym. And welcome to Seven Days to a financially abundant mindset. In the next seven days, I'm going to share with you some of the best lessons that I have learned about how to get your brain to help you achieve every one of your financial goals and dreams, how to earn more, how to have the lifestyle of your dreams, and more importantly, how to develop the mindset that will separate you from everybody else who struggles with finances. I look forward to hearing the amazing results that you are achieving as a result of understanding more about your brain and how to develop a financially abundant mindset. Let's begin your first session with getting a full understanding of what is money really. And throughout the seven lessons, I will give you more things to consider so that you fully understand what you need to do to have more of it. If you go back far enough in time to the tribes of Africa, every tribe developed certain skills. Some were hunters, some were gatherers, and over time, tribes became very proficient at their certain specialty, depending of course on where they lived and the natural skill set that they had. They learned very early on that in working together, we are better equipped to survive and thrive. So what did they do? They exchanged or traded, for example, meat for berries, woven baskets for spears, blankets for edible roots. With time, as people, tribes or villages developed certain skills, a value system was created. For what berries or fixing a horse's hoof was worth, how many pieces of fish were worth, how many handfuls of spices? The human race has used chocolates, seashells, livestock, and even gold and silver coins going back to 5000 BC as a way to exchange value amongst themselves. It was only when we started moving further and further away from each other that we created paper money. That was in 1862 in the United States, and we created paper money instead of heavy coins as a financial means of exchange. Today, as you know, we use electronic means and credit or debit cards to transfer money from one account to another with the snap of a finger, basically. So here is your first money lesson. Money in all of its forms is totally and fully abundant and is nothing more than a means of exchange between people, tribe, companies or countries. Your first and most important task, regardless of how easy or hard it has been for you to earn and have more than enough money, is this. Start with this belief Money and abundance is everywhere and all around me. There is absolutely no shortage of money or wealth. If for whatever reason you have been conditioned to believe that it is really hard to earn or have money in abundance. The belief will create the reality. Your belief will cause you to think, feel and behave in ways that match your beliefs and pay close attention. Your brain will only show you things that match your belief. Your brain acts as a filter to delete or distort anything that does not match your current internal map of reality around money. Your brain's map of reality around money is based on all of the conditioning and experiences you've ever had around money. And this conditioning comes from your parents, your teachers, friends, and of course, the personal experiences you've had up until now. I imagine there is room for growth, wouldn't you agree? Let's have a look at your mindset around money. Review the chart with me and choose the mindset that most resonates with you right now. Do you, for example, have a scarcity mindset? Do you believe that it's hard to earn money? Do you believe that there's not enough for everybody? Do you believe that there isn't enough time to earn the income that you want to earn and acquire the wealth that you want to acquire? What about this? A security mindset? People with a security mindset, they believe that there's enough, but just enough for them and for them to have safety and security. Is that you? Is that what you're focusing on? Security? What about a success mindset? People with a success mindset, they believe that there is more than enough. They believe that no matter what problems arise, no matter what circumstances are around them, whether it's with the economy, the government, or even their business or career, they can figure it out and they could become financially successful no matter what. Is that you? How about a significance mindset? This is the rarest of all and a significance minded person always believes that there's more than enough for everybody. There's more than enough money, more than enough wealth, more enough to go around. And they are focusing not only on more money and more wealth, but they're focusing on using that wealth to make a big, huge difference in the world. Is that you? Is that where you would like to be? Regardless of what you chose, the answer doesn't really matter. What matters is that you understand that you can move from one mindset to another. Let's have a little bit more fun. Let's take a look at where your current income earning comfort zone is right now. So take a look at this graph and what I want you to notice is what yearly or monthly income makes you feel a little uncomfortable or causes you to think, I could never earn that much is it $50,000 a year? $100,000 a year? Is 250,000 in your comfort zone or out of your comfort zone? What about earning 500,000 or a million dollars a year? Does that get you a little bit anxious? Does that make you think that that's not possible for me? Let's jump a little bit more. What about $5 million or $10 million? Are these out of your comfort zone? The purpose of this little exercise is not to make you embarrassed or anything like that. It's to help you become aware that everyone has a number that makes them feel uncomfortable, a number that actually activates their limiting beliefs and their past experiences. And it can bring up some of your old conditioning and any emotions you associate with money. What I want you to do is to just reflect on the dialogue or the emotions that were happening within you as I was using these numbers as examples. Regardless of what kind of money mindset you currently have, or whatever earning zone makes you feel uncomfortable. The latest brain research, and specifically the science of neuroplasticity, shows that your brain is capable of creating new, powerful patterns every minute of every day. And you can retrain your brain to have more empowering beliefs about yourself and your abilities. And you can develop new habits and perspectives around money. You can start to use the latest brain science to change from the inside out. And here is the beautiful thing. You can reset all of your old patterns, regardless of how young or old you are. And you can create a new image in your mind that has you earning more money, managing it better, and having more than enough. The question is, are you ready to do this? I'm assuming that the answer is yes. So, to close off this first lesson, I want you to do two things. Number one, I want you to write down on a sheet of paper or on your computer the amount of income you would like to be earning on a monthly basis, even though you may not know how to achieve it at this time. Choose a number that excites you and also scares you just a little bit. Next, I want you to pick a quiet time to sit and just relax, maybe with the glass of wine or a cup of tea, if you would like, add some gentle, relaxing music in the background. And then take six deep breaths, in through your nose and out through your mouth in a rhythmic fashion. And I want you to ask yourself this question. Are you ready? What has to happen in order for me to earn this amount of money? Let me repeat. What has to happen in order for me to earn this amount of money? And make sure that you have a piece of paper next to you and write down whatever comes to your mind. Don't judge any of the answers. Just write and see how many things pop up into your mind. Then, for the next seven days, I want you to look at the amount of money you want to earn and see if you can add or delete things on that sheet of paper that you started about what has to happen in order for you to earn that amount of money. This simple exercise will cause your brain to focus on possible solutions. Next, I want you to start using this self talk affirmation every day starting today. Write it down and I want you to read it out loud several times a day, preferably when you just wake up and just before bed. And as you read it, I want you to feel it and see if you can get yourself excited about the possibility of what it says and means. Are you ready? Here it is. I am so happy and grateful that I am now discovering how to have a financial abundant mindset. I am so happy and grateful that I am now discovering how to have a financial abundance mindset. One more time. I am so happy and grateful that I am now discovering how to have a financial abundance mindset. Affirmations are really amazing instructions for our brains and when we repeat them and we emotionalize them, we start to create the patterns necessary for our brain to help us actually create the affirmation. Alright, that's our first lesson together. And in the next lesson, I'm going to help you understand more about what your real money mindset is all about. And we will begin to make small, small shifts in the right direction to help you achieve the mindset to help you succeed financially and in your wealth even more.