Why are you going to work? Is it to make money? If so, you’re being controlled by money instead of controlling money. Yes, there’s a difference.

Philosophers have always believed that wealth results from an individual’s ability to think rather than being controlled by money and fear.

Winners go to work because they want to, not because they have to. Therefore, they typically choose a field that brings them intrinsic joy, or they have learned to be content in all situations. Average-minded people go to work because they have to, fearing they won’t make ends meet. Typically, they are in jobs they do not enjoy and never learn anything more about their career field outside of that first year.

Do you see the difference?

Winners are in control of money, and average-minded people are allowing money to control them.

It’s ironic to me. Americans are the wealthiest population in the world. We’re incredibly blessed, yet we are the most controlled by money. The mindset that average-minded people are being controlled by is the fear of poverty. This fear makes you believe you never have enough resources, leading you to fear the worst and catastrophizing about your future. They may even imagine living on the street even though they have a few thousand in the bank.

Of course, you can’t fix your relationship with money or fear of poverty with the same mindset that created it. Champions know this, which is why they upgrade their identity – raising their level of awareness, belief, and trust in the divine. They do things differently. Instead of letting fear and the what-if thoughts control them, they rise above by spending that bandwidth on learning and studying how the world-class creates wealth. The key to building wealth is making money work for you, which by default means you’re in control of money instead of vice versa.

Here’s where many average people need help regarding this understanding. Average people believe that formal education is the answer to obtaining wealth. Yet, very few academics are wealthy. Instead of spending days bootstrapping themselves by studying how the world-class obtains wealth, ordinary people believe getting more certificates or degrees will be the answer to their financial problems. Unfortunately, their thinking typically leads to more debt, not prosperity.

Average people trade time for money. The world-class trades money for a time by creating solutions to problems.

The world-class sees money like oxygen—a resource that winners believe their heavenly Father will provide for them (assuming they aren’t walking on the foolish path as Proverbs states). Ordinary people see money in the perspective of scarcity—limiting the Divine and what He can do for them. Of course, this leads average people to gossip, minimize, complain, and bully the world-class. Their frustration consumes them, stealing more and more of their bandwidth.

However, if they get out of the dust of negativity and the valley of death, the solution to their problems is within arms’ reach. What’s within arms’ reach? Ideas.

Let me put it this way:

Poor people often waste their energy complaining about the past, dwelling on unfairness, and blaming others for their misfortune.

Average people waste their bandwidth gossiping and comparing themselves to others.

Winners spend their bandwidth talking about ideas.

Do you see how one is a better steward of their mental bandwidth than the others?

The irony is fear, negativity, bitterness, rejection, and jealousy/envy are known to limit your potential – yet so many people willingly participate in such realities. But now the world class.

The world-class understands that people will bend over backward, giving them grace and accepting imperfections when it helps such people solve a problem. Yet the average-minded individual falls for the scam that must be “perfect” before producing any financial gain. The alluring lie of perfection makes them miss the opportunity to serve as a problem-solving guide through their ideas to the people the Divine desired them to serve. Ultimately, fear and rejection stop them.

Poverty and average-minded thinking will never be fixed through more money. Money is not the answer. It’s a mindset problem. Average-minded people are limited by their limited self-image, which unconsciously tells them they don’t belong anywhere but at the average level or below. Science has proven you can never rise above your own self-image, nor will you ever make more money than you believe you’re worth.

The world-class understands that it’s all perception, and perception is something that no one but God can affirm as right or wrong. 

Action Plan:

• Reflect on your relationship with money
• Pray to God, asking Him to reveal where you can be a better steward