Article 7: Values are the Foundation of Wealth

When you find something to be valuable, it is a reflection of your values. All of those things which you find valuable in your life form your system of values.

It is this collection of values, most of them reflecting our beliefs and those we grew up with, that we use to make decisions everyday about the tradeoffs in our lives. More work vs. less time with the kids, more exercise vs. less dessert, being honest vs. lying to get what you want etc. This is one function of our system of values. You will make choices between these kinds of things based on what is most important to you at a given time in your life. Read more

Article 3: Your Wealth Potential

When you work for someone, the theory is that you are doing something of value that the employer/boss/owner compensates you for based on some prior agreement (you do ___. you get paid $____). Pretty straightforward exchange of value. When you are accessible and empathic to someone’s situation, they will find you more likable, and subsequently will be more interested in being your friend. When you contribute of your time and/or your financial wealth to charitable causes or needy individuals, you find that not only does this make you feel good (helping with the wellbeing of others) but that you are recognized for it by your peers, maybe even the Universe that continues to send opportunities and other forms of abundance to you with no real connection to any specific acts of generosity that you have performed but, gosh, it just seems like are one lucky person.

Baloney.

What you are doing is exercising your Wealth Potential and the rest of your reality is responding according to the universal principles and laws that govern the creation of wealth (specifically in these examples, the principle of ‘what goes around comes around’).

OK, so what’s “Wealth Potential”? Wealth potential is pretty much just what it says: it represents the potential you (and everyone else) has to create wealth.  Since you now know (from reading the previous blogs … if you haven’t done that yet, get going and catch up) that wealth is multidimensional, you can see how it was created in all of the instances about: financial wealth (pay check), better quality relationships, increased self-esteem and coincidences. These are all forms of wellbeing that were created on your behalf because you were exercising your Wealth Potential.

Wealth Potential is the subject of the 3rd Article of The Wealth Manifesto: Your Wealth Potential represents the value you have to yourself and to others.

Your WP consists of any and all of the resources that are at the core of your needs for personal fulfillment and/or what can be a part of the unique value proposition you have to offer anyone else. It consists of your knowledge, skills, talents, passion, relationships, beliefs, attitudes and anything else that contributes to your ability to offer value.  In short, we get what we want by exercising using our wealth potential.

Forget about money for a moment.  If we are using our skills, doing things we are passionate about, things that make us feel good (gardening, reading, playing golf with friends, creating something, starting a business, etc), we are satisfying different levels of needs (and different dimensions of wealth) by both the act and the result.  Everything from the Bible to the work of Abraham Maslow has said that to become a full human being we must live the fullest of our capacities.  Interestingly enough, my approach in helping people to develop their Wealth Potential is that the things that many people find most rewarding personally, can also be applied in the marketplace as something unique and valuable that others are willing to pay for.  This is where the second half of the article comes into play.  When you are able to figure out how your internal motivations are best satisfied, this can be turned into a marketable asset that can get you whatever type of wealth you want, including money.  This is where your Unique Value Proposition comes in.  Ill talk about this in the next blog in a few days.

Cheers to your wealth!

The Dimensions of Wealth

In the last post, I talked about wealth having many dimensions and not being confined to the financial domain. Somehow the idea of wellbeing was hijacked a few centuries ago and the ‘wealth=money’ idea entered into popular thinking. I see this changing. I started in on the idea of wealth beyond money going on 3 years ago. I just saw an interview in Inc. magazine with Bill Zanker, one of the guys that founded the Learning Annex. They were talking about real estate and how with the market downturn the attendance at the Learning Annex seminars for real estate investing was waning. The interviewer asked him what was next (or something to that effect) and Zanker said they were putting together something “…called ‘How to Attract Wealth’ - It’s different from getting rich. It’s a different mindset.”

There a bit of jumping on the bandwagon here with the popularity of things like the Law of Attraction and other new thinking beliefs such as was seen in The Secret. That’s fine … anything that gets more people thinking outside the religion-specific Dogma Box is OK by me.

Back to wealth. OK, so there are many dimension…what the hell does that mean. The different dimensions of wealth are identified by our system of values. This is how we identify and include what is important in our lives as well as how we prioritize and make decisions (often in the form of some kind of tradeoff). What specifically are those dimensions? They can be very high level: financial (yes, it’s still very much in there), physical (fitness and health), relationships, spiritual etc are all aspects of our wellbeing. If you want to go down another level, you can start talking about things you want to do or learn about but dont take the time (e.g., musical or artistic wellbeing). It can be specific relationships: with your kids, spouse, or parents. Your relationship with God is apart of your spiritual wealth.

Wealth covers everything about our lives. This is the first thing we have to understand before we can keep the dialog going. And I could talk about it all day long ….
Let Bill Zanker know I’m ready.

Article 1: Wealth is the Quality of Your Life

That title sounds like a quote or something, doesn’t it? It’s supposed to: it is the 1st Article of The Wealth Manifesto: Transforming Your Life from Survive to Thrive, my upcoming book on creating Quality of Life based income. Let me start with a simple question:

Are you wealthy? Well, are you?

Before reading any further, think for a minute about what “being wealthy” means to you. Close your eyes and imagine that fabulous wealth is yours. Where are you standing? What are you doing? What’s going on around you? Who you are with? What is your state of mind?

Done? When imagining wealth, you may picture yourself on a yacht in the South Pacific, throwing a big party in your Park Avenue penthouse at Christmas time or golfing at St. Andrews in Scotland. Others imagine thrilling lives filled with momentous events such as climbing Mt. Everest, ringing the bell at the New York Stock Exchange or traveling into space. The vision is frequently accompanied by a substantial sum of money in the bank.

Whatever you might imagine, one thing is clear: while wealth includes money, it also involves great people and places, peak experiences and the time, freedom and health to enjoy them.

With that in mind, please take another moment to really imagine what wealth is to you. Finished? Good.

I want you to know that just by doing this simple exercise - by visualizing what you really want in life - you have already initiated the chain of events necessary to achieve wealth. Visualization is a part of intention, the first step in manifesting wealth and the beginning of your Wealth Manifesto.