I thought I’d start the week with something fun (talking about money), and some of you may be wondering what purpose in life has to do with money. Because purpose is a strategy that we use to express our important values, it follows that our use of money is one of the important ways to express these values. Money is very, very flexible, with an infinite ways to earn it and spend it. Your wealth at any point is the end result of millions of earning and spending decisions. If you live in an industrialized nation, you will probably earn more than $1 million in your lifetime. The decisions about how you earn this fortune, and spend it, are determined by your purpose in life.
Most often, people who are living paycheck to paycheck have an unconsciously chosen purpose for money that is something like “Money is to live on” or “Money is to buy the things I need.” Because money responds to the commands of the mind, the external financial experience of these people confirms to their internal thinking about it.
If you are living paycheck to paycheck, then the decisions about how to use your money are made by the bills you pay each month. This situation makes it impossible to take charge of your money. You have unintentionally turned over your prerogatives as your own financial manager to your creditors and to your letter carrier who delivers the bad news each month. Additionally, when bills exhaust all of your income, you are protected from making a mistake, perhaps unconsciously, thinking something like, “I used all my money to pay my bills. That’s the best thing to do with it.”
For many people the prospect of dramatically increased income is frightening. As they lack a clear purpose for their life or their money, the possibility of greater income usually brings up anxiety about loss or making mistakes. Having a noble and consciously chosen purpose provides you with a framework for making decisions about the effective use of your growing income.
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