Making Money Is 80% Psychology, 20% Mechanics

Are you satisfied with the amount of money you are being paid in your career, or the profits that your business pays you? Would you like to make a lot more money than you do now? Who wouldn’t? Making money or your ability to make the kind of money you really want, is 80% psychology (believing in yourself enough to do what it takes to get the job or create a business that pays you what you want) and 20% mechanics (what you actually do and how you spend your time to earn your income).

What is the difference between someone who makes six figures and someone else who works just as hard, but only makes $7 bucks per hour? Two things: 1) The person making six figures feels like they deserve to be making that kind of money. They also expect to make more in the future. Their mental psychology tends to be optimistic and they expect to be compensated well for their work. The person who only makes $7 bucks per hour does not feel they are worth six figures. More than likely they have not yet worked on improving themselves to the point that they have made themselves valuable enough to an employer who would pay them six figures. 2) The person who makes six figures has chosen to take advantage of an opportunity where the mechanics of what they do minute by minute at work pays six figures. The person making $7 bucks an hour has chosen to do something that as they do their job moment by moment at work adds up to $7 bucks per hour. They usually don’t look at better jobs or bettering themselves because they don’t think they deserve any better. So they don’t even try.

A waiter can work at a Denny’s or a high end restaurant like Don Shula’s Steakhouse. They both work equally as hard. The Denny’s waiter may even work harder and have a more difficult job, but the waiter at Shula’s makes a lot more money. Why? People tip based upon the cost of their meal. Denny’s serves cheap meals and therefore the checks are going to be smaller than someone who works at a high end steak restaurant. So what keeps the Denny’s waiter from going and getting a job at Shula’s so they can make more money? Their psychology. They either don’t believe they deserve to work at Shula’s or are unwilling to work on themselves to become the type of waiter that Shula’s would love to hire.

I remember when I worked at Centex Rooney before I left to start my own company in the mid 1990’s. I was working with the best of the best in the construction industry. I worked with guys who were my age and many much older. When I was contemplating leaving I wondered to myself, “Why haven’t these guys started their own companies already?” I felt they were just as smart and many were a lot smarter than I was. When I would talk to them and share why I was leaving to start my own business, I could really hear the fear in their own voices and how they were too scared to leave and go for it themselves. They said all kinds of things. I’m married. I don’t have time right now. I gotta pay my debts down first. Someday I will, etc. As my first life coach said to me… “the road to someday leads to a town of nowhere.”

The reason my former colleges were never going to take the risk and start their own business like I was, was simply because their psychology sucked. They had convinced themselves that it just was not possible for them. It was easier and more comfortable just to stay in their little box and not try to rock the boat. I felt sad for them.

“For the cynics & the skeptics, I’m sorry for you. I’m sorry you can’t dream big & I’m sorry you don’t believe in miracles.” – Lance Armstrong.

So if you are not satisfied with where your career is at or the income your business is paying you, then take some time to contemplate what is most important to you. I mean take some time to sit down with a pad of paper, a glass of wine, beer, bong swat, LOL, vegetable juice, etc. Just do what you do when you are most relaxed and peaceful and have time to think. Write down what you really want in life. Write about all the things you would want or have if a genie was willing to grant you any wish you want.

What would you do for a living, for fun or how would you spend your time contributing to the world? Would you build boats, paint, write, become a public speaker, run for office, open a restaurant, etc.? What would be exciting and compelling to YOU? Something you are certain would get you up early in the morning and keep you up late at night working on it. It would not even seem like work because its so much fun for you to be doing it. You would pinch yourself and think… “I can’t believe I get paid so much money to do this stuff! How awesome! I’m so grateful.”

You have to do something. Sitting on the porch swing doing nothing gets boring after you’ve done it long enough (trust me. I have). Sometimes I ask this question of people and they say… “I’d do nothing. I’d retire and watch tv all day.” Think big. Audacious and bold goals. Not mediocrity. Most people major in minor things. We all must have a purpose and find something to do with our time that fulfills us. Otherwise you will never reach your full potential and achieve what you are truly capable of.

Most people are just too scared to go for what they really want in life because deep down they have convinced themselves its simply not possible for them. Their heads are filled with limiting beliefs and usually a disempowering model of the world.

The reason I say to be in a peaceful and relaxed state when you you write your true dreams and goals down is because you make better decisions when you are in a peaceful relaxed state. Decisions made in haste will tend to bring you more stress and chaos and not be very balanced. When you make decisions in a peaceful and relaxed state, the choices you make will tend to bring you more balance and peace. “Impatience never commanded success.” Edwin H. Chapin

Once you have decided what you want, you then must resolve to pay the price to get it. Persist without exception and overcome every obstacle in your path. Someday you will get there. The “when” is unimportant. Your success is not about achieving your goal. Its about who you become in the process of achieving your goal that is important. That’s how you grow into the person God created you to be. You will shed your limiting beliefs and own self-imposed limitations along the way. That’s the whole point of the journey. To become the real you and not give a fuck what other people think about you. You can not live your life according to other peoples expectations. You can’t let other people tell you who you are. You have to decide that for yourself. You must be who you are. What you should be, is not important.

“Lead a life of your own design, on your own terms—not one that others, or the environment have scripted for you.” – Anthony Robbins