You in the Mirror

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Consider the following question: who is easier to change, you or your best friend / wife / partner? I think we would agree that it would be YOU. If you answer the other one, you may need your head examined, unless your best friend is a dog. (Cats are impossible to change)

Think about it, you know yourself best, so anything you do to yourself would be more effective than being done to someone else, no matter how close you are to them.

The only thing getting in the way is your ego.

Why would your ego resist change? Here are the basic reasons:

* I don't NEED to change (I'm fine the way I am)

also goes by: I don't see any benefit in change

* I don't WANT to change (I fear change)

* Change takes too much effort (I am TOO LAZY to change)

* I don' thave the ______ needed to change  (so I will do nothing)

* It goes against my principles

I am NOT here to be a lifecoach. I consider most of that . There is no technique that will suddenly turn you rich with no work on your part. THERE IS NO SHORTCUT. I cannot fix your ego by waving a magic wand or offer you a magic pill. I will just point out a few things that may be painfully obvious to some of you.  Let's examine these reasons one by one

* I am fine the way I am

Well, in this context, it means you don't want to be rich. So why are you here reading this? Shoo! Out! Out! Heretic!  :D Who wouldn't WANT to be rich?

* I fear change

At least you are honest. :D  But why fear change? The only thing constant in life is change. Your body changes naturally... it's called aging.

Fear of unknown is understandable, but it is NOT an excuse. You don't think twice about driving down a street you've never driven on before, if you have a map, right? Or a GPS? Or a guide? Same idea here. That why you are here, with a Rich Dad book, playing the CASHFLOW game, or reading this, talking to someone who has been there, and so on.

So start small. Save some money by cutting down your Starbucks (tm) excursions (not all, just some), or whichever coffee house you frequent. Or cut down on your soda intake, or whatever you decide you can do with less (and I don't mean sleep and food and sex). Once you got small changes under your belt, the big changes will look MUCH easier.

* Change takes too much effort (and I don't want to put in the effort)

I hate to break this to you, but this excuse should be written as "I am TOO LAZY to change". I am sorry if I offended any one of you, but you have to consider the following: is that really you that's being offended, or just your ego? If you want to change, but you don't want to "pay the price", then do you REALLY want to change?

One more reason to start with small changes.

* I don't have the _____ needed to change.

We're talking about changing YOURSELF! What do you need to change yourself? YOU! And that is FREE! You just have to decided HOW you will change yourself! A new mindset! A new attitude! A new paradigm! WHATEVER!

* Change goes against my prinicples

Wait... change is against your principles? Getting rich is against your principles? Why are you reading this then?

Perhaps you mean it conflicts with your principles, and you don't know how to resolve them. Well, unless you're a monk with an active vow of poverty, I don't see how getting rich can be against your principles. And frankly, the only thing that tries to stay constant in life is religion. I am NOT trying to bash religion. I believe that religion is important to some people for their moral compass, right and wrong, stuff like that. But how can getting rich, or something as simple as "change", conflict with that? Change HAPPENS, whether you believe in it or not. So this really are two questions:

== is it REALLY conflicting with my principles, or just my preconception of my principles?

If you take the Ten Commandments to be your principles (just as an example), there's a part in there that says "no envy". I take it to mean that "keeping up with the Jones's" is out. Am I correct? After all, I look at his beautiful house, great lawn, nice shiny new cars... pretty wife... Oops. WRONG commandment. :D

Is that envy? It is envy if you actually think "I wish those are mine." It is NOT envy if you think "I wish I can have things like that" (and I'll go learn how).

That is just an example, but the point is, you have to examine your principles CAREFULLY and interpret them properly to reach your conclusions. Don't simply dismiss stuff just because they APPEAR to conflict with your principles.

== if it really is conflicting, how will I resolve it?

That I cannot tell you. It is up to you to resolve such a conflict. Perhaps you can ask someone who can help you evaluate the conflict from a new perspective.

These are some of the lessons from Dr. Wayne Dyer's "Excuses Begone". Check out his book / CD lessons.