What Temperature is Your Thermostat Set To Part 2 by Sue Courtney

In part 1 I shared with you the idea that any lack of success you may be experiencing in your career or finances may be due to your financial thermostat setting and the fact that you may be operating with your ‘windows open’, making sustained success more challenging to achieve.

Part 2 is dedicated to changing that – to ‘closing’ your ‘windows’ and beginning to think in the way rich and successful people do.

The first action is to bring out in to the light of day all the beliefs you have around money and career success. Make a list of all of them – this could take some time – days or weeks, in fact. It is an ideal exercise for the holiday season as many of you will have some time away from work. If you want 2013 to be more successful than this year has been, then taking stock of your belief system is a valuable use of your time.

Were you brought up with the belief that

·         “Money doesn’t grow on trees”

·         “You can’t have your cake and eat it”

·         “It’s in the sale, massively discounted. I have to buy it, it is a bargain”

·         “Money is the root of all evil”

·         “Rich/successful people are greedy/ruthless/ not to be trusted/criminal...”

·         “You only need enough money/success to get by – any more is greedy”

·         “Money doesn’t buy happiness”

·         “Save your money for a rainy day”

·         “That’s not for people like us”

·         “I’m not good enough/clever enough/qualified enough.....”

·         “There’s never enough, so if 1 person has a lot of money a lot of people can’t have enough”

·         “We can’t afford it”

Now, logically, I am sure you can see the flaws in these words, but if you were subjected to them from an early age they are imprinted on your subconscious at an emotional level. When faced with making a decision, most people, most of the time will make the decision with their emotions not logical thinking.

So, once you have got all your beliefs out and written down, what is the next step?

Study them and put them into 2 lists – 1 list for the positive, supportive beliefs that will move your life forward in the direction you wish to go. On the second list put all the negative, unsupportive beliefs that are keeping you stuck where you are.

Which list is longer?

If you aren’t experiencing the success you would like then I can pretty much guarantee that the negative list is the longer of the two!

OK – now you go through list 2 and with each item you can either

·         Find evidence to the contrary – so if your belief is that rich people are greedy and lazy, find evidence of hardworking, generous rich people. If possible spend some time with them, read their autobiographies, immerse yourself in the mindset of being rich to do more good in the world.

·         Decide how you would like that belief to be – so if your belief is “money is the root of all evil” you might change it to “money is the root of all good” and work with that belief – because it is more true than the negative.

·         Work out where the belief came from – who can you hear saying it? Why did they say it? It was their truth, based on their experience of life, but your experience is different – how do you experience it? How do you feel when you think about it? Is it true for you?  What do you want to do about it?

Remember, these are learned responses and not part of who you are. You can decide to change them any time you choose.

So, when seeking promotion and success there are a few ‘rules’ that may be helpful

·         Admire people who have achieved the success you aspire to. Get to know them, ask their advice and never, never, never resent their success. Bless them.

·         Be ready and willing to “blow your own trumpet” where it is appropriate. If you truly believe in your capabilities and know your worth, why wouldn’t you? It isn’t vulgar, it is sensible!

·         Keep learning – that includes taking courses, asking questions, networking. Successful people know they don’t know it all. They are successful because they are constantly developing themselves.

·         Receive with grace, knowing you deserve it – whatever it is.

·         Don’t let fear stop you. Successful people still feel fear but they act in spite of fear – they don’t let it stop them. They just get used to being out of their comfort zone and in their ‘adventure zone’. Doesn’t that sound more fun?

So now you know where your beliefs originated and that they are not relevant to your life and your goals.

You also know how successful people think and act so you can begin to make changes to the way you think and behave – begin to model successful people in their habits of thought and action.

So, complete the ‘closing’ of your ‘windows’ by making a list of your own, empowering beliefs about success and money that will form the basis of your thoughts and actions in 2013. Know that success is yours for the taking – you just have to do what successful people have always done – get out there and take it!

And if you are still wondering whether you will still be a ‘good’ person when you have climbed to the top of the ladder and made your millions remember this – success won’t change you, it will make you more of what you already are. If you are a kind, generous and thoughtful person, success will enable you to be even more wonderful. You will be able to help even more people and be an inspiration and a role model for those who follow you – what a great thought.

Make 2013 your best year yet.

 

I am in the process of arranging my 2013 seminars, some of which will be based on the ideas in this article. If you would like to know where and when there will be a seminar near you, or what my seminar topics and schedule will be then please email me at

info@successandimagecoach.co.uk telling me which areas you are interested in or requesting the full schedule.

 

Copyright © Sue Courtney 2013 – Success & Image Ltd. All rights reserved.