Step 7: The Power Of Faith

CHAPTER 17

What is your deepest fear?

In my senior year of high school, rich dad's son and I were lined up in front of a small group of students made up primarily of the leaders of the senior class. Our guidance counselor said to us, "The two of you will never amount to anything."

There was some snickering from some of the seniors as the guidance counselor continued. From now on, I am not going to waste any more time on either of you. i am only going to spend my time with these students who are the class leaders. You two are the class clowns with had grades, and you will never amount to anything. Now get out of here."

BIGGEST FAVOR OF ALL

That counselor did Mike and me the biggest favor of all. While what she said was true in many ways and her words hurt us deeply, her words also inspired both of us to strive even harder. Her words carried us through college and into our own businesses.

A few years ago, Mike and I went back to our high school reunion, always an interesting experience. It was nice to visit with people with whom we had spent three years during a period of time when none of us really knew who we were. It was also interesting to see that most of the so-called senior leaders had not become successful in the years after high school.

I tell this story because Mike and I were not academic whiz kids. We were neither financial geniuses nor athletic stars. For the most part, we were slow-to-average learners and students. We were not leaders in our class. In my opinion, we were not as naturally gifted as our fathers. Yet it was our guidance counselor's stinging words and the snickering from our classmates that gave us the fire to plod along, to learn from our mistakes, and to keep going in both good times and bad times.

Just because you did not do well in school, were not popular, are not good in math, are rich or poor, or have other reasons to sell yourself short — none of it counts in the long run. Those so-called shortcomings only count if you think they count.

For those of you who are considering embarking on your own financial fast track, you may have some doubts about your abilities. All I can say is trust that you have everything you need right now to be successful financially. All it takes to bring out your natural God-given gifts is your desire, determination and a deep faith that you have a genius and a gift that is unique.

LOOK IN THE MIRROR AND LISTEN 70 THE WORDS

A mirror reflects back more than just a visual image. A mirror often reflects back our thoughts. How often have we seen people, look in the mirror and say such things as: "Oh, I look horrible." "Have I put on that much weight?" "I'm really getting old."

OT "My, my, myl I am damned good looking. I am God's gift to women."

THOUGHTS ARE REFLECTIONS

As I said, mirrors reflect back much more than just what the eyes see. Mirrors also reflect back our thoughts, often our opinions of ourselves. These thoughts or

opinions are much more important than our outwardly appearance.

Many of us have met people who are beautiful on the outside, but inside they think they're ugly. Or people who are greatly loved by others, but they cannot love themselves. Our deepest thoughts are often reflections of our souls. Thoughts are a reflection of our love for ourselves, our egos, our dislike of ourselves, how we treat ourselves, and our overall opinion of ourselves.

MONEY DOES NOT STAY WITH PEOPLE WHO DO NOT TRUST THEMSELVES

Personal truths are often spoken in moments of peak emotions.

After explaining the CASHROW Quadrant to a ruse or an individual I give

them a moment to decide their next step. First they decide which quadrant they are in, which is easy because it's simply the quadrant that generates the most money for them. Second, I ask them, which quadrant they would like to move to, if they need to move.

They then look at the Quadrant and make their choices.

Some people look and say, "I'm happy exactly where I am."

Others say, "I'm not happy with where I am, but I am not willing to change or move at this time."

And then there are people who are unhappy where they are, and know they

need to do something immediately. People in this condition often speak most dearly about their personal truths. They use words that reflect their opinions of themselves, words that reflect their soul. And that is why I say, "Personal truths are spoken at moments of peak emotions."

At these moments of truth I often hear: "I can't do that. I can't move from "S" to W. Are you crazy? I have a wife and three kids to feed." "I can't do that. I can't wait five years before I get another paycheck." "Invest? You want me to lose all my money don't you?" "I don't have any money to invest? "I need more information before I do anything." "I tried that before. It will never work.* "I don't need to know how to read financial statements. I can get by? "I don't have to worry. I'm still young."

Wm not smart enough." "I would do it if I could find the right people to do it with me." "My husband would never go for it." "My wife would never understand." "What would my friends say?" "I would if I was younger? "It's too late for me." "It's not worth it." "I'm not worth it."

ALL WORDS ARE MIRRORS

Personal truths are spoken at moments of peak emotion. All words are mirrors for they reflect back some insight as to what people think about themselves, even though they may be speaking about someone else.

MY BEST ADVICE

For those of you who are ready to move from one quadrant to another, the most important advice I know to give you is to be very aware of your words. Especially be aware of the words that come from your heart, your stomach, and your soul. If you are going to make a change, you must be aware of the thoughts and words generated by your emotions. If you cannot be aware of when your emotions are doing your thinking, you will never survive the journey. You will hold yourself back. For even if you are talking about somebody else, for example by saying, "My spouse will never understand." You are really saying something

more about yourself. You may be using your spouse as an excuse for your own inaction, or you might actually be saying "I don't have the courage or communication skills to convey these new ideas to her." All words are mirrors that provide opportunities for you to look into your soul.

Or you might say, "I can't stop working and start my own business. I have a mortgage and a family to think about."

You might be saying: "I'm tired. I don't want to do anything more." or, "I really don't want to learn anything more."

These are personal truths.

PERSONAL TRUTHS ARE ALSO PERSONAL LIES

These are truths and they are also lies. If you lie to yourself, I would say the journey will never be completed. So my best advice is to listen to your doubts, fears, and limiting thoughts, and then dig deeper for the deeper truth.

For example saying "I'm tired, I don't want to learn something new" may be a truth but it is also a lie. The real truth may be "If I don't learn something new, I'll be even more tired. And even deeper than that, "The truth is I love learning new things. I would love to learn new things and be excited about life again. Maybe whole new worlds would open to me." Once you can get to that point of the deeper truth, you may find a part of you that is powerful enough to help you change.

OUR JOURNEY

For Kim and me to move forward we first had to be willing to live with the opinions and criticisms we individually had about ourselves. We had to be willing to live with the personal thoughts that kept us small, but not let them stop us. Occasionally the pressure would go to the boiling point and our self-criticisms would flare up and I would blame her for my self doubts and she would blame me for hers. Yet, we both knew before starting out on this journey that the only thing we had to face was ultimately our own personal doubts, criticisms and inadequacies. Our real job as husband and wife, business partners, and soul mates along this journey was to keep reminding each other that each of us was much more powerful than our individual doubts, pettiness, and inadequacies. In that process, we learned to trust ourselves more. The ultimate goal for us was more than to simply get rich it was to learn to be trustworthy with ourselves as well as

with money.

Remember the only person that determines the thoughts you choose to believe about yourself is you. So the reward from the journey is not only the freedom that money buys but the trust you gain in yourself... for they really are the same thing. My best advice to you is to prepare daily to be bigger than your smallness. In my opinion, the reason most people stop and turn back from their dreams is because the tiny person found inside each of us beats the person that is bigger.

Even though you may not be good at everything, take time developing what you need to learn and your world will change rapidly. Never run from what you know you need to learn. Face your fears and doubts, and new worlds will open to you.

TAKE AMON

Believe in yourself and start today!