In last month’s article, I began discussing how singing success and financial success are related. I challenged you to take personal responsibility for where you are in your life, to start noticing the synchronicities in your life, and begin making a list of positive affirmations about what you do want. I also introduced the concept that your thought patterns are affecting what you are creating in your life.
If you followed through with the assignment, you have begun to recognize the creative power of your thoughts and how the following principle is at work in your life.
Law of the Sower:
Sow a Thought; Reap an Act.
Sow an Act; Reap a Habit.
Sow a Habit; Reap a Character.
Sow a Character; Reap an Eternal Destiny.
—Anonymous
For those of you who find it difficult to accept that your thoughts are actually creating events in your life, events in which seemingly you’ve played no part, you might find it easier to accept the idea that your actions are preceded by your thoughts. It is imperative that we become diligent in observing our thought patterns and weed out the ones that are creating what we don’t want in our lives. This is easily said but not so easily done.
The first step in changing a thought pattern is becoming aware of it. How can we become aware of our thoughts? By observing what we are creating. When we observe certain patterns in our lives that we don’t like and would like to change, we simply have to find the thoughts that are driving those patterns, which brings us to—
Success Principle No. 2: You are what you think.
So, what do you think? Are your thoughts serving you or harming you? Most of us go through life with no clue of the thoughts that are driving the experiences we are creating. If you want to change your financial or singing life, start by becoming an observer of your own thoughts.
An easy place to start figuring out what you believe about money is to observe your parents’ lives and the circumstances on which you grew up. Most of us choose our level of success by our level of comfort. In other words, we set our level of success by what we’re comfortable with.
Our comfort level tends to be at the level we were raised with, so inadvertently, we tend to recreate the same standard of living our parents had, because we inadvertently adopted their thoughts. Did you ever hear phrases in your home such as: “money is the root of all evil,” or: “we can’t afford it,” or: “material possessions are bad,” or: “money isn’t important,” or: “rich people are dishonest”? If you adopted any of these thoughts, you’re probably broke.
Let’s take a closer look at some of these thoughts.
“Money is the root of all evil.”
Money is neither good nor bad. Money is simply a form of exchange for goods or services. Exchanging goods and services is a good thing. Have some people let the pursuit or acquisition of money drive them to do evil? Absolutely! It wasn’t money that created a character bent on doing evil, however. Many people have used money as a motivation to do good in our society.
Some people say it is the love of money that is evil. I will go out on a limb, at the risk of upsetting some people, and say that I don’t believe that either. In fact, I will even admit to you that I love money. The money I receive represents to me the good and the value I’ve brought into other people’s lives.
When I find a way to bring a great deal of value to millions of people, such as Bill Gates has done, then I will receive a great deal of money in exchange. Wouldn’t it be great if I could give $350 million each year to opera companies like Bill Gates gives to charities? Money gives me the ability to own a home, have heating, air conditioning, and electricity in my home, eat, take my family to the movies, go on audition trips, attend the Classical Singer Convention, take singing and coaching lessons, and the list goes on and on. Money is neither good nor evil. What you choose to do with money determines whether it is good or bad.
If you never have enough money, or if your money disappears as quickly as you get it, it is possible that this thought pattern may be imbedded in your mind, giving you a subconscious aversion to money. If so, you act on that aversion—by getting rid of money as quickly
as you can. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to ask yourself honestly if you believe this.
Many people give the example of Scrooge to demonstrate how evil money can be. Let’s take a closer look at that story. If I recall correctly, Scrooge was a man who worked hard. He did the service of accounting for people, and by using the principle of paying himself first he set money aside, accumulating enough wealth that he could lend people money, just as the bank has lent money to me, giving me the ability to live in my beautiful home. How wonderful! He was certainly providing a service there. We also know that Scrooge was a very unhappy man who made a lot of people’s lives miserable. He refused to heat his office and made his clerk work on Christmas Eve. He lived alone because his lust for money had driven away those who loved him.
How can we define the aspect of Scrooge’s behavior that was so deplorable? Greed. Greed is an extreme, excessive love of money that is rooted in fear of hunger, poverty and deprivation. Fear is the basis of every destructive, negative emotion known to man. A greedy person hoards money. They do a lot of taking and very little giving. As with anything in life, extreme and excess cause a person to be out of balance. Perhaps it would be better to say “Greed is the root of all evil.”
“I can’t afford it.”
This is a very unfortunate thought to have. If you believe this, you are right! Your mind never even starts to try to find the solution to how you can afford something, and therefore doesn’t do the action necessary to follow through with the ideas you otherwise would have come up with to solve the situation.
You can create money with ideas. If you think instead, “How can I afford it?” and then start searching for a solution, and follow it up with the necessary action, you will find a way to afford whatever it is you want. One day, out of the blue, an idea will pop into your head about how you can come up with the money, and it may be a way that had never occurred to you before.
“Material possessions are bad.”
Have you ever heard the phrase, “You’re so materialistic!” Is it a bad thing to desire material possessions? What do material possessions represent? They are simply a physical exchange and manifestation of the service or product you provided to society.
If you find a way to serve millions of people with a service or product, you will probably be wealthy. If you are wealthy, you may choose to hire a contractor to build a beautiful home for your family and pets. The contractor will take the money to his home to provide for his family.
You may decide to build an apartment off to the side of your home, where you could comfortably house your aging parents and provide round-the-clock care for them. You may hire a maid to clean your house, and pay her well so she can provide for her family.
“Money isn’t important.”
At this point I hardly have to examine this one at all. Money is a form of exchange. Maybe you aren’t paying for the food you’re eating, but if you aren’t, someone else is.
“Rich people are dishonest.”
Money is neither good nor bad. It doesn’t make you honest or dishonest. To rise to your greatest possible heights in talent and soul development you must have money. How honest is it to live a life where you argue for your limitations, making excuses for why you cannot be the best you can be, remaining in poverty, contributing very little to your growth or society’s?
I was at a recent family event where my sister emphatically stated that rich people become wealthy at someone else’s expense. Both she and my brother agreed that all CEOs are corrupt and stepping on the heads of the employees of their companies. She felt that her employer should be paying her more. I stood there with my mouth agape, amazed that she had failed to recognize she had a job because of the entrepreneurial spirit and vision of her employer. He had provided a job for her, with benefits! He most likely deserves to be paid well. Just because a few CEOs are unscrupulous doesn’t make them all unscrupulous. It is essential for the health of a company to have a good leader. If he is successful, the employees will be paid better, and will probably get to keep their jobs longer.
How many people will you be helping if you remain poor?
Obviously, it takes money to build a singing career, either your money or someone else’s. (Hmmm—how could you get someone else to pay to build your career?) Here are some thoughts I hear singers say about their singing careers. “I must sacrifice for my art.” (My favorite.) “There aren’t enough singing jobs.” “There are too many sopranos.” “I’m too fat,” or “too thin,” or “too short,” or “too tall.” Or, “I have a house to pay for and a kid to feed.”
Here is one I heard just recently: “You mustn’t have too many singing gigs on your résumé from one place.” We will be examining these thought patterns in the next article.
Now that you’re becoming aware of thought patterns that may have a negative impact on you, how do you change those thought patterns? A thought pattern is a habitual way of thinking. So how do you change a habit?
The first step, as you already know, is becoming aware of the negative thought and the untruth contained in that thought pattern. The second step is to formulate a new thought to replace the old thought, which I call an “affirmation.” I write down these affirmations in a document on my computer because I have so many to keep track of for myself.
Here are some I’ve come up with or reformulated from books I’ve read: “I create money easily and effortlessly.” “I use money for good.” “I provide value for millions of people.” “I find a way to afford what I want.” “I have plenty of money to pay my bills on a timely basis.” “I donate to the arts.” “I give gifts.” “I am generous.” “I own appreciating assets.” “I pay myself first.” “I build businesses and create jobs.” “I recognize and effectively target market opportunities.” “I live abundantly surrounded by beauty.” “I teach finance in my home.” “I receive mentoring by prosperous people.” “I pay all taxes on a timely basis.” “I hire bookkeepers, compensating them to do what they love.” “I invest and watch my money grow and work for me.” “I insure myself for life, car, and house.” “I expertly manage my finances.” “I associate with investors, creating great ways to manage my money better.” “I create million-dollar ideas, bring them to fruition, and spread them world-wide, bringing wealth into my life.” “I hold the deed to my home and the title to my car.”
Feel free to copy some of my affirmations if you’d like, but keep in mind that they must have meaning for you if you expect them to work in your life. For instance, you must define what teaching finance in your home is for you.
The third step is to habituate the new thought pattern by reviewing your affirmations over and over. Just as you practice your singing every day to formulate new habits and make progress, you must exercise your brain to formulate new habits in the way you think. Some of these patterns are deeply engrained and take constant vigilance over a long period of time to develop the new habit. For that reason, I suggest surrounding yourself with prosperity-oriented books and people on a daily basis. A classic prosperity book I highly recommend is Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill.
Assigned: Start observing your financial thought patterns. Add to your list of affirmations. Review these affirmations on a daily basis.
Stay tuned for more on success principle No. 2, when we will examine the thought “I must sacrifice for my art” (Whew! Can’t wait to address that one!) as well as other singing-related thought patterns.
