Show Notes - #2: How to build wealth/how money works
The underlying principles of money & wealth
Overview:
In this episode, I go into all things on the topic of building wealth, money, and "abundance" - a topic I have studied at great length.
I outline some points from my absolute favorite books on the topic, as well as add in my own perspectives at the end.
This episode covers wealth + money at a deeper philosophical/conceptional level, which I believe is the missing piece for most people (as opposed to the "how-to" steps).
Show Notes:
The Almanack of Naval Ravikant
Code and media are permissionless leverage (you don’t have to “ask” anyone first to create things and put them out into the world). They’re the leverage behind the newly rich. You can create software and media that works for you while you sleep.
The highest form of wealth is the ability to wake up every morning and say, “I can do whatever I want today. Money’s greatest intrinsic value—and this can’t be overstated—is its ability to give you control over your time.”
Specific knowledge is knowledge you cannot be trained for. If society can train you, it can train someone else and replace you.
The specific knowledge is sort of this weird combination of unique traits from your DNA, your unique upbringing, and your response to it. It’s almost baked into your personality and your identity. Then you can hone it.
Most of life is a search for who and what needs you the most.
Figure out what you’re good at, and start helping other people with it. Give it away. Pay it forward. Karma works because people are consistent. On a long enough timescale, you will attract what you project. But don’t measure—your patience will run out if you count.
Apply specific knowledge with leverage and eventually, you will get what you deserve.
Begin seeing your relationship with money the way that you would see your relationship with a person. Your relationship to money is just a mirror of your relationship to yourself. In fact, you don’t really have a relationship to money; you only have a relationship to your thoughts about money. How you feel about money is just one expression of the habitual thoughts, beliefs, and stagnant emotions that you have been carrying around in your body and nervous system for years. So if you’re feeling fear around money, what you’re actually feeling is a reflection of the fear and insecurity that is living inside of you all the time; you just happen to be noticing it externally through money. Money isn’t causing or creating your fear; it’s just bringing it to the surface.
To appreciate literally means to increase value; the more you appreciate yourself and the world around you, the more you raise your value and your ability to receive value. Living in the field of appreciation lifts you out of the problems that so many people are obsessed with.
If you’re appreciative when money comes to you, confident in your ability to create abundance, and generous with the money you have, money will probably start to want to be around you more.
“When we’re answering our calling, all the skills we could ever need will show up. Moving from a calling is letting life do the work through you, so what you’re doing becomes effortless and the results show up naturally. Realize that money is completely the side effect and by-product of finding the real thing that you are looking for. What you’re looking for is you.”
Ask yourself: How many times have you not been able to receive what life is trying to give you because you’re caught up in a story of lack? Can you think of a time where life was trying to give you peace, but you chose to argue with a loved one? Or can you remember a time where your creativity could have been flowing through you, but you were busy stressing about the guy who cut you off earlier?
The Law of Divine Compensation
The path toward, or away from, financial recovery lay in how I chose to think about what had happened: as proof of utter failure and doom, or as an opportunity to forgive myself and attract a miracle. What I needed more than anything right then was faith—faith that I could go forward and ultimately recoup my losses.
/there is no loss in divine mind
If you feel ashamed about celebrating money, don’t expect money to celebrate you.
Think of your work life, therefore, not as separate from your spiritual life but as central to your spiritual life. Whatever your business, it is your ministry.
ON THE SPIRITUAL plane, you have no competitors.
Three old-school books I recommend on the topic with too many highlights to add here: Think & Grow Rich, The Science of Getting Rich, and The Game of Life and How to Play It
My perspectives on money
Money is neutral energy / if you detest it, you will repel it
How much “GOOD” could you do if you had money?
Money is an AMPLIFIER of who someone already is
Abundance mindset vs scarcity mindset
Scarcity – the fear of money / the fear of not having enough – attracts far more wrongdoing (from petty theft to huge Ponzi schemes) than believing one has enough
Abundance - “There is more than enough for everyone” / there is no finite amount of money in the world
Are we allowing ourselves to RECEIVE money/abundance?
For example, if someone wants to simply buy us dinner…can we let him/her?
We have a natural money set-point that is just within our mind (like a thermostat)
When it comes to making money-related decisions, we can first ask ourselves: “Is this fear or is this love?”
Our money beliefs are hereditary
Possible action items or reflection questions:
Consider what you’re skilled at, what you’re knowledgeable on, and your life experiences. Where might there be interesting intersections between these where you can truly stand out (and there is no ‘competition’)?
If you truly felt like you weren’t “competing” with anyone, how would your life be different or how would that affect your decisions?
Do you feel that there is a finite amount of money to go around (perhaps even that if you were to become rich, it would take money away from others), or do you believe that there is more than enough for everyone?
What do you believe about money and where did those beliefs come from (e.g. your parents)? Do those beliefs feel limiting or empowering?
Do you feel that you’re deserving of money? Do you have trouble receiving (in any capacity, whether money, love, etc.)?
Do you believe that you’re capable of becoming rich (whatever that definition is for you), and if so, in what ways?
If abundance was, in fact, our birthright - how would that make you feel / what would that change for you?
How would your life look and feel if you had the amount of money that you desire?
Tim Ferriss Lifestyle costing calculator - estimate how much money you really need to live your dream life