Finally, an ad with the right attitude to money!

I saw this advertisement in the train station while I was taking the train from Orchard to Toa Payoh. I didn't even know what the ad was about. But I liked the positive message that it carried. Lots of people go around saying things like "I can't get cash" or "I can't get more money". But like Henry Ford said, "Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're both right." I'll bet that those people in the ad could get cash :)

People sometimes go around saying they "can" or they "can't" do something, without realising the impact simply saying that has on them. Because whether we think we can or we can't, our body responds in kind.

Say I'm speaking on stage for the first time, to a crowd I have never met before. If I said and believed that "I can pull this off", I'll probably do a good job. Perhaps there'll be small hiccups here and there, but I'll walk away from the stage feeling generally good about my performance. Yet if I were to tell myself that "I can't do this..." and think of all the little reasons why I can't, I'll be stammering, losing my train of thoughts (because I'm trying to think of all the reasons why I can't do it), and get more and more nervous by the minute. I'm setting myself up to bungle the whole thing!

Here's a little experiment you can try with a friend. Raise your leading arm 90 degrees perpendicular to your body (if you're left-handed, raise your left arm, and if you're right-handed, raise your right hand). Now your friend will attempt to push your arm down, and your job is to resist it. At first, say aloud "I can I can I can.." while resisting your friend's attempt to push it down. Then do the same thing, this time saying "I can't I can't I can't...".

What happened?

If you found that you were stronger when you said "I can" than when you said "I can't", you did it correctly. Your body responds accordingly to the things you tell yourself.

Amazing! So if we we could choose our desired outcome simply by the things we tell ourselves, how do we keep choosing to believe that we "can"?

Here's something I learnt from Jack Zufelt, who is the author of the best selling book "The DNA of Success", a globe-trotting professional speaker, and currently the highest paid trainer in the Network Marketing Industry. Jack was on a short visit to Singapore, and my team, Team Rich, played host.

Jack tells us that we have to "know what you want... to get what you want". By knowing what we want, we can do alot of things. He doesn't buy in to someone's excuse that they can't. Here's what I mean.

Lets say I'm talking to Mary, and after a conversation, Mary tells me that she wants to make more money to feed her family. So I tell her "You ought to do Network Marketing."

Lets pretend Mary doesn't think she could do Network Marketing: "Oh no, I can't do it... I'm just not cut out for it." Mary tells me "I'm not a people person."

Learning from Jack Zufelt, my response would be "So?"
"So what? Can you learn how to be a people person? Mary, don't you want to make that money?"

Mary believed that she couldn't do it because she wasn't a "people person". Yet if I could help her become one, where does that leave her now? Because her only obstacle has now been removed, what's really at the heart of the matters is if she wants to or not. If Mary doesn't really want the money, then she won't; its just not really what she's looking for. If she really wants the money, she'll do it!

So its not even a question whether we "can" or we "can't", because we all CAN do just about anything with the right tools. The real question is, whether we Want or we Don't Want.