Money - What is it?
Defining Money: We Need a Definition of Money that Is Useful Some meanings often given to money:
People project their own emotional meanings onto money. These might include happiness, status, self-esteem, acceptance, respect, exploitation, love, freedom, and so on. We may not actually define money by the meanings we attach to it, but we ACT as if money were these things.
What Does Money Mean to You?
What are your first memories around money? What were you taught about it? What did money mean to you growing up – and now? Do you feel differently about money having completed the exercises in Step 1?
Before continuing, take a few moments to jot down some of your own thoughts about what money means to you:
Means of Exchange?
Classic economic theory tells us that money is a means of exchange. But this is true only within a society that shares that agreement. If you were to be in the desert with a hunter-gatherer culture, your money would have no exchange value.
We need to find a definition that is not only consistently true but is also real in our lives – that has personal and useful relevance in our lives. Just WHAT is the nature of the exchange we are making?
In this program we define money as something for which you exchange your life energy – the hours of your life.
Consider these ideas:
~ or ~
~ or ~
No matter how we acquire money, we spend some amount of time (life energy) to get it. The amount of life energy may not be the same in every instance, but it is universally true that life energy was traded for money.
Money = something we trade our life energy for
Every dollar you spend is equal to the amount of your life energy it took to get it.
An hour of your life is precious, because it’s limited. Once it’s gone you can never get it back. When you spend money you are spending your life energy, your time.
So the question is:
How much of your life are you trading for your money?
- Money is security.
- Money is dirty.
- Money is power.
- Money is a necessary evil.
- Money is a tool of political repression.
- Money is happiness.
People project their own emotional meanings onto money. These might include happiness, status, self-esteem, acceptance, respect, exploitation, love, freedom, and so on. We may not actually define money by the meanings we attach to it, but we ACT as if money were these things.
What Does Money Mean to You?
What are your first memories around money? What were you taught about it? What did money mean to you growing up – and now? Do you feel differently about money having completed the exercises in Step 1?
Before continuing, take a few moments to jot down some of your own thoughts about what money means to you:
Means of Exchange?
Classic economic theory tells us that money is a means of exchange. But this is true only within a society that shares that agreement. If you were to be in the desert with a hunter-gatherer culture, your money would have no exchange value.
We need to find a definition that is not only consistently true but is also real in our lives – that has personal and useful relevance in our lives. Just WHAT is the nature of the exchange we are making?
In this program we define money as something for which you exchange your life energy – the hours of your life.
Consider these ideas:
- We spend our life energy in hours on the job in exchange for money. Anyone with a salaried or hourly job (like Jamie and Chris) fits this description.
~ or ~
- We support someone else (who earns money) with our life energy, thereby allowing money to come into our life. (Chris’ spouse works part-time in order to watch the kids after school, while Chris “trades” for this time by carrying more of the family expenses).
~ or ~
- We spend our life energy managing our investments, in exchange for increased dividends or value. Anyone who manages a portfolio or real-estate property fits this description. (Both Jamie and Chris do this eventually, as we’ll see in Steps 8 and 9).
No matter how we acquire money, we spend some amount of time (life energy) to get it. The amount of life energy may not be the same in every instance, but it is universally true that life energy was traded for money.
Money = something we trade our life energy for
Every dollar you spend is equal to the amount of your life energy it took to get it.
An hour of your life is precious, because it’s limited. Once it’s gone you can never get it back. When you spend money you are spending your life energy, your time.
So the question is:
How much of your life are you trading for your money?