I love building and selling websites. I just sold one of my side projects for a very nice chunk of change. Now, I'm not one of those gurus or influencers who generate "income reports" (too misleading and a bit distasteful in my book), plus how much I made is actually not the point. The point is that this particular website represented one of my core philosophies — a philosophy that I am now giving up.
I'm doing well in life. But I can do better. But I haven't been able to do better because I've had a voice inside my head telling me I need to live with less. But of all people, I absolutely do not need to live with less. I was born to young parents who had very little at the time and so I had to struggle to make something out of virtually nothing.
Minimalism was forced upon me, so why in the world do I need to adopt it as a belief system?
Now, this session is not just about minimalism (I won't berate you if you are a minimalist so don't worry). It's also not about buying and selling businesses. It's about how we need to be careful of the values we adopt because don't always lead to positive outcomes.
When I adopt a value, I take it seriously. I embody that value throughout different parts of my life. I don't just talk the talk, I walk the walk. But I've found that you really have to be mindful about how values penetrate your psyche as they can have unintended side effects. Which is why we sometimes we have to let go of, or at least temporarily shelve, certain values when they no longer serve us well.
Minimalism started to morph into a scarcity mentality. I was struggling with a long period of stagnant growth specifically in the area of finances. And I couldn't understand why. Because if there is one thing I've learned how to do from early on is to make a lot of money.
Since my teenage years I've generated millions of dollars in income, scholarships, and gifts, so why was that suddenly a problem over the past couple of years? It was a problem because I no longer had a growth mindset and, on top of that, I was becoming too impressionable.
We must be careful that the values we adopt lead to our development and not to our demise — core values don't always lead to positive outcomes.
If you want to grow in life, in any area of life, you have to have a growth mindset. So if you are experiencing lack in a particular area, you have to check how your way of thinking is impacting your self worth. Subconsciously you may not think yourself worthy of having, doing or being more because of some principle you purposely or inadvertently adopted.
Applying the philosophy of minimalism to every area of my life was not psychologically healthy for me and so I sold my website (and ironically increased my net worth and self worth substantially).
What principles are you living by that no longer serve you well? How is your mindset hindering you from expanding, developing and growing? This is what I will discuss in today's session.
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