MONEY IS A MAGNIFIER

0:00I've been thinking lately about what we expect money to do for us. And I'm not talking about the obvious things. I mean, like obviously money pays the bills. It gives us options. It can buy back our time. It can create incredible experiences. And it can allow us to invest, give generously, and take care of the people we love. Money can do a lot of things. But I think sometimes without realizing it, we start asking money to do things it was never actually designed to do. We think when I make enough money, then I'll finally relax. Or once I hit this number, I'll feel secure. Maybe it's when my business gets to this certain level, I'll know I've made it. And here's what's interesting. What happens when you reach the number and the feeling you thought would be waiting for you isn't there. Because money can change your circumstances tremendously. But can it actually make you feel safe? Can it make you believe you're in not? Can money actually give you peace? That's what I want to talk about today. Because I absolutely believe in creating wealth. I want you to make money. I want you to have

1:02options and freedom and be able to do extraordinary things with it. I just don't want us giving money a job. It was never designed to do and that it cannot do. Because money is incredibly powerful. But I think in many ways, money is a magnifier. Let's get into it. Let me explain what I mean by that. Because I don't believe money simply makes people good or bad. I think it's much more nuanced than that. Money creates capacity. If you're generous and suddenly you have 10 times the financial capacity, you can be generous on a completely different scale. If you love creating experiences with the people you care about, money gives you more options for doing that. If you have a vision for a company, a charity, an investment portfolio, or something you want to build in the world, capital allows you to do things that just are not possible without it.

2:05That's one of the reasons I love wealth. But there's another side of capacity. If fear is driving a lot of your financial decisions now, more money doesn't necessarily remove the fear. Sometimes it just gives the fear more things to worry about. Now there's more to protect, more decisions to make, more investments that could go wrong. Maybe your lifestyle has grown, so there's more income required to maintain it. And this is where I think we can get caught in a trap without even realizing it. We create a number in our heads that represent safety. If I could just make $10,000 a month, I'd feel so much better. And then you get there. And for a minute, maybe you do feel better. But eventually your life adjusts to $10,000 a month and now your brain comes up with another number. Maybe $20,000 would feel safe. Or $50,000. Maybe you need a certain amount in savings, or a certain net worth, or a certain number of properties, or a certain number of clients. The number keeps moving because we're trying to solve an internal problem with an external measurement. And those are two different things. I want to be careful here because financial security

3:10is real. Having reserves matters, having sufficient income matters, getting out from undercrushing debt matters, owning assets matters. There is a very real difference between wondering how you're going to buy groceries and having six months of expenses sitting in your bank account. I'm not going to spiritually bypass that and tell you it's all mindset. It's not. But there's also a difference between having financial security and feeling internally secure. You can have money and still be terrified of losing it. You can own assets and constantly worry that the market is going to crash. You can have more than you've ever had of your life and still feel like it's not enough. That's why I don't think peace automatically arrives at a particular net worth. If I haven't learned how to return to peace while I'm building, why would I assume I'll suddenly know how to do it once I've built more. And I think the same thing happens with success. Maybe your version isn't I'll finally feel safe. Maybe it's I'll finally feel successful. Once I close my first deal, I'll feel like a real

4:12investor. And then you close one. Well, now the person next to you has done five. So maybe five will do it. Then you do five and somebody else has 40 doors. Okay, apparently that's what a real investor looks like. There's always another scoreboard. And if you're using achievement to prove something about who you are, success can become exhausting because there's never a finish line. You just keep moving the evidence required to finally believe you're not. That's why I think it's worth paying attention to what we were actually asking money to mean about us because money is a useful tool, but it's a terrible identity. Your bank balance can tell you how much money isn't an account. It cannot tell you whether you're worthy. Your income can tell you what you earned during a particular period. It cannot tell you whether your life matters. Your portfolio can tell you what you own. It cannot tell you who you are. And yet without realizing it, we can start becoming all of those things together and blending all of those things together. A great financial month means I'm

5:15doing great. A terrible month means something's wrong with me. A deal succeeds and suddenly we feel brilliant. And then the next one goes sideways and we're questioning whether we're quiet for any of this. That's a brutal way to live because now your internal state is constantly being dictated by an external scoreboard. And that scoreboard is going to move. So what do we do with that? I don't think the answer is to stop caring about money. In fact, quite the opposite. I think we can become much better stewards of money when we're not asking it to prove our worth or regulate our emotions for us because then we can actually look at the numbers. We can make a bad investment without making ourselves bad. We can have a lower income month without turning it into an identity crisis. If an opportunity isn't right, we can walk away even when we really wanted the money. And when the money does come in, we can enjoy it. That's something I don't think we talk enough about. If you spent your entire journey telling yourself all relaxed when I get there, you may arrive and discover you've

6:19become incredibly good at not relaxing. You practice worry. You practice moving the goal post. And then you expect your nervous system to get the memo. The day your bank account reaches a certain number, it just doesn't work like that. The way we live while we're creating the life we want matters. Who are you becoming as you build? So alongside your financial goals, I want you to have another kind of goal. Not just how much do I want to create, but who do I want to be while I'm creating it? Not after I've created it while I'm creating it. Do I want to be able to make thoughtful decisions when the stakes get higher? Can I enjoy what I've created without immediately needing the next thing? Do I want to become someone who can hold a lot of responsibility without living under constant pressure? How do I want to treat people when I have more influence? What kind of stewart do I want to be when they're substantially more money flowing through my hands? Those questions matter because if money really does magnify our capacity, I want to like what's being magnified.

7:25And I want to be clear, this isn't about becoming perfect before you're allowed to be wealthy. Please don't turn this into that. You don't need to heal every fear or conquer every insecurity or achieve some magical level of enlightenment before you make money. We're human. We're going to bring some stuff with us. This is just simply about becoming conscious of it. Because when I can see what I'm doing, then I have choices. So I have a really simple exercise for you this week and you don't have to sit down with a journal or make a list. I just want you to listen for one sentence in your own thinking. When I have more money than I owe, dot, dot, dot. Notice how you finish it. Maybe it's then I'll relax, then I'll stop worrying, then I'll feel successful, then I'll finally enjoy myself, then I'll feel secure. Whatever comes after then is what I want you to get curious about. Ask yourself am I making money to do an internal job? Am I asking money to do an internal job?

8:28If the answer is no, then that's great. When I have more money, I'll buy an investment property. Fantastic. That's a job money can actually do. When I have more money, I'll take my family to Europe. Also a job money can do. But when I have more money, I'll finally believe I'm successful. That's different. So don't abandon the financial goal. Go make the money. But if there's an internal experience you've postponed until you reach that number, start practicing it now. What would it look like to create a little more peace now? Can you enjoy something you've already created before racing toward that next achievement? Did you practice making financial decisions thoughtfully instead of fearfully at the level you're at today? Because you're becoming the person who's going to receive the next level while you're building it. And I think this is what I really want you to hear. I don't want you to spend 10 years creating an incredible life only to realize you weren't actually present for any of it. Make the money. Build the wealth. Buy the house. Take the

9:31trip. Create the freedom. Give generously. Build something extraordinary. Absolutely. But don't postpone becoming peaceful, grounded, joyful, and fully alive until you get there. Because money can magnify your capacity. And it does magnify your capacity. So make sure you're also building a life worth magnifying. So this week, pay attention to that sentence. When I have more money, then I'll you might discover that you're simply naming something you'd like money to purchase or make possible. But if what comes next is peace, worth enoughness, security, or permission to finally enjoy your life, get curious about that. You don't need to stop wanting money. I certainly don't want you to stop building wealth. I just don't want you waiting for a bank balance to give you permission to experience your life differently. And if you're listening to this realizing, that's exactly what I've been doing. I've built this whole finish line in my head where eventually

10:31I'll have enough or accomplish a month or prove enough, then I can finally relax. I want to see you inside the obedient rebel room. Because what if success didn't have to feel like one long race toward the next thing? What would change if you could make a financial decision without fear taking over the conversation? You could trust yourself when the answer isn't obvious, and have something go wrong without immediately believing everything else is about to fall apart. You can pursue really big things and still be present for your actual life. You could create wealth without making your net worth responsible for your self-worth. And you could reach the next level without arriving there completely exhausted from the way you got there. That's what I want for you. If you want to create more success and experience more peace while you're creating it, come join us inside the obedient rebel room. Your first month is just a dollar. You'll find the link in the show notes, and I'd love to have you in the room. Till next time, go make the money. Just don't ask it to tell you who you are. And remember, keep your peace close. Your obedient

11:36strong and your rebellion holy.