Why Earning $1500 a week isn’t Enough

I’m gettin’ paid!!!  

The sun is out, the kids are on their school holidays and my tennis camps are packed. I’m making money. Maybe not BIG money, but I’m clearing over $1500 a week.

Why am I telling you this? 

Because I’m into the highest grossing period of my year, yet I couldn’t be further away from realising my dreams!!!

Sounds confusing? Let me explain my dilemma and in the process, shed some light on a problem anyone with ambitions of starting a new business, or quitting a conventional job in pursuit of a more adventurous life, must face.  

The Gettin’ Paid Paradox

We all love getting paid.

Whether it’s the end of the month, or someone handing you the cash directly, there’s something special about seeing those digits, or paper, stack up. After all, the system bombards us with the message that receiving regular, and large, amounts of money is the path to happiness, security and a life devoid of problems. However, the problem is that our brains are hard wired to seek and repeat pleasurable experiences and this, combined with the system’s conditioning, influences us to place making money as one of, if not THE, most important driving force in our lives. 

‘Not me,’ I hear you say. ‘I don’t care about being rich.’ Fair enough, but I bet you care about being poor. I bet you won’t sacrifice your job no matter how much you hate it or how little you’re paid. You see, as much as we’re taught to love the thought of being rich, we’re taught to fear a lack of money even more.  

Which brings us back to my dilemma. This conditioning to always focus on the bottom line has created a bizarre paradox whereby I’m experiencing the most financially successful time of my year, yet the bigger picture is slipping further and further into the background.

Let me further explain.

I work 45 hours a week, every week, unless I’m taking a rare holiday or experience a rare illness. Of these 45 hours, I commit 25 to 30 hours on activities that create a direct income  – tennis coaching and hypnotherapy – and 15 to 20 hours on activities that are building my dream to be a successful author and coach. 

Most of the year I stick to this balance. Over the last 4 weeks I’ve failed miserably. During this period, the balance has been more like 40 hours on direct income and 5 hours on dream building. As a result, my output has dropped significantly. I update my social media only 3 days a week instead of 5, I’m only writing one blog post a month instead of 2 and I haven’t made any videos.

It’s not good enough. While my wallet swells, my dream fades.

You see as much as I believe that you can change your life through the power of faith, raising your energy and limitless thinking, I also know that there are a few practical steps to building a new business, or creating a life greater than the one you have today, that you just can’t avoid. One of them, and possibly the most important, is the amount of time you dedicate towards doing it.

The T.I.M.E Factor

A few months ago I wrote a post pontificating on the importance of T.I.M.E. You can read the full version here but the overall gist was that the Dreamer needs to be putting in the equivalent of 2 hours 45 minutes daily to ensure those dreams turn into a reality.

This may seem like a lot, but I’m not alone in my thinking. Influential blogger, Jon Morrow, wrote a brilliant post on how to get more traffic to your website where he draws the same conclusions. He claims that if you want to generate serious traffic then you’ll have to spend the next 4 to 6 years putting in 20 to 40 hours a week! (Read the full article here, it’s an eye-opener!) 

Can you see where this is heading? 

What’s the number one factor that prevents you from putting 20 to 40 hours a week into building your blog, developing a skill or starting your business? 

THE NEED TO MAKE MONEY. Or to put it more accurately, the perceived need to make money. The system fills our heads with this false notion that we can do anything with money and nothing without it. As a result, we don’t spend non-directly rewarded time building our dream when we could be spending it clawing in the cash. We won’t make what we believe is a sacrifice.

Today, I want to convince you this isn’t a sacrifice. I want to explain why making $1500 a week (or any amount) sometimes just isn’t enough. 

There’s something far greater at stake than financial return here. By not building your days around the 2 hours 45 minutes you need to be doing, you’re missing out on the chance to make a difference with your life, make a living doing something you love and ironically, the opportunity to get mega-rich and win your financial freedom (as opposed being ‘system rich’ yet still having to work a 9 to 5 for the rest of your life.) 

I know how hard it can be to resist the impulse to do the work and tasks that appear to be urgent, but if you’re serious about realising your dream then you have to go through a radical adjustment in your way of thinking and the scheduling of your day.

In anticipation of that change I’m going to blitz you with some suggestions and insights that will help you remain focused on the bigger picture.

• Plan your days and weeks around the 2 hours 45 minutes of daily dream building, NOT YOUR JOB.   
  
• Don’t work overtime! Leave the office when your contracted hours are over.
• Forget promotion, look for a way out. 
• Work less hours, earn less money, have more free time.
• Become self-employed, set your own agenda.
• If you’re really brave, work part-time.
• Remember, you can live off far less money than you think.
• Finally, the money you earn for today is less important than the dream you build for tomorrow.

Final Analysis  

Recently, I calculated that I could almost double my income if I gave up on Screw the System and transferred that time over to seeing tennis and hypnotherapy clients.

The thought that bugs me, though, is would I be richer?

What’s that extra money worth? A slightly better car, a slightly larger house? The chance to escape your life with a vacation twice a year instead of once? 

In the final analysis, I had to ask myself this question – Are small luxuries really worth giving up the chance to be great?  

Think about it the next time you find yourself knee deep in work that brings no passion into your life! 

Over to You . . . 

When was the last time you got sucked into the trap of making money and neglecting your dream and what did you do to get out of it? Let me know in comments section below.

Also, do you know anyone who talks about starting a new business yet is too wrapped up in their job to take the first steps? Email them a link to this post and give them the kick they need to start making some changes. 

 (Image taken from 410 K 2012‘s photostream flickr.com)