YOU ARE TO MAKE THE MONEY,
NOT THE MONEY MAKING YOU
MOVE BEYOND THE LOTTERY MENTALITY
The time has come to evict luck from our vocabulary. As I mentioned, some people think that if they just wake up, they will become successful and make it “big.” We all have someone in our lives or families who sits around talking about their future payday. They are “saving” themselves for that single moment when they hit the lotto or when a deal falls into their lap, or they are waiting on some other dream of success, which never comes of course because there is no action taken. While they are in this holding pattern wishing on a star for good luck, they never bother with good work.
I’ll admit, some people really do seem to live charmed lives with money and opportunities constantly falling into their laps. But I don’t know any of those people, and chances are you don’t, either. If someone comes to mind, please tell me. And make sure you ask him or her if luck or sheer dedication is to be credited. Ask how many puddles and pitfalls they had to endure in their journey.
I believe that our successes and failures come into our lives based on choices we have. You can have a great influence over the major events in your life by making plans and working toward specific goals. Choice is so much more prevailing than luck. You have to choose to take action. You have to choose to cause money to show up in your life. When you watch a flower bloom in your garden, you can trace the cause back to the seeds you planted, the water you gave it, and the spot where you positioned it perfectly in the sunlight. Just as the choices you made in caring for the flower allows it to grow and thrive, the choices you make in life are what determine your
future—whether you will thrive or wilt.
Let’s take a more serious example and look at poverty. Why is anyone poor? Do you really believe that poor people were “destined” to be poor? Or that it’s just the way of the world that some people will be poor and some will be rich? I believe eternal poverty is a choice, not a sentence.
Like me, you may not be born into the richest of households but you don’t have to accept that scenario for yourself. You see, barring any serious emotional or mental challenges, we all have the brainpower to get out of a dire financial situation.
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Sometimes the choices we make with our money leads us down a trail of struggle, bad credit, and paucity. In this case, it’s a failure to plan for success that causes these results. The good news is that you can do it differently by making different plans for a different outcome. It’s so exciting once you realize that your life is a do-it-yourself project.
Reality Check: We have to move beyond the lottery mentality, which is believing in luck or that something great can come from no effort. Even the person who wins the lottery still had to put forth effort of some sort—get up, take a shower, get dressed, and go to a place where lottery tickets are sold. He has to pay for a ticket, and pay for a chance. The odds, however, are against him. It’s harder to win the lottery than it is to be successful. You can’t control the picking of the winning numbers, the “luck.”
But you can control how much effort you put into working toward prosperity. The more effort you put forward, the better chance you have at becoming wealthy. If you were to ask millionaires how much effort they put into becoming rich, I bet they say “a lot.” The funny part is that luck is elusive and takes more time waiting for it, than would be required to simply create a plan and work it. Step out of your comfort zone and push yourself.
Here’s a thought: The harder you work, the luckier you are. No one &ldquo
