“Money is like energy, it should be conserved with purpose to serve with purpose.”

~ Bill Crawford

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MONEY, POWER, & PURPOSE

For those of you who follow my “Life from the Top of the Mind” philosophy, you may notice that, like my philosophy, purpose is a prominent aspect of this week’s quote. This is especially true of the concept of “Highest Purpose,” which refers to the most important thing in our life, and a guiding principle for all decisions. In fact, I have created four criteria which I believe can be very helpful when making important decisions that are congruent with our Highest Purpose, and these are:

1. That the decision has been made on purpose, or deliberately.
2. That it is effective in helping us create the life we want.
3. That it defines who we are, and who we are becoming.
4. That we would teach and/or recommend this decision to our child, our children, or those we love.

In my humble opinion, this is especially important when it comes to money. In fact, if we look at how money (or specifically the use of money) has diminished the lives of others (blown on drugs, gambling, purchases that were made to establish status or to prove something to others) chances are that these four criteria were not met (especially the last two).

So how can we use money more purposefully? I suggest we see it as a type of energy, and that like energy, we see the value of conserving it (or saving it) so that it can serve our highest purpose (defining who we are in a way we would teach to those we love).

In fact there is a five-step model in my book, “Life from the Top of the Mind,” that I believe can also be applied to how we live our life, and how we deal with money.

1. The first is “Purpose” which has been outlined above.

2. The second step is about “Our Past” which speaks to any old beliefs or mental models we have accumulated about money as we have grown up. Some of these might be wonderful, and some might need changing, but none should be accepted as valuable until examined using the four criteria.

3. The third step revolves around the “Wisdom of Serenity” which is drawn from the Serenity Prayer, and which I see as a formula for success. In other words, what is asked for in the prayer first is serenity so that we may accept the things we cannot change. With money, this often means accepting where we are versus wishing we had more money TODAY! The second part of the prayer asks for the courage to change the things we can. It will take courage to begin conserving money more purposefully and putting it to use to serve what is most important in life. The third is having the wisdom to know the difference, which refers to the third and fourth criteria, or using money in a way that defines who we are and in a way we would teach to those we love. What is important to all of this is that it all begins with serenity. This means that serenity is the precursor to acceptance, courage, wisdom and change. This could come in the form of prayer, meditation, or simply a pause for clarity, but whatever form it takes, the goal is to ensure that the purposeful part of who we are is making the next decision, versus our being driven by some old, habitual way of thinking or being from the past.

4. The fourth has to do with the Energy we bring to the conserving and spending of money. I recommend that this be more around clarity, love, and purpose than fear or worry. If money is indeed just a form of energy, we want to be very purposeful in the energy behind our decisions so that we don’t have hang on to fear to conserve or be driven by lust, or our desire for the next “shiny object” to spend.

5. And the fifth and final step in this model has to do with Responsibility. We certainly want to be responsible with money, but what does this mean? I like to define responsibility as “the ability to respond” to life in ways that serve our highest purpose. Further, I suggest that we take 100% responsibility for this ability to respond, which means we do not need situations and people around us to change before we choose who we want to be with respect to money.

This model spells POWER (Purpose, Our past, Wisdom of serenity, Energy, and Responsibility) which not only speaks to our having power to use money more effectively, but also gives a new twist to the concept that “money is power.”

Of course, as I suggest in my books and seminars, all of this is about making decisions about how we use money (and make all decisions) from the clear, confident, and creative part of the brain (which I call the “Top of the Mind”) versus the old, habitual, reactive brain that is more likely to be driven by fear or lust. Or, as this week’s quote suggests, that we conserve this powerful energy “on purpose” so that it can serve us and our life with purpose, and in a way we would recommend to those we love.

Take care and God bless, Dr. Bill