Money: A Paradigm Shift

Yesterday I had my beliefs challenged.  I was listening to a podcast, a interview with Jamie Tardy who wrote a book called The Eventual Millionaire.  She talked about the commonalities that a lot of the millionaires she interviewed shared. As I was listening I was imagining these millionaires in my mind. Middle aged guys in suits. Driven, workaholics, who put work and making money before family, and based friendships on building their businesses.  When I was thinking this I had an insight.  Why didn't I ever envision a woman when I heard the world millionaire?  The minute I heard the word millionaire the same image always popped into my head.  This was a lightbulb moment.

Why didn’t I envision a woman? Why do I see millionaires as men that I would consider self centered and ruthless?  It’s a belief system.  Somewhere along the course of my life I was programed, a belief about people with money was installed in my brain. It dawned on me that I need to change my beliefs and open up to the possibilities of what being “rich” meant to me and who that included.

“Women with money and women in power are two uncomfortable ideas in our society” – Candace Bushnell

Most of my life I have had a love/hate relationship with money.  I have never felt fully empowered around money, and have recently decided to change that.  While listening to the podcast I was happy to be aware of the thought process I was having, and my openness to seeing it differently - that is part of the shift I have been having of late. It’s been happening over the past few weeks.  It feels like my brain is working differently, and my self limiting beliefs are being exposed.  Money is certainly one.

The first thing I decided to do was to start by changing the image of what a millionaire looks like to me.  So I Googled “self-made female millionaires”.  What popped up was “self-made female billionaires”.  Even Google was thinking bigger than me!  I clicked on the article and was amazed to read about some pretty powerful self-made women.  Next I searched for “female internet millionaires”. This article was even more enlightening.  There were many average women who started blogs and internet businesses that are now making seven figures and more.  It was inspiring to see woman, just like me, who were millionaires.  I had a real paradigm shift.

Do I want to be a millionaire?  It’s not on my list of goals for 2014, but who knows about the future?  What I do want is to change my beliefs about money and begin to see the possibility that I could have more of it my life. A good place to start is to re-define my idea of what a millionaire looks like. After reading the two articles, and seeing pictures of female millionaires and billionaires I have changed my reality. The evidence is there.  It is real.  Today when I hear the word millionaire, I have a whole new vision!

Becoming Zia is an interesting journey.  Everyday, more is being revealed!