In a recent interview, Warren Buffet said,
When you are at my age, your bank balance does not define how successful you are. Warren Buffet
Buffet for most of his life focused on increasing his net worth over giving away his money. He never gave money for charity. After his 1st wife passed away, when he was in his seventies his attitude toward money changed.
Buffet’s 1st wife practiced philanthropy all through her life, though Buffer never felt the need to do any philanthropy. Post his wife’s death, he decided to give away 90% of his wealth.
Now it is seen often, that tragic events in one’s life can bring significant shifts in the beliefs we hold. But waiting for tragic events to shift our beliefs may not be the best option.
Instead, there is a better way and that is using the powerful mental tool that is available to us “reflection“.
Let’s understand why reflection is such a powerful way to see things as they are..
3R’s of Brain Activity
Our brain is capable of performing activities at 3 levels,
1. Repetitive
2. Reactive
3. Reflective
Now the repetitive and reactive comes naturally to everybody.
These are hardwired in our brains as over millennia we have developed behaviors to repeat doing the same things and react to situations as survival mechanisms.
In a way, every animal also indulges in living repetitively and reactively.
If we analyze our actions, it is not difficult to notice most of our activities belong to these 2 forms of behavior.
On the other hand, reflection is a unique ability that is only available in the human brain.
And reflection is an act of volition. If and only if we use our will and consciously reflect in any area of life, this behavior can open up tremendous possibilities.
Reflection here means looking beneath the surface to find the truth about anything & come to a conclusion by building new knowledge.
Reflection is one of the most underused, yet powerful tool for success. It is engagement in a deliberate mental process of thinking about, or contemplating things that have happened, what was experienced and learned, from our own and others point of view
Reflecting On Money
In a way, money is one of the basic human mind constructs that consume most of our actions.
We have built auto behaviors about how we view money. Also, there is a big influence from society, family, and many environmental factors around this.
Now to get out of the auto behaviors, reflecting on money is a necessary exercise at different stages of life.
The best way to do the reflection is an age-old formula, i,e of asking the right questions to oneself and contemplating the same.
Here are some good open questions I have found myself reflecting on money to start with.
What does money mean to me or what beliefs do I hold about money?
This question can open up various possibilities such as,
- Is money everything for you or just a medium of exchange?
- Is Time equals Money or is Time more valuable than money?
- Money is God or Money is Evil?
- Money is wealth or money is just one aspect of wealth?
Over the years I have asked this question myself and my knowledge and experience at different stages of life have revealed different answers, right from my student days to working in a job, as an entrepreneur, investor, and family person.
Right now, my experience and knowledge tell me that money is a just medium of transfer. There is nothing more than that.
Again you may hold a different view.
I am not questioning what is the right view to hold, but instead, what is important to know is,
- How were the views formed in the first place?
- Do these views help me to live my desired future?
As you reflect more, follow yourself with further questions as below and see what level of clarity you have,
1. How have you come to believe the money views you are holding now?
2. What facts do you have that support these views?
3. What stories are you carrying about money that affirms these views?
Especially the stories you hold, form a crucial influencing factor. The stories and impressions are what create a construct in our minds and drive repetitive and reactive behaviors.
If we don’t exercise will and do conscious reflection, our minds tend to continue to perform repetitive and reactive behavior and that is when you start feeling enough is enough but continue. You are in the grind and just unable to get out of it.
Reprogramming the time & money relation
What if the construct we have about money is not serving right now?
Can they be changed?
Yes, certainly.
It requires a certain effort but as I mentioned reflection opens great possibilities.
One of the exercises I did in a course was a reflection on the relationship between Money with Time.
Just like Money, Time is also a construct of the mind. There is nothing absolute about Time other than telling ourselves we have 24 hrs, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, and so on. But these are the constructions of today’s civilization.
Some of the views we hold about Time are just as well not serving like the money views we hold.
Unlike Money though, the beauty of Time is, it is finite for everyone. Whereas money has no limits.
One can possess any amount of money either positive wealth or negative debt, but time is finite is real.
As I reflected on this money and time relationship,
I could realize from childhood I had constructed a view that
I have Less Money and More Time.
This was true during my school and college days as I grew up in a lower middle-class background with not enough money to fulfill many of my own needs during my student days.
And what this construct meant, I conditioned myself to trade my Time for Money.
And for 20+ years I did trade my time for money.
My actions over the last 2 decades is a reaction to this construct I had formed in my mind.
I joined a job, worked, and was willing to give my time in exchange for a monthly paycheck.
Of course, this construct served me and helped me earn money to lead a better life than what I had. but in the process, I missed many other aspects life had to offer.
I am now a family man, and want to explore other aspects of life!
A new construct that is more relevant to my current circumstances is needed and I know for sure if left as it is, the repetitive nature of my mind will do the same thing and I keep trading time for money.
So I reflected and let my imagination take a ride, on what my behaviors/actions are if held a view, I have enough money, but have less time!!
What activities do I start performing if this construct exists? As I thought about this, new answers started coming.
I must spend time on my spiritual practice, travel, focus on personal health, and be with family.
Also, start giving more, and take less stress about the stock market movement, and taxes 🙂
Again the chances of falling back to old patterns are always high.
To avoid that, the best way is to do a thought experiment.
When done under guidance, the new constructs will sustain in our minds and help form habits.
A good thought experiment for this is,
“If you have $20Mil, what will you focus on and what activities would you be trading your time for”
or
If you have only 10 years to live, what would you be doing”
Ask this question for a few days in the morning.
Do not force yourself to answer.
Instead, first, calm yourself by taking deep breaths, and letting the thoughts flow.
Over a few days, you will get to know how should you spend the rest of your life and what views of money and time serve you.
