How You Do Money Is How You Do Everything

How you do money is how you do everything. How you do everything is how you do money.

How you do money is your financial behavior. Your financial behavior is a function of how you have been responding in the world. Your response is found in your emotions and thoughts. From your external actions, you are likely to find a common pattern or a set of beliefs that underlie every aspect of your life.

Everything is inter-related. Thus, how you do anything is how you do everything. Your external world mirrors your internal one. Your inner world influences how you are showing up in the world. A process of self-inquiry will lead you to uncover what perceptions you have about the world and about yourself. You can dive in to find out what your core beliefs are, whether through a money situation, relationship situation or any other life situation.

However, it is often a money situation that shows up core issues more evidently. Money or cash in itself may be neutral but the stories that we built around it, is anything but neutral. It is the emotional meaning that we have attached which leads us to creating dramas in our lives.

How you do money is how you are acting. Externally, are you making clear and prudent decisions or are you making decisions that are based on victimhood or herd mentality? Internally, are you reacting in anger, frustration and fear? What are the thoughts and beliefs that guide your decisions and behaviour?

Well, the truth of “how you do money is how you do everything” struck home even more when I played money games in workshops such as with the Money and You program. The games had been carefully crafted to emulate life. In a room of 200 participants, I observed closely how emotions ran high when it came to money or the scarcity of it. Suddenly, playing childhood games were no longer just a fun exercise but a metaphor for our financial behaviour. They illuminate the stories that we have been telling on the inside.

During the money workshops, I discovered life lessons. Insights were not merely gained via an observation of how others are behaving but most importantly, about myself. The gems are in the personal reflections. For things to change, I have to change.

How You Do Money Is How You Do Everything: 7 Reflections

1. More than ever, I found out that the ability to attach meaning depends on myself. I can make a choice. I can decide to get rid of the chronic pain or suffering that I have. It is up to me to rewrite the story that I have been telling in my head.

Lesson Tip: Tell a better inside story.

2. We operate out from our egos if we are addicted to our stories of victimhood. It is when we think: I am my story; No one understands me; Poor me.

Lesson Tip: Detach from the stories of lack and limitation spun by the ego.

3. I have noticed my pattern of wanting to introduce dramas especially when I perceive that life is too calm or boring. Instead of being in a space of blissful contentment, the mind has a tendency to pick up things that are going wrong and play it up in a drama. Most of all, egos love money dramas!

Lesson Tip: Release drama hooks by the ego. Detach your money dramas now!

4. I have also observed how distracted we can be by plans that could generate faster financial returns. Greed is our downfall. Impatience has to be managed. Instead of careful analysis, I get swept away by my emotions. And it was not just myself. I noticed how blinded-sided we can get in our endeavour to make money: that we don’t need to complicate things or create complex systems – for the simplest of plans may be the best of all!

Lesson Tip: Slow and steady can win the race.

5. One huge revelation to me is how much I downplayed myself. In a game we played, the rest of the people on the table were men and I was the only female. My belief was that men ought to be better and smarter when it comes to strategizing games. And so, I went along with their ideas rather quickly. Well, we ended up “dead” as a team in a game where survival would have been possible based on individual ranking. I failed to convince everyone that my ideas were worth looking into, due to my own doubts.
Lesson Tip: Be confident in my ideas and myself.

6. Related to the above point about being impatient is that it leads us to missing out on important details because we are not practicing active listening. We make assumptions based on our filters. Thus, we miss out on opportunities.

Lesson Tip: Active listening and becoming more open can generate dividends.

7. This is probably my favorite. Ironically, I had not expected that a money-related workshop would bring forward any lesson on spirituality. But it did for me. A visualization exercise turned out to be a spiritual one. I learnt about releasing fear and reawakening into love.

I experienced the merging of consciousness in yet another powerful affirmation that Love is the essence of everything. And it all begins with loving ourselves. As we love others, we love ourselves, As we love ourselves, we love others.

Lesson tip: Everything is spiritual. Everyone is spiritual in nature. We are all One in Love.

Let’s Have a Heart-to-Heart Chat on Money and Self-Love

Through personal stories shared by some of the workshop participants, I found out how the absence of love and ultimately self-love, impacts one’s ability to generate abundance. Indeed, as I have often shared, love is an energy that strengthens us. When we weave stories about love, rather than fear, we can start to live the life that we are meant to lead.

I enjoy conversations about how we can create a more empowered money mindset. Especially, how we can master our relationships with money from a feminine perspective. Women tend to have huge emotional stories around worth and money. I’m all buzzed up after my workshop. Let’s talk … Schedule your complimentary 30-minute Clarity Breakthrough Session right away.

Love and Abundance Always,
Evelyn Lim 
Abundance Alchemy Coach

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