What the Gurus Don’t Tell You About Money Mindset

December 30, 2019 ​- 25 Comments

Do you have the right mindset to attract wealth and prosperity into your life?

There's no shortage of gurus out there who would have you believe that this is an important question. Who would tell you that if you're currently broke and struggling financially, it might be because of your mindset, because of limiting beliefs, perhaps because of misaligned chakras, even.

As you can imagine, I've got a slightly different take on the topic...

More...

Mindset vs. Doing the Work

There may be some merit to mindset around money. Perhaps you can even be in a situation in which you're self-sabotaging - preventing yourself from making more money because of some underlying beliefs, for example.

BUT...

...if you want to change something about your financial situation, your mindset and beliefs are not the best lever at your disposal.

In the video, I tell the story of one of my friends, who has always been a guy who makes things happen. Someone who has amazing work ethic and no lack of ambition, either. For him, indeed the missing ingredient may be some mindset (but mostly strategy) around how he makes money and manages finances.

For most people the problem is inverse: they're not making stuff happen. They're not creating value, not doing the work. Or if they're trying to do the work, they're not doing it productively enough.

If you're doing the work and creating the value, getting paid for that value is a small problem to solve. If you're only working on your mindset and limiting beliefs, but not doing the work, nothing will change.

Fake Gurus

This video was partially inspired by the Fake Guru series on the Coffeezilla channel. I highly recommend you give it a look. Especially if you're susceptible to the charms of the various sales, business, motivation and money gurus out there. And don't feel bad if you are someone who gets captivated by guru messages. They are good at what they do. Having a light shone on what really goes on behind the scenes may be exactly the medicine you need, to get untangled from a guru's web.

Let me know if you agree or disagree with my take on "money mindset" by leaving a comment below!

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About ​Shane Melaugh

I'm the founder of ActiveGrowth and Thrive Themes and over the last years, I've created and marketed a dozen different software, information and SaaS products. Apart from running my business, I spend most of my time reading, learning, developing skills and helping other people develop theirs. On ActiveGrowth, I want to help you become a better entrepreneur and product creator. Read more about my story here.


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  • Rick Wilkes says:

    Creating the Value. Doing the Work. THAT is where the blocks show up. Yes, I do believe that most people who want to Do The Work will run into resistance. But mindset alone isn’t enough. “He who waits for crispy duck to fly in mouth wait long time.” It’s my profession to help people with specific resistances that show up; hyping them up is a very expensive distraction from actually Doing The Work (which includes doing the work on emotional resistance, too). Thanks for this, Shane!

  • I really enjoyed that Shane. Nice one. You should shame some of these gurus too.

  • Totally agree. Having a dream (or creating value) is a necessary part of the process, having good strategies and a plan too, but taking action is where most of us have a weakness. We know what to do, but don’t do it. So we buy another book, another course, etc.

    • Indeed. Buying another book feels like progress, but it’s easy. No wonder I have so many books…

  • Firstly, thanks Shane! I agree to some extent. There are some who are ‘naive’ about the mindset thing. They think it’s the solution..this is where the problem is since it’s just ‘part of the solution’. This is also where I disagree a bit with your perspective: Though it’s part of the solution, it’s a very important part of the solution, since if someone does not have the right mindset how will they ‘create value’ in the first place. It all begins in the mind and being motivated and focused to act. I’m sure you had to get in a mental state before you filmed that video and similarly someone has to get in a mental state before they present to a large audience, or before they go to work or even before they speak to someone ‘successfully’. Things like ‘the law of attraction’ and ‘visualization’ are exercises or ‘tools’ which help the mind focus on the right things to fuel the right actions. You mentioned starting to create value first, but how does one do this effectively if they don’t have the right mindset in the first place. This is where it all begins. Everything you see around you started off in the mind, with folks who had the right mindset. As well, all the things ‘that we don’t see around us’ represent the ‘vacuum’ and the ‘opportunity’ of all those who have yet to adopt the right mindset . Thanks again Shane! Happy New Year to you and yours too!✨

    • Richard Cabrera says:

      Anil I totally agree with you on the subject of mindset. But I think that Shane is also talking about a lot of starting entrepreneurs who get lost in this business of mindset gurus. A lot of these so-called gurus are people who haven’t run a business of their own in the first place and now they are trying to earn money with no knowledge at all.

      • Yes, my complaint is mainly about those who are out there exploiting the inexperienced and desperate.

    • Thanks for your comment, Anil!

      My experience doesn’t match what you describe. I don’t get into a mental state to record a video, to do some writing, to start a new project or anything else like that. I find that very few things that matter happen in a moment, as a result of a certain mental state. In my experience, results come from a relatively mundane repetition of work. I know that some people have a much more emotional and feelings-based experience of life and perhaps what works for me doesn’t apply to everyone.
      This actually reminds me of another video I wanted to make. :)

  • Lani Padilla says:

    Completely agree. One can read / listen to all of the positive mantra’s every minute of the day, but in and of themselves, they are meaningless if one isn’t willing to put forth any action.

  • Thanks Shane, you are right on with this. I followed the Shiny Objects for many years until I woke up and learned that the only way for me to succeed is to create my own products. Thanks for sharing. Anyone here in the guitar teaching business like myself?

  • Keep up with these videos. I love when I’m not learning a critical skill. It’s so relaxing. You look relaxed too. Great ;)
    You have a wonderful 2020 Shane.
    Marisa

  • Granted that mindset is not the same as doing the work. But… on the positive side, tending to your mindset is sure to help you do the work through the hard times and may well be a key enabler of work. I hear your message, but I can’t help but thinking the guru is not the key problem. The lack of work in a suitable market is the key problem, whether or not you attend a guru event or not. There’s no harm in attending or not attending if you’re doing the work every day. :-)

  • Tim Lester says:

    So true. You might like the David Goggins book You Can’t Me. We take the soft easy road for the quick dopamine hit you mention. Other things to make you mentally tough, Intermittent fasting, potato diet, cold showers if of interest.

    • Thanks for the recommendation!
      I’m a big fan of ice baths. More so than cold showers, which I generally do (but it doesn’t really count because I spend a lot of time in warm climates, where the cold water isn’t very cold).

  • Hey Shane! Came here, ready to disagree vehemently, but nope. You’re absolutely right. Action and creating and publishing are what counts.

    But – and you knew there’s a but coming – as someone who’s been working on my traumas and fears and harmful beliefs for the past 2-3 years, I can say that a healthy mind is a major factor in actually getting to the action part.

    Because I’d argue that most people have no clue what they actually WANT to do, and that’s why they don’t take action. That’s why there’s such a huge demand for productivity hacks and whatnot.

    I knew 3 years ago that action is important, and I tried my best. Taking relentless action lead to results, but it also lead to me getting burned out and exhausted.

    Why? Because of internal issues. I was haunted by all these beliefs telling me that I shouldn’t be doing the thing I want to be doing, I should be doing a *proper* job, I should be working HARD to make money, etc. So because of these beliefs, I was spending my time and energy working a job I wasn’t entirely built to do. You could even say I was living someone else’s life, trying to live up to standards of other people.

    Now I understand that I can do whatever I want, and it’ll be as easy as I decide it to be. And taking action from this internal place has lead me to making increasingly better money, doing more and more of stuff that I want to do.

    Does this mean I now have a “healthy money mindset” though? I’m pretty careful about using these terms, as they seem to be rather flimsy. But for sure I’m more aware of harmful beliefs I hold, and how attaching harmful beliefs to money is a great way to keep yourself from taking action and not making the money.

    So in short, in my world, if you’ve worked on your emotional trauma, you’ll have a better relationship with money too.

    Will you learn this on a 2-day seminar? Nah. Still requires massive action and work on your own part to actually heal your own emotional trauma.

  • jack.griffin says:

    20 Feb 2020: WHY is the “CourseCraft” closed? How about at least writing a blogpost on how you made the decision to close it and why it is not an evergreen course.

    • We are working on improvements to Thrive Apprentice and other products and features discussed in the course. During this time, we are not selling it to a wider audience.

  • You are absolutely right on this Shane. I really enjoyed this. Keep it up shaming these gurus.

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