Wie Werde Ich Reich: The Inner Game of Wealth

In the psychology of success they call it the inner game of wealth. Inner game in that sense means the precise cognitive processes in the brain - the psychology - of people who work on mastering something extremely difficult (like the "money game"). The description of inner game is new, but the basic idea is practically as old as humankind itself. Even the old Greeks and Hellenes (e.g. stoics like Seneca) were convinced that the inner world of every individual is the main cause of it's successes and failures in the external world.

This observation is as important today, as it was back then. People who have a positive outlook on things, generally have more positive experiences in life than those who don't. When it comes to riches, this theory goes even deeper. You don't just get rich just because you have a positive attitude.

Your beliefs about money are especially important for success (or failure) financially. A believe is a certain (and very personal) assumption that someone has about making money or becoming and being rich for that matter. What's fascinating about it is, most of these believes have no real roots in reality - even though the individual might "think" so - and they literally don't allow for success in that department.

Examples:

* It's too much work to earn more than 40.000 $ per year
* Money is scarce. Rich people just had a lot of luck getting all that money.
* Money is abundant, I just have to find a way to get it.
* I'm not worth earning so much money.
* I can could rich through the internet (wie man reich werden kann)? That's just impossible.

Do you see how these beliefs can hinder or promote everyones actions? Someone who beliefs that money is scarce and rich people just had a lot of luck is much less able to act (if at all) in effective ways, than someone who's convinced that there's enough money for everyone.

A very common belief is the following: "I am not worth having a lot of money". This belief is in so many cases responsible for the fact that many people who earn a lot of money spend it all at once in very short periods of time. You can see a similar phenomenon among lottery winners world wide. In almost 80% of all cases they "lose" pretty much all their money after one year of winning it. Their money inner game is not set for the responsibilities that come with having that much money.

If certain believes and assumptions of a person don't match with their reality, either the believe has to be changed, or the reality (see: cognitive dissonance). Because the Situation (the reality) is much quicker to change (aka "losing" all the money), this is the standard escape that most people choose for releasing the pressure of cognitive dissonance. Changing beliefs takes much too long for a lot of folks.

And this is exactly where rich and poor (or even middle class) people differ. Rich people are able to cope with their limiting beliefs and trust that they will change with time. Poor people believe everything their mind says is true. The inner game of the "how do I get rich" (wie werde ich reich) question is the basis for all wealth.

Before you take another step towards wealth, ask yourself: What are my most fundamental beliefs? Do I belief that I deserve wealth? Do I believe that money is abundant?