Money Tapes

Last week (January 20, 2008) I shared some general information on behavioral tapes and promised to follow up with thoughts on some of the more common tapes that influence our behavior. Let's talk about money tapes this week.

Money tapes are feelings and beliefs that somehow were encoded into your psyche and are now influencing your relationship with money. These tapes help explain why some people have a positive and healthy relationship with money and others have a negative and unhealthy relationship with money. It basically comes down to the internal messages and emotions that are triggered when you think of money. Remember, behavioral tapes are made up of two main components: facts and emotions. Unfortunately, the facts that are encoded into your memory are not always correct. Here are some common, but not necessarily true, messages about money that some of you might have heard during your formative years:

• Money is the root of all evil (a common misquote).
• Rich people are arrogant.
• Rich people are snobby.
• Rich people are miserable.
• Rich people are ruthless.
• You'd better hold on tight to your money.
• People who have a lot of money are...(you add a descriptive term).

I'm sure you can come up with a few more negative money messages. In general, these messages imply that people with an abundance of money are in some way flawed or unscrupulous. Other negative money messages help create a fear-based or scarcity mentality when it comes to dealing with money. Once these messages are programmed into your psyche, you might find it difficult to enjoy the tangible rewards of success.

When taken to extremes, irrational beliefs about money can lead to various forms of self-defeating behavior. For example, if you grew up in poverty and suddenly find that an abundance of money is flowing in your life, you might become too focused on the possibility of losing your money rather than enjoying your material success. This, in turn, could lead to counterproductive behavior that might alienate some of the people in your life who helped you become financially successful in the first place. In the end, money is neither good nor bad. Money is simply what you make of it and what you make of it is often based on your money tapes.

Hopefully you have a positive and healthy relationship with money. However, if you feel this is an area of life that you want to examine, here's a simple exercise that will help you explore your money tapes. Imagine you are very young (less than 10 years old) and you walk up to your parents (or primary caregivers) and boldly announce: "When I grow up I am going to get rich!!!" How do you think your parents would react to this statement? What would they say to you? Your thoughts should offer some strong clues to help you reveal your money tapes. And remember, when money is printed or coined by the government, it has no intrinsic emotional value or association. You give emotional meaning to money. Explore your money tapes and think about whether or not they are helping or hurting you when it comes to developing a healthy relationship with money.

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Chris Crouch, president of DME Training and Consulting, has spent years researching and studying both the mental and physical aspects of being productive.

Comments

[scott hammond]

Chris,
Great points on wealth and the wealthy. The NSA Summer conference covered some of the same ideas...we have been indoctrinated from youth that the Rich must be evil...(Disney Movies).
Thanks for the great take. Best,
Scott Hammond