There’s nothing that gets me more riled up than hearing someone use the word expensive. Even “INexpensive” drives me up the damn wall.
And here’s why –
When you tell yourself that something is expensive, what you’re actually saying is that you don’t see the value in it. Which is fine, you’re totally entitled to feel that way.
But what you’re doing on a much deeper level is telling yourself you can’t afford something that may very well be in your reach, had you seen that value. In which case, you will NEVER be able to “afford’ it.
Let’s use a couch as an example. You need a new couch for your house. You go shopping for a badass couch that suits your style.
You find one that is absolutely PERFECT, it suits you and your space amazingly well. It’s comfortable and the colour is spot on.
“Ahhh, it’s amazing! I love it,” you say. You sit down on it and smile, thinking of all the naps you’ll take, and the work you’ll be doing on that amazing couch. And then you look at the price tag –
It costs $1,500. “That’s way too expensive for a couch!”, you balk. “No way would I ever pay that for something I’m just going to sit on ocassionally.”
Then you find another couch that is $500 and it’s the right size, right shape, and it’s comfortable, too. But - the style is not really you. You don’t get excited when you look at it, let alone sit on it.
However, it’s $1,000 cheaper than the other couch.
And so you go for the cheaper couch. “Whatever, it’s good enough”, you say, unimpressed by it and ready to just get out of there and move on to something else.
You’re DONE couch shopping and hope to never do it again for a very long time.
Do you see what happened to your mood here? You went from really excited to really disappointed and kind of annoyed and pissed off.
This is what happens when we tell ourselves NO.
Did you actually have $1,500 for the couch? Maybe, maybe not. But that’s not the point.
The point is that when you invest in something that will bring you immense pleasure (and yes, a couch can bring immense pleasure!), you feel good.
When you feel good, you produce better work.
When you produce better work, you make more money.
Therefore, investing in yourself is not just a must-do, it’s an absolutely-must-do-no-matter-
And every single time you tell yourself something is expensive, you’re saying you can’t afford it.
And when you say you can’t afford something, guess what –
That’s exactly what becomes true.
You’ll NEVER be able to afford that $1,500 couch.
You’ll NEVER be able to afford a $1 million dollar home.
You’ll NEVER be able to afford a $3 bag of pasta instead of your usual $1 bag.
All because you’ve programmed yourself to believe that things are expensive. So you will never have them.
If you want to have something, whether that’s a couch, a vacation, a new home, a mentor, a $3 bag of pasta - STOP saying these things are expensive.
Instead say “I’m excited to buy that home” and “I’m excited to try this new pasta”.
Erase the word EXPENSIVE from your vacabulary forever. It’s bullshit. It’s not serving you at all (in fact, it’s making things WORSE).
When something costs “a lot” of money, remember that it’s not about the money. It’s about the value you associate with it.
Let’s say I could show you how to make $1 million dollars in 30 days and you had to pay me $900,000 to make this happen.
Would you consider this proposal to be expensive? To most people, a $900,000 expense is INSANE, ludacris, stupid! But at the end of 30 days, you will be ahead by $100,000, so –
Doesn’t seem that expensive now, right?
You have to put things into perspective. You are what you think. So if you think everything is expensive, you are telling yourself that YOU and your dreams are expensive, which means you will never have them.
The first step to believing anything is possible is to forget you ever learned the word “expensive” and the next time you see something you want that is at a higher price point than you were expecting, tell yourself you’re excited to have it.
Now may not be the time, but you WILL have it, and it IS within your reach.
And just a friendly note that when you drop the word “expensive” from your vocabulary, you will start noticing others say it a LOT more.
The best thing you can do in those situations is change the subject, or leave the conversation altogether. Do NOT engage in any conversations where people are using the word “expensive”.
(I’ve had to do that at least 20 times in the last 8 days with my MIL, while in Ireland. Ha!)
The LACK mentality is an awful thing to have because it keeps you stuck. Can’t make more money? You likely have a LACK mentality, or you’re allowing others around you with a lack mentality, to influence your thoughts and actions.
Remember –
Nothing is out of your reach. You really can have everything you want.
It all starts with you believing that is possible, and then acting accordingly.