Wealth Creation Blog

This is a discussion that was started over at the 21st Century Academy blog, and yet again one that crosses over and merits discussion here as well.

The topic is reasons versus excuses, and how they relate to your success in creating wealth.

Reason Versus Excuse

There is one elemental difference between a reason and an excuse. If you look at the definitions of each, you see that an excuse is a feeling or perception of why something is the way it is. An excuse is a justification for something.

You could also say that a reason is a justification, but it is a justification that is based in fact. It would probably be more accurate to say that a reason is an explanation, and not a justification, which to most people really is just a fancy word for an excuse. While an excuse may just be someone’s personal version of events, a reason can be proved with hard facts. Of course, both of these are just paraphrasing the definitions, but that’s the gist of it.

Why Reasons Matter

So the big question is this: Who Cares? Why does it matter what a reason is versus an excuse?

It matters for one reason: correcting the mistakes of the past and improving upon them.

A lot of the discussions about setting goals and succeeding (in wealth creation or anything) hold that at some point you need to reflect on the current situation and figure out why your success has been limited. Through that reflection, you uncover the reasons for your current state of affairs, and then you begin to take steps to correct them. But here’s the thing: you can correct a reason, but you can’t correct an excuse. Why? Because an excuse is not really a reason. It’s just a justification—the easy way out of being to blame and making change. In order to make real change, and to find success—and wealth—you have to work to make true changes. And you can’t change something that never really existed to begin with, can you?

Sean Rasmussen
Wealth Creation Blog
UniversalWealthCreation.com © 2004 – 2009

If you’ve been following along over at the 21st Century Academy Blog, then you’ve already been a part of this discussion. What we have been doing over there is slowly working our way through Jamie McIntyre’s seven-day Wealth Vision video series, and combining that with posts which follow along in his book, What I Didn’t Learn At School But Wish I Had. In the beginning I thought to move through these videos very quickly and just touch upon them, but this turned into a much more in-depth conversation of the book, so we’ve slowed it down to take our time and enjoy it, and that’s okay, too. We’re getting a lot out of breaking down Jamie’s video messages and his book—why don’t you join us?

At any rate, my intention with that was to introduce this concept, one that is really so central to any success with money. It is the concept of denial; or, more accurately, of living in denial of our interest in money. You see, most people deny that they are interested in money. We say we don’t need it, or don’t care about it, or that there are more important things in life; and that last point is not entirely untrue, it’s just that the way we go about getting money so that we can have and attend to those things is exactly opposite of what we are hoping to achieve by making money…or by saying we don’t need it.

Who’s The Master?

The average person places money in a position of much greater importance than he or she is willing to admit. We’ll say money is not important, but we’ll dedicate the vast majority of our waking hours to chasing money, working (usually for someone else), and not spending time with our family and those who are important to us, or in doing the things we really want to do. We’ll allow money issues to destroy our relationships and marriages. As Jamie McIntyre’s millionaire mentor said, it’s a classic case of denial.

Something else he said is that if you do value other things, and do care about having a quality life, you have to learn to master money. You cannot make money your god and let it control your life. But that is exactly what the vast majority of people do.

Denying money a place of importance is not the way to make your life a priority, not in the modern world where money is, undeniably, an important factor. Admitting that money matters does not make you a bad person. If you value your life you should value money, but in a way that allows you to control it, so that making money is not the controlling factor in your life. This “subtle shift” in thinking (as Jamie calls it), makes a world of difference, and will make all the difference in the quality of your life.

Read more about it–get your own free copy of What I Didn’t Learn At School But Wish I Had; you’ll find this discussion on page four of the book.

Sean Rasmussen
Wealth Creation Blog
UniversalWealthCreation.com © 2004 – 2009

On my other blog, the 21st Century Academy blog, we have begun a series of posts where we walk through my Wealth Vision videos and discuss the major points of Jamie McIntyre’s book, What I Didn’t Learn At School But Wish I Had. I was preparing to write a post for that project, when it occurred to me the topic was very relevant to this blog, too.

Are You Just Curious About Wealth Creation?

There is a line in Jamie’s book where he says,

“My belief is that if you are not just curious but committed to excelling in the 21st Century, then what you will find…will be a real gift to you from someone who cares about helping others achieve similar things, if you so desire.”

Here, he is referencing specifically his book, but there are a few key points that stand out:

• Curiosity isn’t enough—it’s okay to be curious about wealth creation, and if that’s what led you here then fantastic! But that curiosity will only get your toe in the door. If you want to actually achieve wealth you have to be committed.
• People care—there are people who care about helping others succeed—people who know how to do it because they’ve been there and done it! So if you think you are in this alone, please think again. Jamie’s here, I’m here, and so are a score of others who’ve walked similar life paths.
• Desire gets you everything—Napoleon Hill dedicated a large proportion of his book, Think and Grow Rich, to developing a burning desire that could push you to achieve wealth and be rich. It was no fluke thing, either. Desire is another form of commitment, and if you don’t really want it, wealth will not be yours.

Curiosity is a great starting point, but it won’t get you all the way through the work of building wealth. Indeed there is work to be done, and there is no magic get-rich-quick-pill. But if you want it—really, truly want and desire it, you can be wealthy, too. You just have to make the commitment to make it so, and do more than take a passing interest in the subject.

Sean Rasmussen
Wealth Creation Blog
UniversalWealthCreation.com © 2004 – 2009