THE SEVEN LAWS OF MONEY
I opened an old spiral bound notebook today and found my hand written The Seven Laws of Money by Michael Phillips
THE FIRST LAW— DO IT!
Money will come when you are doing the right thing.
Focus on the passion rather than the money. Worry about your ability to do it and your competence to do it, but certainly do not worry about the money. There will always be obstacles. It is the energy generated by the commitment to an idea that propels a project toward success. Do not integrate your own need to make a living with the needs of a project.
THE SECOND LAW—MONEY HAS ITS OWN RULES. All expenses muth be kept track of, and where possible a receipt should be kept. You Have to know approximately how much you have, how much you are spending, how much is coming in, and what the general direction of you dollar flow is.
Significant digits are a measure of precision relative to what you are doing. Any form of measurement has some degree of precision beyond which increased precision is of no use and below which lack of precision makes the entire venture useless.
If you say something twice and do not mean it, you make yourself a slave to the word. If you add meaning to what you say everytime you say it, the word is your ally.
THE THIRD LAW—MONEY IS A DREAM. A fantasy as alluring as the Pied Piper. Money is a state of mind. It is not real. It is just a relationship between all things in the world.An Economist's definition: part of a system of relative pricing and an accounting store of value. Money is a relationship between all things in the world. By chasing that which does not exist, you may end up with a hollow existence. The lack of money will never prevent you from doing what you truly want to do. If everyone could live out their fantasy of having a million dollars, it could significantly change our world. (Back to List of Money Laws)
THE FOURTH LAW—MONEY IS A NIGHTMARE.
In Jail, Robbery, Fears of Poverty. About 90% of all crimes are committed because of money, and 80% of all people in jail are there because of money-related crimes.
"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." Mark Twain
Most crimes are related to what a person's own conceptions are about money-what he feels he's entitled to or deserves-versus what he's capable of getting on his own.
There is another nightmare as well: inheriting substantial money without having discovered who you are or what your life is about. Receiving money that you have not earned can become a curse and is related to Laws Five and Six. There is always an implicit expectation when money is given that profoundly affects the receiver. The ready availability of money can rob you of your passions.
How do you avoid creating money nightmares?
1) First, recognize that the values in your life have to be powerful, tangible values that exist independently of money.
2) You must realize that there are underlying relationships between you and the world around you. These should be reflected in your behavior in dealing with money -- all the way from keeping books to being honest with yourself about your monetary perceptions.
3) You should recognize, hopefully with a sense of humor, that money is a dream, that it's absolutely fantasy like. When at any point you begin to substitute money as a goal, as a motivating factor, for the more important things in your life, you end up in pain. The nightmare comes from violating the first three laws.
THE FIFTH LAW—YOU CAN NEVER REALLY GIVE MONEY AWAY. Money as a dynamic flow is the essence of The Fifth Law. Money describes a relationship: borrower/lender, buyer/ seller or parent/child. Money flows in certain channels-like electricity through wires. The wires define the relationship, and the flow is what is significant. By looking at money in a larger perspective, even gifts are subject to being part of a two-way flow. Loan, investment or alliance best describes this relationship. The giving of money is an emotional not intellectual contract. Even allowances are given to children with the intention of shaping a child's personality, and they carry with them very strong implicit messages and expectations. Giving? The Fifth Law should be applied in the home first.
THE SIXTH LAW—YOU CAN NEVER REALLY RECEIVE MONEY AS A GIFT. Money is borrowed, lent or possibly invested. It is never given or received without those concepts implicit in it. When you get money, you must follow the Second Law and deliver something for it. A gift of money is really a contract; it's really a repayable loan, and it requires performance and an accounting of performance that is satisfactory to the giver.
Money acts as a mirror, because it reflects our values and our perception of the world. Money is not the root of all evil; the love of money is the root of all evil. It is this fear of talking about money, because it might reveal our true nature to the world that we continue to remain unconscious. Unlike religion, there is a lack of rituals, which allow us to deal with the powerful forces that money unleashes. Guilt plays an important role in many forms of giving and, consequently, in receiving.
THE SEVENTH LAW—THERE ARE WORLDS WITHOUT MONEY. We are in the money, just as a fish is in the water. By acknowledging this fact, we can greatly influence how we respond to the world around us. There are worlds without money.
They are the worlds of art, poetry, music, dance, sex, etc.-the essentials of human life. The Seventh Law is like the star that guides our life. It is not physically a part of our life, but it is an aid to our orientation. The recognition of the role of money in our life from birth until the moment of death comes from an understanding of where we are: it is where we walk and struggle and eat and think and understand. There is a world without money, but we can only reach it by focusing on the non-money parts of life-what we do, how we work, who we are and those we care about.