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What?s the number one topic found in self improvement? Have you ever stopped and thought about it? There is one topic that comes up in nearly every book and blog that has ever been produced in the self help genre and, not surprisingly, its money and finances. Everybody wants to know how to make more money. Some people say they just have to imagine money coming to them, others say you can get rich by affiliate sales, while still others say the secret is to write a book about how to get rich . Well, I?m not a millionaire so I can?t tell you how to get rich. I can tell you that there is certainly a secret to it, but I can also tell you that money isn?t that important either way.

Your Bank Account Isn?t Your Problem

There are many self help readers and seminar attendees out there who like to talk about personal development and ?growth,? but what is the number one thing they are after? Money. When you really think about it, it seems fairly bass-akwards. We want more money, and we seem to know that we can get it by improving ourselves, but what we truly seek to improve is how we get the money. In other words, our thoughts and actions are the problem, resulting in the symptom of a meager bank account. Do we change our thoughts and actions? No, we try to change the bank account. Once again we find ourselves chasing cures for our symptoms and not our problems.

You can?t blame humans for this kind of thinking, it really is how we?ve been taught to live, especially if you grew up in America. We grew up with an ?American Dream? that told us to go out, work hard, make something of ourselves and we?d be successful. We?ve been taught that for an action to be deemed useful, you must have something to show for it. No results, no success, no good. Because of this type of thinking we?ve learned to tackle our problems from the standpoint of the quickest possible results. If we want to loose weight, we try to fix the fat instead of our diet. If we want to make more money, we try to fix the lack of money instead of why we don?t have enough.

In your search for money you must begin by realizing that a lack of money is not your problem and therefore the cure cannot be to have more money. Your bank account may indeed be meager, but rest assured that if you are unhappy when poor, you will be unhappy when you are rich. The problem is an emotional one, not a financial one.

Now don?t get me wrong, I?m not saying that money has no use, or even that money isn?t a good goal to have, but it isn?t what personal development is about. Self improvement is about improving (shocking, I know) yourself, not your bank account. It isn?t out of the self improvement realm to want financial freedom because, let?s face it, with less time spent on making money, more time can be spent making yourself a better person. There?s only one problem; if you don?t make the time to improve yourself now, do you really think you?re going to make the time once you?re a millionaire? The answer, sadly, is probably not. If you?re not willing to put action to your desires now, you won?t be willing to do it when you have all the time and money in the world.

Run the Race to Win the Prize

Most people don?t like to hear this, I know. Most people who read self help blogs and books want to hear about how money is easy to get and how they can become rich from home for just working a few hours a week. They don?t like hearing that making money requires effort, but it does. I?m not saying that you must work and slave your life away, I?m saying that even if your plan is to win the lottery, you have to get up and buy a ticket. (Or as Tracy Turnblad would say, ?You have to run the race to win the prize.?) People don?t want to be told that the goals they have set cannot be achieved immediately and easily. Why, because everyday that we go without seeing any results is one more day that we feel as if we?ve failed. Most readers want to know how to achieve the maximum result with the minimum time and effort. I?m encouraged by the fact that, if you?ve read this far down, you?re not one of those readers and there is hope for you yet.

I know that my opinion on this matter will be an unpopular one, but my goal isn?t to be popular, it is to be truthful and helpful. As David Mamet would say, ?Tell the truth, it?s the easiest thing to remember.? If this isn?t what you wanted to hear about your financial situation there are plenty of blogs out there willing to tell you what you want to hear. I just don?t happen to run one of those.

The Secret to Getting Rich

The truth is that money comes and goes; it?s transitory simply by the virtue of being money. The only reason you save it, is to spend it. The only reason you earn it, is to spend it and the only way to get it is by providing a value that someone, somewhere would be willing to pay for. And there you have it, the secret to getting rich. Want to hear it again?

There are only two ways to make money: Steal it, or earn it.

There is only one way to earn money: Provide a value or service that someone, somewhere, will be willing to pay for.

Not the answer you were hoping for? Sorry. All the visualization in the world can?t help you if you don?t plan on doing either of those things. So knowing that, what do we do with that information? You improve yourself and your skills to the point at which you have something of value to offer. That?s where self improvement and finance meet. You must create within yourself the skills to provide some sort of value that the world at large will be willing to pay for. Despite what anyone will tell you, there is no shame in a 9 to 5 job. Working for you money isn?t anything to balk at, so long as you?re good at what you do and you provide value that you can be proud of. If you?re proud of the value you?re providing, who cares if you flip burgers for a living. If you didn?t flip burgers, no one would have a burger for lunch.

So how can you begin to earn more money? All right, if you came to read this article hoping for some practical steps you could take, I?ll give you few:

1. Write down all of the things that you are good at, all of the talents or abilities you have. Don?t censor yourself or try to figure out whether or not people will pay for it, we?re not to the point of thinking about money yet. Think first about the skills you have to provide value.
2. Once you?ve done that, ask yourself if any of those skills you?ve written down can be transferred into a job of any sort. Most likely you will find that, while you are good at certain things, it may not be up to the level required for you to be paid for this skill. If this is what you find when you look at your list, then you?re next step is clear.
3. Brainstorm ways that you can improve those skills. Does it require going back to school or could you learn everything you need to know through a few simple books? Is there someone you know who could teach you, or perhaps just a few quick courses at a learning center?
4. Start improving those skills.

If you read this list and rolled your eyes or said, ?Well that will take forever!? or wondered why I didn?t just give you a simpler answer, then you?re probably not ready to take these steps. If you read it and squared your shoulders for a fight to achieve what you want, then you?re on the right track, my friend. Remember that it may be a long road, but just how badly do you want money? Is it badly enough to improve yourself? Is it badly enough to admit that maybe you aren?t in a position to become a millionaire yet? If you?re not willing to do whatever improvement it takes, then you aren?t willing to have the wealth that you seek and there?s nothing wrong with admitting that you do not want money badly enough.

Be prepared to do what must be done, persevere through anything that gets in your way and you can do nothing but succeed.

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