grow the chasm

“All big things come from small beginnings. The seed of every habit is a single, tiny decision. But as that decision is repeated, a habit sprouts and grows stronger. Roots entrench themselves and branches grow. The task of breaking a bad habit is like uprooting a powerful oak within us. And the task of building a good habit is like cultivating a delicate flower one day at a time.” — James Clear

Habits can either make or break us. Good habits help us attract success, while bad ones subject us to failure.

We all know that saving money is a wonderful habit and plays a crucial role in building a better financial future for ourselves and our loved ones.

Money is an indispensable tool after all, and when stashed away in good amounts, equips us to lead a better life. It gets us in a position of strength to deal with all kinds of emergencies and setbacks. To pay off consumer debt. To ensure that our children get access to remarkable opportunities, educational and otherwise. To pay the downpayment for our dream home.

However, just saving a good percentage of our income is not the end-all solution.

The downside of focusing solely on saving money is that some of us get too busy pinching pennies that we fail to look at the other side of the equation. We develop a scarcity mindset because of the law of habit. We internalize the limiting belief that our earning capacity is fixed, that we’ll never earn beyond a certain amount.

Soon, our subconscious mind accepts this belief and we find ourselves self-sabotaging our efforts, slipping again and again, and getting stuck in the vicious cycle dictated by lack and poverty consciousness. We shy away from grabbing opportunities and taking risks and start harboring the mindset that our fate is fixed, our failure is sealed, and we’re destined to live a mediocre existence.

Therefore, the most effective strategy is to manage our financial life with discipline and diligence, and to focus on both earning more money and saving whenever possible. Rather than getting obsessed with either increasing our income potential or saving every penny we can, it’s best to develop temperance and walk the middle road.

You must develop the habit of saving money in such a way that it does not get you trapped in poverty consciousness, but rather influences you to use the saved-up funds to capitalize on opportunities in the marketplace so that you’re able to bring more wealth and prosperity into your life.

In essence, the best solution to create a better financial future is to “grow the chasm.” By themselves, growing income and limiting expenses won’t take you too far. But when you consciously invest your time and energy in doing both i.e. earning more and keeping your spending low, you grow the chasm, and thus increase the amount of funds at your disposal. The bigger the chasm gets, the more you empower yourself to accomplish your financial goals.

As Napoleon Hill emphasizes in his book The Law of Success In Sixteen Lessons, “Formation of the Habit of Saving does not mean that you shall limit your earning capacity. It means just the opposite – that you shall apply this law so that it conserves that which you earn, in a systemic manner, but it also places you in the way of greater opportunity and gives you the vision, the self-confidence, the imagination, the enthusiasm, the initiative and leadership actually to increase your earning capacity. Stating this great law in another way, when you thoroughly understand the Law of Habit you may insure yourself success in the great game of moneymaking by ‘playing both ends of that game against the middle.’”

As your earning power will increase, your savings will increase in proportion too, getting you on an upward trajectory with respect to wealth accumulation.

“By ever urging yourself on and demanding of your self increased earning power, on the one hand,” Napoleon Hill adds, “and by systematically laying aside a definite amount of all your earnings, on the other hand, you will soon reach the point at which you have removed all imaginary limitations from your own mind and you will then be well started on the road toward financial independence. Nothing could be more practical or more easily accomplished than this!”

If you enjoyed these insights, do check out my new course Personal Finance 101 here:

• Skillshare: https://skl.sh/38P12fx [Get Skillshare Premium free for 1 month].
  

In this course, I discuss life-changing ideas from the best resources on finances, money management, and investing into simple and digestible lessons.

In these lessons, you’ll learn how to:

• Grow and preserve your personal wealth.
• Eliminate debt once and for all and become financially fit.
• Master the core principles of money management.
• Develop a positive money mindset and incorporate attitudes of rich and prosperous people.
• Implement ancient wisdom as well as modern tools and techniques to solve all your financial problems.

In addition, you’ll get access to some exercises and writing prompts in the accompanying PDF worksheets as well.

I’m sure this course will be an awesome learning experience for you. I hope to see you inside soon.

FUN FACT

The Eiffel Tower grows about 6 inches taller in the summer due to thermal expansion.