How Much Are You Worth?

Ever tried to figure out your hourly rate? Did it make you question your worth as a result? Here's a fresh approach to re-defining your worth and ditching money stress.

I’ve done all sorts of things to earn money. I’ve taught English as a second language to Iranian immigrants, planted trees in barren logged areas of Canada, delivered newspapers on wintry mornings in Winnipeg, served Orange Julius drinks, schlepped beers and food in Montreal, did stocktaking in all sorts of dusty-shelved supermarkets and stores, led canoe trips in northwest Ontario, hiked over hills with whinging kids, babysat, given speeches, delivered workshops, and coached people to live inspired lives.

I’ve been payed well, and I’ve also earned peanuts. Through it all, I have often thought about how much I was ‘worth’, or what my time was worth. My earnings have ranged from less than $1 per hour to over $1500 an hour. Some days I have felt like a million bucks, on top of the world and rising higher, and other days I have felt very small and poor indeed.

Running underneath it all is a sense that I know I am a worthy human being, someone with passion and vision who wants to contribute something of myself to the world. I care about people. I care about living a great life. How much is that worth? Priceless of course.

But sometimes I just feel like crap. I feel small, shy, and lonely. I feel lost and isolated. These are usually linked to the times when I feel bad about myself because my cash flow has dried up. I equate self-worth with the amount of money in the bank.

And here’s the rub: it is only when I feel fantastic about myself that the money actually starts to flow again. During these on-top-of-the-world moments the worry around money simply does not exist. There is an absence of this kind of thought or energy. In its place there is gratitude, bliss, joy, fun, and freedom.

I got proof of this paradox this March when I was on holiday in Byron Bay. I was gone for two weeks and did not one iota of work. Instead my days were filled with sunshine, surf, and absolute blissful happiness. I truly felt like I was living a millionaire lifestyle: free, easy, and full of gratitude and grace.

That was my best month financially all year! I sold several e-books and tripled my client base, all by working half the month and feeling awesome.

Two things I have learn from this little experience:
1. Living by the beach has a massive positive effect on me and is a great source of positive energy.
2. My real financial responsibility is to focus on feeling good.

Right. So how do I feel good and ignore financial pressures when they seem to loom so large and ever-present and I am living in Canberra, frost-central, and hours from the coast?

I choose feeling free over feeling worry. Nothing is worth feeling the stress around money. It feels awful. I don’t want to feel that way anymore. Life is too short for this kind of stress. If the money runs thin, there is always a solution: get a job, cut expenses, sell stuff. All that is meaningless next to the most important thing in the world: feeling good.

I work actively at scrambling old emotional patterns. Journaling is one way to do this. A bit of a rant and a download do wonders for purging the worry and reclaiming a sense of peace. A combination of different energy-purging techniques works well and these are included in my program, “Maximise Your Money Mojo ”.

I fine-tune my environments. I look for where the energy is draining me and make steps to change this. For example, if dirt or clutter is annoying me, I’ll clean it up. I get rid of anything that makes me feel poor or bad in any way (such as clothes that don’t fit properly or appliances that break down all the time). I fill my environment with inspiring music and images. It's amazing how conscious design of your environments can have a massive impact on your results. I've included all the ones that work for me in my ebook, Absolute Productivity.

I hang out with like-minded people. I work with a coach, Drew Rozell, who is living the life I model, one of freedom, peace, and creativity. I read books that inspire me and expand my perception of the world. I listen to audios and hear from people who have been there, done that. Bob Doyle’s Wealth Beyond Reason program has been a fabulous place to start.

Express quality. This is an ongoing evolutionary strategy. As I raise my awareness and focus on what I truly desire, I claim a higher energy. I want to feel better and better, so I contribute better and better thoughts and feelings to the world. In practical terms I look at what I am writing, how I am serving my clients, the products I develop, and the standards I present and adhere to. I seek to upgrade these all the time. The messages I think, feel, and deliver are ones of quality I wish to attract back in to my life. The odd typo does get through though! If you find any, I would be most grateful if you let me know.

So what can you do? Start by deciding what you desire. Not just in tangibles, but truly on how you want to feel in your life, every day. If it is anything less than ‘fabulous', opportunity for change and growth is here. Take some action, any action, to start a new pattern of emotions. Feeling great is the best gift you can give yourself. Aren’t you worth it?