A question that changed my life was the following: why is money important to me? When I reflected on that question, my mind immediately came up with responses like: freedom, choices, power, the ability to buy things and experiences.
Sounds familiar, right? Of course it does.
But the interesting thing happened when I started to go deeper and ask myself why those things were important to me. I started to peel the layers of the onion back to get to the source of why money is truly important to me and it allowed me to be connected to the role money plays in my life.
Before I share what I discovered, it’s important to note a few things– in today’s society, the agreed upon construct of money serves to be a means to an end, something that makes the world go round. But to what end? And to make the world go round, for what purpose?
Money isn’t talked about much as it’s more of a taboo than sex, politics and religion. So it comes as no surprise that people aren’t engaging in a critical conversation about something that impacts our daily lives. Think about the last time you didn’t spend, receive, or think about money in a 24 hour time period.
Hardly ever, right?
So here’s the punch line: money is a critical aspect to a human beings’ life– we should treat it and relate to it as such.
“Where do I start?” you might ask. Well, let’s start with the fundamental question: why is money important to me?
For me, money is important for the following reasons and if you’ll entertain my train of thought, my intent is that something new will open up for you. When I took on this exercise, here’s what I discovered.
Why is money important to me?
Money’s important because it allows me to buy things and experiences. Okay great…now why is that important to you?
Being able to buy things and experiences is important to me because I have a sense of ownership when I can do that. Okay perfect…now why is that important to you?
There’s an experience of pride and confidence. Awesome…why is that important to you?
When I’m proud and confident, I get to show up as my fullest self. Beautiful…now why is that important to you?
When I show up as my fullest self, it allows me to focus on others, be a contribution, and be of service.
Got it…so I started off answering the question by saying that money is important because it allows me to buy things and experiences, and as I boiled my responses down to its purest form, I found that money is important because it really allows me to be of service and contribute to others.
Wow. Money is important to me because it allows me to be of service and contribute to others.
So what now?
Here’s the beautiful thing– when I’m crystal clear on the role money plays in my life, I can begin to orient my life, spending, saving, investing, and financial decisions based on what I value and what’s important to me. All of a sudden, there’s clarity, purpose, and intention behind my actions versus a day to day grind to get money, pay for things, eat and sleep with a roof over my head, spend time with friends and family, and rinse and repeat.
When we start to engage in the question, why is money important to you? It requires us to be connected to not only our values, but also connected to ourselves.
Pause…so how has this impacted my bank account and spending? Well for starters, I started to cut out everything and anything that didn’t align with what truly brought value in my life. As a minimalist, I commit myself to asking what I absolutely need versus what I want. And knowing why money is important to me empowers my financial decisions.
There are three things in my life that I have no problem spending money on because they serve my greater purpose and help me achieve what’s truly important to me– coffee, travel, and music festivals.
- Coffee because it is part of my productivity routine when working and it allows me to connect with other people during meetings or catch-up dates.
- Travel because it expands my mind of how people live life outside of my bubble and often times, provides me with a new level of gratitude for what I have in my life.
- And music festivals because it is a source of spiritual self-expression and fulfills my passion for music and community.
My latest purchase was a hydration pack from Target for $29.99. For the longest time, I wanted a small and minimal backpack I could carry with me to music festivals that also served as a hydration source and a camping bag/day trip bag. Now, it also serves as the bag I take to coffee shops because it magically fits my laptop and work essentials.
I bought this because it’s something that I could use that furthers everything I value (not to mention, it was 2-3x cheaper than a CamelBak). I can bring it to a coffee shop, I can use it when I travel, and I can take it with me to music festivals and concerts.
It may sound silly, but I love my bag. I am obsessed with it and it brings me joy every time I look at it, slide my arm through the straps and over my shoulder, and open/close it up to get things or put things away.
I’m not one to judge, but I am one to question and inquire. I often see people spending money on things that for me, wouldn’t bring much value, but to them it possibly could. However, a lot of the times I don’t experience the same joy when people share about why they bought what they bought as I do with my hydration pack. The majority of people tend to fall in the category of buying things to “look good” or “because it’s the latest trend” or “to keep up with the Joneses”.
Although they may not verbally say it, that’s what I hear.
There’s nothing wrong with the examples above, but it does spark an opportunity for reflection. Why are you buying the things you buy? Do they truly add value in your life or does it simply satisfy a temporary/superficial itch?
My commitment in writing and sharing this is that I want people to spend money on the things that they truly value and are of utmost importance to them.
Life is short, and at the end of the day, you are the one that has to live with yourself. So my invitation is to align your spending with what’s truly important to you and to engage in the question: why is money important to you?
You might surprise yourself, and save a bunch of money at the same time.
To living a life of minimalism and introspection so that you can maximize your life and experience of it.
P.S.: If you haven’t checked out the Money Consciousness: Mastery of Money Cash Flow Management Course, do yourself a favor and check it out. It is the perfect course that will allow you to be in control of your spending.
