Financial guru accidentally gives out excellent advice for your writerly exploits

Money?

Yeah, money.

You think creators shouldn't be into money? No wonder you're broke.

If you hate money, disrespect it, believe that it only goes to fools and charlatans and evil men, no wonder you don't have any.

I don't love money. You know what the Bible and St. Thomas Aquinas said: Love of money is the root of all evil.

Strictly speaking it's pride and greed that do the work... money's just the symbol.

And they're right. If you love money for its own sake like Scrooge McDuck, then you're a greedy miser.

But wealth isn't a bogeyman out of a Dickens story.

Money is the gateway to action.

It's as essential to your life as oxygen, water, and food.

You know what I tell you about keeping your head clear and your thoughts in focus. These stories we tell ourselves creep into our minds and shape our reality.

It's a subtle effect. But with continuous exposure, you start to believe things that everybody says, even if they aren't true.

You don't have to love money to respect it, appreciate it, attract it, and willingly command it.

I want money in my life because I want to do the things that money allows.

It's a means to higher valued ends.

Potential awaiting actualization.

If you agree with me, one of the best follows out there is Ramit Sethi, who runs the non-scam site I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

Ramit sent out an email the other day that had some excellent money advice.

It's also shockingly good advice for creators. Here's a couple of highlights that you ought to absorb.

Wasting time with the $3 questions

1. Stop asking $3 questions. Ask $30,000 questions instead. Most people focus on $3 questions like lattes or which savings account has the highest interest. They should be focusing on $30,000 questions, like your asset allocation and automating your savings.

If you've been around creatives of any kind, you know all about $3 questions.

If you're still bothering with the depression-magnets that are writing groups, you'll be familiar with these:

• Is this niche profitable?
• Should I use Facebook ads or Bookbub?
• Which method should I use to outline my novel?
• How do I find out what the market wants to read?
• My self-indulgent novel about boring people doing boring things isn't selling, how can I edit it to get it ready to sell?

Waste of time.

Worrying about what the market wants... and not even bothering to see what's selling and testing it for yourself... is a $3 question.

Here's a $30,000 question:

How can I do the work to build my own market?

Your money language

4. Notice your language around money. What words come to mind when you think about money? If you’re using words like “stress” and “guilt” and “anxiety” about your money, it’s time to make a change. I can show you how to reframe those words into “calm” and “excited” and “opportunity” and even “freedom.” That’s how I feel when I think about money.

Like I keep saying.

Your words are your reality.

Talk is not idle.

Pick your words carefully.

That means picking who you hang around, what movies, TV shows, blogs, and social media you consume... even the music you listen to.

Taking advice from losers? Don't do it!

6. Don't take advice from losers! Would you take investing advice from someone who’s broke? Of course not. So why do we let our parents and coworkers and random internet commenters give us advice about how to improve our lives … when they’re not in the position we want to be in?

This one pops up in the strangest places, doesn't it?

Copywriting great Gary Halbert told us the same thing.

If the successful have one trait in common, this might be it.

They don't listen to advice from people who aren't successful.

They ignore the feedback.

This isn't a dig at "poor" people, if that word conjures up images of podunk rednecks swilling Budweiser in trailer parks.

It's not even a point about money. It's about following the clues of success in any activity.

Don't think for one split second that the educated, credentialed smart-set haunting the universities, the law firms, the think tanks, the media outlets and the banks get a pass on this.

These folks might be good at one small thing... but you will not be surprised to know that many of them live disasters outside of that speciality.

Most of them are uninspiring status-chasers who never have an original thought.

The ability to earn a credential, jump through professional hoops, and play by the rules does not a winner make.

The one and only standard for success is results.

Results show a profound connection to attitudes and beliefs.

Poor is a state of being and a state of belief as much as it is a comment on your bank balance.

Every word of this applies to your creative process as sure as it does to your P&L sheet.

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