The Emotional Cost of Capital: Reset Your Relationship with Money
Money is an essential part of our lives — it governs so much of our decision-making at work, in relationships, and what believe we can or can’t do in our spare time. In startup land, money represents a resource that can be deployed to de-risk key elements of the business, and, enable key upside.
However, for most human beings, money can seem to be the controlling force that determines what is or is not possible in life and business. This comes down to old, societal projections of:
Worth and deserving.
Abundance and scarcity.
Safety and belonging.
This can lead to a rollercoaster of emotions:
Excitement and freedom.
Fear and anxiety.
Grief and sadness.
Trapped and depressed.
… the list goes on.
If you find yourself unable to experience money as an equitable, friendly, abundant, partner, then this simple exercise will help you illuminate your dynamic and dissolve old, unhelpful assumptions and beliefs about it.
Remember: You are your best resource and the point of power to create anything in lie and business lies with you. Money will amplify what is in your heart and mind. So, let’s illuminate what is running in your mind and heart. Money is neither good nor evil — it is a highly impressionable construct that is colored by your beliefs, attitudes, and assumptions.
The exercise can be done to illuminate and enrich any dynamic in life, not just in relationship to money, but in relationships with people whether they are business partners, employees, customers, investors etc.
What you will need to setup:
3 cards on the floor (spatially) as per diagram below.
Make sure there is enough space between cards so that if you imagine having three people on those three positions, it feels like a comfortable distance for 3 people at a party to interact.
The Exercise:
Step into position 1 as yourself. From this position, imagine a metaphorical figure facing you — Money (position 2). As you do so, take notice of what thoughts, feelings, and impressions arise. Don’t judge them. Simply note them down.
What’s it like being in front of money?
What message do you receive?
What message do you send?
What’s the general experience of this interaction?
Imagine leaving yourself in position 1 as you step off position 1 and into position 2 — identify and be money. From this position, notice what it is like being the construct money, looking across at you (in position 1). As you do so, take notice of what thoughts, feelings, and impressions arise. Don’t judge them. Simply note them down.
As money, what’s it like being in front of you?
As money, what message do you receive?
As money, what’s the general experience of this interaction?
Imagine leaving being money in position 2 as you step off position 2 and into position 3 — identify and be a neutral observer. From this position, notice what it is like observing this interaction in front between money and you. Simply note:
What messages are being exchanged?
What’s the general experience of this interaction?
Take all your awareness from different positions and come back to position 1— re-identify and be yourself. Now, when you look at money in front of you, what’s the experience like? What’s different? How do you relate?