Living Abundantly

Can you account for every Kes 100 or Kes 1,000 that you spend? What about Kes 10,000 or Kes 100,000. As the numbers get bigger you probably think you can but with the smaller numbers you probably don’t think you can. Why is that? Possibly because Kes 10,000 is more important to you than Kes 1,000 Or you may not have Kes 10,000 or Kes 100,000 now but you think if you had that money you would be able to account for it, spend it or invest it wisely. However the same attitude you have towards small amounts of money is the same attitude that you will have towards bigger amounts of money.Opportunities to make Kes 10,000 will evade you until you can properly manage Kes 1,000. If on a daily basis there is Kes 100 you can’t account for, every year that is Kes 36,000. How much can you do if you were given Kes 36,000 today? We may even be in jobs where we have to account for every shilling spent. Why can’t the same discipline also apply in our personal financial lives?

Many times what I am suggesting is confused with being stingy. This could not be further from the truth and in fact it is the beginning of creating an abundance mentality. Awareness is the greatest agent to living abundantly. When you are aware, you can make the right choices which will end up working in your favour. When you are aware that the alternative use of Kes 100 daily is a saving/investment/school fees/ holiday of Kes 36,000 at the end of the year, you have then empowered yourself to make the right choice for you. In fact you are only being stingy with yourself if you have not created the awareness of choice in your life. I have found that those who see managing money properly as a sacrifice, are those who are most likely to continue churning out statements such as “I am broke”, “I don’t have enough money”, “The economy is in a recession”, “I should be paid more”, “Life is unfair”, “The rich are stealing” and so on. Eckhart Tolle in A New Earth states “If the thought of lack has become a part of who you think you are, whether its money, love or recognition, you will always experience lack and all you will see is lack”.

In the course of my work, I have spent time with people who have come from nowhere and have been able to create wealth and the common thread with all of them is the choice to perceive challenging situations differently. If your reality has become “I am broke”, it does not matter what kind of opportunities are thrown in your direction because your scarcity mind set will respond with “I don’t have”. If you are thinking abundantly you will always seek to see how it can be done. This opportunity may even serve just to provide access to networks that you can use in future but you need to see that and be grateful for it. Two different people can have the same amount of money, have access to the same opportunities and react very differently. Make a choice to start being the person who has an abundant mindset and is willing to learn to be aware of the impact of their everyday financial decisions.

Waceke Nduati Omanga| waceke@centonomy.com | Twitter @centonomy.