Shifting Your Paradigm About How You Make Money

We love our paradigms. Our paradigms are a standard, perspective, or set of ideas. A paradigm is a way of looking at something and then our mind just “believes” it to be true. The word paradigm comes up a lot in the academic, scientific, and business worlds, but do we reflect on it enough about our own personal paradigms? When you change paradigms, you’re changing how you think about something. When you change how you think about something you change how you act.

The concept of the five-day work week is nearly a 100-year-old paradigm started with Henry Ford.  He stated: “Just as the eight-hour day opened our way to prosperity in America, so the five-day workweek will open our way to still greater prosperity … It is high time to rid ourselves of the notion that leisure for workmen is either lost time or a class privilege.” The five-day week, he figured, would encourage industrial workers to vacation and shop on Saturday. Before long, manufacturers all over the world followed his lead. “People who have more leisure must have more clothes,” he argued. “They eat a greater variety of food. They require more transportation in vehicles.”

This concept is a part of the paradigm that drove America to its global economic power and it has obviously served us well. We work hard. We trade our time for money. And we spend our money on the weekends…in our spare time. But what about the later part of what I quoted: “people with more leisure must have…” flexibility or freedom to do what they wanted when they wanted. Those “leisurely people” were not trading their time for money. And we don’t have to either. Have you ever wondered how you could multiply yourself or earn while your sleep? How maybe taking a few hours a week to build passive income that may free up more of your time?

This really struck me when I think about my wife and I working out. I still trade my time for money, Monday through Friday. With my commute I trade about 10.5 hours a day. But in the evening, I still feel like I am on my employer’s schedule. I cannot leisurely relax. Get to the gym. Get the workout. Get dinner done. Bedtime is soon as that alarm goes off at 5am.

Yes, this will require a paradigm shift in the traditional way of thinking of the work week as well as the time for money model. I know I have had to work and shift it. Even that paradigm of being “too tired” to spend time building that passive income doesn’t serve me. If you’ve ever been in a commissionable business, like real estate or sales then this might be more palatable endeavor. If you have been stuck collecting a paycheck this “belief” could be harder. Especially if you have attached the belief of “when I retire.” Mindset is important and paradigm disruption is the answer.

We are shifting our paradigm about trading time for money. Yes, it will take us a few years to get there. We cannot dedicate those 11 or so hours a day I lose to growing it. But we are dedicated to being “people of Leisure”, owing our time. We appreciate growing with people what want to learn and change their lives. Please reach out and we will happily engage to see if you are a good fit for this entrepreneurial opportunity.