Were you told by your parents, or grandparents “Hey kido, Get a job, work hard. Money doesn’t grow on trees?”

We are programmed from day 1. We are fed information and all this information sets at some point turn into our beliefs.  A while back I wrote an article on “Hard Work VS Effort”.  I had to re-read this article to remind myself of how set we sometimes become in our beliefs. In the startup world where only one in 10 entrepreneurs make it through and the majority struggle to make it work, it is hard to believe that money grows on trees, but if you stop for just one second and think, you will agree with me that all entrepreneurs start with this belief, otherwise we would never start any project.  We believe that we have a great idea, that we are going to sell loads, and that we will be millionaires or better-said billionaires (I include myself).  Yet we kind of get disheartened when things don’t go the way we expected or as planned. We start struggling, we push and at some point we change our beliefs.

If you follow my articles, you know my routine by now. Wake up at 5am, some excercise, shower, make tea and read.   Yesterday and Today I have been reading the chapter of Shirley MacLaine’s book, in which she talks about her work in show biz. She pretty much starts by stating that in her 50s, she had finally begun to realise that the “No pain No gain” theory was an incorrect way of thinking.

In the coming pages she explains how she changed the way she worked out in order to retrain her body, her voice, her team, and so on.  She writes about he she worked for approximately three hours each day and within two weeks she could see that her body had changed and her strength renewed in a different way. While she had always thought that she needed to feel exhausted after a workout, she no longer felt exhausted but rather energised.

Once we are trained to believe in pain, “Pain” simply becomes addictive. We learn to to measure and associate accomplishment by pain.

Now in my 50s, I have come to a similar view. Although at times the two beliefs seem contradictory. While she explains in her book that “Going the last mile was the old her”, she jumps into explaining how she training upto 14 hours per day to lose weight, regain muscle, train her voice, practice dancing and put a full show together in just three months. This is where I ask myself, am I doing the same thing? Have I started waking up at 5am, to read, walk at 6, write at 7, blog at 8, and start a packed day with online and offline meetings that sometimes finish at 8pm?

The secret lies in realignment. While there is some effort required in getting to where you want, in achieving thosse objectives. There is no friction. She explains how in her first week of retraining her voice, she threw up, cough, spat and gagged but it was just a passing phase and that the end result was her being able to sign and speak without hoarsness even after long hours and days of performance.  Her new way of working was from within while all her previous training and experiences in life were from the outside in.

Once you are able to realign yourself and work from within, you find that you remove most of the friction that was in your path. Your objectives are no so much harder to achieve, rather you start living the journey even if part of the change and workout may not be comfortable, nice, or better put challenging.

This takes me back to the first statement: “Why money grows on trees”.  Well money is only a by product of your work, your passion.  When you are in a state of flow, when you are at your highest, you are simply doing what you love, work flows out of you from within.  It almost seems like there is no effort required in doing so.  The same as what I am doing now. It feels that my fingers are typing somehow faster than my thoughts. Am I in control? Am I thinking? I can almost say that I don’t have the time to think or even stop to analyse my thoughts, it simply flows through me, directs my fingers and I watch the words on the screen.

Money grows on trees. Money is only a by product of your efforts. Pick fruit from trees and you have picked money and the tree of life will provide for you for as long as you are in the flow. Sure you have to look after your tree and that’s where the contradicion comes from. Looking after a tree may seem like hard work, or not. I love gardening and we have a few fruit trees. Every weekend I spend 4 to 6 hours in our garden. Tending to the trees, watering them, cutting dead branches and …. It is physical work, I sweat, I get tired, I have to push and use my muscles a lot more than when I would while I am sitting, but I enjoy it. I enjoy the work, I do it at my own pace, I get help when needed and when I can’t do anymore, I wrap it up and leave it for the following week.

Money grows on trees. Money is the fruit of your passion, your work, your tree. You don’t need to inflict pain on yourself to achieve those objectives, you need to put effort into achieving those objectives.

For the past 4 years I have been helping entrepreneurs align their passion and vision in order to achieve their goals and live their dreams. You can do it too. Want a helping hand?  Book a short call with me