Raising the "financial thermostat"

We all have a thermostat as far as how much money we think we deserve. In the salaried world, a guy loses his job making 50K a year, and in all likelihood he'll apply for another job making right around 50K. He usually thinks that anything making 30K is beneath him, and anything 75K is too out of his league. We see an even more obvious example in sales--especially commission only sales. I've seen people have monster sales weeks, then totally "blank" the next week, and complain about how they can't get motivated. Why not just keep working? Why not build on the momentum? It all has to do with how high their financial thermostat is set.

The human brain is very powerful. I've found that if I am making below what I truly believe I should be making, I'll have an abundance of creativity, a showering of ideas on how to get to where I need to be. I also feel this massive drive to work harder, to make more calls, and to get the deals done. This is a tremendous edge that can be harnessed and used throughout your career, and I (and others) refer to it as "raising your financial thermostat.

Basically, the idea is pretty simple: You raise the thermostat in a room, the heater kicks on and raises it up to the selected temperature. You raise it again, the heater kicks on again. Since the income ceiling in sales is quite high, it is best to continually raise your financial thermostat until you are as high as is humanly possible on your pay plan--then raise it some more.

Since this belief has to come from within, this requires some internal reprogramming. I have found that by writing daily the phrase "I earn ____ per week", and have that amount be an amount just out of reach from what I am currently achieving is the best way to override my financial thermostat and raise it to where it needs to be.

I've watched a guy on my sales floor implement this, start making great money, then stop doing this, and tank. He recently started utilizing this technique again, and as "luck" would have it, has been having back to back outstanding weeks of sales volume.

Assignment: Look at your income average whether by week or every 2 weeks. Add 25% to that amount and write the phrase, "I earn ____ per week" with the new amount. Write it or read it as often as you can. Visualize what you would do with the extra 25%--i.e., have a place for it, whether paying off debt or investing. Make a home for it as if it were already there. You'll be amazed at how quickly your real income follows what your thermostat income is.