Reading a marketing e-mail from Loral Langemeier, a “wealth coach,” she makes a distinction between two kinds of people:
If you’ve been following my strategies, you already know that I believe there are two kinds of people:
(1) The Creators – Generators – Expanders
(2) The Restricters – The Dieters
Which kind of person are you?
I cringed — yikes, I just started a diet. Will that harm my wealth? The question answers itself — it’s a ridiculous assertion.
I am the kind of person who believes there are two kinds of people: those who believe there are two kinds of people, and those who don’t. This statement poses an unresolvable logical paradox.
I am the kind of person who believes truth is paradoxical. So to me the truth about creating wealth involves embracing — not rejecting — that distinction.
Every successful entrepreneur I know is frugal. Not frugal-cheapskate but frugal value-adding. We learn to negotiate for the best deal while getting what we need to extend our vision and make it reality.
In short, we learn to live in paradox. That is why entrepreneurs can sell their services with conviction when they are living on peanut butter and jelly. “Dieting” doesn’t detract from their expansiveness, it fuels it.
My notion is consistent with research on peak performance. Those at the top of their game unite seeming opposites — grace and bulk, beauty and brains, and frugality and expansiveness. In fact, learning to bring in the opposite side of your nature into conscious use is what psychologist Carl Jung calls maturity. And personal maturity is a necessary foundation for business maturity.
I stay away from Loral Langemeier and her ilk who would steer you toward an inferior way of being with money. I read the materials of those who preach the “two kinds of people” gospel, and I see those who place “wealth” above all other goals and seek to built followers who agree with that truth.
I just don’t agree with that view of money. Money is what allows you to express who you are, give to the world, and receive from it in return. Divorcing the dollars from the desire, well, is an inappropriate “love of money,” and you know where that leads….
