How To Build Resourcefulness Before Riches (The Broke Season Blueprint) | Lewis Howes

0:00Hi, my name is Lewis Howes and welcome to The Daily Motivation Show.

0:11Being broke teaches you resourcefulness before riches. Now, money doesn't create resourcefulness. Once you have it, you're not more resourceful. Resourcefulness creates money. It's never a bad bet when you invest in yourself. It's never a bad bet when you invest in yourself. When you're broke, you can't buy your way out of problems. You learn to figure things out. You learn to ask better questions. You learn to build skills. You develop skills by overcoming the fears and insecurities to develop them. You learn to create value without throwing money at everything. I've heard this by different founders before that when you raise a bunch of money, you can throw money at problems and hopefully it'll fix it and solve it.

0:57But a lot of startups aren't successful just by throwing money at problems and they actually lose all their money and then they're not resourceful in getting out of that problem. It's about learning how to be resourceful, enrolling people in your vision, developing skills, adding more value in your service. And this is why a lot of people also who win the lottery end up broke again. The statistics don't lie. Getting a bunch of money is not going to solve your life or fix your life. If so, why do a lot of people who get all this money in a lottery go broke or bankrupt within a couple of years. And many of them have more problems afterwards, and many of them have committed suicide as well because they realized this didn't solve the problems within them.

1:45The relationship they have with money didn't change just by receiving more money. They got money without building the muscle to keep it. And being broke, when used the right way, builds that muscle. And that muscle lasts longer than any paycheck. So reason number two, being broke teaches you resourcefulness before you receive riches. Now, you have to learn how to be resourceful during that season. You have to learn how to overcome your fears and insecurities. You have to take courageous actions and fail over and over again to become more resourceful. But this is what that season teaches you. And if you just have the money, you'll just spend the money on problems and you won't be as resourceful.

2:29Reason number three, being broke. forces you to separate your worth from your wallet. Now this one is huge. A lot of people think more money means more worth. Less money means less value. And that's just not the case. That belief will destroy you no matter how much you make or how much you're earning. When you're broke, you're forced to ask a hard question. Who am I without my money? Who am I without my money? Your character, your work ethic, your creativity, your heart, your expressiveness, your integrity. Are you your word? Who are you without money? It's a quote from Kyle Cease who says, Meditation gets me to understand that I'm the abundance, not money.

3:23When we can learn that we are abundance, not having money makes me abundance, but actually our energy, our attitude, our mindset, our creativity, our ability to take risks, our ability to inspire, our ability to show up and set goals and be consistent and follow through. Those things develop the results of you being abundance. none of that disappears when your bank account is low. If you still have all those things you've developed, that character, that integrity, that love, that passion, you are that already. That is your identity, not what's in your bank account. So you have so much worth inside of you right now.

4:09And if you don't learn this lesson early, you'll spend your life chasing money just to feel enough, just to feel like you've made it, just to feel like you're good enough. And I'm telling you, that is an exhausting life to live. Money is a tool. It is not your identity. So stop putting all of your worth into what's in your wallet, please. That is the end of reason number three. Being broke forces you to separate your worth from your wallet. Number four is a big one. Being broke teaches you how to respect money. Now Lewis, what does this mean? Respecting money. Why should I respect money? Money doesn't respect me.

4:53Well, when money is scarce, every dollar should have a job. You pay attention, you become intentional, you stop wasting without realizing it. A lot of people want more money without learning how to manage what they already have, the money that's within them. And you may say, Lewis, well I don't have much. I've only got about 50 bucks. I've got a few hundred bucks. I don't have much. But when you can learn to manage what you have and have a beautiful relationship with what you have, this is the hard thing. I go back to having a relationship with money. Lewis, what does this mean? Money is transactional.

5:29Money is analytical. There is no relationship behind money. That's not true. When you think about money, you might have a couple of different responses, an emotional response. If someone hands you a million dollars right now, boom, you open up a briefcase, a million bucks. Most people would say that they would be thrilled and there was no strings attached. You keep it. You don't have to pay taxes on this. Most people would be like, oh my God, this is incredible. They would say it's life-changing. They would have this rush of adrenaline, this excitement, this joy. They'd start thinking about what they could spend it on.

6:04Or maybe they'd say, I'm broke. I don't want to spend that on anything. I just want to put in the bank and just hoard it. Either way, you would have an emotional reaction if someone gave you a million dollars or if someone said, I'm taking all the money you saved and everything you've earned. You have nothing now. Either way, you'd probably have an emotional relationship with that event. And it's normal to have that. Based on how you've learned to manage money up until now is that current relationship with it. It's not gonna change all of a sudden if you get a million dollars or you lost a million dollars.

6:42It's only gonna amplify that relationship. How you experience money now, that relationship you have with it now, will be amplified the more you make, the more you lose. Either way, it's about creating a healthy relationship with money. And the money you currently have is where you need to start in developing a different relationship. If you don't care for your money, your money won't care for you. Again, if you don't care for your money, your money won't care for you. And that relationship will feel broken in some ways. It'll feel out of alignment. And being broke, again, I did not like being broke.

7:21I didn't like living on my sister's couch for a year and a half, making no money, living off credit cards, living in debt. I didn't like it. but I look back at it fondly because it taught me my greatest lessons. Being broke can teach you discipline, priorities, and delayed gratification. And those three things right there can set you up for the rest of your life. If you learn the skill of discipline, if you learn the skill of where to put my time, attention, into priorities, and if you learn how to delay gratification, not needing to buy things all the time, just to make you feel better, but to being grateful for where you're at and living beneath your means, not overspending things.

8:08That is half the battle. That is it right there to having a successful financial story in your future. And here's the key. Those skills don't disappear when more money comes in. Because in that season of being broke and broken on my sister's couch and having very little money. I kept those lessons with me once the money started to come in. And I'm so grateful that I wasn't given a ton of money right away, I didn't earn a lot right away, until I learned the lessons on how to manage money and how to have a better relationship with it when it came to me. Because those skills didn't disappear when more money came in for me.

8:50And it's not gonna disappear for you. Those skills scale with you as your money grows. And that is a big, big lesson. And reason number four, being broke teaches you how to respect money. And you've got to start respecting it and valuing it, but not putting all this extra attention or value on it, but having a healthy relationship with money. Reason number five, being broke actually clarifies what matters. When money is tight, you get clear pretty fast. You don't have the luxury of just chasing everything. You start asking real questions. What do I really need? Who do I really trust in my life?

9:35And what am I willing to work for? Clarity is a gift. And broke seasons strip away the noise. that you get real clear real fast on what's important. The noise gets quieter, the distractions lose their power, the masks start to come off, and everyone else's as well. You start to reveal yourself. You start focusing on what counts, and that clarity becomes a compass for yourself. And when you start making more money later, you have more clarity with that as well. And that's a big thing. I love this quote from my friend Tim Sykes. He said, if you're unhappy out there, you'll need to think a little differently.

10:15Aside from just the money you can make, what can you do with your life? What is your life about? Tim Sykes has been a buddy for a long time, and he teaches people how to trade in the stock market. And this guy has made millions of dollars trading in the stock market, and he's taught a lot of people how to make millions as well. But for years, he lived a life, a fast lifestyle. He bought all the Lamborghinis. He had all the fancy homes. He was living the luxurious lifestyle and something smacked him in the face where he woke up and said What am I chasing all this for? Why am I needing all this external validation around money to feel worthy?

10:56He was really good at making money, but he didn't find meaning in making money outside of that I talked about having him come on a trip with pencils of promise one time and Learned about a charity where you you give back you serve and you help kids with no school helping them build schools and create education for them in rural parts around the world. And I took him on a trip, and one of the moments where we were at a site where a new school was built, all these kids rushed around him and were just so grateful to have some pencils, some paper, and a building that they could go learn from. And that was a big wake-up call for him.

11:36He got to see these kids just joyful, just happy to be able to go to school and have an opportunity to learn. And he has gone off and done an incredible job giving millions every year to different charities in his own charity as well. And really finding purpose in why he's making money outside of just buying luxurious things, which he no longer even owns a car, I don't think. He's just giving and serving and finding ways to use his skill set to add more value to the world. And it's a beautiful thing that I got to witness and what he's been able to do over these last, you know, seven, eight years of giving and giving and transforming his relationship with money.

12:21One from him becoming rich and wealthy to how can I enrich other people with my wealth as well. and at a broke season. I'm not saying I want you to have a broke season, but if you are going through a season right now where you feel, man, money's been tough, this season can teach you that a rich life isn't just about having more money. It's about alignment. It's about peace. It's about living a life on purpose for you, what makes sense for you, not just about making a living.

13:02I have a brand new book called Make Money Easy. And if you're looking to create more financial freedom in your life, you want abundance in your life, and you want to stop making money hard in your life, but you want to make it easier, you want to make it flow, you want to feel abundant, then make sure to go to makemoneyeasybook.com right now and get yourself a copy. I really think this is going to help you transform your relationship with money this moment moving forward. We have some big guests and content coming up. Make sure you're following. And thank you for listening to this episode of The Daily Motivation Show.

13:45Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of The Daily Motivation. And I hope you have an amazing rest of your day. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to click the link in the description. that will take you to the full episode of our main podcast on the School of Greatness. And if you are loving the daily motivation, please follow us over on Apple Podcasts and Spotify and leave us a review over on Apple Podcasts right now. And if you want more exclusive content and ad-free listening experience, make sure to subscribe to our Greatness Plus channel on Apple Podcasts right now. And if you want to get even more inspiration from our world-class guests and learn how to improve your life and take it to the next level, then make sure to sign up for the Greatness newsletter and get it delivered right to your inbox over at greatness.com slash newsletter.

14:36Again, have an amazing day and I'll see you tomorrow with another episode of the Daily Motivation Show.