We didn’t have a lot of money when I was growing up.

But I was lucky…

My mum was a whiz at managing the tight budget and my memories of family life are of love, fun and laughter.

That said…

The scarcity did leave a lasting impression on me.

From a young age, I had this idea that money was something that other people had. Wealth was for the more deserving, well-connected, better-bred types!

Because that was the attitude expressed by a lot of adults at the time.

If you grew up in an era similar to mine, you may remember a lot of the maxims that got trotted out on repeat.

‘Money Doesn’t grow on trees’

‘Pride comes before a fall’

‘Money is the root of all evil’

‘Wants don’t get’

‘Know your place’

Maybe these phrases are based on essential wisdom, but their constant repetition can have a serious effect.

It’s essentially saying:

“Know your place, and don’t expect too much”.

Perhaps upper-class kids get the same maxims drilled into them, but it’s hard to believe it when you see the way many Etonian politicians behave.

It’s as if they’re entitled to everything in life – and that they truly DESERVE it.

And as for the rest of us miserable oiks…

Well, we need to knuckle down, work hard, pay our taxes and keep the great machine working so that the rich can get richer.

Because of this, it always felt I didn’t have any right to achieve money and status.

I’d surely crash and burn if I ever dared to aim for financial freedom.

Or someone would ‘catch me out’ and put a stop to it.

Do you ever feel like that?

It wouldn’t surprise me.

If you are from a similar generation to me then it isn’t your fault if sometimes you fall into a negative way of thinking.

After all, these ‘make do with what you’ve got’ phrases were mentioned day in, day out.

So I understand if you think you’re not the sort of person who will ever enjoy financial freedom.

Or if you think that you’re not smart enough, educated enough or deserving enough to become wealthy, or a successful course creator.

But you need to understand something,..

Those thoughts are not objectively ‘real’ thoughts.

They’re inherited thoughts.

They’re fictions.

They’re stories that get passed from generation to generation about who we are in life, what our place is, and how we should act.

Thing is, like any story, these thoughts can be re-written. The narrative can change.

Your future can be what you want it to be. And maybe you can pass down a different legacy to your children or grandchildren.

So if you seriously want to make a significant change to your future, and get the fulfilment, respect and money you wish for, it’s time to rebel against your upbringing.

It’s time to jettison the ‘make do’ attitude!

You have a right to live the kind of life you want, no matter where you came from, what social status you have, what money you earn, or how old (or young) you are.

But to achieve that, you need to un-do all that conditioning and re-wire your thinking.

Here are a few tips to get you started…

How to re-wire your mindset

First, learn that your thoughts are not real.

Just because you think something about yourself, and you’re convinced that it’s true, it is just a thought. It is not real.

That means all the encoded negative beliefs you have about yourself are also not real. All those negative beliefs handed down by your parents or teachers, they’re also just ideas, not real things.

Secondly, recognise they’re not in any way helpful, because they don’t lead anywhere next. They just stop you in your tracks.

But when you start to see thoughts as fictions – stories you tell yourself – then you can begin to change those stories.

You can do that by ‘reframing’ negative thoughts.

For instance, when you say, “I’m not the sort of person who can do this” or “these things never work for me”, you could say:

“I have as much of a right to achieve this success as anyone else, I just need to learn some skills and keep working at it.”

This more positive version is likely to lead to practical activity. Because now you can put in place a strategy in for that positive thought to become real.

That’s where your course creation project could come in to play. You could start thinking about the kind of topic you could choose, and what type of course you might create – then start to follow the steps I’ve recommended in these emails.

But first, I’d advise that you write down all the inherited, ingrained negative thoughts you have about yourself.

They could be related to intelligence, education, physical appearance, age, gender, race, social class, mental and physical health, upbringing… whatever niggles you have at the back of your mind when you consider an opportunity in life, get them down on paper.

Now go through each one and reframe it in a positive way,. Then seek out a practical means of surmounting the obstacle – if it’s even an obstacle at all!

This will give you a potential way out of the main problems that get you down, and keep you in a “put up and make do” attitude.

Whatever your doubts about this exercise, try it and see what happens!

You might even get an instantaneous result.

Because sometimes even the act of writing a list like this can alter your mindset.

Then, once you’ve done that, set some firm goals – whether that’s to create your first course, or ANYTHING you really want in life.

Remember, you deserve it as much as anyone.