Thinking in money
If you’re like me, then you’re probably struggling a little when it comes to making money.
Everyone has their own reasons, and my reason is my inability to focus on one thing and get good enough at it to actually get a well paid job.
I get tired and bored of things really fast.
For example, one of the things I was really into a few years ago, and got fairly good at, was web design. I was extremely interested in learning how to create websites, and I even learned how to use HTML, CSS and some JavaScript to actually build something.
Sadly, even though I got fairly good at it, and I was able to code decent basic websites, I lost my interest in time, especially when I had to go to college. I thought I’ll have to quit web design and focus on learning something different, like C.
After I decided to quit college, I kinda lost my motivation to create websites, and I started focusing on something else, like working in Photoshop, writing, and recently, working in Blender.
All that constant change and the fact that I never really got extremely good at one particular thing means that, as a freelancer, it’s fairly hard for me to make enough money to properly sustain myself.
I often think about web design and where I could be right now if I wouldn’t have decided to quit years ago. Who knows, maybe I would be creating websites for clients from my own bedroom, or maybe I would work for a company in a different country.
No matter what the present would look like if I wouldn’t have quit web design, I often find myself lost, and frustrated that I’m not a master at anything. Then I start thinking about how that’s the reason I’m not making money, and that’s how I start procrastinating, asking myself questions like “why even bother?” or “should I even try?”
Usually that happens when my monetary income is low, or when I have a bad month. The time I waste asking myself silly questions doesn’t help either, so I’m kinda stuck thinking about what I should be doing and how I’m not making money, while not doing anything productive.
One method I use to change that and to actually make myself work a little more, is to think about everything I do (or everything I don’t do), while thinking about how much money I could be making if I would work instead.
For example, if I have one of those days when I start asking myself useless questions and I feel like I’m procrastinating and wasting my time doing nothing, I ask myself “How much money could I make if, instead of asking myself silly questions, I would focus on working on something?”
That usually results in me coming up with an answer like “Well, if I would spend the next 15 minutes working on a design package containing one photo effect, then I could upload it for $4 on Graphic River or Creative Market, and have another item for sale in case anyone’s interested in that”.
If that answer doesn’t satisfy me, then something like “Well, if I would spend the next 30 minutes writing and publishing an article on Medium, then, if they will ever implement PayPal payment in their partnership program, then maybe I would be able to make money with the community that will form around my content while I write for free now!” will.
Thinking in money is pretty efficient when trying to motivate yourself. You’ll always imagine how much money you could make instead of wasting time, and that may simply make you work instead of doing nothing.
It can also be bad, if you start thinking like that every single moment you spend being awake. Not all the time you don’t spend working is wasted. If you spend time with friends or family, if you learn something new or if you simply relax from time to time, to avoid burnout, then that may not help you make money, but it’s still time you invested in a good way.
Use this method, if you think it will help you, to motivate yourself to work more, especially if the main thing you seek is monetary satisfaction. However, be aware not to do it too much and too often, because while money is important, there are other things in life that matter just as much, if not more.
