Can I Interest You In A Tube Of Root Canal?

What do you suppose you would happen if Hershey™ changed the name of its signature product from "chocolate" to "dung?" Or what might happen if Koolaid™ changed its name to "Urine?" Or what if Crest™ changed its name to "Root Canal?" Would these simple exchanges of words potentially bankrupt the referenced business? Absolutely. That, my friend, is the potential power of exchanging one word for another.

But wait! Not all word exchanges have a negative impact. Some word exchanges can have a very powerful, positive impact. Let's take a look at three finance-related word exchanges that together have the power to turn your financial life around.

1. Replace Spend With Invest

When we spend money, aren't we expecting something in return? Of course. So why is the act of exchanging money for something often referred to as spending instead of what it really is, investing?

What if you stopped using the word spend (buy, purchase, etc.), and in its place you started using the word invest? If you did this, you might find yourself saying things like ...

• I'm going stop on the way to work and invest in a cup of coffee.

• I can't wait to invest in a pair of designer jeans.

• It's Friday night, time to invest in getting drunk (creating a hangover).

Do you see how changing your mindset from a spender to an investor can change the way you approach exchanging money for goods and services?

2. Replace Money With Time

In order to acquire money, you must first invest your time serving the needs of others (employers or customers). In return you are given various denominations of receipts (currency) for your time invested. These receipts can then be exchanged for other people's time (time others spend creating goods and providing services). In other words, money is really just time.

So let's think about what would happen if you stopped using the word money and in its place you started using the word time. You might now find yourself saying things like ...

• I invest in lottery tickets hoping I will get lucky and win a boatload of time.

• How can I get time quick?

• I clip coupons and bargain shop to save time.

Do you see how changing your mindset about what money is and where it comes from could further change the way you approach exchanging it for goods and services?

3. Replace Financial With Emotional

When you invest your time, are you really looking to gain financially? No, ultimately you are hoping for an emotional gain. But in order to actually result in an emotional gain, your investment of time must create more good feelings (happiness revenues) than any bad feelings (happiness expenses) you incurred while earning the time.

Do you see how focusing on emotional gains instead of financial gains can totally change your perception of personal finance?

The Word Exchange Changes

If you make the three suggested word exchanges, here are three changes you should experience:

1. You will begin to view expenditures as investments made for the sake of generating emotional gains instead of financial gains.

2. You will begin to weigh what you are really giving up in exchange for the expenditures (happiness expenses incurred while working to earn the money you are exchanging).

3. You will begin to realize that the only way an expenditure can result in an emotional gain is if what you get (happiness revenues) more than offsets what you give up (happiness expenses) -- otherwise you end up with an emotional net-loss.

What Is Your Work Costing You?

You should now begin to see how the work you choose can effect your emotional bottom line.

The more your work is suited to your talents, abilities, values, and genuine interests, and the more it serves to solve a problem that's important to you, the less happiness your work will cost you, and the easier it will be to find investments (expenditures) of your time (money) that will result in emotional gains.

Conversely, the less your work is suited to your talents, abilities, values, and genuine interests, and the less it serves to solve a problem that is important to you, the more happiness your work will cost you, and the harder it will be to find investments (expenditures) of your time (money) that will yield emotional gains.

The irony of all this, is that most people view money as the solution to all of their problems, which causes them to choose their work based solely on how much it pays rather than how much it will cost them in terms of their happiness. In other words, they end up chasing after money at the expense of their happiness.

The Key To Turning Your Emotional Life Around

If your present work is not suited to your talents, abilities, values, and genuine interests, and it does not serve to solve a problem that's of great importance to you, then no amount of income or money is going to be able to offset the happiness expenses your work is generating. If you don't believe me, may I suggest you conduct an exit poll at the Betty Ford Clinic.

If you really want to turn your emotional life around, then you must stop chasing after money and instead start chasing after a work that expresses who you are and what you believe in. Then invest your time wisely so you can live within whatever income that work provides.