Is it bad that we secretly wish we were wealthy?

Do you often dream about not having to rely on other people for your financial well being?

Yet, as much as we secretly dream of being rich and even the wealthy lifestyle, we are often confused by our motivation for such good fortune.

I'm sure you'll agree, wealth for pure wealth sake can be perceived as greed and that's one of the most negative words of the 20th centuries.

The very thought that greed is behind the motivation to seek your own personal fortune is enough to sabotage any lifeplan you have the potential to put in place toward achieving financial freedom.

In fact, it is just this confusion that limits many from ever achieving true wealth. The impact of not living up to your true potential can be felt across your professional, financial and social life.

WHAT ARE YOUR REAL REASONS FOR WANTING WEALTH

There are many reasons people are not able to achieve the true wealth they dream about, but the biggest is self-limiting.

By failing to understand the true reasons behind our desire to become wealthy (both the good and the frivolous), we place powerful, yet invisible limitations on our ability to achieve great things.

No matter where you are in your life, career or business, take 60-minutes and write out all of the things you would do with your money imagining that you already had it.

After you have an exhaustive list we can organize them into a primary (most important) list and secondary (everything else) list and then further expand them to understand the impact on other people's lives than our own.

After completing this exercise, you will have a clearer picture of the overall impact wealth will have on your life and the lives of those around you. You will have been honest with yourself and many of your limiting beliefs will be overcome.

3 REASONS BEHIND THE DESIRE TO BE RICH

1. Control over your own creativity, energy and life-source. For 99% of us, we end up in careers, relationships, friendships and social situations or groups driven by short-term interests or simply, chance. When you worked your way through various early careers, chances are you took what you could get to earn what was important at the time - enough money to get through school, buy your first car, move out of your parent's home, etc... Lining yourself up with a path that maximizes the synergy with your creative strengths, your passions, your core energy is rarely a priority. Yet, by aligning our life with these factors gives us the best chance of making a difference, achieving great things and being happy.

Oddly enough, when I followed up with several people recently who badly wanted to re-position their lives in pursuit of wealth, the picture they assumed would take them there was a business, career or social situation that had them aligned perfectly with their passions, creative energies and life purpose. Indeed, wealth was simply an end result of working and living more in tune with their passions.

2. Making a Difference. This too is another powerful desire that simmers just under the consciousness of many. What about you, have you ever had this burning desire to make a difference, but haven't really known where or how you will make that difference?

Here are some of the ways that having more money can help you make a massive difference -- add your own:

• Sending your children to the best schools, giving them the chance to align their lives with their own creative strengths, passions and life energies. The hidden desire to give our children what we didn't have is a very powerful driver in many areas of our lives - wealth is one factor that can improve your ability to realize this dream.

3. Alleviate Worry. Worry is a gigantic factor in most of our lives. While almost everyone hides it from the world, quietly worry eats away at the insides causing many physical and mental health problems, stress and tension and limits our ability to function as we should.

See if you connect with some of these common causes of worry:

a) Fear of death or illness

b) Fear of being alone

c) Fear of not being able to support family

d) Fear of someone else controlling our destiny

While you cannot control every aspect of these fear factors, and we must learn to manage worry in our lives, much of the "hidden" desire for wealth is wrapped up in being able to respond to such fears for ourselves and for others.

If you were rich, would you feel good about contributing thousands to charities each year?

Would you like to have a significant buffer of cash on hand in case of health problems in your family?

What if you had the wealth to invest in alternative therapies that resulted in preventing disease, would your quality of life and peace of mind be improved? What would that mean to those around you?

As you can see, our motivations for wealth are often not greed, but rather very real reasons that can improve both our own lives as well as the lives of others around us.

If you are struggling in your business, can't quite get off the ground as an entrepreneur, have failed to achieve the level in your career you would like and suffer quietly in your life - then work through this exercise to tear down your limiting beliefs about wealth.

A final thought, what would it mean to you if you could be the next Bill Gates, Bill Clinton or Warren Buffet giving millions upon millions to help those less fortunate. If nothing else gets you excited that certainly should.