Is Financial Freedom Through Thought Really Possible?

Recently, books like Rhonda Byrne's "The Secret" and the older book by Napoleon Hill, "Think and Grow Rich" have become extremely popular, teaching us that wealth can be achieved through focused thinking. The Law of Attraction, with its philosophy that you attract to your life whatever you think about is big business. But is it really possible to achieve financial freedom through thought?

Well, it may not be quite as simple as that, and most of the gurus who teach it will tell you the same. But achieving what you want in life, including wealth, really does start with the mind. What you focus on in your head will create your future, but you must also take action to achieve what you want.

Your thoughts, though, are father to the actions you need to take. For example, if you think of yourself as poor, you will close your mind to opportunities and be unable to see the action you need to take. If, however, you think of yourself as rich, you will be able to see the opportunities for obtaining wealth and take the necessary action.

Here are few ways in which you focus your mind for wealth.

1. Be careful of the words you use.

When you hear yourself say or think things like: "I can't afford it", or "I have no money for this", you are thinking with a poverty mindset. Instead, switch your thoughts or words to something like: "This is something I am working towards" or "How can I achieve this?" Your mind will then be set towards finding a solution.

The difference between the two is a matter of focus. When you focus on the problem, the problem will tend to stick around. When you focus on achievement or a solution, that is what you will find.

2. Work to learn

If you are happy in the work you do, that's great. However, if you dream of being able to hand in your letter of resignation, what are you doing about it? It's not enough to play the lottery every week and hope. If you really want financial freedom and independence, you need to focus on what you want and then find the route to get there.

This will mean learning as much as you can while you are in your current job so that one day you will know how to be an employer, or set up your own business and be your own boss.

3. Set goals.

It has been proved that people who set goals and write them down are far more likely to achieve their dreams than those who don't. Writing your goals down creates a commitment in the mind and focuses your thinking. Once commitment is made, the means of achieving your goals will present themselves.

Visualizing your goal, feeling the emotion of it, and believing that you already have it, is a strong way of making sure that you do achieve it, but you also need an action plan for getting there.

4. Create a budget

All successful companies have a budget that they stick to in order to control cash flow, and they also track spending and review regularly.

As individuals, we often do not to do this, or we do it and don't stick to it, and then find out that we have spent more than we have earned and end up getting into debt. Having a budget is a sensible way of controlling your spending and making sure that your income outweighs your expenditure.

5. Control your fear.

Many people are afraid of starting up their own business because they fear they might lose their money if it fails. They think that it is too risky. However, with the present economic situation, it may be riskier to stay being an employee. What will happen if the company you work for goes down, or makes you redundant?

The fact is that if you want to achieve great wealth, you have to take action and there will always be an element of risk. But staying in one place is almost guaranteed to stop you from achieving it, no matter how much you think about it. If you want to be rich you have to work through your fears and take action.

You can achieve financial freedom through focus and thought. However, it will not fall into your lap without action. The archer has to take aim and focus on his target, but he also has to fire the arrow in order to reach it.

Ultimately, it will be a combination of focused thought and action that will allow you to achieve the wealth that you dream of.