We’re all playing the money game, whether we realise it or not.

We are all playing the money game, whether we realise it or not. The only way to win the money game is to, number 1, realise that you’re playing the money game, number 2, learn the rules to the money game and number 3, start playing to win. 

Why is it important to get financially fit? What benefits are there of being financially healthy. Let’s dive in.

What do I mean when I say we’re all playing the money game, whether we realise it or not? I would venture a guess to say that 100% of the people listening to this use money for at least some of their daily needs. As is the way when you start going down the rabbit hole on these kinds of things, I did come across some guy who lives completely without money. He lives in a cave, he forages for some food but mostly gets his food from rubbish bins. There was another lady who lived with a friend and did the cooking and cleaning in order to not pay rent or buy food but for most of us this isn’t going to fly. 

All of us go to work in order to earn money in order to buy stuff to live. Shelter, food and other stuff. That’s us playing the game. We give up our time to earn these little tokens that will buy us the things that we need and want. 

The crazy thing is that most people don’t realise that they are playing the game. We’ve been so conditioned by society that we don’t even question the system that we’re in. We just get on with it. We try hard at school (some of us less than others). We try to get a job that will earn us enough to satisfy our needs. We invariably end up thinking, I could do with just a bit extra. 

Once you realise you’re playing the money game, you can’t un-realise it. The good thing is, it’s a game that can be won and when you do win, you can decide if you want to keep playing or not.

Not having money makes life very difficult. It is extremely challenging to get ahead in life if you are poor. Having money makes life measurably and tangibly better. Having enough money so that you can feed your family and heat your home is evidently better than not being able to afford to do so. If you’ve ever struggled, wondering where the next bit of money is going to come from, you’ll know that it can take an incredible mental toll. Not being financially fit bleeds into almost every other area of your life. Your physical health can suffer, your mental health can suffer as can your relationships. There is a ton of research out there linking mental health and financial health. Poor mental health can affect your financial health and poor financial health can seriously affect your mental health. Conversely, good mental health can lead to better financial decisions and better financial health can lead to considerable upside in your mental health.

The good news is that there are rules to this money game that we are all playing and if you learn the rules and how to play then you can improve your financial situation, whatever level you’re playing at. I often think of the English Football League when it comes to thinking about what level I’m performing at in whatever area of my life I’m considering. Let’s today take finances.

We all want to play in the Premier League. We all want to be at the top level financially. But the reality is that not everybody can play in the Premier League. There are different levels we’re all playing at and that’s ok. We can still make progress. If you’re playing non-league football and you put in the work, you give yourself the best opportunity to get promoted or move to a better team if you put in the work to improve your game. Anybody at any level can make a difference in their own game better by learning what works and doing it. 

I’ve given up hope of playing basketball in the NBA. But in not giving up playing basketball. I love playing basketball and I’m happy just to play at the level I’m at. I’ve learned the rules of the game and that allows me the pleasure of playing basketball. 

It’s the same with finances. You can learn the rules of the game and you can start improving even if it’s at the most fundamental level and even if you never become a millionaire. When you start improving one area of your life, you’ll find that you start to see progress in other areas of your life too.

We all start from a different place in life. There’s nothing we can do about that but there is something we can do to put us on the right track to get our finances in order to craft a life closer to the one that we want than the one we’re currently living. 

Things might not be your fault but they are your responsibility. A former Navy Seal Jocko Willink wrote a book called Extreme Ownership How US Navy Seals Lead and Win. He’s the guy who first put me on to this idea of taking responsibility for every area of your life. The things that have happened to you may not be your fault (they may be of course but that’s a chat for another day) but it is your responsibility to take the next step to change your situation. You can learn the rules of the money game and start playing to win. 

Over the next few episodes I want to go into some of the rules of the game.

Start playing to win

If you’ve got a problem that can be solved with money and you have money then you don’t have a problem. What makes a problem a problem is if you don’t have the money to solve your problem or worse still, it can’t be solved with money. You need to fix a leak in your roof, you lose your job, your car insurance won’t pay out when an uninsured driver hits you because your policy doesn’t allow for that. All problems which can be fixed with money are real problems if you don’t have the money. The worse problems are ones that you can’t throw money at. You get sick, you lose a loved one, your spouse leaves you. These are real problems, which require a much bigger solution than throwing money at the problem.  

This idea of ‘if you’ve got a problem that can be solved with money and you have money then you don’t have a problem’ is one of many mental frameworks that I have to deal with setbacks that I face. Take for example my summer holiday last year. It was the first day in France, we’d just got to our home exchange where we were going to live for the next 10 days and I said to my wife, “You take the girls into the house and get settled in. I’ll go get enough food for tonight and we can go and do our proper shop tomorrow morning.”

So I left my wife and kids in our holiday home to go out and source some food from a supermarket. I was just 200m up the road when Google Maps said “Turn left”. I was on the right side of the road, which of course is the wrong side for me, the correct side in France, concentrating on what was coming round the bend in front of me. As I turned left I noticed a big lake just on my right and I thought “Don’t drive into the lake…” and as I was thinking that kchchnnukkk chnk chnk. I had driven into a 2m barrier with our bikes on the top of the car.

I was understandably really annoyed at that point. I gave myself 30 seconds to be angry and annoyed and then I said to myself. “It’s already happened. There’s no point wasting time wishing that it hadn’t happened and I remembered “If you’ve got a problem that can be solved with money and you have money then you don’t have a problem.”

Was it annoying that I had to fork out € 550 to fix the bikes (and another € 400 odd to fix the car)? Yes. Would I have rather spent that money on something else? Yes. But ultimately, because I had that spare money, I was able to say, this money fixes the problem I have of two broken bikes and a broken car. 

When I say start playing to win, I mean start making decisions that will move you towards a point in your life when you no longer even think about money. You can afford everything you need, even everything you want. You have enough to weather any problem that comes along that can be solved with money. That is a noteworthy milestone.

The great thing is that you can set yourself on the path towards this point and even if you never get to a point of complete financial independence your life will be better than when you started.

I want you to think of the things that you could do if you had more money. I want you to be inspired to imagine how your life would be better with more money. I also want you to consider that with more money comes a greater responsibility to steward it well. To look after it. To use it wisely. Who are the people that you could bless if you had more money?

What having money enables you to do is infinite. 

Keep the heating on as much as you want. Buying the healthiest food you can imagine. Take your family travelling. Take your friends skiing. Pay your granddaughter’s university fees. Change jobs. Quit your job you hate. Pursue a creative lifestyle that you love. I’m not saying any of these things will bring you ultimate satisfaction or that you’ll always be happier with more money but it certainly beats being poor. 

What next? Well of our three steps, you’ve already done number one. Realise you’re playing the money game. Next you’ll have to learn the rules and start playing to win.

So that’s what we’ll do next time. We’ll go into some of the rules of the game and how to start playing to win.