Financial Sovereignty: Aligning the Mind
Posted by Orrin Woodward on May 29, 2016
Financial Matrix Quadrants
Financial Sovereignty, a lifestyle where people enjoy ownership and choices, one lived by less than 1% of North Americans, is created when people align their conscious (logical mind) with their subconscious (emotional mind).
Whereas the conscious mind stimulates 2,000 neurons per second when thinking with logic, the subconscious mind stimulates 4,000,000,000 per second when visualizing with emotion! The subconscious mind, in other words, the one that thinks in images and emotions, engages two million times more brain power per second than the conscious mind. As a result, the tip of the iceberg metaphor is outdated, as Dr. Timothy Wilson pointed out when he noted, “Freud’s view that consciousness is the tip of the mental iceberg, was short of the mark … it may be more the size of a snowball on top of that iceberg”
Interestingly, began calling the conscious mind the ant and the subconscious mind the elephant to represent the vast disparity in processing power of the two minds. Moreover, Olympic Gold Medalist, Vince Poscente even wrote a book called the Ant and the Elephant, emphasizing the importance of aligning the conscious and subconscious mind to achieve mastery in any field of human achievement.
Conscious and Subconscious Mind
Unfortunately, despite the research and popular books, few people have any idea how important it is to learn how to align the Ant and the Elephant mind. Instead, their minds are in a state of constant turmoil, a civil war brewing between the logical mind and the emotional mind, a battle that destroys all hope for united mental action. Of course, without mental alignment, the person burns all his energy in internal battles and has little left for the external battles necessary for all success. This is success suicide, for every high-achiever must utilize his logical and emotional mind to achieve success?
Accordingly, three out of the four quadrants in the Financial Matrix have sub-optimized their success because they have not aligned the Ant and The Elephant. First, the Financial Subject shuts down the logical mind (refusing to ponder how foolish it is to subjugate himself to debt merely for a temporary emotional purchase buzz) and allows the emotional mind to take charge. The Financial Subject, as a result, experiences the short-term joy of counterfeit dreams (choices) and the longterm pain of compounding personal debt (no ownership). How insane!
Second, the Financial Serf, in contrast, does the opposite. He shuts down his emotional mind (refusing to dream because he hates debt) and allows the rational mind to take control. While commendably owning most of his assets, he also has rationalizes away his dreams (no choices) and lives a settle-for life, resisting anyone or anything that attempts to get him dreaming again. Dismally, through an impressive act of will, the Financial Serf forces himself to live below his means, killing his debt by killing his dreams. How sad!
The worst case, however, is the Financial Slave, who has no ownership or choices. Indeed, he has completely submitted himself to the Financial Matrix, his Ant and Elephant minds both disengaged from reality while his debts increase and his dreams decrease. The Financial Slave has surrendered his dreams, no longer a grown up dreamer but a given up debtor. His debt crushes his ability to think, so he simply works to pay his bills and live another day. How inhuman!
Needless to say, none of these quadrants permit people to live their dreams because they haven’t aligned the Ant and the Elephant and ended the mental civil war. This is what make the Financial Sovereign quadrant so unique, for it is the only one to end the civil war. The person in this quadrant enjoys both the ownership of assets and the liberty of choices because he uses his rational mind to play defense and his emotional mind to dream. How liberating!
In the video below, I describe how Laurie and I, starting with little skills, money, or time, built the life we always wanted. This certainly wasn’t easy in the beginning, but then again, failing financially isn’t easy in the beginning, the middle, or the end. 🙂 What did we do? Well, in a nutshell, we ended the civil war, aligning our Ant and the Elephant minds through reading, listening, and associating with other successful minds who had already terminated their civil war.
That is to say, the fastest way to to end your civil war, is to learn from others who have already done so. Like my friend Larry VanBuskirk once said, “If you are unhappy with the results you are producing in life, perhaps it’s time to STOP taking your own advice” 🙂 This explains the importance of LIFE Leadership seminars, namely, to expose the people who are failing financially (because of the ongoing mental civil war) to people who are winning financially (because the mental civil war is over) to help everyone move ahead.
The Financial Fitness Program teaches people about the Financial Matrix playing field, the Ant-mode Defense (logical plan), and the Elephant-mode Offense (emotional reason). A person will not escape the Financial Matrix until he first understands what it is and how the web of debt captured him; then, he must use his Ant mind to develop a logical plan to spend less than he makes; finally, he must picture his future clearly, for thoughts are things, and get to work to turn the thoughts into reality.
Please share which Financial Matrix Quadrant you were in when you started your escape?
Sincerely,
Orrin Woodward: LIFE Leadership Chairman of the Board
14 Responses to “Financial Sovereignty: Aligning the Mind”
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Chad Palmer said
Honestly, the first time I heard about the ant and the Elephant was from a College Professor looking and sounding guy named George Guzzardo from Tucson and I was in Phoenix. He was incredibly funny and wicked smart but this just sounded silly and simple. He kept talking about his Mentor and friend Orrin Woodward who was also referencing the book by Vince Poscente which I purchased and read to my girls as a children’s bedtime book.
I totally missed the point. It wasn’t until my new friend and teammate Kevin Conover started teaching about the civil war that the book and all the audios and live trainings stated making sense. I was working in the Employee-has a job and the Self employed-owns a job with many bosses just trying to keep my wife home with our little girls. Thanks Orrin for making it Firefighter proof so I would eventually understand how to picture my future as it should and will be and now is thanks to Life Leadership. God Bless. cap
Rob Robson said
Orrin, thanks so much for simplifing these concepts! This truly is the secret of success! So many of us have been scammed into being slaves, subjects, or serfs but Life Leadership & the Financial Fitness program stand alone as the pathway to being financially sovereign!
Chrissy said
Amazing that only 1% truly live a life of ownership & choices! Even more amazing to actually meet someone in that tiny percentage & have them go out of their way to help ME get the same results! #lovelifeleadership!
Lloyd weiler said
I think the biggest thing I got out of the financial training was to stop taking my own advice! It’s so hard because Iike Jerry Hartis says “out of everyone’s opinion I like mine the best!” I am a work in progress and I know the ripple effect will not only effect my life it will change my family as well! My family will effect our local community which may just change our state and possibly change our country!
Orrin Woodward said
That’s great Lloyd. One of the things I learned to do was to ask myself if I liked my opinion with no results more than someone else’s opinion who had results. This helped me change my thoughts and model those who have the results I want. Keep rocking! 🙂 thanks, Orrin
Lloyd weiler said
Thank you! I’m so proud of the way you lead from the front!!
Valente Herrera said
Based on your discription I started the escape from this subject. Thanks for sharing this great concept Orrin. Valente
CJ Calvert said
Orrin, thanks for this message. See you on Life Island!
Andrew LaFleur said
I think I was a serf. I had some ownership and I knew to eliminate debt ASAP but I did not dream! In fact, that is what struck my sponsor the most: the fact that I thought it was pointless to dream. Because of LIFE Leadership I now dream – not fantasize, but DREAM!! Thank you, Adam, Greg, Jeff, and Orrin!!
Shane Krauser said
Thanks for this, Orrin. I once read something re: the ant and the elephant that really resonated with me, and your comments here solidified the idea for me. The subconscious mind is the president, while the conscious mind is the press secretary. The former calls the shots, while the latter merely announces his executive decisions.
Danny Kellenberger said
Orrin, love that video! Amazing how you tied all that together so quickly and easily! Powerful!
Carpe Diem
Michael Van Osch said
Thanks for this Orrin, so important to us all to know and live it.
Read elsewhere today that…”studies have shown that the middle class is indeed shrinking and a report by the Federal Reserve reveals that 47% of Americans wouldn’t be able to cover a $400 emergency if they had to.”(Dyer News)
cheers
Michael
Carpe Diem
EASTON KELSEY said
As a doctor, I was a financial subject. After 20 years of school, I deserved a house, a luxury car, vacations, furniture, clothes, the best gift giving, etc.. In short, we deserved ourselves right into debt!
Ken Hendon said
Geeze…Orrin; you make it so difficult maintaining our self deceptions.