Okay, stay with me.

Because I know how this sounds.

“Making money is easy for me.”

Very Pinterest affirmation.

Very writes it on a Post-it note and waits for $10,000 to appear in her bank account.

Unfortunately, I have tested this method and the bank transfer has yet to arrive.

But I’ve been thinking about this sentence lately, and I actually think there’s something powerful about it.

Not because saying it magically makes you rich.

But because of what happens when you start questioning the opposite belief:

Why have so many of us decided that making money has to be hard?

Somewhere Along the Way, Struggling Became Impressive

I think a lot of us have absorbed the idea that money should require suffering.

You need to work constantly.

You need to be exhausted.

You need to sacrifice your weekends.

You need to climb a ladder for twenty years.

And if something comes easily to you?

Surely it can’t be worth very much.

I’ve definitely caught myself thinking this way.

Something can take me 30 minutes because I’ve spent years learning how to do it, and somehow my brain still wants to calculate its value based on those 30 minutes.

But you’re not only being paid for the minutes.

You’re being paid for the experience that made those minutes possible.

That completely changes the conversation.

Easy Doesn’t Mean Doing Nothing

This is the distinction I love.

I don’t think “making money is easy for me” means:

I never have to work again.

It means:

I don’t automatically expect earning money to require misery.

You can work hard without making your entire life hard.

You can build skills that become increasingly valuable.

You can create something once and sell it more than once.

You can become better at negotiating.

You can find work you’re naturally good at.

You can build a business.

You can invest.

You can have multiple sources of income.

You can charge appropriately for your expertise.

You can make decisions that allow money to become easier to earn over time.

That’s not delusion.

That’s leverage.

Start Asking Better Questions

Instead of constantly asking:

“How can I work more?”

I’m becoming much more interested in asking:

“How can I create more value?”

Those are very different questions.

Working more usually has a ceiling.

There are only so many hours in a day.

Creating value opens up much more interesting possibilities.

Maybe there’s a skill you could become extremely good at.

Maybe there’s something people constantly ask you for help with.

Maybe something you’ve learned could become a service.

Maybe you could turn your knowledge into a digital product.

Maybe your business could solve a problem more effectively.

Maybe the thing you’re already doing could simply be packaged differently.

Making more money doesn’t always require adding another eight hours to your day.

Sometimes it requires thinking differently about the eight you already have.

Stop Treating Your Natural Skills Like They’re Worthless

This one gets me.

We tend to undervalue the things that come naturally to us.

“Oh, that’s easy.”

Yes.

For you.

Writing might be easy for you.

Design might be easy for you.

Talking to people might be easy for you.

Selling might be easy for you.

Organisation might be easy for you.

Understanding numbers might be easy for you.

Building things might be easy for you.

That doesn’t make the skill less valuable.

In fact, the intersection between what you’re good at + what people need + what they’re willing to pay for is a pretty interesting place to spend some time.

Your strengths don’t become worthless just because they don’t exhaust you.

Learn to Keep Money Too

This isn’t as sexy as talking about making more money, but it’s probably more important.

More income doesn’t automatically create financial freedom if every increase in income immediately becomes an increase in spending.

I want making money to feel good.

But I also want having money to feel normal.

Saving it.

Investing some of it.

Building an emergency fund.

Paying things off.

Spending intentionally.

Letting money sit in an account without immediately deciding it needs a new handbag.

Financial confidence isn’t only:

“I know I can make more.”

It’s also:

“I trust myself with what I make.”

That feels powerful.

You Don’t Have to Feel Guilty for Wanting More

I also think we need to talk about this.

Wanting money doesn’t automatically make you shallow.

Money can mean:

Helping your parents.

Owning your home.

Travelling.

Having choices.

Leaving a job that makes you miserable.

Starting a company.

Getting good healthcare.

Taking a Wednesday afternoon off.

Supporting causes you care about.

Buying beautiful things because you genuinely enjoy them.

Not having a minor cardiac event when an unexpected bill arrives.

Money isn’t the meaning of life.

But having enough of it can give you options over how you live your life.

And I don’t think there’s anything embarrassing about wanting that.

So, Yes: Making Money Is Easy for Me

Do I believe money will now fall out of the sky because I’ve said this?

Sadly, no.

But I like what the belief asks me to become.

Someone who looks for opportunities instead of immediately assuming there aren’t any.

Someone who values her skills.

Someone willing to learn.

Someone comfortable charging for good work.

Someone who understands that income doesn’t have to come from one place forever.

Someone who doesn’t believe burnout is proof that she’s deserving of success.

And maybe that’s the actual power of affirmations.

They’re not spells.

They’re new instructions for what your brain should start looking for.

So I’m keeping this one:

Making money is easy for me.

Not because I expect to do nothing.

But because I’m done believing everything good has to be difficult first.