How To Stop Hustling and Start Positioning for Wealth

Sunday,December 19, 2021 / 09:00AM / Grace Agada* / Header Image Credit: Forbes

The word positioning means to be well placed in a path ofopportunity, ready and able to harvest, extract, and leverage opportunitieswhen they show up. This means that positioning that createswealth involves three things- a path where opportunities flow, yourposition on that path and your ability to extract and leverage opportunitieswhen they show up. Thus, for positioning to work for you something of valuemust be flowing your way. Thankfully, one of the resources that flows our wayis money.

Money is in constant circulation because the moment money entersyour hand it is ready to either leave or stay. When it leavesit enters the central money circulation system ready to be extractedby someone else that is well positioned for it. When it stays it remains withyou as savings until you decide whether to invest it or lose it. Thus, if youspend 90% of your income every month on expenses, you are losing 90% of yourmoney back into circulation. While we all must lose money back into circulationto keep life going, money lost into circulation does not make you rich. It ismoney harvested from circulation, saved, and well invested that leads to yourown freedom. Thus, unless your money harvesting abilities exceed your moneylosing abilities you will not achieve financial freedom. When you contribute moneyinto the system more than you harvest you are hustling. But when you harvest moremoney than you contribute you are positioning.

So, what is the difference between Hustling and Positioning forwealth?

The Difference between Hustling and Positioning.

Hustling is the constant grind of pursuing money because you arelosing more money back into circulation than you are getting out. Positioningis being in the path of opportunity flow and having a system to harvest moremoney than you lose.

To illustrate this concept let me use an example. Imagine forexample that I give you the task to catch 1000 butterflies. Butterflies are aspecies of animals that are in constant motion just like money. So, letâ€™s seethe different ways you can achieve your goal. Your first strategy may be tocatch the butterflies by hand. To do this you will have to pursue them oneafter another. Yet, butterflies have an advantage that you do not have-they canfly and are a faster moving animal than you. Thus, if you choose this strategy,you will wear yourself out by the time you have caught only 100 of them. Thisis what hustling looks like, and what 80% of working professionals are doing.They are pursuing a fast-paced moving item-money, wasting time, and catchingonly a few. Ok let's look at another strategy that you may use. Perhaps youdecide to use a net instead. This strategy will help you catch morebutterflies, but the method is still the same. You will have to pursue the butterfliesand maybe you could catch 500. What if you decide to hire 100 people to eachcatch 10 butterflies instead? This looks like a better strategy, but the peoplewill still have to pursue the butterflies. At the end of the day, you mayachieve your goal, but you will be adding cost and stress to the equation.

So, what then is the best strategy?

The best strategy is to position and not pursue. Whenever youare dealing with something that has the advantage of speed more than you. Thebest strategy is not to pursue it. Pursuing will always keep the thing ahead ofyou. The best strategy is to go ahead of it and position in front of it for aneasy catch. When you position you can achieve your goals faster, with littletime, workload, and cost.

So, how do you catch your 1000 butterflies?

To catch the 1000 butterflies, all you need to do is to firstanswer the question. What do Butterflies want or love? Butterflies love flowersand are attracted to beautiful gardens. Adult butterflies get their energyfrom nectar contained in the flowers in a garden. Thus, rather than pursuebutterflies you simply focus on building a beautiful garden and then positionthe garden where they can never miss it. Once the garden is set, all you mustdo is set a trap for the catch and then take a seat, grab a cup of coffee, andsee your 1000 butterflies flow into your trap of their own accord. This seemsto be what the wealthy people are doing and why hustlers can never be successful.

So, if positioning is the answer, how do you position forwealth?

To position for wealth, you need to do three things.

1. Focus on People

People are the means through which money moves. Money does nothave legs, so the only way money moves is through people. This means that youmust do something for the people that already have the money to get it. And theonly thing that will allow them to give you their money is when you solve aproblem for them. Problem solvers also known as business owners are thewealthiest people in the world. Without the ability to solve problems,especially high-income ones you cannot increase your income or achievefinancial freedom. The more measurable, specific, and unique the problem you solvethe more money you will make. People are the real wealth in circulation, and notmoney. And they are also the real answers to your more money problem. The truthis all the money you want and will ever need is already in the hands ofsomebody else. But the only way to get it is to solve a problem for them. Thus,the more people you can solve problems for, the more money you will make.Sadly, employees are stuck with one employer, and until you can solve problemsfor other employers outside your main employer, your chance of achievingfinancial freedom is slim.

2. Choose a ProvenPath to Wealth

To create wealth, you must choose a path where wealth is alreadycirculating as not all paths lead to wealth. Some paths can only help you getby. For example, the path of a teacher is different from the path of anentrepreneur. While the entrepreneur's path has been proven to producemany millionaires, the teacher's path has no such capacities. Thus,the path you choose is important as far as wealth is concerned. Also, within apath not all places and positions are profitable. For example, research shows that70% of businesses die after the first five years even though they are on aproven wealth path. This means that you must choose a profitable position andplace for success to happen within a path. So how do you position in a givenpath? There are three things you must do.

The first is to choose a unique position. Your position on apath is what differentiates you from others in the same path. You must beunique and different to stand out. The second thing you must do is to choose aunique place. Your place in a path is the unique category you have carvedout for yourself. For example, Apple is in thephone niche market. But the design of Apple phones and its features puts it ina different category from its competitors. The third thing is your solution-thatis the uniqueness of how you solve the problem. If people are going to give youany money, you must solve the problem in a unique way.

3. Create your Own Wealth Garden

Toposition and not pursue wealth you must create your own wealth garden. A wealth garden is a center of resources thatbenefits and attracts other people. To create your own wealth garden, you needto do three things. The first is to develop a strong personal brand. Money does not flow to you when you are a Nobody.Money flows to you when you have built a name.

Whoare you and what would we find when we Google your name? If your name does notring a bell you would struggle to create wealth or extract maximum wealth fromthe system. The second thing you must do is own and control valuable assets. Ifpeople are going to come to you, they will come because you have certain assetsthat they can benefit from, leverage on, use, buy, borrow or share. When youown and control valuable assets you become a natural magnet for the people thatneed those assets. The third thing you must do is to have valuable relationalcapital. Relational capital is the ability to pull people, firms, orinstitutions together for wealth creation purposes. Since money flows throughpeople, the more people, capacities, and resources you can pull together formutual benefit, the larger the wealth you will create.

But how do you do all these you mayask?

The simple answer I can give you isto focus on the part of you that can give you the greatest wealth leverage. There are three parts of you- the physical you, the Mental you and thespiritual you.

To create maximum wealth, you mustfocus on developing your mental capacities (Creativity and Skills) andspiritual capacities (Identity and Alignment of Purpose) more than you do yourphysical energy. Hustling simply means that your physical body is doing most ofthe work and this is the fastest way to end up with a pile of medical bills inretirement. To create wealth and preserve your health at the same time, youmust focus on working your mental and spiritual energy more than your physicalenergy. This is the only way to separate your income from physical work. Perhaps you need help making all these areality in your life. We can help you. Send an email to [email protected]