Manifest Your Potential

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Discover Your Dream Job, Career or Business

Is a Lack of Money Holding You Back From Your Dream Job or Business?

Step 6 Quiz (Work Obstacles)

Do you feel that a lack of money is holding you back from finding your dream job or starting your dream business? If so, you are not alone. This quiz helps you find out if money is really stopping you and learn what you can do about it.

You might be wondering why you even need to take a quiz to tell you what you already know. The answer is that money is really just a medium of exchange -- and often the real things holding you back are the things you need the money to buy. So a lack of money sometimes masks the real underlying problem.

Sometimes the things you need are intangibles, like a feeling of confidence or security to undertake the risk in following your heart. And sometimes they are the essentials work skills,tools, knowledge, and experience you need to be qualified and prepared to do the work you love.

So take a moment and take a look at whether money is really holding you back, and if so, how much do you need.

Start The Quiz

Obstacles Holding You Back

Question 1: In a perfect world, you would already be working at your dream job or business. If you are not, why aren't you?

Question 2: List the top ten reasons you are not doing work you love right now. For example, this could include fear of change, insufficient experience, not having the right contacts, a lack of mentors, not having the right college degree, not feeling confident, or a lack of skills or expertise.

Top Reasons
1.

10.

Question 3a: Can you take your list of reasons and put them in order, starting with the strongest reason or the biggest obstacle? If so, write them in the space below.

3a
Reasons

3b
Type

3c
Solution

3d
Needed?

3e
Money

1.
2.
3.

4.
5.
6.

7.
8.
9.
10.

Question 3b: Now look over your list. Can you identify the kind of obstacle this reason represents? If so, write it down in the 3b column. This will help you understand the form the solution will need to take.

(For example, if you are not qualified to do what you love, you need to look for the real reason. In this example, say that you lack experience. When you look up the obstacle type you realize it is a bar that is encouraging you to stretch and grow and get out of the rut of doing the same thing every day. The solution to a lack of experience is its opposite -- sufficient work experience to be well qualified for your dream job. That means you need to gain more relevant experience and the way to get it is with some new job assignments, a transfer or new job. In this example, the first step might be to take your boss out to lunch and so you can talk about ways to increase your industry and work experience. That should cost between $15 - $50 depending on the type of work you do and your boss.)

Question 3c: Can you identify the solution to each reason or problem? If so, write it next to the reason. As an example, if you lack something, the solution would be to acquire it. If you have too much of something, you would want to decrease it or change it. If you are not sure, see if the opposite of the problem becomes the solution.

Question 3d: Looking now at both what is holding you back and the solution, can you identify what you need to bring about the solution? For example,is it gaining the confidence to face your fears, a change in jobs to get the experience you need, or going back to school to develop your skills and expertise? Write your answers in the column provided.

Question 3e: Look at what you need to do to solve each problem. Do you need any money to do it? If so, how much do you need? Write your answers in the column provided.

What Is Really Holding You Back

Look over your top ten reasons again, and especially at "what is needed" to bring about the changes you need to start doing your dream job.

Often we see money as the solution to every problem because money is an all purpose way to buy ourselves into and out of situations. However, many times what we need cannot be bought in any store. Instead, it comes from finding the solutions within ourselves and taking action to start overcoming the obstacles we face.

Question 4: Look at each of the reasons you listed above. Can you identify the "why" behind each reason -- what is the source or originating cause? For example, if you lack the experience you need, is the real "behind the scenes" reason due to a bad job choice, inadequate planning, or a lack of confidence? Write your answers below.

Reason & The "Why" Behind It

10.

Interpret Your Answers

These are tough questions intended to help you get real about how much you understand about your financial needs and issues. They challenge you to see how much you know, and whether you are just guessing or have a solid idea of what your real needs are.

Question 1: Many people do not take the time to really think about what is holding them back. Often the pain and frustration is so great that the first or most obvious answer is all they have the patience and energy to focus on. So "money" becomes the major culprit. But many times money and the things it can buy are not the only things holding us back.

Question 2: Taking a few minutes to stop and make a list begins a process that can immediately start to help you figure out the problem. It not only can expand your understanding, but also give a way to start using the emotional energy you have to solve the problem. The first step in any battle is to know your enemy or obstacle.

Question 3: By making this list, you flip your focus from the problem of what you lack to the solution of what you need. And money takes its rightful place, as the solution instead of the stumbling block.

Question 4: Tracing the source of each problem or reason you are stuck is important. By seeing how the problem arose or was created, we get hints about how to solve it. You also want to make sure that you solve the source of the problem and not just the current symptom. The last thing you want to be doing is continually facing the same obstacle in a different form throughout your life.

If you lack money, you need to increase the amount you earn, decrease the amount you spend or both. To increase the amount you earn, we recommend that you learn more about ...
- what the world pays for
- how to grow your paycheck (short term solution)
- how to be handsomely paid for your work (long term solution).
If you lack confidence, we recommend obtaining the things that build a strong, reliable foundation of knowing you can handle the situations ahead of you. That comes from knowing yourself and your capabilities, creating a reliable skill base, finding a strong base of support (friends , champions and mentors), and gaining the experience of successfully handing similar situations. You can read more about getting unstuck and gaining confidence.
If you lack the skills, knowledge or experience you need, then explore our ten steps. Before you invest lots of time and money, start with Step 1 and get a very clear description of your dream job or business. Investing time and money into guesses about what are the right skills and experience can be very expensive if you guess wrong.

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