Stop Working Hard for the Money

She works hard for the money
So hard for it, honey
She works hard for the money
So you better treat her right!

Remember that song from the 80’s? I was around 8 years old at the time, so I’m sure there was a lot about the song that I didn’t understand. Like the fact that Donna Summer was actually singing about a prostitute, even though that’s not the story she chose for the music video.

What strikes me today about this anthem is the message that it imparts: Making money requires struggle. In fact it’s worse than that, because if you watch the video you’ll see a woman who’s working three jobs – cleaning lady, diner waitress, and seamstress – while raising a brood of bratty kids (with no father figure present) and clearly still struggling to make ends meet. All that struggle doesn’t even lead her to money.

In fact, take a moment to watch this video, and then I have a question for you:

Now that you’ve watched it, here’s my question: Do you empathize with her struggle? Not just sympathize, but actually feel like you’re going through the same kind of experience she is?

When I watch the video, I feel the same feelings that get triggered when I’m working late in my office to make up for being out of town for a few days. It’s natural to feel triggered by this; attachment to struggle, especially with regard to money, is a commonly-held limiting belief. Generations of humans have been trained to believe that “anything worth having is worth working for,”which is actually true: You’ll only put effort into the things that you find worthwhile.

But somewhere along the line, that understanding got corrupted into the belief that something worth more requires you to work more and harder, which leads to two erroneous beliefs in your money mindset:

• Achieving more success requires more effort.
• Prosperity is the automatic reward for hard work, regardless of how that effort is applied.

The truth about working hard for money

Here’s the reality: The Universe does not have a reward system. You don’t earn “points” for your hard work that can be redeemed for cash or anything else. And you don’t need to earn more “points” in order to receive bigger rewards.

Instead, the Universe works according to a set of laws like the Law of Attraction, the Law of Polarity, and the Law of Cause and Effect, all of which lead to the same conclusion: You get out of life what you put into it, and what you’re putting into life more than anything is your energy. Not your effort, not your actions, but the quality of your energy field as dictated by your thoughts and feelings – mostly the subconscious ones.

So if you’re putting out struggle, you’re going to get back struggle, right?

But how can you know if you’re telegraphing struggle to the world around you? Here’s are some signs:

1. You are always busy. If taking a guilt-free break from your work to go have fun is difficult for you, then that indicates your limiting belief that success is a direct result of hard work, so it will escape you if you stop putting in effort for a day or even a few hours. (And maybe your fun is all busy and effort-based too, because joy has to earned just like money does, to a struggle-based mind.)
2. You aren’t making enough money. This one’s a doozy. Your attachment to struggle will keep you working at a level where you produce enough money so that you don’t give up and do something else, but never so much that you might start to loosen the reins. What scares a struggle-based mindset the most is the possibility that you could become so successful that money starts flowing effortlessly; to a struggle-based mindset, less effort means less money, regardless of what your conscious mind knows is true. In short, you keep yourself in lack as motivation to keep striving for success.
3. You judge people who seem to make money easily. To your subconscious mind, people who aren’t working hard for their money must be doing something illegal or unethical to get it. Or they’re just lucky in a way you’ll never be. If you’re attached to struggle, then you might despise Richard Branson and all of those billionaires on “Shark Tank,” who seem to effortlessly attract prosperity.

The cure for struggle

What can you do to let go of your attachment to struggle?

• First, look for signs of your struggle. Notice when you’re busy for no reason, or busy with unproductive tasks.
• Also notice when you say things like, “I worked so hard on that,” as if the hard work should be rewarded with recognition or results, regardless of whether the work was in a productive direction toward the results.
• Start planning your work differently, so that each task you undertake has a direct impact on the intended result. For instance, if you want more clients for your business, then the most impactful thing you can do is reach out to individual people – not work on your website, clean your office first, or a dozen other things that your subconscious mind says will be a better use of your time.
• Make yourself take breaks. Step away from your work for at least an hour every day, and at least two days every week, and notice how your business doesn’t absolutely fall apart while you’re gone. (And maybe some good things will happen too.)

Finally, if you try to apply these ideas and find yourself back in the struggle game again, then it might be a sign that your attachment to struggle runs deep through your subconscious, and you need a healer to help you detach it. If so, then it’s time to reach out and get support.

Your turn

Do you think you have an attachment to struggle?

How does it show up in your life?

What results does it keep you from getting?