Whenever we read about building wealth or even attend a seminar for that purpose, we usually begin by assessing our present financial status. We're asked to calculate our assets and liabilities followed by a determination of where we'd like to be in a certain period of time. Being armed with this data along with assessing our present earning and saving power, we then set out to structure our financial goals. Although we try to be realistic, we still want to stretch ourselves a little bit ? after all, that's one of the purposes of setting goals, isn't it? To achieve more than we normally would if we didn't have goals in the first place. And also, goals are supposed to give us direction.

So when actually seeking out these new financial goals, many of us fall dreadfully short. What happened? Did we not work hard enough or just plan poorly? Maybe, but it's probably much deeper than that. One tactic that many goal-setting gurus use to get more mileage out of setting goals is to find out WHY we want a certain goal. This certainly helps us get more leverage on achieving our goal, but to many people money is much more complicated than that. Money represents our upbringing and our culture. To some of us, money represents bad memories of parents arguing or watching our families suffer for the lack of it, while others may view money as only a tool and seem to have no problem accumulating it in their bank accounts. These financial memories have created mental roadblocks for many of us when it comes to making money. Thus, if we want to build wealth, we have to go one step further and determine our personal level of prosperity consciousness.

If we're curious about our present level of prosperity consciousness, we need only take a critical look at our own lives. Our homes, our jobs, our bank accounts will all quickly tell us where we are in terms of prosperity - like it or not - our surroundings are simply the results of our thoughts and actions. Our level of satisfaction can be linked to the distance between where we are and where we want to be. However, two people with identical distances will almost always have different levels of satisfaction, and these satisfaction levels are linked to their personal levels of prosperity consciousness. Here's something to ponder. What if everyone in the world were to throw all their riches into one big pile and then split all that wealth equally among everyone in the world? In a few years, who would then emerge as being wealthy and poor? Most people feel that very little would change ? that the same people would most likely become wealthy and poor again. This assessment speaks volumes about prosperity consciousness.

So what if we're unhappy with our present level of prosperity consciousness, how do we change it? The answer is that we have to start getting comfortable with more prosperity coming into our lives. There are some simple things that we can start doing today which will dramatically increase our levels of prosperity over time. Bear in mind that these actions are not instantaneous ? they'll need some time to yield results.

1) Use Written Affirmations ? It sounds elementary, but this little trick actually works. Simply write down your affirmation 20 times each morning and each evening. We should choose an affirmation that suits our particular situation and prosperity level. To find out where to begin, start with this one: "I deserve to be wealthy". Does it make you feel uncomfortable when you write it down? If so, that's a sign that you probably need to use that one or something similar. You could also try this one: "I am bringing more and more wealth into my life each day." Play around with words and see how they make you feel. If you're too outrageous, your subconscious will reject the idea, so you want something that makes you feel slightly anxious or uncomfortable. Continue using your affirmation for 30 days and then start using a different affirmation. The next affirmation should be a natural building block on the previous one. The key to affirmations is to be persistent and not give up on them because they seem ineffective, repetitive, and boring. The fact is that you NEED to be doing them when they become repetitive and boring. Remember that you're trying to undo years of mental programming and repetition is required.

2) Visualize The Outcome ? Put pictures of financial goals in your mind and view them routinely. The best times for these visualizations are the first thing in the morning and right before bedtime. And it is also recommended that you add some exercises throughout the day as well. As with the affirmations, these visualization exercises are a matter of personal preference. We all visualize things in our minds differently depending on our personalities, so you'll want to experiment with the pictures. Here are some things you can do with those internal pictures: try blowing them up in size, make them more colorful, give them noise, give them action, or increase the brightness. Keep playing with these attributes until you find the ones that excite you. Also, keep in mind that the content of these pictures will change over time ? in fact, they NEED to change over time because you're trying picture more prosperity in your life.

3) Be Aware of How You Receive Prosperity ? Take inventory of your thoughts and feelings toward the way you receive prosperity. For instance, how well do you receive compliments? Do you tend to play them down or do you accept them with grace? If someone offers to pay you for a task you've performed, do you accept the payment or do you turn it down? If a person tries to give you something, do you accept it? Do you volunteer for tasks that you won't be paid for? All of these are indicators of your prosperity consciousness. Don't be concerned about making judgments at this point, simply become more aware of what's going on inside your mind. If you're doing the affirmations and visualizations, you'll know what to do when the time comes. Middle Eastern mystics say that increasing awareness is all that is needed to gain knowledge.

4) Be Aware of How You Give Prosperity ? Spiritual sages claim that in terms of prosperity, the universe makes no distinction between giving and receiving. The important thing is maintaining the flow of prosperity and allowing it to bless more lives. Suppose you and two other people were in the same room and you had a dollar. Let's say that you buy a pencil from one of them for that dollar who then uses it to purchase a notebook from the third person. The third person then turns around and buys a hairbrush from you. You could've kept the dollar in your pocket, but instead that same dollar has blessed two other people with useful products and is now in your pocket anyway. This is the basis of a healthy economy ? one in which there's a healthy flow of products, services, and currencies. It when the flow stops that we start to have problems. Incidentally, this is the same principal on which tithing to your church or donating a portion of your pay to charity lies. These charitable acts allow people to participate in the flow of prosperity and share it with others. There's an old saying that states "give what you want more of", so if you want more prosperity in your life, start giving more in return.

In order to build wealth successfully, we need to look inside ourselves first. We're taught to define and then go after our goals, but it really doesn't work quite that way. After we define our goals, we then need to concentrate on removing all the obstacles that block their path. So rather than going after these financial goals, we simply attract them to us by preparing ourselves to receive them through a strong sense of prosperity consciousness.

In Part 2 of this essay, we'll talk about how we can manage money to boost our prosperity level.

Chuck Cox is a Technical Writer and Industrial Scientist by professional with a background in statistics. He has used mathematical and statistical methods to invest and trade in the stock, futures, and options markets. Chuck has owned various businesses and presently operates several websites. To investigate a new business idea, visit his website, http://www.earncashathometoday.com/