Hard work = money?
jasonleow • 27 Aug 2026 •
I always believed in this idea, that this is hard-coded into reality:
Hard work = money
Not untrue. You can’t get to any decent wealth by being lazy. But the negative framing on the same logic is the one that’s a real blocker:
If I’m taking it easy, I don’t deserve money.
Because once I relax, take it easy, chill, have fun, and actually enjoy some luxury, that guilt from actually living a life becomes a blocker to abundance.
Even if outside of the chill time, I work damn hard.
Even if I’m doing a damn good job at my job.
Even if I deserve all the wealth from my work.
The “work hard means you get money” mindset ironically, ensures you don’t get rich. You only get as much money as you allow yourself based on the guilt you feel when resting.
How absurd.
That’s the weird thing about core schemas. It works in mysterious ways you often don’t realize. And most of us don’t. Most aren’t even aware. For the whole lifetime. Even if you do, trying to overcome it is like, life’s work.
I don’t have a solution, a therapy, or a method to overcome this schema.
But it is a problem. Especially if you want to get to abundance not just for yourself but for your family.
What would you do?
Comments
Thanks @Melanie! Will check out the book for sure!
hi @jasonleow, happy to read that you’ve identified this limiting belief about money. There’s many ways to reprogram and rewrite our relationship with money. I’d recommend one where you go to the source, where the belief was formed. This can mean going back to a memory you can’t consciously remember. Methods like kinesiology, hypnotherapy or similar can help. I’ve experienced some of them myself and my relationship with money and what I believe I deserve has changed tremendously thanks to them in the past years. I can also recommend many books on the subject, eg happy money, by ken honda.