Do you monitor your bank account?

Of course you do – you make sure that every bit of income earned and money obtained is properly accounted for, and (if you’ve got any sense) you monitor what goes out, as well. If you understand finance better than I ever will, you might also watch over your investments to see if the bank is giving you the interest they promised (hahahahahaha!).

But there is a bank account that all of us have but few of us know that we have it – and even fewer pay it as much attention as they do their piggy bank.

It’s called The Personal Bank Account (PBA)*. It is an emotional bank account, and the contents are just like a ‘real’ bank in that they are a reflection of our personal worth. You make deposits into it when you act in accordance with your mission statement and your values, and you make withdrawals when you do exactly the opposite. The more deposits you make, the more value you have on yourself, and the more interest you earn. The more withdrawals you make, the less you like yourself – and eventually the money/self-worth can disappear altogether. No one but you can access it, and no one can steal from it unless you let them.

Deposits into the PBA include doing the work you said you’d do, exercising when you planned to, treating others with the respect they deserve (and that, incidentally, makes deposits into their PBA as well as yours), never telling a lie, telling the truth when it is against your self-interest, and so on.

Your value system will dictate what your deposits and withdrawals may be. You will know what your self-worth is by looking at the PBA. I’d even go as far as to say that the health of your PBA is more important than the wealth in your investment and current accounts.

Go on – have an audit.

(*Bank of Covey!)