One of the great things about Cashflow 101 board game is that you get to “try on” different levels of financial success.
Now this may seem a strange thing to want to do, but stay with me on this one.
Have you ever wondered how great it would feel if you had hundreds of thousands of £$£ to “play” with after all the bills were paid?
What about the other extreme? Is there a “good” side to being downsized?
One of the most interesting things about playing Cashflow 101 is that money doesn’t always feel the way you thought it would.
Money can have a surprising effect on our emotions. You’d think winning millions on the lottery would make you happy, but time and again we hear of lottery winners being miserable because of their millions.
Playing the game and building up sizeable wealth can be a very satisfying experience. How much do your feelings about your money change in relation to those around you? What if your fellow players are floundering while you’re rolling in it? How would that affect your enjoyment of your success?
What if it were you who was struggling round the board, not seeming to get a break when your team mates are flying high with fabulous finances at every turn. How would their success affect your enjoyment of the game?
This “trying on” of what it’s like to be in different financial situations is a wonderfully useful tool.
When you’d always thought it would be fabulous to be rich and then, through playing the game had the experience that you didn’t enjoy the wads of cash in your pocket, it can be really useful to look at why. What was it about having all that dosh that got you down?
Was it the way you got the money that didn’t feel “right”?
Was it that others were struggling and you felt bad for them?
Was it that now you had all this wealth and were out of the rat race, there was no-one out there with you to enjoy it with?
Or perhaps you found yourself landing on “downsize” in the game, and were surprised to feel a certain safety there, or a virtuosity at being one of the players in the game with very little money.
Recognising these unexpected feelings about certain financial positions is useful in real life, so that you can identify what it is about the situation that makes you feel that way and adjust to suit.
If it’s a good feeling, you’re on to a winner if you replicate the circumstances in your life.
If it’s a bad feeling, you can take measures to change certain aspects of the situation so you can still have what you want and feel good about it!