The Two Blocks that Keep Money from Finding You

The struggle to attract more money, clients, and opportunities… it’s rarely about the strategy.

Photo by Ben Sweet on Unsplash

First published on Medium

Let’s get straight to the heart of it.

The struggle to attract more money, clients, and opportunities… it’s rarely about the strategy.

It’s almost always about your identity.

You can hustle, you can manifest, you can visualize — but if your identity is rooted in lack, reality will conform to that.

Something tells me you know this already.

You’re someone who creates, who has a vision, but feels an invisible ceiling on your income and impact.

If that’s true, you’re likely facing one of two hidden blocks.

We built both of these walls ourselves. And it took a simple conversation on a drive to the grocery store to see them clearly.

See which one feels more familiar.

Block 1: The Comparison Trap (Cristof’s Story)

You see other creators, solopreneurs, and authors succeeding, and instead of feeling inspired, you feel a gut-punch of self-doubt.

“Why them and not me?”
“What’s their secret?”
“I’ll never get there.”

You’re measuring your Chapter 1 against their Chapter 20.

This isn’t just jealousy. It’s a form of energetic repulsion.

By focusing on your lack, you broadcast a signal of scarcity. You become un-coachable, closed off to the very inspiration that could move you forward.

What you need isn’t another tactic.
You need to dissolve the identity that feels “behind.”

Block 2: The Imposter Syndrome Freeze (Sophia’s Story)

You get a nudge to create something, reach out for a collaboration, or raise your prices… and a voice freezes you.

“Who am I to do this?”
“I’m not an expert yet.”
“I need to be more ready.”

You hold yourself back, believing you need a perfect result before you can even begin.

This isn’t humility. It’s a cleverly disguised form of self-sabotage.

By refusing to put yourself out there, you ensure you’ll never become the person you want to be. You repel opportunity by refusing to open the door.

What you need isn’t more credentials.
You need the identity of a “contributor,” not a “guru.”

The shift out of these blocks isn’t another technique.

It’s a single, powerful question that we now live by. It’s the bridge between your current self and your money magnet self.

“What would the version of me who is already a money magnet do right now?”

This question bypasses the logic of your current circumstances. It pulls the energy, decisions, and actions of your future self into the present.

• Would that version of you scroll mindlessly, or write 500 words?

• Would they gossip about a competitor, or send a congratulatory message?

• Would they hide their work, or hit “publish”?

This is the core of the work we do at Simple and Aligned.

We guide you through these precise identity shifts. We give you the mindsets and the simple, aligned actions to stop chasing and start being the person money, clients, and opportunities are naturally drawn to.

If you’re ready to move from manifesting to embodying, this is your space.

Click here to join the Simple and Aligned newsletter.

We don’t just teach this because it’s a philosophy.

We teach it because we’ve lived it. We were right where you are, building those same walls.

As always, remember:

Stop chasing. Start being.

— Sophia & Cristof

Remove These Two Blocks and Become a Money Magnet

How a simple grocery run conversation revealed why we were repelling abundance (and the identity shift that changed everything).

Photo by Greg Willson on Unsplash

First published on Medium

It was just a drive to pick up our grocery order.

The radio was off. The hum of the road was the only sound, until one of us started talking about love.

“You know,” one of us said, “when you’re desperately looking for love, you often don’t find it. Or you make compromises. But when you stop looking, when you’re just ready and open… that’s when you find your person.”

A pause. Then the spark.

“That’s how money works.”

The words hung in the air between us, Cristof and Sophia. It was one of those moments where a truth you’ve been circling for years suddenly lands, clear and simple.

You have to be ready for money, and the money has to be ready for you.

Stop chasing money. Let money chase you.

It sounds beautiful, almost too simple. But as we talked, we realized we’d spent years building invisible walls that repelled the very abundance we wanted. We were the ones who weren’t “ready.” And we discovered we weren’t alone.

The Two Biggest Blocks That Keep Money from Finding You

For this “letting money chase you” idea to work, you have to be open to receiving. We found two major ways we were slamming the door shut.

Block #1: The Comparison Trap (Cristof’s Story)

For the longest time, my reaction to other people’s success was a gut punch of self-doubt. I’d see a fellow writer hit the Staff Picks, or a solopreneur launch a successful course, and my mind would immediately spiral: Why them and not me? What’s wrong with me? Why am I not there yet?

This wasn’t just jealousy; it was a form of energetic repulsion. By focusing on my lack, I was broadcasting a signal of scarcity. I was essentially telling the universe, “See? I don’t have what it takes. Those people are the lucky ones.” I was so busy measuring my chapter 1 against someone else’s chapter 20 that I’d become completely un-coachable, closed off to the very inspiration and strategies that could have moved me forward.

Block #2: The Imposter Syndrome Freeze (Sophia’s Story)

My block was more internal, but just as damaging. It was the voice that whispered, “Who are you to talk about this? Your own life isn’t perfectly ‘fixed’ yet. You’re not a certified expert.”

This hesitation showed up as not taking inspired action. I’d get a nudge to write an article, reach out for a collaboration, or create a new offering, and the imposter syndrome would freeze me. “I’m not ready,” I’d tell myself. This wasn’t humility; it was a cleverly disguised form of self-sabotage. By refusing to put myself out there, I was ensuring I’d never become the person I wanted to be. I was repelling opportunity by refusing to open the door.

The Shift: How We Finally Opened the Door

Realizing the blocks was one thing. Dismantling them was another. It didn’t happen overnight, but through a conscious practice of identity work.

For me, Cristof, the breakthrough came from a concept we now live by:

imagine what the person who already has what you want feels like, and then hold that feeling in your heart.

I’m a beginner in CrossFit. In the past, seeing someone do a handstand walk would have triggered my comparison monster. Now, I consciously step into the identity of a “fit, healthy athlete.” From that place, I don’t feel jealousy; I feel pure awe and inspiration. I see a roadmap, not a reminder of my failure. I became coachable, embracing Ray Dalio’s principle of radical open-mindedness that I had read in his book Principles (Affiliate Link). The person I am becoming is eager to learn from those ahead of him, because he knows their success doesn’t diminish his own — it lights the path.

For me, Sophia, the shift was deciding to

be a contributor, not a guru.

In 2023, I started a YouTube channel despite feeling completely unqualified. The pivotal moment was a piece of advice from my money mindset mentor, Denise Duffield-Thomas, author of Chill and Prosper (Affiliate Link), that I paraphrase like so: “You don’t have to be the ultimate expert. You just have to be a contributor to the conversation.”

That freed me. A five-year-old can contribute a beautiful, naive drawing to the world of art. A 105-year-old can contribute a lifetime of wisdom. I realized that in the doing, I would become. By creating the content, I was embodying the teacher. I was stepping into the identity of “someone who shares valuable insights,” and through that action, I was becoming her.

Your Practical Takeaway: The “Magnet Mindset” Question

So, how do you start removing these blocks today? It starts with one simple, powerful question. Whenever you feel stuck, hesitant, or compare yourself, ask:

“What would the version of me who is already a money magnet do right now?”

• Would that version of you scroll mindlessly, or would they write 500 words?

• Would they gossip about a competitor’s success, or would they send a congratulatory message?

• Would they hide their work because it’s not “perfect,” or would they hit “publish”?

This question bypasses the faulty logic of your current circumstances and pulls you into the energy of your future self. This is the energy that money — like a happy dog — recognizes and runs toward.

And remember the most liberating idea from our car conversation, inspired by the book Dollars Want Me (Affiliate Link):

Dollars want you.

Money is not a scarce resource to be hoarded. It’s a form of energy that wants to circulate. It is drawn to people who will use it for good, for creation, for benefit to their families and communities. When you align your identity with that benevolent, creative force, you stop being a desperate chaser and start being a joyful receiver. You become a magnet.

Your journey to becoming a money magnet starts with a single decision who you want to become.

Before You Go…

If this resonated with you, you’re our kind of person. We explore these kinds of mind-shifts and practical identity upgrades every week in our Simple and Aligned Newsletter. Click here to get our weekly insights delivered directly to your inbox. Let’s become the people our future selves are already proud of.

— Sophia & Cristof

The Sacred Pause: The Solopreneur’s Antidote to Burnout

How a simple question from Rainn Wilson’s “Soul Boom” helped me replace hustle with holiness and build a business that doesn’t cost me my peace.

Photo by Frank Leuderalbert on Unsplash

You know the feeling. It’s 3:17 PM on a Tuesday. Your to-do list is a tyrant, your inbox is a bottomless pit, and the glow of your screen feels more like a prison spotlight than a gateway to freedom. You’re chasing client work, algorithm updates, and revenue goals with a frantic energy that, deep down, feels hollow.

You started this journey to build a life of purpose. But somewhere along the way, the purpose got buried under the productivity. The meaning got lost in the metrics.

I (Cristof) was deep in this exact grind. As a freelance programmer, my worth was measured in billable hours and completed projects. I stacked them high, convinced that maximizing my income potential was the ultimate goal. The result? I was a husk. Stressed, burned out, and painfully disconnected. The romantic dates with my wife? A forgotten concept. Quiet moments with my cats? A luxury. My morning meditation? The first thing sacrificed on the altar of "busyness."

I had traded my inner peace for outer progress, and it was the worst bargain I’d ever made. I was doing all this work for my family, but in the process, I had become completely absent from my family. I was building a business to create freedom, but I had become a slave to it.

Then, I read a paragraph in Rainn Wilson’s book, Soul Boom (affiliate-link), that stopped me cold. It was a simple invitation—a plea, really—amidst a chapter on meaning. He asks:

“Please take five minutes to consider… What is holy to you personally? Where does sacredness live? What should be sacred to all of humanity? What is most definitely not sacred? What have we lost by not having more ‘sacredness’ in our lives?”

His hope was to spark one action: a moment of pause.

Reading that, I felt a deep resonance. I had already stepped away from the 24/7 freelance grind, but the mental habits of hustle culture were stubborn ghosts. The frantic energy, the guilt for pausing — these were my default settings. The word ‘pause’ in Rainn’s passage wasn’t a life raft from a sinking ship, but a validation for the dry land I was already standing on. It was permission to make my new reality feel not just like a break, but like a sacred, permanent shift.

So I closed the book, set my phone aside, and applied this new lens of ‘sacredness’ to the peace I was trying to build.

Here’s what I discovered in that sacred pause:

What is holy to me is not the output; it’s the process. It’s the sacred act of healing, writing, and creating between 8 AM and noon each day. It’s the time I spend journaling to untangle childhood traumas and insecurities, not just to become a better businessman, but to become a whole man. This is the foundation upon which a meaningful life—and a sustainable business—is built.

Sacredness lives as a feeling in the heart of my being. It’s not an abstract concept; it’s a tangible energy I can locate in the center of my chest. It’s the universal love and joy I can access through a momentary pause, a deep breath, a conscious re-centering. It’s my internal home base, and I had been away from home for far too long.

What should be sacred to all of us is getting out of the hustle culture. It’s making non-negotiable pauses to reflect, realign, and simplify. The endless heist for money, fame, and power is a hollow game. The true spiritual journey is the one that leads to an inner happiness independent of outside factors—the kind of success that no market crash can ever take away.

That Tuesday afternoon grind? The constant busyness devoid of meaning? That is the opposite of sacred. It’s what leads us away from our true path. But here’s the beautiful paradox I learned: that feeling of emptiness, that volcanic pressure of dissatisfaction, is also what eventually forces us onto a spiritual quest. It’s the catalyst. As Thich Nhat Hanh said,

“in the sunlight of awareness, everything becomes sacred.”

Even our burnout can become a teacher if we pay attention.

So, what have we lost by not having more sacredness in our lives? We have lost our peace. And peace is the most precious wealth in the world. For this very reason, my current LinkedIn banner states:

“There is no greater wealth in this world than peace of mind.”

See it here and connect.

Without it, we cannot serve others or ourselves in our highest possible way. We just spin on the hamster wheel, wondering why we’re so tired but getting nowhere.

Your Practical Pause: A 5-Minute Business Strategy

This isn’t woo-woo; it’s the most practical productivity hack you’ll ever adopt. Your sacred pause is your strategic advantage. It’s what prevents burnout and fuels authentic creativity.

Here’s how to start, today:

1. Set a timer for 5 minutes. Do this before you check email or social media.

2. Ask yourself just one of Rainn’s questions: “What is holy to me personally in my work or life today?” or “Where can I find a pocket of the sacred in my schedule?”

3. Listen. Not with your brain, but with that feeling in the center of your chest. The first answer that arises without ego—that’s your truth.

4. Protect it. That thing that came up? That’s your new non-negotiable. It is more important than one more email.

When I started doing this, everything changed. I didn’t work less; I worked better. My creativity became more focused, my energy more sustainable, and my connection with my clients more genuine because I was no longer running on empty. I was serving from a place of overflow.

I regained my peace. And from that place of quiet wealth, everything else flows.

What is one thing that is sacred in your work and life? Share it in the comments below. Let’s create a living library of what truly matters.

If this piece resonated with you, you’ll love our weekly Simple and Aligned newsletter. Every week, we share one simple prompt, one insight, and one actionable tip to help you stay connected to what’s sacred in your work and life, so you can build a business that feels like a calling. Join us here and get free access to our ever-expanding library of PDF-guides for more conscious living and success.

With love and alignment,
Cristof (and Sophia)

The Childhood Memory That Programmed Me to Self-Sabotage

…And How I’m Rewriting the Code

Photo by Quino Al on Unsplash

I (Sophia) couldn’t understand why I kept abandoning my dreams. The answer was 30 years old, hiding in a hallway, listening to my mom on the phone.

I thought my problem was time management.

I’d devoured every book, every blog post. I’d tried every productivity hack. For years, I’d cycle through the same pattern: I’d start a project with fiery passion. For three, maybe four days, I’d feel incredible—aligned, purposeful, and satisfied.

Then, without fail, I’d abandon it.

Something “more important” would pop up. A website bug that had to be fixed. An inbox that needed to be zeroed out. I’d tell myself a very logical story: “Let me just tie up all these loose ends. I need a clear mind and a clean slate to do my real work.”

But by the time the slate was clean, my energy was gone. My real work—the writing, the recording, the creating—never happened.

I blamed my willpower. I thought I was lazy, undisciplined, a dreamer who couldn’t execute.

I was wrong. My willpower was fine. It was being held hostage by a story written decades ago. It took a 100-year-old book by Émile Coué to make me look for the puppeteer. He introduced me to the ruthless power of the subconscious mind, which he called the imagination:

“Not only does the unconscious self preside over the functions of our organism, but also over all our actions. It is this that we call imagination and it is this which contrary to accepted opinion always makes us act even and above all against our will when there is antagonism between these two forces.”

My will wanted to create. But a stronger force was making me act against it.

It took a moment of deep honesty to find the source of that force: a young girl, standing in a hallway, listening to her mom on the phone.

I was that girl. I had ranked second in my class for years, and I was proud. I worked hard. I knew who was first, and I was genuinely happy being second. It felt like my place.

Then I heard my mom’s voice, tinged with a disappointment I’d never heard directed at me: “Oh yes, she again has only ranked second.”

The air left my lungs.

The message my heart received was catastrophic: Your best will never be good enough. The highest effort you can possibly muster will still be a disappointment.

So, my brilliant, young mind made a survival decision: If you can’t win, don’t play the game. If your best is a failure, never give your best.

It created a saboteur, a protector, whose sole job was to ensure I never put my whole heart into anything ever again. That way, I could never feel the crushing pain of my “best” being found wanting.

For 30 years, I didn’t know this protector existed. But she’s been running the show ever since that day in the hallway. She made me a puppet, and I never even saw the strings. Coué saw them clearly:

“We who are so proud of our will, who believe that we are free to act as we like, are in reality, nothing but wretched puppets of which our imagination holds all the strings.”

Her strategy is genius: Productive Procrastination.

When I start getting too close to my heart-work—the work that matters so much it could be deemed “my best”—she swings into action. She doesn’t tell me to be lazy. That would be too obvious.

Instead, she makes me productive. She creates a compelling, logical, and urgent case for doing everything except the important thing.

• “You can’t write an article with a messy website! Fix it first!”

• “How can you record a video with unorganized files? Organize them first!”

• “Your inbox is full! You can’t possibly focus with that hanging over you.”

She is the ultimate Streamliner. Her justification is always about creating the “perfect conditions” for genius to strike.

But her real mission is to run out the clock. To ensure I never, ever put myself in a position where I risk giving my best effort and having it be “only second.” Because if I don’t truly try, I can’t truly fail. I had believed so proudly in my free will, but Coué was right:

“If we open a dictionary and look up the word ‘will’ we find this definition: ‘The faculty of freely determining certain acts’. We accept this definition as true and unattackable, although nothing could be more false, this will which we reclaim so proudly yields to the imagination. It is an absolute rule that admits of no exception.”

How I’m Learning to Fire the Protector

You don’t defeat this kind of deep programming with a new planner. You defeat it with compassion and conscious reprogramming. The goal is not to fight the imagination, but to guide it.

“We only cease to be puppets when we have learned to guide our imagination.”

1. Acknowledge the Protector with Love. I don’t fight her anymore. When I feel the urge to suddenly reorganize my entire life, I stop. I say, “Thank you. I see you. I know you’re trying to protect me from that old hurt. Your job is done now. I’ve got this.” Acknowledging her presence disarms her.

2. Redefine “Winning.” The child’s definition was: Winning = Being The Best (First Rank). My new definition is: Winning = Showing Up Authentically. My worth is not tied to an outcome—a ranking, a viral article, a number of subscribers. It is tied to the courage of creating and sharing. This reframes the entire game.

3. The “Good Enough” Rule. I actively practice doing things “good enough.” I send the email with a typo. I post the video with imperfect lighting. I publish the article that feels 80% there. This is direct action against the old program. It’s a rebellion against the need for a flawless “best.” It proves to my subconscious that the world doesn’t end when things aren’t perfect.

4. The New Autosuggestion. My Coué mantra is no longer about time or joy. It’s about identity and safety. I repeat, every morning and night: “My best is more than enough. I am safe to share my voice with the world.”

This is how we rewrite the code. Not with force, but with a gentle, persistent persuasion of our deepest selves. We thank the old protector for her service, and we finally, gently, take back the strings.

What’s a story from your past that you know is still running your present? Sharing it, even just in the comments, can be a first step in rewriting it.

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All indented quotes in this article are from Coué’s book Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion*. If you’d like to read up on Coué’s wisdom yourself, feel free to explore it. It’s quick to read, a true classic, a treasure for life!

(*Amazon.com affiliate link: If you choose to click it and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.)

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This journey of untangling our past from our present is what we explore in the Simple and Aligned Newsletter. It’s about building a life and business that feels good because it’s run by the adult you, not the child who got hurt. Join us here for more.