The 5 Fundamental Principles of Prosperity

By Garrett Gunderson

Principles are natural laws of the universe that never change and that hold true in every context.

Principles govern the universe and determine the consequences of actions taken by human beings. They are the structure, or the framework that provides the context of existence.

Living in accordance with correct principles leads to success; violating principles leads to failure.

Here are five principles of prosperity that can help you create more financial success:

1. People Have Intrinsic Value; Material Things Have None

How much are your material possessions worth? If you’re like most people, you reasonably answered with a number. Let’s say it’s $500,000.

But think about it — are your material possessions really worth $500,000 intrinsically? If those same possessions were in the middle of the Sahara desert, would they still be “worth” that? The value changes based on many factors, right?

This is another way of saying that no material thing has intrinsic value; it only has value as determined by people. Your possessions are only worth what you’re willing to receive in payment for them, and what other people are willing to pay for them.

Many people who own rental homes think that the home is the asset, and they are always worried that the tenant — who they think is the liability — is going to ruin their precious asset.

The reality is just the opposite; people are the assets in any exchange, and material things are only useful as they relate to and serve human purposes.

2. Property Value is Derived From Human life value

Natural resources have only as much utility as people determine; they only have value as they are used to fulfill people’s wants.

Cell phones and computers were just dirt and metal until people applied their human life value to them. It is through human ingenuity and the application of ideas that we organize earthly resources to become material things.

People in scarcity spend their lives trying to amass property value (houses, cars, money, toys, etc.) while largely ignoring their human life value, without realizing that it is through their human life value that property value has any meaning or utility at all.

What may be a horrible real estate investment for me might be a great deal for someone else. The difference is in our respective levels of human life value; the property is the same for both of us.

3. Value Follows Value

Steve D’Annunzio says of this principle, “In a world of cause and effect, value is a cause and money is an effect.”

The seeming paradox of prosperity is that if we want to receive dollars (or any other form of value), the principled, effective way to receive is to stop thinking of the value we want, and instead, start providing value for other people in the way that they want it.

The more value we create for others, the more value we receive in return. The prosperity in our lives is a direct reflection of the prosperity that we bring into the lives of others.

4. Wealth is Created Through Unequal Exchange

We all value things differently. If I sold you a book for $15, what is the book worth to me and what is the book worth to you? You may think $15, but this is exactly wrong.

We only give up something in an exchange when we value what we’re receiving more than we value what we’re giving up.

Hence, there is no way to quantify an exact amount that the book or the $15 was worth to you or me. All we can conclusively say is that to you, the book was worth more than $15 and the $15 was worth less than the book. And to me the book was worth less than $15 and the $15 was worth more than the book.

We both walk away wealthier than before we made the transaction because we all have something that is worth more to us than before.

You only exchange when others have something that you value more than what you currently have. You never trade like value for like value because you have no incentive to trade like for like. You trade what you have for what you actually want more. This is how profit is made.

In a free market, the final sales price of any object is always an amount that the seller and the buyer both disagree that the object is worth. Therefore, exchange can only occur in an atmosphere of disagreement.

It must be clarified here that only the right exchanges for the right reasons create real wealth. In other words, if a person makes an exchange of money to receive pornography, is either party really wealthier because of that exchange?

Absolutely not; they have both engaged in destroying their human life value.

Real wealth is created by people living in Soul Purpose who exchange with others living in Soul Purpose. Soul Purpose allows you to specialize in those things that you are phenomenal at doing, that create real value in the world, and that bring you true joy.

Where you are weak, others are strong in their respective Soul Purposes. One of the best ways that you can create wealth is by sticking to your Soul Purpose and creating mutually beneficial exchanges with others who stick to their Soul Purpose.

5. The Evidence of Value Creation is Profit

The way to know for certain if you have created real value for others is if you profit from that service.

You profit when you get more out of a transaction — as you perceive — than you put into it, or that you value what you received more than what you gave.

Profit comes in many forms, the least of which is money; it can come simply through the good feeling you receive from service.

Money is payment when you create value for a party that we don’t know, and is therefore the most efficient method of exchange.

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Garrett Gunderson is an entrepreneur, financial coach, the founder of Freedom FastTrack, and the primary author of the New York Times bestseller Killing Sacred Cows: Overcoming the Financial Myths that are Destroying Your Prosperity.

Garrett loves inspiring others to turn their potential into production. He has dedicated his life to living and teaching a unique concept known as Soul Purpose that reveals how anyone can live a more prosperous and rewarding life.

As a finance and business productivity coach, Garrett instructs both large and small groups of business owners and financial service professionals nationwide.

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