OpinionJune 2, 2026 — 2:32pmToday, I’m sharing real advice I’ve given real clients that have helped them move towards a happier, healthier financial life.Even high achievers commonly ask me about these three concerns.Simon Letch“You can’t rate yourself a three in your performance review and then expect a bonus.”Something I commonly see holding people back from making more money is not being able to fully own and properly communicate the value they bring to the table.There is often an internal conflict between wanting to be better compensated – but also, not wanting to seem conceited, and not wanting to be too forward in their self-promotion.Many of us have been taught to “let your work do the talking.” We hope that if we work hard enough, people will eventually see our value.This can lead to over-working for years, without recognition or reward – hoping that one day, your time will come. Meanwhile, you watch people less qualified, less skilled, less experienced than yourself, getting ahead. It’s confusing and frustrating.Your next spurt of growth isn’t going to come from chasing more money. It’s going to come from doing what makes you come alive.Here’s the mindset shift that helps my clients: self-promotion isn’t about boasting. It’s about letting your value and your work impact more people. Ironically, it’s about focusing less on yourself, and more on what’s possible for the people who can be touched by your work.Think about your favourite artist, or a brand that has touched your life. Imagine if they’d been too scared to put their work out there for fear of what people might say. If you really believe in the value you offer – it’s a loss to the world, if you’re too shy to promote it.“Money is everywhere. Everyone you interact with has a problem they’d pay to solve.”Most of us have been trained to think of making money in very constrained ways. You get a job, and get paid by an employer, or you create a product/service and sell that to someone.But let’s just step back and look at the bigger picture. What is money, really? Money is used to exchange value. That’s all. It was really designed to be a better form of bartering.Now, value is entirely subjective. Two people can have an entirely different view on what is good value for money. This is a good thing. It means there is room for you to be creative. It means that whatever value you want to bring to the market-place – there’s probably someone out there who is willing to pay for it, if you can find them and package it in the right way.Here’s an exercise I get clients to do to help them stretch their mental muscles around money. Whenever you’re in a public space, look around at all the people and think about the collective money in that space.If you’re in a park, in a work meeting, in a café – look around and think: “Hmm, there’s probably $1 million in this room, right now.” Slowly, you’ll stop seeing lack, and start seeing that money is everywhere.“After a point, the goal isn’t more money. It’s to do more of what makes you come alive.”There are different levels to this game. For many, money is about survival. Then, money might be about status and success. But there is a level beyond this too, which few people talk about.This is the point where I see a lot of high-achievers get stuck – the point at which they’ve figured out how to be financially successful, and then they hit a plateau.They lose their spark. They keep trying to force themselves to the next level by pushing harder, but even though it’s working on paper it’s not fulfilling them like it once did.At this point, the money alone isn’t lighting you up. Your next spurt of growth isn’t going to come from chasing more money. It’s going to come from doing what makes you come alive.This – aliveness – is the ultimate win, not wealth. In fact, in some sense, the whole point of having wealth is to give you the freedom to pursue that aliveness.The challenge for clients I work with in this situation is that this requires a different mode of operating. So far, you’ve made wealth the north-star, and you’ve gotten good at optimising for it. Now, that’s become a habit, a personality even. It’s easy to keep doing what you’ve been doing.But you didn’t get here by doing what was easy, right? You’re no stranger to discomfort. So, you can stay on cruise control and make more bank even though you feel a tiny bit dead inside – or you can take a risk, and start pursuing the life that, deep down, you’ve been too scared to live.It might feel like a step backwards at first. But over time, you might come to find that this was your biggest growth opportunity all along.Paridhi Jain is a money and mindset coach who combines practical strategies with mindset transformation to help clients create more freedom and fulfilment in wealth, work and life. Find Paridhi at: skilledsmart.com.auAdvice given in this article is general in nature and is not intended to influence readers’ decisions about investing or financial products. They should always seek their own professional advice that takes into account their own personal circumstances before making any financial decisions.Expert tips on how to save, invest and make the most of your money delivered to your inbox every Sunday. Sign up for our Real Money newsletter.Paridhi Jain is a money and mindset coach who combines practical strategies with mindset transformation to help clients create more freedom and fulfillment in wealth, work, and life.From our partners