The Trust Factor
A daily lesson that focuses on achieving unparalleled success in life using ancient wisdom in modern times.
We will be discussing critical concepts as they are laid out in the book Sha'ar Habitachon - The Gate of Trust. Written 1000 years ago, the author reminds us of the values and wisdom that have allowed humanity to thrive throughout history.
The concept of trusting in a higher power that exists purely for our benefit, puts us in the drivers seat with absolute confidence to achieve greatness.
Eliminate: Fear, Hatred, Anxiety, Depression, Jealousy, Greed...forever!
* Note that some terminology will be in the original Hebrew or Aramaic which I will always follow with the English translation.
The Trust Factor
Episode 178 - Measure Wealth By What You Give Away
What if the real test of success isn’t how much you earn, but what you do when there’s extra? We dig into the tension between modern hustle culture and a wiser rhythm that treats money as a tool, not an identity. Starting with a clear distinction about surplus funds, we explore why “enough” keeps moving, how fear of judgement shapes our spending, and how a purpose-first approach can restore peace and agency.
We share an old model with fresh relevance: meet your true needs, then invest your best hours in learning, reflection, and the people who matter most. A vivid story about the spies reveals a universal trap—imagining what others think and then living to satisfy an audience that isn’t watching. That same anxiety drives lifestyle creep: the person who earns more, spends more, and never arrives. By naming the pattern, we open a path back to stability, meaning, and generosity.
You’ll hear practical steps to reset your relationship with money: define sufficiency with real numbers, live well within your means, and treat surplus like a mission budget—some for giving, some for long-term resilience, and a firm boundary against performative upgrades. We talk about giving while it still feels hard, because that is how trust grows and wants shrink. The goal isn’t austerity; it’s freedom. When you know what enough looks like, extra becomes an opportunity to fund what you value instead of a signal to chase status. If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who’s wrestling with “more,” and leave a review telling us where your next dollar of surplus will go.
Until next time, have a spectacular day!
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Trust Factor, the podcast that guarantees your success when you implement its divine age old teachings. I hope everybody's doing well. Hope you're back into some form of schedule, some form of normalcy. I know sometimes it takes a little while, certainly for the digestive system to get back on track after the holidays. But we'll get there, my friends. Slowly but surely we will get there. Let's continue with where we're holding. Just by the way, I'm still trying to solidify our speaker if we're gonna have one for this coming Friday. Not the easiest thing in the world to line up good speakers, my friends. So I'm taking my time making sure we've got good ones, and I will announce them as they sign up. Here we go. The fourth distinction that we're talking about over here between people who have trust in God and those who do not is the use of extra funds. What happens when you get extra money? When you've paid your bills, when you've covered off all of your expenses, and now you know, you know, back in the day, our sages, believe it or not, had jobs. They worked for a living. The difference is they worked opposite. They lived an opposite life that we did. Which means they started their day going to work, if they were blacksmiths or shoemakers or whatever their profession was, they would go in, they would do what they needed to do, open up their retail store and sell and work until whatever time it was where they'd made their daily bread. So they figured out this is what my family needs in order to get through life on a daily basis. Let's say it was$500. Once they got to a point where they made their$500, they would close up shop and they would head over to debate midrash. They would go and learn for the rest of the day. In other words, the work is just a means to an end. And that should be the way we view things today. But unfortunately, today it's the exact opposite. Today we get up bright and early and we make a beeline for the office, get to work, get there early, bright and early before everybody else, and put in a very long, hard day's work. And if it means you got to put in 12, 14, 16 hours a day, then so be it. I'm going to do that. Torah, growth, spirituality, self-improvement, who has time for these things? You know, it's for everybody else. It's for the people who don't want to work for a living. It's for the lazy men. And so ultimately what happens is we live a backwards life. We work all the time, and we have no time for self-reflection and introspection and personal and professional growth. We just don't have any time. We're too busy, and we've taken all of our time away from our family and our communities and ourselves and given it to our job because we have been conditioned to think that that is what should define us. What we do for a living should be who we are. And the more we work and the harder we work and the better we are at it, the more money we will make, and the higher status we will achieve in the eyes of society, which is really bogus in the end, my friends, because really nobody cares how much you're worth. The only one who cares about how much you're worth is you. We are plagued by this fear of not being able to keep up with the Joneses. We are constantly worried about what other people think of us, because that's what we've been conditioned to think if you're not keeping up, if you're not doing your part, if you don't hold a minimum level of status, then you have failed in this life, and that's what drives so many of us. You know, if you want proof of this, just look into the Torah. Like everything else, the story of the spies, the Israelites are walking through the desert. The Jewish nation is now waiting to enter in to the land of Israel, and they come to the border. They're at the Joy River Jordan, and they've got to cross over. And instead of crossing over, their fear and anxiety overtakes them, and their uncertainty of what awaits them is now driving them crazy. And so they send in spies to spy out the land. The same land that God, the creator of the world, who just took them out of Egypt and performed open miracle after open miracle that sent food from the sky, that split the sea, that carried them like a baby through a wilderness day and night. That god somehow is gonna lead them into a place, into a land that is dangerous. It's it's hard to imagine. Nonetheless, they had some anxiety about it, so they sent in spies, and the spies were supposed to come back with a report on the land. Not with their opinions, but what they came back with was exactly that. They came back with their opinions, and their opinions weren't necessarily good ones, for at least most of them. But what's important is the psychology behind what they said. When they came back with their report, they had claimed that they saw giants. But remember, it was a recon mission. It was to go in and gain data and they weren't supposed to be seen. They were spies and they were supposed to be hidden from whoever was inhabiting the land at the time, who were the giants. And so they came back from their mission, and they had claimed that they saw these giants. They felt that they were grasshoppers in their eyes, and in the eyes of the giants. And the question is, how do they know what was in the eyes of the giants? They were hidden from them. They were on a recon mission, they were spies, they were undetectable. So clearly the giants didn't see them, let alone interact with them and have conversations with them. So how did they know that the giants thought of them as little grasshoppers? And the answer is they didn't. They didn't know. But humanity is exactly the same today as we were then. We are our own worst enemies. It's a classic example, you're driving to a dinner party, and in the car along the way, you have a coffee and it spills all over your crisp white shirt. And now your entire day is shot, your evening is shot. And no matter what happens, that night, no matter how hard you try and hide that coffee stain, the only thing you're thinking about all night long is that coffee stain. And everybody must be looking at it, and everybody must be thinking about what a slob you are. But in reality, the only person thinking about it, and the only one whose night is ruined is yours. That's how we're programmed, my friends. That's exactly what it is that we're talking about here. It's all about meeting societal expectations, my friends. That's what it comes down to. And so, when we gain our extra money, what do we do with it? Let's read. It says that when one who trusts in God has any surplus of funds beyond what is required for his sustenance, he realizes that this was sent to him by God for a purpose and knows that he will continue to provide. Accordingly, he will spend the surplus on what pleases the creator generously and good heartedly. You hear? I got extra money. What am I going to do with this money? Where does my mind go? Now, understandably, if you're somebody who isn't used to having extra money, then your first inclination would be towards yourself. That is not necessarily correct. It should also be split up. You should always get into the habit of understanding what this money is for, where it's come from, and that it has a purpose. And that purpose is not always you. So our focus, our energy should be on understanding, pausing and recognizing. I could spend all of this on me and my stomach. I could put it all away in an account and amass it for myself and make sure that I never use it and I just grow it. Or I can think, what would Hashem want me to do with this money? Shivitiya Hashem the Negdita meed. I always consider Hashem before I do anything, and that includes when I get extra money. Now, certainly you might have that excuse if you're not used to having excess funds. Suddenly you get funds, you want to live a little, you want to loosen the belt a little. Makes sense, I get it. Once Hashem starts to give more and more on a consistent basis, what we do, what is the natural tendency in our day and age, is to take that money and to live outside of our means. So I've made$200,000, I live like I've made$400. I made$400, I live like I've made$800, and so on and so forth. And that, my friends, is also why somebody has a hundred, they want$200. Because when you've lived outside of your means, when you've taken all that money and just made it your own and leveraged it, not just used it, but you went and borrowed against it because now you're trying to make money work for you to make even more money for yourself, then you end up living outside of your means. And whatever you have is never enough, and you're constantly fraught with the anxiety of what am I going to do if I can no longer afford this lifestyle that I already can afford because I'm living outside of my means. The key to success and happiness is live well within your means. Well within the means that you've been given. And then when you have excess funds, it's easy to make a decision to look outside of yourself and to help those people around you. But when you have millions and you're spending more than you have because you're only trying to figure out ways to get more, the last thing you're thinking about are your brothers and your sisters, your parents, your community. You're not thinking about these people. You're not capable of thinking about them because your your fear and your desire for more is the only thing that overwhelms you and life passes you by way too quickly. And what ends up happening is ultimately after 120 years, you wish that you could have taken back time. God shows you everything from the beginning to the end, even the things that you thought were hidden come out and get exposed. And then there is no place to run and hide. And all you wish is that you could turn back the hands of time, but you can't. So don't wait, my friends. Don't wait till it's too late. If it's there, then utilize it properly. If it's coming in, condition yourself to start giving. Start small and grow. Give away more and more and more. As it comes in, as you've exceeded your allotment and you don't need more, and you know in your heart you don't need more and you can afford to give away so much more, then start to condition yourself to do that, my friends. The trick is do it while it's difficult. And then when it's easy, it'll be a walk in the park. Have an amazing day, my friends. We'll continue tomorrow.
