Money Model: The Champion
Money Model: The Champion
The spectrum of Drone - Catalyst - Sovereign
Listen to this article on the podcast!
Firetrucks in Traffic
In my work, I use the power of story and archetype to unearth our hidden, limiting beliefs about money, relationship, and power. One such archetype I use is called The Champion.
Champions get stuff done. They’ll do whatever they need to do to finish the task at hand in time - even take work off of others’ plates. They work hard. The work so hard they can forget where they’re going!
If this sounds familiar either personally or culturally - keep going. This one’s a doozy. This archetype cuts particularly deeply into the American psyche and cultural values.
Each of these archetypes has an energy signature all their own and exists on a spectrum from unsustainable - sustainable. Notice, this isn’t “bad”-”good” or “unhealthy” or “unhealthy”. These “money” archetypes are also interchangeable with “power” and “intimacy” and can be used to help us navigate each.
There are times when the more unsustainable side is necessary for decision-making, like in times of crisis. In more even, peaceful times, the more sustainable side helps us grow and change. There isn’t a wrong, bad, or shameful place on these spectrums or within these archetypes.
I will say, however, if someone consistently behaves more on the unsustainable side without crisis present, people tend not put up with it very long and move on - hence why it’s the unsustainable part of the spectrum.
Think of it like a 2-lane highway. For the middle of the spectrum, let’s imagine a firetruck - it’s what we use in times of crisis. It’s specifically designed to help us survive. We let the Firetrucks pass on the left and then get back into our lanes. We understand how important those survival mechanisms are. Firetrucks aren’t inherently bad or good, just necessary sometimes. In the middle, the lane usage is nimble and balanced.
If we decide that the left lane is only EVER for firetrucks, then the whole highway gets gummed up because all the cars are stuck in one lane and there’s an empty lane. It’s a recipe for resentment, anger, and revolt. That’s the unsustainable side.
Conversely, if we only make decisions from only a place of sustainability, when there’s a crisis, the firetruck can’t get through to help because the other cars won’t or can’t get out of the way. Both ends of each archetype spectrum are valuable and necessary.
It’s up to you to decide where on the spectrums you need to be at any given time.
Knowing where we’re at on our top 4 archetype spectrums can give us a dynamic compass for staying true to our integrity. And integrity is integral to effective leadership, and I believe each of us has the capacity for leadership.
Champions of a Tasty Tomorrow
Simply put: without rest, we can’t integrate. Without integration, we can’t make informed, healthy decisions for our futures because we haven’t processed our present or past. Effective Leaders, and happy people need time to integrate.
For instance, we need to sleep! If we don’t sleep, our brains can’t go through their cleaning protocol and our memory gets bogged down, our metabolism gets wonky, we can become easily irritated and we feel very much not like ourselves. Sleep also helps us solidify important neural pathways and memories that support learning. Rest is as natural as cycles and as necessary as the binary “on, off” button.
On the Unsustainable end, The Champion doesn’t rest or integrate - they execute. They take the task at hand and get.it.done. No questions. No emotions. Pure, immaculate discipline. There are times when being an unsustainable Champion makes all the difference in momentum on a project.
Extractive Capitalism, however LOVES an unsustainable Champion. Unsustainable Champions are workers who build wealth and never have enough time to realize that the wealth they create doesn’t come back to them. It loves bodies too stressed to stop, to sleep, or raise children to be anything but workers. Extractive Capitalism loves a good drone, like an unsustainable Champion. There are many explicit laws and cultural practices that support strong-arming the public into staying in the unsustainable side of being Champions. For example, tying health insurance to our jobs keeps our bodies relying on jobs as a source of health. If we had universal health care, then workers would have more leverage for bargaining better wages. This is the energy that justifies inequitable imprisonment to maintain a new kind modern of slavery.
I’ll be explicit here: In order to keep inexpensive workers and unsustainable champions readily available for exploitation, powerful people limit access to reproductive autonomy so that only the wealthy can afford abortions. The underpaid workers then have children they likely can’t afford. They then may turn to illegal means to support themselves and go to prison to work for less than minimum wage and become isolated from community. Other workers may work themselves to the bone to try and support their expensive children. Once they dry up and die, their children are of working age. Rinse and repeat. The first intentional targets are always the BIPOC community, which is why there are disproportionate numbers of BIPOC Americans in prison. Extractive Capitalism loves an unsustainable Champion wherein workers of every level of working class are put into constant crisis to maintain the power and comfort of the few.
The joke here is that these practices are unsustainable, even for Capitalism. It’s not cost or time effective to have high turnover because the investment in retraining is so high. The free market becomes ineffective, we lose ingenuity and creativity when we cannot rest. We lose momentum for expansion when we can’t digest what we eat, or when there are too many dying too quickly. The American empire is eating itself alive by prioritizing constant work or fairly compensating creators. It is in Capitalism’s best interest to allow all classes access to the resources to rest and integrate being.
On the helpful, less apocalyptic feeling end of this unsustainable side of the spectrum, this is the energy of the entrepreneur - the person who grinds and experiments until they create something sustainable. Their impact comes from sheer inner will and is made real through effort and discipline. They’re willing to do whatever it takes to make their dreams come true. An unsustainable Champion’s flavor of burnout is sheer exhaustion, confusion - and - feeling alone. Supremacy mindsets and extractive capitalism can’t work without its foundational tenet of isolation.
So if you’re an entrepreneur or leader learning about your Champion energy and you’re feeling ALONE, there’s your indicator that some aspect of your relationship to money, power, or intimacy isn’t sustainable for you. It’s an indicator that you’re inadvertently contributing to a supremacy culture. Oops! It’s ok - now we know and can play with something different, like trusting other people to lead.
With a Champion imbalance, we’re left feeling confused by money, power, or intimacy because we haven’t been able to process what it means in our bodies, hearts, or selfhood. We’re unable to dream of a different direction than the one we’ve always known. We limit how much money, pleasure, or power we can bodily experience by having a narrow, crisis-driven understanding of what opportunities are available to us.
In the realm of entrepreneurship, there comes a time when a leader is successful enough to change and grow. If they don’t take advantage of this opportunity to become a more sustainable Champion, they can become resentful of their employees, get controlling, or put their sense of urgency on others as a way to assuage their own burnout. We see it all the time. It’s how we don’t have more representative, effective government officials. It’s how managers become micromanagers. It’s how small business owners get sick and end up closing up shop.
Feeling too real? Chat about it here
The Champion’s Workout
To jump from being an unsustainable Champion to a sustainable Champion, here’s what to play with:
Do you check in with your body about decision-making? If your body gets exhausted at an idea, it’s not for you. Either delegate or let it go whenever safe to do so. If you get a little tingly and centered about it - go for it! I’ve spent entire days letting my junk make decisions for me. Other days, my gut. Some days my heart. Try out a part of your body you like and let it make decisions for you.
Do you feel enlivened by your tasks, actions, or goals? If not, delegate or make a container for getting it done with intention and plenty of rest, celebration, or aftercare once completed. Ask for help and be specific about what you want. I’ll be writing an article about competent requests and demands and link it soon.
Rest. How much time to do you take off? The more time you can afford, the better - and if all you have is a few moments to yourself on the toilet - take it. Make that time intentionally for you and no one else. Your sustainability is vital to everyone else’s.
Do you feel a sense of belonging in your work? If you feel alone, tell someone. If you’re feeling some strength in your vulnerability, ask for suggestions on what else to try. Get connected. Ask for support. The strongest people I know ask for what they want and need to keep them nourished.
Does your compensation feel equitable to your effort? There are times we need to take a pay cut to take a chance on something or someone, but when we don’t stop to re-evaluate, we can get caught in the doldrums of extractive capitalism.
When was the last time you allowed yourself to dream of an ideal future? Get ridiculous with it - go extreme - envision yourself getting everything you want. And then use your champion energy to move on one action item that gets you close, even if that action item is just making a list of stuff you want. Make the first step painless and enjoyable.
Example: I want to be on a remote island with a mesa and a waterfall with a comfy pool below slightly above cloud level on a sunny, warm day. I want my favorite people to be there and for us all to be cooking for each other. Some people are playing games, others tending spaces or cooking. We’re all feeling good together. We eat together. We dance. There’s a few of my favorite celebrities there so I can learn about what kind of people they actually are (crossing my fingers for Tracy Chapman someday) My cats are cute, playful and there’s no need for a litterbox in my perfect reality.
Now, most of that is nonsense. I know. But dreaming allows me to see where my values overlap with my desires in an unrestricted manner. I want community. I want nourishment. I want pleasure and joy. I want curiosity and play. I want to live litterbox-free! (This is me reminding myself to clean the litterbox, in case you didn’t pick up on that. I’m literally going to do it once I’m done with this.)
From there, I can pick one task or action item to get me closer to those values and desires being met. I can coordinate a bbq at a local park. I can pet my cats. I can make a meal for myself or for someone I care about that’s a little more precious than my normal food. I can … clean the litterbox.
None of those action items directly relate to work or task completion. They will, however, result in me feeling more resourced to do the work I need to do and give me some opportunities to ask my network for support. Those things not only feel great, but they also help with my business. That’s a sustainable Champion.
A Champion’s Body
On the far end of the sustainability spectrum for the Champion, we see a very body-wise person. They make decisions solely on what’s nourishing for their body. Whatever they decide to act on is based on a full-body or very curious “YES!” This is the mammalian experience perfected: rest until the perfect time to act. Their gut response is their compass. The sustainable Champion is response and action perfected. Satisfaction incarnate.
That all sounds lovely Candis, but how can I tell if I’m on the right spot for me on the Champion Spectrum?
That’s easy. Are you feeing frustrated, alone, or exhausted? Then you’re not in the “correct” spot for you right now. Are you feeling satisfied, supported, and ready? Then you’re in the “correct” spot for you. What can you act on to reduce your frustration and up your satisfaction? What can you do to feel more connected? Delegate? Say no? Say yes? Give yourself time to try on a different archetype and come back to this one? Remember, nobody knows your body’s yes’s or no’s better than you do!
A nimble, intentional, relational Champion is the catalyst of massive financial change - highly effective and specialized to be as versatile as possible. They’re the entrepreneurs who grow with their businesses. They’re the pathfinders who can help us transition from extractive capitalism to something more delicious and sustainable. This archetype has a huge capacity for impact, and when wielded haphazardly, can have a massively harmful, oppressive feel and impact on our bodies and our communities. So employ that energy with tact, intention, and responsibility and your whole world will feel less heavy, more connected, and enjoyable.
Dear Champions: we need you at your most integrated, nourished, and resourced self. Make it happen and tell us how we can support you.
PS: If you’re a nerd about Human Design like I am, the fully sustainable Champion is like a deconditioned Generator at their best. They use their authority paired with their “gut yes or no” to make energetically aligned decisions and get stuff done! If you want to learn more about Human Design, check out Cathy Rivers.
Financial Wellness Offerings
Money Mindset Quiz - Free
Financial Wellness Consultation - Free
Shameless Money Workbook - Sliding scale
Leadership/Team/Partner Money, Power, Intimacy Coaching - Contact for pricing
Exclusive/Personalized Money, Power, Intimacy Coaching - Contact for Pricing
Candis Fox
Candis Fox is a Financial Wellness Coach, Consultant, and Speaker. They've combined their 10+ years in cognitive & behavioral science & education with radical finance to bring transformational experiences that impact our systems & communities - one valuable life at a time. Find out how much you matter.