When You Pay, You Pay Attention
Have you ever noticed how you treat things that are given to you for free?
Casually. Carelessly. Without urgency. Without reverence.
But when you pay a meaningful price for something, you treasure it. You protect it. You show up differently. You extract more from the thing or experience because you have skin in the game.
Free always sounds great in theory. But the simple act of paying creates something far more powerful than convenience: It creates commitment, ownership, attention, and most of all, transformation. When you pay, you pay attention.
The Investment That Changed My Life
The first time I ever paid for something that truly changed the trajectory of my life was a $15,000 mastermind for women entrepreneurs.
I had never in my life invested that kind of money into myself.
I remember sitting with the decision, feeling the fear rise, hearing the voice of my current self say: I can’t.
But the woman I was about to hire as my coach told me to ask myself one simple, powerful question instead: How can I?
That reframe changed my life.
That year:
I nearly doubled my income while taking more time off than ever before.
I made my first angel investment alongside celebrity-backed investors, not because I was a VIP, but because I became energetically undeniable.
My husband and I bought our dream home, began our journey toward parenthood, and saved more money that year than we ever had before.
It all clicked later. I paid… so I paid attention. I showed up. I rose. I expanded. I became.
Why Paying Forces Expansion
Free things rarely transform us because they don’t require anything from us. Paying, on the other hand, creates a contract with your future self.
Paying collapses excuses. It filters desire from seriousness. It forces you to rise to meet the version of you you said you wanted to become.
Not every area of life needs investment, not every opportunity deserves your money, but when you feel called toward something expansive, something bigger than your current identity, sometimes the fastest way to become her is to pay your entry fee.
Not from lack. Not from FOMO. Not from proving. But from possibility. From eagerness to meet your higher self.
Questions to Ask Yourself
This isn’t about spending recklessly or chasing status. It’s about understanding the psychology of commitment and the energetic contract you make with yourself when you invest in growth.
Paying has a way of waking us up. It sharpens our focus. It raises our standards. It forces us to participate in our own becoming rather than passively wishing for it.
The questions below are meant to help you look honestly at where you’re dabbling versus deciding, where you want transformation but haven’t yet backed it with action, intention, or investment.
Because sometimes the price isn’t the cost… It’s the catalyst.
Where in my life am I saying something is important, but my spending doesn’t reflect it?
What goals have stayed dreams because I haven’t invested anything meaningful in them?
What have I consumed for free that I didn’t fully use, commit to, or complete?
When have I paid for something that forced me to rise and show up differently?
Where am I avoiding investment because I’m afraid of what it would require from me?
What version of me exists on the other side of the investment I keep hesitating to make?
Am I waiting for permission, discounts, or freebies instead of deciding I’m worth the full experience?
Where might paying create the accountability I’ve been missing?
If paying is a vote for my future self, who am I currently voting for?
What investment would stretch me into growth — not depletion, but expansion?
What I Hope You Take From This
There will always be a free version. But free doesn’t demand growth, it doesn’t require courage, it doesn’t expand your identity, and it doesn’t change who you are.
When you feel pulled toward something big, a dream, a level-up, a calling, I want you to know: Sometimes the price is the portal. When you pay, you pay attention. And when you pay attention, you transform.
