Mind Over Money - Improving Your Money Scripts
Money is a mirror reflecting your best and worst self. It reflects you faithfully, whether through your fear, your discipline, or your determination. If you lack faith in your financial competence, your money will be too fluid to control.
If the idea of saving sparks your fear, your 31-day account will probably remain as empty as it always was, purely by virtue of your inability to face up to it squarely.
If your personality is driven by discipline and practicality, your money will reward you, but we all have flaws that infect our financial health.
Those weaknesses can work for you if you know how to harness them. You can reinvent your “money mirror” at any time.
Like any relationship, perfecting your financial rapport demands daily improvements. It’s a process, not an event, and it begins with respect—for yourself, your finances, and your dreams.
Building Intentions
Before you build a road, you must dig out the earth, smooth away embankments, and remove vegetation. It’s hard and longwinded work, so your first step is to map out precisely where your road will lead and what traffic it will need to accommodate.
Your money relationship begins in the same way: with a clear and detailed intent. Your road to rebuilding your financial mindset starts with understanding your “why”.
Your decision to change must be meaningful to you, or you will forget your resolutions alongside a half-built street that leads nowhere.
In Simon Sinek’s famous TED Talk, he asks us to “start with why.” Why are some people financially successful and others not? Why are you seeking change? Why have you failed in the past?
The best money personalities think and act in the same way, and their healthy “whys” are available to you, too. It all begins with discovering your “whys” that will motivate change. Do you want to erase your fear of running out of money retirement?
Do you want to have enough financial freedom to travel? Do you want to own your vacation home or start a charitable foundation? Powerful goals make for powerful change and it starts with aligning your intentions with attention
Understanding “Now”
To build a road, you need to survey all the routes that have already been built. Similarly, to build a new relationship with money, you need to survey your current situation with all its debt, uncertainty, and challenges.
If, for example, you can’t improve your earnings, you’ll need to identify where you’ll source the funds to serve your goals. Don’t forget to note your strengths. Identifying your best financial habits will give you streetlights to guide your way.
Understanding Yesterday ~ Looking Back to Look Forward
Every tangible asset you own today began as a thought, so you already have access to your natural strengths. You’ve been using them all along, to make solid decisions all of your life.
Your childhood was the source of many of your habits and beliefs, and they might not serve your adult values. Your goals require you to realign yourself in a way that serves your future.
Your history is also a source of your best self. Take inventory of the successful changes you have made in the past. They will reveal the tools you use best, but more importantly, they will make you feel more empowered. Draw on them as you recreate a successful financial future.
Noting the Roadblocks
Once you have built your road to financial health, you will need to plan for roadblocks and side streets that might lead you to the wrong destination. It’s tempting to veer from your route, and whether or not you do will mean the difference between failure and success.
Those off-ramps may lead you to the wrong city, and the toll roads can end your trip if you’re unprepared for them. If you identify and plan for them, however, you will get to your desired destination.
Surround yourself with professionals and friends who can support you on your way before you hit your first roadblock.
Taking it Slow
If you’re woefully unprepared for retirement, you can’t plan for it with one massive and terrifying step. Your fear will annihilate your ability to reach your destination, so plan your route one tiny meter at a time.
Set your intention to get out of debt by paying five percent of the credit card balance every month time. Set your intention to saving one to two years of your salary, set aside a small portion of your earnings each month.
Begin with the most painless steps. They will provide much-needed motivation later on. You will make mistakes, but if you are not fatalistic about them, you will find it easier to get back on track.
Celebrating the Journey
Life is in the journey, and not the destination. Your money relationship is the same—every success deserves to be celebrated and learned from. The mere act of focusing on your new habits and achievements will pave the way to even more impressive behaviors.
Keep an eye on your victories. They will make greater accomplishments possible.
Your journey towards wealth can be as satisfying as you choose. Focus on the landscape instead of the tarmac. Set your intention each day to acknowledge and appreciate the gifts, talents and skills you have to offer yourself, others and the world.
That’s something that deserves to be celebrated, and reframing it this way will pump positive energy into your financial future.
Would you rather own a massive house with a massive mortgage to go with it, or would you prefer a debt-free life that allows you to live a purposeful and fulfilling life?
When you are building a new route towards your dreams, you must negotiate it a step at a time, preparing solutions that play to your strengths at every turn. Your intentions will allow you to stay on your path to reach your destination, and it will be as miraculous as you always hoped it would be.
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