How your mindset around money shows up in your life

The reason behind our financial situation doesn’t matter in that it doesn’t define who we are or what we can achieve. It does, however, matter when it comes to our healing. Understanding the why’s behind some of your financial behavior is a very good place to start. The following are habits of people with poor money mindsets. This isn’t meant to If you struggle with any of the following, you likely have room for improvement in your mindset.

• Stress & Anxiety around your money, especially paying bills. Sometimes this is just overall avoidance, which leads to late payments, collections, or worse. If you aren’t tracking exactly where your money is coming from and going each month, that means you are allowing your money to be in the driver’s seat…its time to take the wheel.

• Thinking there is a silver bullet. One of the primary things I saw in banking is those with the least financial discipline were always looking for a quick fix. These people were the ones who fell victim to scams, gambled, paid way more for convenience, and basically were always looking for the easy way. I am here to tell you, that the path to a healthy relationship with money may be simple, but it is not easy.

• Excessive spending. Credit card debt, hoarding, valuing things over people, obsessive-compulsive behavior around your things. Emotional spending is extremely common, we love the hit of dopamine we get from buying something new. Also, we are completely bombarded by companies paying millions to send us target ads about the latest and greatest thing, every time you open your phone. This impulsiveness is fulfilling a temporary desire, at the expense of a longer-term goal.

• Not maximizing your earning potential. Have you ever felt like there was a cap on your earnings? Like no matter how hard you worked, year after year, you are basically making the same money? This is also a potential mindset shift. Many people have ideas about what they are able to earn. This could be limiting beliefs about how much they can manage, how hard you need to work to make a certain amount, or just an overall feeling like you aren’t worth over a certain amount of money.

• Increasing your spending as your income increases. Most Americans spend way too much money in a quest for a feeling of value. Things like our societal pressures and social media also play a role… we have a lot of money trauma that manifests in living beyond our means. Shifting your mindset to understand that the best things in life truly are free and finding more joy, even with the risk of being labeled a weirdo.

• Hoarding money. Maybe you are flush with cash but have no plan. Do you have cash stashed everywhere but are afraid to actually do anything with it? This is common too. Many people are so afraid to be broke, they never take the best advantage of all of the savings and investment options available. Causing their money to not really work for them, rather it just sits around collecting a few pennies in a bank account.

Although these aren’t all the ways a poor money mindset manifests in our daily lives, these are the 6 I have discovered to be the most common. So we can see that not having a good relationship with money can literally cost you thousands, if not more. So what do we do about it….

The Presence Process Book: Michael Brown

1. Give yourself grace. Looking at your financial situation in depth is not easy. It can be super stressful in fact. Just know that this is a marathon, not a sprint. Discipline is built with small habit changes over time. If you fall down, which you will, pick yourself up and keep focused on your goal. If you got a flat tire, you wouldn’t get out and slash the other three to match, so don’t do that with your financial habits.

2. Heal. So much of our self-image is tied to our relationship with money. This includes how we value success, hard work, our hopes and dreams, and basically every aspect of our life has some kind of financial and self-worth component. So it is so important to heal any parts of you that are wounded. Go to therapy, take time for self-care, create an exercise regimen, and practice specific healing modalities such as breathwork, EFT or meditation.

3. Look at it. If you want to change something, you have to get real intimate with the problem. People who are financially successful actively manage their money, perhaps they have people they hire, but you can be sure that someone is looking at it a lot. We can’t look at our money without examining our spending and savings habits as well as any debt and investments. Write it all down, or better yet, grab the VMM toolkit and use our budget tool!

4. Keep yourself pumped up. Zig Ziglar said that motivation, much like bathing, should be done daily. Your shift in mindset is also something that should be practiced daily. Whether it be through books (my personal fave), audiobooks, courses, podcasts or blogs. Whatever you can do to fill your mind with positivity will always benefit you. We have so much information at our fingertips, we must use it to our advantage!

5. Mind your circle. There are many sayings across history that warn us to choose our friend groups wisely. Who we choose to spend our time with has a very large impact on our health, our habits, and our finances. What do you talk about with your closest friends, are you talking about creative ideas or are you talking about other people? Do you have a friend that is negative about everything all the time? Now would be a good time to set a boundary.

6. Keep your word to yourself. Part of any practice, habit, or discipline starts with our ability to honor our word. As soon as we let excuses start, we can talk ourselves into almost anything. When we do this we allow our inner child to run the show. If you don’t know them, they are driven entirely by raw emotion, they are impulsive, at times aggressive. They are responsible for why we struggle to form habits…they want us comfortable, soft, and safe. So starting by keeping your word to yourself is a great first step in changing your life.

7. Identify what kind of life you actually want. Some people think that they want to be rich when really all they want is time freedom. These two are not the same. You can create a lifestyle that provides you freedom on very little money. Think Earthship in New Mexico, or even an RV to travel the country. Just a few passive income streams can get you there if your expenses are low.

8. Take care of your physical body. This is one I struggle with, but I still understand the importance. I also know that statistically, all successful people take care of their bodies. They exercise, they eat well, they read and they develop a spiritual practice. Most fitness routines can be worked into the corners of your day and don’t require much equipment. Keeping things simple is the key to mastering the money game.

9. Take time out for joy. Yes, I am telling you to have fun. Have so much fun, it’s literally the key to this game of life. I know it may seem difficult but finding joy in the present, is what it’s all about. It gives you so much to be grateful for. I recommend a book called the Presence Process by Michael Brown to help find more joy in daily life by being more present at the moment.

10. Create a vision board. This can be a very effective tool in manifesting. I recommend Pinterest to get ideas. I also love Burst by Shopify for cool stock photos. Here’s a brain trick, if you include a few things on your vision board that you have already achieved, your brain can’t really tell the difference, so it gives you the idea that everything is possible….which it is, the hard part is actually getting your brain to believe it.