So, letâs explore the concepts of Money Mindset and Financial Habits more closely and look at what you can do to improve these areas in your own life.
The reality is that most people, like me, have poor Money Mindsets and poor Financial Habits.
Now in case my use of the word âpoorâ has ruffled any feathers, let me explain what I meanâŚ
Poor in this case can be translated as negative or detrimental. When it comes to the topic of money, negative or detrimental mindsets or habits will lead to a poor financial reality, meaning a very real lack of money. So saying a poor Money Mindset and poor Financial Habits is true in all senses.
And of course, I know that some people will read this and say something like, âBut itâs not my fault, I was raised poorâ, or, âMy family has never had any money so I never had a chanceâ, or âNo one has money where Iâm fromâ, or, âWho is he to judge me as poor, just because he has lots of money?â
Remember, what we think internally about money, our mindset is part of what creates our reality. If youâre feeling any negative reaction to my using the word âpoorâ, this is great as youâre getting a useful insight into something that might be holding back your finances and therefore your confidence and ease of life. And remember, I was over ÂŁ100,000 in debt before I started realising this stuff for myself and taking steps to change things. Hopefully youâre nowhere near my position so your journey will be a lot easier than mine was!
Money Mindset
Whatever youâre currently experiencing with money, you have created it for yourself. Now I understand that some of you have just thrown your arms up in disgust saying something along the lines of, âItâs not my fault that I have no money! He/she/they/it did this to meâŚâ I totally agree that life and circumstances happen to all of us…bad relationships, losing jobs, cars breaking down, the boiler blowing up or any other unexpected expense⌠there are many ways that life can throw financial challenges at us. It is how we respond to those challenges that determines how much money we have.
This is what I meant earlier when I said my confidence comes from no longer being a victim of circumstances. Life will always happen, yet we always have the choice of how we respond. Itâs our Money Mindset that largely determines our response.
Consider what phrases or beliefs you might have in your mind around the concept of money�
Money doesnât grow on trees
Money is the root of all evil
Money is dirty
Greedy people are evil
Rich people have destroyed the world
Do you think having any of these beliefs would lead to a positive relationship with money?
And do you think someone having these beliefs would be happy to bring more money into their life? Of course not! For example, anyone believing that rich people are destroying the world will unconsciously do anything to prevent themselves from becoming rich otherwise theyâll feel theyâre to blame for whatâs going wrong with the world right now.
A poor or negative Money Mindset will lead to poor or detrimental financial habits, such as over-spending, a poor work ethic, bad investments or a myriad of other self-sabotaging behaviours.
And where do most of these beliefs and phrases come from?
Our parents!
And they probably inherited their beliefs from their parents and so on. You can choose to either carry on the generational pattern and continue to struggle financially with all the ensuing self-belief and confidence issues. Or you can change it by changing the words and phrases you use to describe money.
So how do we start to work on this?
Take a quiet moment and write down everything that comes to mind about money. Every phrase, every thought no matter how dark or negative. Write them down so you can see them clearly and recognise the impact they might be having on your life.
Once you have a list of negative or poor phrases and beliefs about money, take the time to work out the opposite statement for each thought. Then, whenever you hear yourself say the negative phrase, immediately repeat to yourself the positive opposite. The more you do this, the more you start to recode your unconscious brain to have a more positive mindset around money
For example,
The negative phrase: Money doesnât grow on trees
Becomes: Money is abundant and I find it everywhere
Something to note â whilst the changes this simple exercise can create are profound; they are rarely quick. Changing patterns weâve had since childhood takes time and consistent effort so please be patient with yourself and just keep putting in the work. If you stick to it, you are guaranteed to transform your mindset and therefore your reality! However, too few people do it for long enough to see a result and give up discouraged resigning themselves to struggling financially for the rest of their lives.
But if you put in the work consistently, for a long enough duration, youâll start to notice that as your Money Mindset changes, youâll notice that your Financial Habits start improving automatically. If you choose to start implementing positive Financial Habits sooner, youâll speed up your progress even faster.
