Level Up Your Money Mindset
Level Up Your Money Mindset
I was an “athlete” in high school. I played soccer and I enjoyed it, but I was probably one of the least in shape kids on my soccer teams.
I also wasn’t that great at soccer. I was big and strong (for a high school soccer player), but I lacked any sort of ball skills or stamina. In short, I played defense.
I saw myself as a soccer player though. And in my mind, soccer players were endurance athletes. They ran and did agility drills, they didn’t lift weights. So I ran, and I did agility drills, and I sucked at all of it. I avoided the weight room because “soccer players don’t lift weights.”
I despised exercising because I wasn’t any good at it. At least that’s what I thought.
Your Way Of Thinking Shapes Your Reality
When I started college, I wasn’t a soccer player anymore. Sure, I registered to play intramural soccer (and promptly got a yellow card for “aggression”), but it wasn’t competitive.
I also had an unlimited dining pass in my freshman year. I knew I needed to be careful to stay active to counteract my lack of self-control when it comes to food.
I dreaded going to the fitness center because of my prior beliefs about. I always hated all of the conditioning I had to do for soccer. But hey, I wasn’t a soccer player anymore I thought, so why not start lifting weights?
And I absolutely loved it. My mindset had shifted. I no longer found myself dreading exercise. Turns out I had been thinking about exercise all wrong. My negative beliefs were affecting my life.
When You Think Negative Thoughts
When you think negative thoughts, you get negative results. This isn’t some sort of woo-woo BS or anything like that, it’s just psychology.
The modern analogy of your brain is that it’s like a computer, but this isn’t quite accurate. The brain is first-and-foremost a pattern recognition machine. It takes in the world outside and inside you, and interprets the results.
But unlike a computer, your brain puts a lot of stock on that internal stuff. Your mindset shapes the way you see the world. When you have negative beliefs, your brain will interpret events that happen to you as negative.
This interpretation of the world leads to less motivation, which leads to less action. When you take less action, you achieve less. This reinforces your negative mindset. Science.
When You Think Positive Thoughts
Once I started seeing weightlifting as something I did, I started doing it. When I started weightlifting, my beliefs around exercise shifted from negative to positive.
And I started my fitness journey which ultimately overhauled my exercise, eating, and sleep habits for the better. I’d even venture to say I’m in the best shape of my life (so far).
All that because of a mindset shift. Powerful stuff.
When you frame the world and your decisions in a positive light, you increase your motivation. You will start to see financial success not because you “wished it into existence,” but because you took the steps to make it happen.
A positive money mindset will level up the possibilities you have financially. It will let you live a life you didn’t think was possible.
Money Mindset Shapes Your Future
Personal finance is a lot like exercising. You know you need to care more about it, but it’s hard. The language of money can be confusing and overwhelming, and it’s easy to fall into a negative money mindset.
Maybe it’s the way you were raised, or the friends you made in college, but something external is shaping the way you look at money.
It’s holding you back from a positive money mindset, and from living a life that excites you.
Scarcity Mindset
Chances are, you probably have a scarcity mindset when it comes to your finances. If you ever find yourself saying “I just don’t know where my money went,” or “I can’t afford that,” those are tells of a scarcity mindset.
A scarcity mindset hurts you in the long run. It results in you making decisions that look and feel good now but are bad for your financial future.
There’s a better way though. You can level up your money mindset from one of scarcity to one of abundance.
Abundance Mindset
An abundance mindset takes sacrifice. It’s difficult to override your default emotions when you think of money. They are ingrained into the hard-wiring of your brain.
But leveling up your money mindset is definitely worth it. When you approach money from a framework of abundance rather than scarcity, you make better decisions.
You choose to educate yourself so you can earn a higher salary. You choose to eat out less and put that money into your 401(k).
People with an abundance mindset understand that money is a tool to live a life that excites them, not the end-all-be-all measure of success.
Develop A Mindset of Prosperity
So we’ve established that your mindset is important to your financial success. By leveling up your money mindset, you will open new doors for yourself.
You can do things you thought were reserved for your wildest dreams.
You can stop doing things you dread and that are a drain on your financial and emotional capital.
But how exactly does changing your money mindset accomplish all this?
Money Mindset Sets Your Work Ethic
Remember that your brain shapes your reality based on your mindset. Your brain first asks “how do I feel about this,” then constructs reality to match.
When you have a positive money mindset, when you believe that you are deserving and capable of making sound financial decisions, your brain constructs reality around that belief.
You start working harder because you know it’s a good financial decision. You start pursuing new development opportunities, and maybe even start your own business.
None of these things are possible with a negative money mindset. If you believe you’re going to fail financially, your brain will tailor your work ethic to make sure it happens.
When you believe in the possibility of financial success, you start taking the steps to make it happen. That’s the power of leveling up your money mindset.
Money Goals Lead To Money Habits
What goals do you have, and how are you planning to accomplish them?
People with strong financial goals have strong money habits. This isn’t a coincidence.
When you set ambitious goals, the only way to get them done is to get started. As you chip away at them little by little, your financial habits start to take shape.
When you don’t have clear money goals, you fall into a negative money mindset. You let your money dictate your life, rather than deciding what you want out of life and using your money to make it happen.
Conclusion
Don’t fall victim to negative money beliefs. Level up your money mindset to one of abundance, and watch reality change before your very eyes.
When you approach the world with a positive attitude, problems become fun learning opportunities. They stop being calamities.
You start making better money decisions the minute you start believing that you can make better money decisions. So change your beliefs.
Want help leveling up your money mindset?
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