If Money Talked, Would You Listen?

For those of us that didn’t grow up in the lap of luxury, the fact is relatively few will ever experience it.

Heck, I grew up on a farm & Nebraska and it took unlearning years of an 'old-school' mindset around money before I could achieve true wealth.

Look – the average “life plan” is to hold down a good job and, while we work hard for 20-to-40 years, buy a house, furnish it, raise a family, invest in a 401K, maybe send our kids through college, and eventually pay off the accumulated debt.

It’s a shame but most people will struggle through life continually making financial sacrifices and never getting anywhere.

Is that you?

Most of us learned nothing worthwhile about it in school.

Our “education” came from conversations and experiences growing up. We learned things like, “money doesn’t grow on trees.”

We all knew what that meant: Money is hard to come by. You can’t have everything you want. We can’t afford it.

If that’s your conversation today, you might as well be planning for poverty.

And good luck with that.

I get it that you would like to be financially free but think it’s out of reach.

If you want that big life you have to figure out how to pay for it. Part of your problem is running those old reflex conversations through your head.

The point is to find a way to add to your income and use that money to live the way you want to live, build a stable financial future, and perhaps, if you’re driven, to create wealth.

Don't live within your means – instead, expand them.

So, if you’re stuck somewhere between your current circumstances and your dream, start now to change your conversation.

1. Examine your current beliefs and that conversation in your head.
2. Eliminate the noise that’s holding you back.
3. Gain positive beliefs and actions.
4. Take charge and be in control.

Here’s what I mean...

1. A Life Examined

This isn’t a new idea. More than two thousand years ago, Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Determine where your beliefs originate and examine the validity of them.

Most of your beliefs were formed in childhood and carried through to adulthood. Your beliefs are reflected in your conversations about money, which reflect your relationship with money and, in turn, most likely reflects in your bank account.

Beliefs become ingrained in your subconscious, causing you to feel like you’ll never get ahead, or that you’re just not lucky, you’re inadequate, or you don’t deserve more, and you act accordingly without conscious consideration.

You’re often controlled by programmed messages about money and your potential. Most of those messages are antiquated and flat out wrong. Don’t buy into them!

2. Eliminate the Noise

What do I mean by that? Noise consists of excuses, blame, confusion, procrastination, rationalization, distractions and the like.

Noise constitutes about 85% of the mental activity of most people. Your goal is to exercise your mind to reverse that ratio.

Think about it this way, when you’re confronted with an obstacle, what do you do? What thoughts run through your mind? Do you automatically have a negative conversation with yourself? How can you turn those actions and thoughts into a positive solution?

It takes practice but you can reduce the amount of noise and learn new, more powerful behaviors.

3. Gain Positive Beliefs and Actions

We all learn by collecting information, acting on that information and experiencing results.

So, what we’re going to think, feel and do in the future is based on results from our past. This is why people often keep finding themselves in the same old place and wonder why nothing has changed.

In order for the results to change, how you think, feel and act around money has to change.

We have to listen with our minds, bodies and emotions, learn based on new information, and do things differently. It’s up to you to change negative actions into positive ones.

4. Take Charge and Be in Control

Take control of what you think. Start fresh with new ideas. Doing this will help you begin to have the right conversation about money and reap the rewards.

New ideas create feelings of excitement and expectation that result in inspired actions. Inspired actions produce new results that close the gap between where you are and where you want to be.

ALL successful people have 3 things in common: Motivation, ability and opportunity. So, to succeed, we need hard work, talent & a bit of luck.

Take control of everything you can and you will attract everything else you need.

If your cash conversation is outdated, take control and open yourself to a conversation where money comes to you frequently and easily.

Changing your mind is the always the first step before you can change your reality.