Take a moment and ask yourself these questions pertaining to money beliefs:
What does money mean to me?
What does money make me feel?
What does money make me want to do?
Think about your answers and review some of the common limiting beliefs that will be discussed here and see if you can find yourself in any of them.
Let’s look at the four money beliefs that limit you inside and out.
Describe the belief you hold, the motivation for this belief, and some ideas that might shift your perspective.
Money can make me happy
Too many people focus on building wealth as an avenue to build happiness. That’s a mistake. It’s happiness that leads to success, not the other way around.
Mentally, it also holds a belief that is rooted in old fears, insecurities, and competition that causes us to work too hard for fear of losing our incomes, losing our jobs. In reality, this state of mind can literally kill us.
People that are happy are more productive at work and find more meaning in their careers. It’s a cycle.
There are multiple scientific studies proving that we are in fact the ambassador of our own happiness, that we are in full control of the inevitable state of our mind which is a powerful precursor of success.
If I work hard, I’ll make more
That’s a scarcity belief that tells you that no matter how much money you earn, you’re terrible at taking care of money.
In this case, why bother?
Even if you do save money, you’re going to blow it up again or if you have an emergency you will end up spending it all. That’s sabotage.
You might find it difficult to accumulate money in your life when you aren’t optimizing the money you get from your job and that money flowing into your life. The more you try to avoid thinking about it, the less you try to find a solution for your challenges including being able to pay off debt.
Part of the reason you might try to avoid focusing on money is that it brings up feelings of guilt and possible shame. This also keeps us in this vicious cycle.
“Work hard to get money” was a belief system I had to let go of.
It came from my dad that kept telling us, “You have to work hard so you can do whatever you want, just go work hard…”
My whole life was all about “How do I kill myself to get the dollar?”
Some people have the belief that they don’t make enough money to save money. This is a belief that tells you that no matter what you do, you aren’t going to become rich.
Enough is relative. Saving money is more of a discipline than the amount you save.
Those who are waiting to have enough to save, waste the best years of building their nest for a strong financial future.
Rich people are greedy
This is a gut belief that rich people are bad and they must have done horrible things to acquire their wealth.
Some people feel this way about money and those who make it, assuming things they had no idea about and demonizing those who make it work and those who work to create richness for themselves or others.
When you think rich people are bad, the good chance is this belief system is preventing you from acquiring wealth out of a fear of never wanting to be like those “greedy” people.
I’m not good at it
This is something I hear A LOT of times. “I’m not good at money.” “I’m not good at finances.”
“Someone else should do this for me ..my husband, my parents, my grandparents, my employer, my prince charming…” or whoever should sweep you up and save the day.
I read a book years ago that was called the Cinderella Complex.
According to Wikipedia, it is based on the idea of femininity portrayed in that story, where a woman is beautiful, graceful, polite, supportive, hardworking, independent, and maligned by the females of her society, but she is not capable of changing her situations with her own actions and must be helped by an outside force, usually a male (i.e., the Prince).
I had a Cinderella Complex before. I wanted to be saved. What I realized is that I got to save myself. I got to provide for myself. What if I was my own prince charming?
This belief tells you that since you don’t feel like you’re able to achieve wealth on your own, you have to wait for someone else to save you, fix you and fix all your problems.
When you feel this way there’s an underlying belief that you’re not able to take care of yourself, so you have to wait for someone else to do it for you. That’s just not true.
Money is the root of all evil
This usually comes from a lot of Christian communities or faith-based communities.
Money or the pursuit of it can certainly cause people to cheat or do bad things, but it can also be a tool for good.
Look at billionaires who give money and continue to serve their community. You can actually give more when you make more. People can be evil with or without money.
Being responsible with your money, paying your bills on time, having prudent savings, charitable contributions – none of those are evil. Money does not create evil in any way.
Actually, the lack of it can lead to more evil than having money.
When you change a belief, you change everything. You change the biochemistry, your strategies, your thoughts, your feelings, your stories, you restore energy and regain confidence in your own readiness to face life’s next big challenge.
This allows you to build wealth for yourself. You’re the only person that has primary custody of your enoughness. This is a big leap but I want you to know that you can do it.
Together, we can change your beliefs, together, we can put a radical action plan but it takes YOU being conscious. It takes YOU being in action. It’s not a passive activity, it’s a proactive activity but you have to be the captain of your own ship.
Just like me, no one saved me, I saved myself. And from that, my life is barely recognizable.
My children’s lives are barely recognizable. My relationship with money is barely recognizable. I am the woman who changed all her beliefs. You can do it, too.
I’m your sister on your journey. You’re in business for yourself not by yourself. Let’s do this together.
