Your financial position is a reflection
of who you are. Your money is a part of you—so
to change how much you have, change who you are.
To upgrade your finances, improve your relationships.
The energy of money is the same as the energy of relationship.
Having more money starts with loving yourself and working
on your relationships with other people.
To change your relationship with yourself, pay attention
to your thoughts, beliefs, emotions, and behaviors.
Your thoughts and beliefs about yourself lead to emotions
that then make you behave in a certain way. Watch what’s
going on in your head. If you look in the mirror and
say, “Ick,” you’re negatively affecting
your finances.
Learning new money habits will make you more financially
fit. Your financial position is just a habit, like the
clothes you wear or the grocery store you frequent.
You are habituated to having either less than enough,
just enough, or more than enough money. Once you recognize
your particular habit and its origins, you can change
it.
New financial behaviors are an antidote to “financial
vagueness syndrome.” One of the biggest reasons
people struggle is due to financial vagueness syndrome—not
knowing how much they have, how much they owe, or when
their bills are due. Symptoms will disappear as you
become a better money manager by keeping track of expenditures,
for example, and paying bills on time.
The Identity Factor works hard to keep you from changing.
The Identity Factor is an internal mechanism that kicks
in whenever you make significant life changes, such
as improving your financial position. Having more money
threatens your former identity—your concept of
who you are and your place in the world. It can also
threaten your accustomed position among peers and family.
Recognizing that Identity Factor, working overtime,
may be keeping you in an unsatisfactory financial position
is essential in learning to overcome its resistance
and achieve lasting prosperity.
The Identity Factor at first stirs up the “moving
stupids.” After moving into a new house, it is
easy to trip over things, lose important items, and
make stupid decisions. Knowing you’ll feel the
same disorientation when moving into a new financial
position allows you to commit to the changes even if
they’re uncomfortable.
For lasting prosperity, the changes have to be gradual.
Like bodybuilding, start with small sums and build up
to larger ones, developing the emotional and financial
skills you need as you go. Otherwise, you might strain
yourself and end up back where you started.
You don’t have to be a millionaire to be comfortable.
Do you really want to deal with a million dollars? Happiness
comes from deciding how much money you want to take
charge of and inching forward toward that amount.
Community matters. Get
a prosperity buddy to share your goals and struggles
with. Consider forming a prosperity circle for community
growth and connection, creating a money flow that benefits
everyone.
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