Looking to finally achieve your financial goal in 2022?
The almost miraculous way to achieve that goal this year is by managing your money mindset.
Ever since I started to see money as something neutral, as something I can happily talk about, I felt my beliefs about money change.
I felt I actually enjoyed the word “money”. It made me feel good. And in doing so, I started to gradually attract more money into my life.
When I realised that my mindset was absolutely essential when it came to my financial situation, I decided to find out what I could do to improve on it. So I may be in a strong position to earn and save as much money as I desired.
What I discovered was that there are 2 types of mindsets: A scarcity mindset and an abundance mindset.
Let’s examine what a scarcity mindset is and how I transitioned to having that wonderful abundance mindset that changed my life to the better.
What is a scarcity mindset?
Simply put, a scarcity mindset is where you feel you never have enough money; where there’s not enough money in the world to go around; where you struggle at the end of each month, which leads to unhappiness, stress and anxiety.
This relays to the poor vs rich mindset.
You will find that rich people are in their mental comfort as well as the material items they possess. Whereas the people who are trapped with a poor mindset feel they are constantly difficult and oftentimes unmanageable challenges that they see no way out of.
How to find out if you have a scarcity mindset
You probably are stuck in a scarcity mindset if you experience any of these signs:
1. You constantly worry about money
If all you think about is money and the lack of it, and that your financial deficiencies are taking control of your life, you have a scarcity mindset that requires adjusting; as this may affect your general mental and physical well-being as a result of your financial insecurity.
In that situation, it’s easy to continually think about money problems, but it’s crucial that you resist this as much as possible so you may motivate yourself to achieve financial abundance.
When I woke up to the reality that I worry about money too much too often, I decided to adopt the concept of: “Change your brain change your life.” For some reason, that statement sucked me in.
So every time I worried about money and my financial situation, I immediately changed that line of thought to something more pleasurable; such as the time I had the money to give my daughter to go to the movies with her friend.
This moved me into an abundance mindset.
2. You constantly compare yourself to others
Comparison may be an invisible mental dis-ease that will keep you stuck where you are. I say “dis-ease” because it snaps you out of the “ease” feeling; the comfortable, the OK feeling.
When you compare yourself with others, you lose the drive, the motivation to strive for more money into your life.
Your life is only as good as your mindset.
3. You always see the bad in life
If you constantly focus on the negative things in life, you are in scarcity mindset mode. You feel that no matter what you do to change that, nothing will ever change.
I was guilty of that.
I only saw the small dot on the wall, my negative thoughts about money, totally ignoring the expansive good, the positive, that surrounded me.
I decided to live a life worth living because I was worth it.
You are worth it!
4. You habitually gorge
This may surprise you: Did you know that scarcity has been scientifically proven to affect behaviour leading to overdo in other areas because you feel that you must have something that is optimistic and upbeat in your life?
I used to habitually go on the Internet and search for images of colourful birds and exotic locations worldwide. I would spend hours looking for and saving plenty for my computer screensaver.
It made me feel good, while, at the same time, it made me feel down. As much as I loved the bird images that made me feel good, the exotic locations put me down, as I couldn’t afford to go there. This exaggerated my scarcity mindset.
I deleted the exotic location images, and gorged on the colourful bird images which made me feel good.
These were a short example of a scarcity mindset that you may, or may not have thought of.
So, now.
How would you deliberately overcome a scarcity mindset?
If you are stuck in a scarcity mindset, worry no more. Help is at hand.
Below are 5 steps to help you become more optimistic and positive:
1. Reflect on how much you already have
Your money mindset doesn’t always have to be gloomy, bleak and miserable. Even if you just have a tiny little amount in your savings, it’s still so much better than having none.
The idea here is to focus on how far you have come as opposed to how much further you have to go. And, above all, celebrate.
I make it a huge point to celebrate every single achievement along the way to my financial success. I celebrate the new idea that came my way. I celebrate the new angle that came to me in my dream. I celebrate the times I regained motivation.
Rejoice, have fun. Celebrate the small and big achievements every step of the way.
2. Lean towards gratitude for the smallest of things
Here’s the thing: Stress less and be more grateful. Did you know that gratitude can increase your well-being and can dramatically improve your life happiness?
Stop stewing over why things aren’t going your way.
Gratitude is about feeling grateful for what is treasured and expressive to yourself.
3. Seek others who have an abundance mindset
We tend to mirror the habits of the people we hang around with the most.
You need to avoid spending time with people who are draining your motivation, people who add to your scarcity mindset, and who fuel your negative thoughts.
Spend more time with people who possess an abundance mindset. Sit with and learn to enjoy their company; to learn from them, to suck in like a sponge their optimism, their abundance mindset.
I realised this to be so very true a bit too late in my life. But at least when I realised it I took immediate action and moved away from such draining people.
You should too.
Find others who will motivate you, who will encourage you, guide you to live a life of financial comfort and success. An added bonus is that their positivity will definitely wear off on you.
Your motivation will soar. Your enthusiasm will roar. All just for being surrounded by the kind of people who possess the abundant money mindset.
4. Learn from perceived failures
Every single so-called failure is just a chance, an opening to learn. Discover the hidden lesson behind every perceived failure so you may grow and become a better person, inside and out.
5. Believe you are worthy
Always and forever, remember the FACT that you are invaluable. You are worthy of everything good that life has to offer.
Sure, it may be easy to slip into worthlessness where you think you aren’t worth anything much, especially when your bank account statement agrees with you
But these unworthy feelings aren’t factual. They are not tangible.
You ARE worthy, and you absolutely deserve to achieve your goals, all of them.
Conclusion
Your life is only as good as your mindset. It’s only as good as the thoughts you hold most.
All meaningful change in life begins from within. So…
Get rid of your negative thoughts about money.
Get rid of your bad feelings about money.
Get rid of your scarcity mentality for good.
And…
Think richly. Think lavishly. Think financial freedom.
Think fearless motivation and inspiration.
And financial success will surely follow.