If you’ve ever felt like money just slips through your fingers only to disappear into a black hole, or that you’re caught in a never ending cycle of bad financial habits, shifting your mindset might be just the thing you need to break free.
Hello and welcome back to Happy, Healthy and Wealthy, the podcast where we discuss personal finance with mindfulness and intention. I’m your host, Nicole, and I’m so excited to get into today’s episode because…I’m always excited, to be honest!
Before we get into it, just a couple of things. The first is, if you enjoy this episode or if you enjoy any of the other episodes I’ve put out so far, please, please, please like and subscribe. It means so much to me and I’m really excited to build a community of like minded people where we can talk about personal finance and mindset and just living our best lives. So thank you in advance. Without further ado, let’s get into it.
In today’s episode, we’re going to discuss five powerful mindset shifts that can transform the way you think about and handle your money, as well as help you build a strong foundation for long term financial success.
The way you think about money becomes the way that you act with it. If you’re someone who doesn’t really care about your finances, that’s going to be reflected in the way that you spend your money; just kind of throw it away, very careless. If you’re fine living above your means, or you don’t understand how credit cards work, you’re likely going to find yourself in a ton of credit card debt and affirming your groceries.
Your money mindset can literally make or break your finances. So how do you get it right so that you can improve your relationship with money and heal your bad financial habits? It all starts with simple yet powerful mindset shifts. You’re not going to be able to change much about your actions and your habits without first changing the way that you think.
Before I personally made these mindset shifts, I was unable to see my financial situation for what it was and it wasn’t great, to be honest. I justified unnecessary spending, I only made minimum payments on my debt, and I was just overall complacent with where it was at. I wasn’t becoming financially free any time soon, I can tell you that. In fact, I didn’t even budget. And you know how much I like to budget.
The first mindset shift that I’m going to talk about involves you recognizing the situation that you’re in. And I think this is the first step for any kind of change, thinking “I’m not okay with the state of my finances.” You have to come to that realization before you can do anything else.
Whether you’re being chewed up by debt, living paycheck to paycheck, or dangling on the precipice of bankruptcy, you have to come to terms with your situation. I know it’s not fun to face reality, and it can be easier to just ignore it, but that is not what is good for you in the long run, and it’s also necessary in order to move forward.
Once you come to terms with, or at least acknowledge your predicament, you need to be willing to make sacrifices. I say sacrifices very loosely because to me, I don’t see them as sacrifices since you’re getting something better in return, it just takes a little while for that to kick in. But that’s a whole other mindset shift. These sacrifices can look like anything from cooking your meals at home instead of going out to eat, cutting up your credit cards, or even getting a temporary second job or side gig or something. And also, for the love of God, not making impulse purchases. I hope that didn’t hurt your years.
All progress starts with a willingness to change. Small changes today compound over time. Start today. Start now. Even if it’s something small or seemingly minor, it builds over time. You can’t expect to get better if things don’t change. It’s like wanting to lose weight, but not wanting to change your diet or exercise or literally do anything different. If only there was Ozempic for personal finances…then I’d probably be out of a job. 🙈
The next mindset shift requires you to unlearn the instant gratification that our society is so well-versed in. We are able to order anything we want and have it shipped to our house in a day, or even the same day sometimes. This Culture of Now is part of what drives people to rack up debt and live way beyond their means.
Understanding that you don’t have to get everything that you want immediately will help you curb these impulses while you focus on reaching meaningful financial goals. All the shiny things that you want will still be there when you’re ready. But during that process, you may realize that you didn’t actually want these things as much as you thought you did.
Beyond just wanting things when we want them, a lot of us feel the societal pressure to live a certain lifestyle, whether it’s needing to have the latest tech or living like the influencers we see on social media. But real financial freedom comes from making choices that align with your goals and your values, not someone else’s expectations. You need to move away from what you believe society expects, or what you think will impress people.
Tell yourself, “I am letting go of society’s expectations and doing what is right for me.” It’s way too common to get caught up in living for other people, whether it’s your parents or strangers on social media. Instead of thinking about what your life should look like, you know, maybe you think you need to have a big house or a nice car or whatever it is, think about what you actually want it to look like.
I go into this topic a lot more in the episode about designing your dream life. So if you’re interested, you can go check it out. But basically, we just talk about how your dream life might not be what you think it is. And once you get to know yourself and your true desires, it makes everything so much easier, and it is so much easier to set out financial goals in order to get what you want.
This leads us into perhaps one of the most important mindset shifts of all: “I am open to learning new things.” When I started my personal finance journey, I knew nothing at all about how to manage money. I was just lost in the dark and it took a while. But I listened to podcasts. I watched a lot of YouTube and I read books. Specifically, the first book that I read was Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and I think that’s a great starting point. If you have no idea what you’re doing, you don’t know where to begin. I would say read Rich Dad, Poor Dad.
I also took a couple courses and now I’m studying financial planning. But that is not something you have to do in order to learn how to manage your money and budget and set goals. I think that having that professional background kind of defeats the purpose of managing your own personal finances. It is meant for anyone to be able to do it. Whether you’re a doctor or a teacher or a barista or a veterinarian, or a construction worker, with just a little bit of self-education and research, along with the discipline to actually implement what you learn, you can change your financial situation around.
You do not need to be a professional to become wealthy. Your mind is one of the most powerful tools you have at your disposal, and as you actualize these mindset shifts, you can support your progress with affirmations. I’m a big fan of them, even though they can seem corny or cringey, especially if you’re not used to them. And to be honest, I’m still getting used to it. And sometimes I’m like, “What am I even doing?” But it does help. It helps shift your mindset more, solidify what you want, and become the person that you want to be.
So whatever mindset shifts you want to an act, say them as affirmations. “I am changing my financial situation.” “I’m willing to sacrifice to get what I want.” “I don’t have to get everything I want right away.” “I’m living for myself, not anyone else.” And “Knowledge flows to me and I’m open to it.” You can change these up depending on how they resonate with you. And of course you can add any of your own.
I truly believe that you are what you tell yourself you are, so please be careful about how you phrase your words. You may see that you’ve been living above your means and have thousands of dollars in credit card debt and say to yourself, “Well, I’m bad with money and I’m an over spender.” And while it’s super important to acknowledge or recognize these shortfalls in order to make changes, if you keep telling yourself that, “Oh, well, I’m just bad with money.” then it just reinforces that behavior.
Instead, tell yourself things like “Every day I’m improving my situation,” or “I am capable of changing my old patterns and habits.” This is a more positive self-talk, and it doesn’t blatantly ignore your issues, but instead redirects your mindset to say, “Okay, we know we have a problem, but we’re fixing it” and that’s going to make you more likely to actually implement the changes instead of either ignoring the problem or being resigned to your fate.
If you want to dive deeper into your money mindset, you can try journaling to uncover your limiting beliefs or fears you might have around money, what you truly want, and how improving your finances can help you achieve those goals. If you’re interested, which you probably are since you’re watching this video, I created a Money Mindset workbook and it’s designed to help you with exactly this.
It contains a bunch of activities, journal prompts, affirmations, and I even threw in a habit tracker to help you rehab your money mindset and make healthy mindset shifts. It’s available on my website and I’ll put a link down below in the description as well. This now concludes my shameless plug. But seriously, I made this for you and I know it can help.
It’s important to remember that your mindset is not going to shift in a day, and you’re not going to immediately see changes in your finances. But if you stick the course, future you will be forever grateful for the decisions you make right now. Remember that you can’t change your actions without first changing your mindset. It’s just not going to work.
You may stick with it for a little bit, and then falter, and then get frustrated with yourself, and then push everything back down and ignore it. And until the cycle repeats itself. But we want to break that cycle. You are capable of more than you think, and it may not be easy, but it is certainly worth it.
Thank you all so much for listening and or watching. It means the world to me that I’m able to do something that I love, and if I can even positively impact just one person, I’m forever grateful. Drop your thoughts in the comments below. Was there a certain mindset shift that resonated with you the most? Let me know so we can keep the convo going. Okay? That’s all I’ve got for you now, but I’ll see you next time. Bye!