Develop a positive money mindset

Hello sweet readers,

Today I'm going ahead to the next chapter of The Success Principles Workbook as a part of my commitment to get from "where I am to where I want to be." Author Jack Canfield (co-creator of The Chicken Soup for the Soul series) leads me into the last chapter of this workbook by saying that many people have a complicated relationship with money. And this is so true in my case!

All of my life I feel like I've been "jipped" by money. My parents divorced when I was little, and my dad was the primary breadwinner. But he chose not to provide for me throughout my childhood while I grew up with my mom in the U.S. I watched my sister (who lived with dad in Korea) wear beautiful tailor-made dresses for her piano recitals and get one beautiful car after another as she grew up.

I worked four jobs at one point during senior year of college so I could help pay for school. My first TV news reporting job paid just $25,000 a year. And going forward some of my newsroom bosses underpaid me while I worked around the clock delivering the best quality work I could.

So I never was taught to value myself via monetary compensation. It was more about feeling fulfillment and pride in my work. But Jack reminds me that to have the success I want, I need to master the money game. And that includes internally dealing with beliefs, feelings and thoughts I have about money that keep me stuck where I am.

The workbook guides me through a section called "Identify Your Limiting Beliefs About Money." It says we learn about money when we are young, as we are learning about other aspects of life. I reflect on things that my aunts, grandparents and mom would do or say around this topic. I remember counting every dollar my grampa made at his snack shop in the evenings with my Mickey Mouse calculator when I was a little girl. I knew that every dollar mattered and that it helped to feed our family. I remember my mom being robbed at gunpoint when she owned a snack shop herself inside of a swap meet. I knew that hard-learned money could be taken from us that quickly and senselessly. I remember slicing a part of my finger while cooking in the kitchen at Chop Chop, a start-up restaurant I worked at briefly in Westwood. I remember that the process of making money included pain. I can't really think of positive memories surrounding money, except when I got crisp hundred-dollar bills for my birthday or other holidays. But even then, I was well aware that the money I was holding onto came from someone else working hard for it.

Jack gives me three steps to turn around my limiting beliefs about money. He says if I want to be more successful, I need to take charge of how I think about money and wealth. Here are the steps:

Write down your limiting belief.
Challenge, make fun of, and argue with that limiting belief.
Create a positive "turnaround statement."

Here is an example:

Money is the root of all evil.
Money is the root of all philanthropy.. Money is the root of all great vacations!.. Money may be the root of evil for someone who is evil, but I am loving, generous and kind. I will always use money to create good in the world.
When it comes to me, money is the root of love, joy and good works.

Jack reminds me to keep repeating, thinking and affirming these new thoughts daily to build my new beliefs about money and prosperity. He also shares some positive affirmations he has used:

*People love to pay me money for what I most love to do.

*Money comes to me in many unforeseen and unexpected ways.

*I am making positive choices about what to do with my money.

The workbook then has an exercise for me to do:

Identifying My Limiting Beliefs about Money:

List all of the limiting beliefs I have about money that I can think of.
Circle or check off the ones that have the most power over me.

Turning Around My Limiting Beliefs About Money

Review the list of items I circled/checked off. Select the one that is my #1 limiting belief.
Challenge, make fun of, and argue with that limiting belief.
Create a positive turnaround statement.

The last part of the book is called "Decide What Being Wealthy Means to You." It asks if I know how much wealth I want. I don't. The book says I need to know this.

Jack says when creating wealth in my life, there are two things to consider: the life I want to live now and the life I want to live in the future. The "now life" is the result of the thoughts I have thought, the choices I made, and the actions I've taken in the past. The "future life" will be the result of today's thoughts, choices and actions.

Here's the final exercise:

What Does Being Wealthy Mean to You?

Go back to the chapter where I decided on what I want and envisioned my ideal life and wrote down my financial goals. Either use that or create new goals to fill out the following:

I will have a net worth of $____________ by the year __________.
I will earn at least $__________ by December 31st next year.
I will save and invest $________ or ________% every month.
A new financial habit I will develop starting now is: _________________.
I will be debt free by _____________.
To become debt free, I will: ________________.

The chapter ends with a worksheet asking me to do these four things this week:

Keep track of what you earn and what you spend each day.
Make an appointment with yourself each month to record your total income and spending.
Make an appointment with yourself for each quarter to determine your net worth.
Each month, select one book to read, one website to follow, one video to watch to become more financially literate.

And as usual, here are the journal questions at the end of the workbook:

What will you do this week to maintain a positive money mindset about reaching your income goals for next year?

Reflect on what having wealth would mean to you. How would it change your experience of your life?

What are some practices you will use to shift your thinking about the amount of income you want to earn next year, and the amount of wealth you want to accumulate over the next 20 years?

Is there a promise you want to make to yourself about how you will think differently about money?

Well, that's it! We did it! We made it through the entire workbook. Has it changed me drastically? No. Am I as on-fire as I was before I got started? No. Will this do anything for my future and help me get to where I want to be? I don't know yet. But it did get my brain thinking and my heart feeling convicted about some of the things I know I probably should start doing. :)

I hope this helps you to get that extra motivation you need to get going on your journey too.

Love,

Christine