What Exactly IS A Money Mindset, Anyway?
The phrase ‘money mindset’ is bandied around quite a lot nowadays, but what is it, why is it important and how does it affect your results?
I get women all the time telling me ‘I know my money mindset’s stopping me taking the action I need to take to move forward’, but what do they actually mean by that?
Well, generally speaking, we use the term ‘money mindset’ to describe your unique set of beliefs and your attitude towards money.
In essence, the way you think about, feel about and act around money.
The truth is that everything you DO stems from your thoughts – your mind controls your actions.
All of them.
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So Why Is Money Mindset So Important?
What you’re thinking dictates how you feel, how you feel dictates the physical actions you take (or don’t take) and your actions dictate the results you get in all areas of your life.
What women usually mean when they say ‘my money mindset’s stopping me taking the action I need to take’ is that their thoughts about money (usually a fear of losing it) are making them feel worried/anxious/doubtful and that negative feeling is preventing them taking any action that might actually change things for the better.
No matter how much they know they need to take those actions to improve their results, that emotion controls what they actually end up doing.
Which of course keeps them stuck.
And will continue to keep them stuck until they change the way they think about money (their money mindset).
So, if you want to change your business results, your money mindset is of huge importance.
A money mindset that is negative (often called a ‘Scarcity’, ‘Lack’, ‘Fixed’ or ‘Limited’ Mindset) can sound something like this in business:
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‘People won’t pay higher fees for what I do’ – usually results in a business owner undercharging or giving away their services for free and attracting clients who will only pay very little.
This then reinforces the mindset that ‘people won’t pay higher fees for my services’, and the cycle continues.
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‘It doesn’t matter how much I earn, there’s always some unexpected bill that comes along to eat it up’ – usually results in a business owner being reluctant to invest in the things they really need to move their business forward (and increase their income) which means they’ll never have a surplus to put on one side for those ‘unexpected’ bills.
Reinforcing the mindset that they’ll never have enough.
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‘People who charge more than I do are greedy’ – usually leads to a business owner feeling guilty about charging people who need their help and, therefore, undercharging.
In fact some business owners actually price their services lower on purpose, as a kind of ‘social statement’ about everyone else in their field.
These business owners rarely make the money they really want to from their business, reinforcing the resentment towards their fellow business owners even more and strengthening their negative money mindset.
You get the picture. Negative thoughts about money = negative money results.
By contrast, thoughts generated by a positive Money Mindset (also called a ‘Growth’ or ‘Abundance’ Mindset) might look something like this in business:
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‘Premium prices create greater commitment from and better results for my clients’ – usually results in the confidence to charge what you’re worth, generating better income, better clients and better results for your clients.
This reinforces the positive mindset of ‘Premium prices create greater commitment from and better results for my clients’ and leads to an upward spiral in results
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‘I always attract the money I need when I need it’ – usually results in genuine expectation that things will always be ‘OK’ along with the persistence to keep going when times get challenging.
Staying focused and persistent is often all that is needed by a busines owner to turn around their current results and generate the additional income they desire.
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‘Premium prices mean I can work with fewer clients and create amazing outcomes’ – usually leads to the realisation that those in their field who are basing their competitive advantage on price, do not have a results-based way to attract clients.
Understanding that your ideal clients don’t necessarily want the cheapest option, (they just want someone who can truly help them) reinforces the desire to create amazing results for people and the confidence to charge what they’re worth to be able to do that.
You can get a good idea of what your money mindset has been up till now, by taking a look at your own results.
Because whatever results you’re experiencing right now, are a direct result of the thoughts you’ve had about money in the past.
The good news is, if those results aren’t to your liking, you can change them.
Starting today.
“Hold on, Emma” I hear you say “if my money results are negative of course I’m going to have negative thoughts. It’s just a vicious cycle.”
Well, my friend, I’m here to tell you that that cycle can be broken – if not, no-one would ever claw their way out of financial crisis, and a quick study of virtually any successful entrepreneur from the last 50 years will demonstrate that plenty do.
But YOU have to do that. No-one else can do it for you.
The question is not ‘Am I able’ but ‘Am I willing to do what it takes?’
Paradigms
Before we move onto HOW you can turn your money mindset around, let’s explore briefly how your current one was formed.
In our campus, we use the term ‘Paradigm’.
Your Paradigm sits in your sub-conscious mind and is made up of your current habits, beliefs and self-image.
It can be likened to your ‘operating system’ (think Windows for a PC or iOS for Apple) – it controls the way you ‘run’.
In fact, your Paradigm controls 96-98% of your habitual behaviour (habitual behaviour being those actions you perform on a minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour basis WITHOUT consciously thinking about them).
AND 96-98% of all our behaviour is habitual.
Think about it.
That means that virtually ALL your actions are being controlled unconsciously by your Paradigm.
The way you walk, the way you talk, the things you like to eat, the way you greet people, the way you write copy, the things you post on social media, the decisions you make, the way you react towards certain situations…
With regard to money, it controls how ‘risky’ you think an investment might be, how you value the ‘worth’ of particular items, how much you’re prepared to charge for your services…
You’re pre-programmed to do all these things in a particular way – no matter how much you might think you’ve made a calculated, ‘logical’ decision -because your logic is also controlled by your Paradigm!
The problem here is that your Paradigm has not been programmed by you.
You have not made the conscious decision to build the habits, beliefs and self-image of which it is made.
They were programmed into you as you were growing up – by your parents, grand-parents, teachers, friends, colleagues, managers, things you’ve experienced, things you’ve seen on TV or read in the paper…the list goes on.
Think about some of the things you heard about money when you were younger. Any of these sound familiar?:
- “I can’t afford that right now.”
- “Money doesn’t grow on trees, you know.”
- “Do you think I’m made of money?”
- “(Insert family) don’t have a clue how people in the real world live – they’ve never wanted for anything.”
- • “He’s got more money than sense.”
- “You don’t get that rich by being honest.”
- “Do you think I’m made of money?”
- “What’s the point in earning more money when I’ll have to pay a higher rate of tax?”
These are a small selection of the things I heard. And actually came to believe.
You know, if you hear something over and over enough times, you start to believe it’s true.
Even if it’s not actually a fact, just someone else’s opinion.
Why wouldn’t you?
If the people you trust – who you’re learning your ‘facts’, beliefs, values and view of the world from – are all saying similar things, they must be true, right?
Nope. Not true.
(After all, these are the people who had you believing Santa Claus was absolutely, 100% real for the first 10 years of your life.)
And these limiting beliefs we’re given are the ones we adopt and carry through life with us.
The good news is, in the same way that repetition programmed your money paradigm (or money mindset) this way, it can also reverse it.
These thoughts and ideas might have seemed like the right thing to teach you as a child – to ‘programme’ you to be grateful for everything you have, not to just expect to receive gifts at Christmas, to understand the value of hard work etc.
But, as an adult – and particularly one with their own business – they no longer serve you.
It’s time to change them.
How To Change Your Money Mindset
While there are lots of tools available to help you make this shift, these are the 5 that I have found work best, and that I use with my own clients to move them from a money mindset of lack and limitation to a Growth Mindset that will set them up for success in the future.
Each of these methods must be coupled with repetition (for the reasons explained above) – meaning you cannot just perform these once and expect them to work.
You must use these methods consistently and persistently, exposing your subconscious mind to the ideas over and over and over again over an extended period of time (I recommend at least 30 days) until you start to experience a shift in the way you feel.
Visualisation
Visualisation is by far the best method I have found for changing my own mindset, and raising my level of vibration (more on the Law Of Attraction here)
It is incredibly important that you learn to ignore your current results, and start to focus on what you want.
Most people are putting all their energy into focusing on what they don’t want.
“Please don’t let my credit card get declined.”
“I hate being in my overdraft all the time.”
“I’m so worried I won’t have enough money to make my loan payments this month.”
All this does is put you in a negative money mindset, and attract more of the same.
What you focus on grows.
Instead, practice visualising what you DO want instead.
Take some time every day (multiple time a day, preferably) to just let your imagination run wild.
SEE your-self in the financial position you WANT to be in.
SEE yourself with the things you want to have, spending money the way you want to spend it.
It’s not magic, but concentrating on positive things has been proven to increase the frequency of your thought energy and help you de-stress.
It also starts to build the belief that the position you WANT to be is actually a real possibility, gradually changing your Paradigm and, therefore, your results.
AND it’s a key player in getting the Law of Attraction to work in your favour.
My favourite music to visualise to, currently, is called ‘Night’ by Ludovico Einaudi and is around 5 minutes long.
You can find it at https://youtu.be/k9NM-yK1C2I
Affirmations
Some people find it easier to write out, speak or listen to ‘affirmations’ rather than just try to picture the things they want.
This can work just as well as visualising because:
- writing causes you to think about what you want,
- thinking creates a picture on the screen of your mind of that thing,
- that picture evokes a feeling of some kind (emotion is important remember)
- that feeling is what will ultimately dictate the actions you will take
So come up with some positive affirmations (statements), stated in the present tense, of how you want things to be.
You might choose things like:
“The work I do makes a huge difference in peoples’ lives.”
“I am a millionaire coach and my clients love me.”
“I donate thousands of pounds to charity every month and am changing lives around the world.”
“My family is financially secure and will never have to worry about money.”
Whatever you choose, make sure they evoke some kind of positive emotion in you.
Repeat them multiple times during the day – at least once a morning and once at night-time.
You might also try recording yourself saying them and listening back your recording multiple times.
Your subconscious mind trusts your own voice, making it easier to accept these ideas as truth.
Gratitude
Feeling stressed about your current money situation is another symptom of being in a negative money mindset.
Completing a Gratitude journal every day can work wonders to shift this negative energy.
Write down 10 things every morning that you are truly grateful for.
Don’t just give it lip-service – really think about 10 things you are genuinely grateful for.
Whether it’s the food in your cupboards (this is always on my list because there were times when I worried there wouldn’t be), your mental and physical wellbeing, the money to pay your bills, the love of your children, your faithful dog, your amazing clients…
Really ground yourself by giving thanks for the things that are most important to you.
AND include 2 or 3 things that haven’t happened yet – like being in a place of financial freedom maybe.
Write your gratitude in the present tense as though they have already happened and really try to FEEL how you’ll feel when that’s the case.
Letting your-self get emotionally involved with these items, mixed with repetition is the key to this (and all the methods described here).
Small Changes To Money Habits
One of the most effective changes I made in my own life was to make the conscious decision to stop going ‘cheap’ on everything.
I had been brought up with a money mindset of always going for the cheapest option.
Shopping around till I found the item I wanted (or a copy version) for the least amount of money possible.
Sometimes I’d go to 4 different shops to get my weekly shopping just because I knew I could save 50p on certain items if I did that.
The problem is, this reinforces the negative mindset of ‘never having enough money for the nice stuff’.
So guess what? You never have enough money for the nice stuff.
If that’s you, stop it. Now.
I decided I was going to start to choose the branded coffee, the more expensive (nicer) bread, the more expensive bottle of wine.
Not forever, just for a trial period of a few weeks.
For no other reason than I had learned these principles myself and decided to try them out.
And it worked.
I started with just one item each trip – just ‘upgrading’ my shampoo, veg or tea bags or kids snacks from the supermarket’s own brand to the one I actually wanted (which was often the healthier one too, actually).
Not only does this improve the way you feel about yourself (instead of feeling like you’re having to scrimp all the time), it also helps remind you of the value in paying for quality – you tend to get what you pay for.
And you realise that, at the end of the day, you don’t miss that extra 50p or couple of £s you’ve paid.
I (and my clients) have found this to be a really effective (and pretty quick) way to build an abundance mindset – not to mention just live a happier life!
Tithing
I’m not going to go into the ‘why’s and ‘where-fore’s of this one – just explain what I do and tell you it works!
I am not religious, but I believe this has foundations based in religion.
Tithing basically means ‘to give 10% of your income’.
Now, depending on who you listen to, that could be giving to a church, charity, spiritual advisor or other organisation…
The variations on a theme are wide-ranging and I’ll let you explore that yourself.
(By the way, I highly recommend the book ‘The 4 Spiritual Laws Of Prosperity’ by Edwene Gaines if you’re at all interested in this or the Law of Receiving).
The mentor who introduced this to me (a good few years ago now) taught me that you should ‘tithe to inspiration’, never to ‘need’.
In other words, give the 10% to an individual or organisation who has inspired you in some way with what they do – not to a place that simply exacerbates need.
Kind of like an up-levelled form of ‘gratitude’, if you will.
So, for example, I tithe regularly to the Unstoppable Foundation because they are helping people around the world improve their own lives, not simply providing them food or water which will never help them get out of the needy situation they are in.
The reason I got involved with the Unstoppable Foundation was because I actually really wanted to tithe to my mentor, Bob Proctor, who has provided a huge amount of ‘spiritual food’ for me over the past 5 years, and is the main reason I have improved my own financial situation.
Unfortunately, Bob doesn’t take tithes personally (!) but I knew he would appreciate me sending the money to Cynthia Kersey’s organisation as it is very close to his heart.
And now, I ask my own clients and community members to do the same for me, if they feel I have inspired them in some way.
(You can do that HERE if you’d like to!)
I might also tithe to, say, the Yorkshire Air Ambulance or Breast Cancer Research because I believe they are providing a service that helps improve peoples’ lives – rather than simply enabling them to survive in the current situation they find themselves in.
That is NOT to say you shouldn’t give to charities that provide that kind of support if you want to do that – it’s just not recognised as a tithe.
I DO give to other charities and organisations that provide emergency support for those in need, but I don’t include it in my tithing figures.
The whole point of this is that, for various reasons (again, there just isn’t room to go into the Universal Laws here but I cover the Law Of Attraction HERE), when you tithe regularly, and with good intention, your money mindset starts to shift to a more positive state of ‘the more I earn, the more I can tithe and help others’.
Not only that, your income grows.
Trust me. No matter how much (or little) money you have, give it a go for a few months and see what happens.
What Happens When You Change Your Money Mindset?
Once you create a growth mindset (or abundance mindset) of your own, you start to think, feel and act from the place you really want to be instead of where you currently are.
You develop the faith you need to make decisions from where you want to be, instead making the same choices and getting the same results.
You become more consciously aware of the opportunities that are available to you, and are able to evaluate them as would the person who is receiving the results you want for yourself.
And you raise your frequency, leaving you feeling less stressed more confident about the future and attracting the thoughts, ideas, people and resources you need to attract to achieve the things you really want in life.
I’d love to hear your own experiences in shifting your money mindset.
You can share them with us in my FREE Facebook Group at:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/alifeofprosperity/
(And you can find out about my paid programmes HERE)
FURTHER RESOURCES:
The 4 Spiritual Laws Of Prosperity – Edwene Gaines
Think & Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill
Emma Hague is a Certified Proctor Gallagher Consultant and Real Results Mentor based in the U. K.
A qualified accountant by profession, Emma now teaches self-employed women (and some very lucky men!) over 40 in the UK, USA & Canada how to achieve their life-goals – no matter where they might be right now.
As a business owner for over 14 years, Emma believes passionately that we need to take control of (and responsibility for) our own lives in order to create the freedom we all want.
Away from her business, Emma is an avid rugby league fan and loves to spend time with her family (she is mum to two young girls and two grown-up step-sons).
She also enjoys running, beach holidays and going on city breaks with her husband, Karl.
Emma’s own turning point came when, having hit rock bottom financially, she realised that after selling the family home to pay off debts and just try to ‘get in front’, she would likely struggle to ever get a mortgage again.
Bringing their dream of a large, beautiful family home and worldwide travel crashing down around them.
Furious with herself, and the system, Emma committed to taking back control and creating the future she wants for her and her family by doing whatever it takes to create the life she really wants – and to help others do the same.
Emma understands the frustration, and time pressure felt by men and women who are entering the second half of their life and wondering how they’ll ever achieve the things they dream of before their time on this planet is over.
She is a coach and mentor grounded in the real-world and can help you create what’s next for you.
Register for Emma’s next FREE 5-Day Challenge at https://emmahague.com/5daychallenge