Teaching Yourself About Money…Where Do You Begin?

There you are…faced one morning, noon, or evening…with the stark reality that you don’t have a clue how to manage your money, let alone how to prepare for the R word…Retirement.

Though the concept of retirement has recently moved aside and allowed the idea of financial freedom to pass it by, one basic fact hasn’t changed…one of these days you’re going to look in the mirror and see the older self that lives inside of you right now and that older self is going to be living the life you are currently preparing for him or her to live.

That visualization, for most people, isn’t a pleasant one. Tears, fears and anxiety often follow as you realize you aren’t doing what you need to be doing so that YOUR older person can live a nice, comfortably secure life without having to work for a living anymore.

Making The Decision To Change

The decision to change yourself, and in essence, your life, can be the hardest decision you ever make. It means giving up your excuses, your reasons, your comfort zone (which usually isn’t very comfortable). It means that you have to stop blaming others for your situation. It means giving up the way you currently ‘do money’ and taking on a whole new paradigm of making, saving, spending and investing money now and in the future.

It means changing your priorities, asking bigger questions, answering questions from friend and relatives who don’t understand why you’re changing or are jealous because they haven’t been able to make the same decision yet.

It means that once you make this decision to change, your whole life is going to morph into new and unfamiliar territory. This will ‘eventually’ be a wonderful thing, but it can be a little scary at first because you have to let go of what you know in order to move toward what you say you want for yourself.

What It Takes To Change

Let’s look at this change with a critical eye. What you’re saying is this…

“I want to go from a life of financial struggle and stress to a life filled with financial security and peace of mind.”

Did I get it right? Do I understand that this is truly want you want?

You’re sure? Absolutely sure?

OK, then let’s do it. Put on your sneakers and do a little stretching right now because we’re about to take off down an exciting new path and I have to say it may get a little bumpy, feel a little overwhelming, or out of control at times. But think of it as the greatest Disney ride on earth and someone (that would be you!) just gave you a once in a life-time chance to hop on and go for it.

Step #1: STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT WHERE YOU ARE!

Step #1 is in all caps for a reason. Have you ever noticed that things don’t change until you accept them the way they are? You can’t change things from the standpoint of hating them. It doesn’t work for some reason. Beside, people who complain all of the time are miserable to be around.

Complaining isn’t helpful. Complaining doesn’t move anyone forward. Complaining certainly isn’t positive in any way and the whole time you’re complaining you COULD have been learning something, fixing a situation, helping someone or in some other way being a positive contribution to life.

So, stop complaining already!

Did you notice the world just got better all of a sudden?

Step #2: Make A Commitment To Do What It Takes

Have you ever stood in line for a ride or a buffet and for whatever reason, stepped out of line? Unless you talked someone into ‘holding your place’ (which generally annoys people around you because those people STAYED in line), where do you have to go to get back into the line? Exactly…you have to go back to the end of the line and start over.

Now this isn’t to say that sometimes you find yourself in the WRONG line. Then it’s a matter of seeing it early on and changing lines. This is perfectly acceptable.

I’m talking about getting OUT of line or CHANGING lines over and over again because the line gets too hard to STAY in. All you end up doing is standing in line for the rest of your life. And the metaphor here is painful, at best. People who stand in line are generally people who are dependent on others for their well-being.

The payoff? When you’re in the RIGHT line for the RIGHT amount of time doing the RIGHT thing, what you finally get to experience is pure, unadulterated, amazing personal satisfaction that you DID IT YOURSELF. Finally, YOU are in charge. YOU have what you want. YOU get to live the life YOU designed.

And why is this finally happening? Because you did what it takes and stuck it out…no matter what. (OK, I hear you trying to complain or make up excuses. Back to Step #1 if this is you.)

Step #3: Start Noticing What Interests You

As you can tell, I don’t need to yell anymore. I have your attention and you’ve gotten through checkpoints #1 and #2 safely and surely. Good job!

Now that we’re ready to get the ball rolling, I want you to pay attention to what interests you in life. What are you doing when you forget to eat or drink or put off going to the restroom for hours. Whatever ‘this’ is, is the thing that you can do for the rest of your life (or at least a long while) and not refer to it as something you ‘have’ to do.

Most people have several activities or areas of interest that affect them this way. Some people don’t have any. The former have an easier road to travel but rest easy…if you’re in the later group, once you get past # 1 and #2, you’ll feel a shift inside and have a sense of peace about how you maneaver down the path to financial security and peace of mind.

Once you’ve discovered the interest that you want to focus on, become an EXPERT at it. Practice it, read everything you can on the subject, get a mentor, etc. Once you’re the expert, doors you had no idea that existed begin to open for you.

Step #4: Ask A Simple Question

“Why is it so easy to turn _______________ (inset interest here) into a lucrative, enjoyable business that does good in the world?”

This is called an AFFORMATION. And no, it’s not affIRMation spelled incorrectly. AfFORMations are afFIRMations turned into questions. You see, my friend, Noah St. John, created Afformations when he realized years ago that one of the most important reasons people don’t get what they want is that they are asking the wrong questions.

Imagine asking yourself, “Why am I such a looser?” or “Why am I so clumsy?” or “Why am I always broke?” The Universe answers, “Well, because…….” And so it goes.

But with an Afformation, you learn to change those unsupportive questions into powerful supportive questions that, coupled with the right action, bring untold resources into your life.

Now go back to the question above and notice what you try to answer yourself. Take detailed notes and before long, you may be surprised to find you’re looking at the beginnings of a brand new business that will bring you rich rewards.

“Why am I so happy and my life is filled with peace and security?” Now THAT’s a great question!

Step #5: Get Excited About Everything You’re About To Learn

Let’s face it, sometimes we know what we should be doing but just aren’t doing it…yet. And sometimes you don’t know what you should be doing because either, 1) no one taught you, or 2) you didn’t realize you needed to know it yet.

Money is one of the topics most people don’t learn in school, and often don’t learn from their parents. Business is also a topic this isn’t mainstay in our school systems, yet, but it should be!

Since most of the energy in this county is focused on getting people employed, i.e., getting a J.O.B., most kids don’t leave school with a sense of what they can create outside of the job construct. But in actuality, this IS where wealth is normally created.

How do you learn what you need to learn to be successful? Oh, that’s easy and it doesn’t require going back to get yet another degree. Here are the simple, easy steps…

1) Go to the library and check out a bunch of books on money, investing and how to start and run businesses.

2) Take them home and start devouring them. Don’t just read them. Get a journal. Take copious notes. Think deeply on what you’re reading. Pause often and ask yourself how you can use this information to turn your interest into a profitable venture.

3) Take those books back to the library and repeat the process.

4) Keep your eyes pealed for workshops, seminars, meetings, networking events, adult education classes specific to your topic, etc. Attend the ones you can afford, offer to volunteer at the ones you can’t, ask for scholarships to the ones you really want to go to. You never know unless you ask!

Again, take copious notes and continue to ask questions and apply the information to your area of interest.

5) Research your topic on the internet. These days there is no reason or excuse to be ignorant on any topic. The internet contains more information than any of us every imagined would ever be available to us in our lifetime. At the click of your mouse, you can have before you, everything you need to know to finally be the CEO of your own life!

Step #6: Now Get Out There And Do Something

This is the most important step; well, this and knowing you CAN actually create the life you want. We’ve talked about mindset and belief systems a great deal so we’re not going to in this blog. If you still struggle with your financial self-esteem, please give yourself the gift of reading T. Harv Eker’s book, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, and then attend his Millionaire Mind Intensive seminar. I promise doing these two things will set you on a path of unparalleled rewards.

(Warning to all you perfectionists out there. STOP thinking you have to have things perfect before you do them, sell them, launch them, teach them. You don’t…there’s no such thing as perfect, anyway. ‘Perfect’ is a distraction, an excuse, a reason for you not to have to change. Get over it.)

There really is only one thing standing between where you are and where you want to be, and that’s ACTION. You can visualize and afformationize and affirmationize and use the laws of attraction until you’re blue in the face and nothing will happen until you actually take some action toward what you want in life.

Step #7: Enjoy The Journey…No Matter What

As far as any of us really knows, we’re on this planet for one go ’round and none of us know how long that go ’round is going to be. So, you might as well enjoy the journey.

And if you decide you don’t want to enjoy it? Please do yourself, and the rest of us, a favor and at least get through Step #1.

Just something else to think about…