Are you following money blueprints that aren’t yours?
Did you take thinking and behaviors that were handed down to you just like Mother’s mac and cheese recipe or Big Momma’s finger licking pound cake?
Thoughts and behaviors are fine as long as they’re yours and honor your life’s vision.
We march along running our lives based no someone else’s thoughts and opinions.
All of this sleepwalking through life has some scary and devastating consequences.
According to a recent study in the Berkeley Political Review, one in six Americans are on antidepressants.
If this is true, we’ve got some serious things to attack in an effort to reclaim our lives and kick those prescriptions to the curb.
Most Americans have anxiety about money.
Working people worry that there is never enough to go around and there’ll always be upset around this topic.
To gain control over our financial behavior, three things must change.
First, we need to change our thinking around money and what it can or cannot do.
Money is not bad or evil. It will not make you more loveable, worthy or capable.
Money’s sole purpose is providing security and freedom for you and your loved ones.
Next, we need to take a good, hard look at our money shenanigans and admit our mistakes.
Many people assume that it’s embarrassing to admit we were wrong or didn’t know something or god forbid, didn’t feel like we could ask for help with our finances.
And I get you because I’ve done the same thing.
I’ve been there and been a total idiot financially speaking.
And oh what fun I had with all the tomfoolery I managed to create.
During my days of money stupidity, the following bad decision making took place: I saw to it that an able bodied person always had food in his belly despite his refusal to work.
Here’s the thinking around that nonsense: Money doesn’t matter and soon we’ll be trading with other types of currency.
My friends, I was screwing around with someone who believed in the power of magic beans.
Another screw up was believing in shortcuts from charlatans in my performance industry.
If you’ve ever sang a note, twisted a jig or told a joke, there is always someone who knows someone who can push you to the top of the desperation heap for a small fee (generally, these start at $1,000 and get you nowhere). If I had the money that was shelled out to people who had theories and no actual proof, I’d be a rich man.
Many times, I believed what was being sold to me without question or investigation.
This ridiculous spending plan costs me thousands of dollars.
It’s moments like these when I realized, it was time to make a change by borrowing a friend’s productive approach to artistic growth.
Searching for a new acting mentor, two trusted friends mentioned Mike Pointer (Hey, I Saw Your Commercial). After one conversation and one free class (and a pile if visible success stories), I was hooked. When a health scare forced me to rethink by eating and living habits, it was time to consult with my familial health expert (mom). She mentioned a wonderful teacher (Lisa A. Smith- the founder of the Black Health Academy) who invited me to several free classes before I took the plunge, invested my dough and began a new way of living and eating.
And finally, no behavior change would be complete without taking a healthy amount of time to self reflect and ask yourself : where is this behavior taking me?
This curiosity will lead you on an expedition of gathering intel about your current situation and what you will do next.
Once you’ve gathered the appropriate information, sit your ass down somewhere and think it through.
What will happen if I don’t take this action?
Where will my life be in one year, two years, five years, if I refuse to take action?
After some thinking, it is time for my favorite part: experiment and refine.
This process focuses on trying the new thinking and reviewing the immediate and powerful feedback your behavior creates.
With fresh thinking, your old problems can seem small and inconsequential.
And here’s the best part…
You will learn to trust your opinions, vision and the knowledge that you can do this.
Just like Glenda told Dorothy: You’ve always had the power.
Sound good? That’s what it’ll feel like when you finally change your behavior around money.
Whose thinking around money can you copy and make personal life changes?
Do you have people in your community who can support you with unlearning some old money habits?
How often do you look at the costs and the price of your current money behaviors?