Last blog post, I was talking about how your spending already is defining your values and attitude around money – you can get clear about it and make it work better for you. I have found there are five essential ingredients for a productive and prosperous money attitude:
Consciousness
You can’t fulfill or reinforce your intentions for money until you’re crystal clear about what is happening. But consciousness doesn’t mean getting lost in the minutiae of money management — especially if you do things like balancing your checkbook or moving money into savings out of fear of what would happen if you didn’t do those things. Consciousness is power. Consciousness is knowing that your money decisions — be it buying the latte today or investing your money tomorrow — are in alignment with what you want to get from your money. Your fundamental desire map for money drives your day-to-day choices.
You can’t fulfill or reinforce your intentions for money until you’re crystal clear about what is happening. Click To TweetTrust
Do you trust that regardless of your financial circumstances, you are bigger than your money problems? For some, trust will be based in a spiritual belief in a life purpose and higher power; for others, trust is about understanding your innate resourcefulness and resilience even in the worst of financial circumstances. Financial success is about matching trust with inspired action. It’s one thing to say that you trust that if you do what you love, the money will follow… but what happens next? Do you trust in prosperity enough that when you commit to doing what you love, do you also commit to doing it without financial struggle or sacrifice?
Acceptance
Acceptance isn’t about agreeing to settle for something less than you want; acceptance is about not letting your attachment to the way things should BE get in the way of how things are. Can you accept that even if life isn’t going exactly how you envisioned, that things can still turn out even better than you hoped? Can you accept that you might have some spiritual or practical money homework to do — and some principles to learn — before you’re a non-leaky receptacle for all of the financial success you desire? Can you accept that you need to feel secure before you experience financial success — or you’ll never feel secure at all?
Imperfection
Comparison is the enemy of happiness and progress. You start your financial journey with a unique set of circumstances, and it’s counterproductive to compare yourself to others. When people decide they need to “fix” things so they can have perfect financial lives, they fail. When people decide that they will begin wherever they are currently at, and move forward imperfectly — but still striving to do their best and recommitting to their efforts — they get results that blow them away. There is grace in imperfection when it’s paired with a single-mindedness of purpose. Treat yourself gently for mistakes, and choose forgiveness over shame.
Energy
When you think about your interactions with others, what energy are you bringing to the party? Are there control issues and codependency? Are you afraid of asking for what you want? Do you believe that you give more of yourself than you get back? Do you see some people as victims? These are all dynamics that we play into when we bring the energy of survival to our money. But when you release expectations, your creative power increases exponentially. When you bring the energy of possibility over limitation, of creativity over constraint, you’ll see that no person or external thing can ever influence your financial success.
Once you bring these five ingredients together, you can create a personal money intention statement that encompasses how you will approach every money decision. If you like, you can always sign up and get access to my free library of workbooks and resources here.