Establish Your Money Mindset
If you were with me for my Developing Discipline series back in August, you would remember the post where I talked about how to develop discipline in your finances. The three things that I wanted you take away from that post was:
1) Money is a tool, not the end all be all.
2) You can be a master over money, without it mastering you.
3) Broke is an attitude, not a definition.
Now, I want to elaborate on the last point because over the past few months, I’ve realized how necessary it is to understand how our mindset affects our finances.
Your money mindset is how you think and feel about money and the way in which you approach it. You all know now the emphasis I put on manifesting a positive mindset. A positive mind is fundamental to having a healthy relationship with your finances. It allows you to have self-restraint and discernment with your financial approaches.
In order to establish and restore your money mindset, it’s important to do these things:
Identify your current mindset.
How do you feel about money? This step is commonly overlooked because a lot of us are raised with commonly held money beliefs. Some of them may be:
- We can’t afford to do ______.
- Spend now, save later.
- I’ll never have or make enough.
- I don’t make enough money to save anything.
- I’ll just charge it on my card.
Really take this time to be transparent with yourself. How is your money mindset benefiting or harming you? Is it keeping you from investing in yourself? Is it preventing you from tithing at church? Is it making you anxious about unexpected events or emergencies? Jot down how these feelings are affecting the way you approach your finances?
Show gratitude towards your blessings.
Contentment or the lack thereof largely affects your attitude towards money. If you are fearful that you will never make or have enough, you are living in a scarcity mentality. How can God pour abundance and blessings into your life if you feel like what He’s given you is not enough? Remember that the love of money is the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10). and God will always make sure that you have everything you need.
Take 5 to 10 minutes to journal what you are grateful for. Once you have wrote it down, pray without asking God for anything. Just spend time really blessing and glorifying Him for His provision in your life.
Identify where you can improve in your finances.
We can all benefit from taking the time to be intentional and improve our finances. Determine your financial goals, and make a plan and budget so you can stick to them. Approach your spending differently. Ask yourself with each purchase, “How is this purchase contributing to my overall financial goals?” Do you need to nix your app and budget the old-fashioned way with envelopes? These are some of the ways that we can make sure that we are improving our approach towards money.
Find an accountability partner.
Sometimes we just need someone to keep us in check. Find a friend who you can share your financial goals with. Have them hold you accountable, or even enlist them into a savings competition. Participate in the 52 week saving challenge or save money with a girl’s night in instead of a girl’s night out. Having someone else invested in your financial goals is a great way to keep you on track.
Stay educated.
When you know better, you do better, and the best way to gain that knowledge is to educate yourself. There are so many blogs, books, and podcasts on money management. Dave Ramsey is infamous for his Financial Peace University. The more you learn about money, the better you can manage it.
How do you need to adjust your approach towards money? Take charge of your money mindset by downloading the free guided worksheet below.
