5 Most Underrated Habits That’ll Make You a Financial Rockstar

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Have you ever planted a garden? Starting fresh by placing seeds in the ground and watching them grow?

From humble beginnings, tiny seeds can grow into a variety of plants that can provide nourishment and beauty in our lives and our world.

Looking at the tiny seeds, you might not see the potential and power held in such an insignificant little vessel. Just like seeds, the actions we take and habits we create, can grow into something beautiful that cultivates our future.

If we develop poor habits, we will find ourselves living in a field of weeds that we unwittingly grew and overtake our lives. Living in the financial weeds can look like an empty bank account, a pile of debt, no plans for emergencies, suffering along from paycheck to paycheck, or crossing your fingers that you’ll be able to retire.

Let’s step out of the financial weeds and review the most underrated habits that hold tremendous power to achieving financial success.

1. Controlling Our Thoughts

In the words of Earl Nightingale, “we must control our thoughts if we want to control our lives.”

Every action we take started as a thought. Every wonderful invention we have in life started as a thought inside a person’s mind. Crime and failure also come about from the thoughts inside of us.

Like in a garden, if you want to harvest tomatoes, you can’t plant corn. If you want a bountiful garden with a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, you can’t let weeds fester. If you want to be successful and have abundance in life, you need to plant the right thoughts in your mind.

Weeds are intrusive and take over, just as negative thoughts and limiting beliefs take over your mind preventing you from achieving your goals.

Action Steps

• Identify your limiting beliefs about money. This will take some soul searching and possibly research. Dig deep to find out what your subconscious is telling you that is limiting you from progress. Do you believe (even subconsciously) that you’ll be a bad person for wanting money? Do you believe there’s not enough to go around? Do you believe that you should be content with what you already have? Are you stuck thinking that things will never get better and that others are just “lucky”? List everything you can think of that’s a negative thought or belief you have about money.
• Create a positive thought or affirmation you can use to replace your limiting thoughts. Write it down on index cards that you can tape to a mirror, put in your purse or pocket and put where you will see it often. When a negative thought tries to sneak in, rehearse your positive affirmation and replace the negative thought, doubts, or fears.
• Suggested Affirmations. Use one of these ideas or create your own.
  • What I focus on grows, so I choose to focus on {fill-in-the-blank}.
  • My thoughts, plans and actions lead me straight to success.
  • I find solutions to my challenges easily and move past them quickly.
  • I deserve all the good that comes my way today.

2. Dream a Little (Or a Lot)

Your "why" is the motivation that needed to succeed in life and stems from your hopes and dreams. 

Take the time to really think about what you truly want. Don't be vague, The more clearly you can see and focus on your vision, the more you'll want to move in that direction. 

I you don't have a strong enough "why" you'll stay stuck in complacency. You'll relax and rest on your laurels and continue down the same path you're already going.

Here are some common dreams, but think of your own and make it deeply personal.

• Leaving a legacy for your children. Allowing them to have a better life than you ever did. Or the same great life that you enjoyed as a child.
• Working in a career or business that brings passion to your life.
• More time to travel and explore the world.
• Knowing you have money and don't need to worry about it so you can enjoy all the little moments in life.

Action Steps

1. Sit down with your spouse (or on your own if you aren't married) and have a "dream meeting." Find out from each other what your aspirations are. 
2. Work out a plan of what you would need to do to get there. (See goals and milestones below.)
3. Create a written or pictorial reminder that you can look at everyday to remind yourself where you want to go to motivate you to take the actions that will get you there.

3. Continue Learning

In an effort to control our thoughts and master money, we should continually flood our minds with new learning by reading books and learning from others.

I recommend reading one non-fiction book every month. If you think you know everything already, you will limit yourself. Expand your knowledge in areas that compliment what you already know. 

Online learning has also become extremely convenient and popular. It’s a great way to expand on your marketable skills and learn more about becoming successful in your desired field. One such learning platform is Lynda.com which has learning modules for higher education and business. You may find you have free access to Lynda.com through your local library, so check if they have premium resources available to you.

Action Steps

• Research 5 books that will help you reach your financial goals or expand your skills.
• Purchase the books or check them out from the local library.
• Set aside time each day to read from your books. Perhaps over breakfast, at lunch time or before heading to bed.
• Check to see if Lynda.com is available through your local library. Look for courses that might help you develop better marketable skills. (If you'd like to purchase a subscription to Lynda.com, there's often a rebate offered from Ebates.) Or find another resource that will help you build more and better skills. 

4. Setting Goals with Milestones

Setting goals is something we should do on a regular basis that will keep us progressing forward in our lives. I love having goals to work toward. It gives me purpose.

But setting goals is not enough.

Our goals will not come to fruition unless we have a plan in place that will move us toward our destination.

Our goals are like a road trip. No non-stop flights or shortcuts available.

Let’s say you want to travel across the country.

You may want to make it across the country, but you’ll never get there without a plan. You will need to know when you’re going on your trip. Resources you need for your trip; anything from planning what you’ll eat, where you’ll sleep, how often you need to put gas in your vehicle, etc.

Your trip should look a little more like this …

Not Sure How to Get Started?

You might read through the list and think these steps are too simple to possibly make any changes in your finances, which is why they are underrated. Some things start small and simple but develop into something grand.

If you're not sure how to get started, feel overwhelmed or could use some extra support and guidance, contact me to find out more about financial coaching. I work with those ready for financial change and help them secure their personal financial goals.

The Strangest Secret by Earl Nightingale

An inspiring audio that describes how impactful our thoughts are on our lives.