3740: [Part 2] Making a Financial Turnaround by Steve Pavlina on Money Mindset

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[00:00:54] This is Optimal Finance Daily, making a financial turnaround, part two, by Steve Pavlina of stevepavlina.com. And I'm Justin Malek. Welcome back to the podcast where I read the best articles I can find covering all things money. But today I'm finishing a post from yesterday, so if you missed part one, I'd recommend listening to that first. But if you're all caught up, let's get right to part two and continue optimizing your life.

[00:01:26] Making a financial turnaround, part two, by Steve Pavlina of stevepavlina.com. Number four, commitment. Once you have a reasonable plan, you must commit to it. If you won't commit to your plan, you're just wasting your time. Saying to yourself, okay, I'm committing to this, is commitment for dummies. That's like saying, okay, we're married, as your entire wedding ceremony.

[00:01:55] If you want to succeed in your financial recovery plans, you need to marry them in a big way. Similar to getting married or moving in with someone, committing to a goal is a process in itself. If you want an honest assessment of your commitment level, and if you're brave enough to hear the answer, tell a friend or family member about your recovery plan, and ask them if you seem 100% committed to it. Then bite your tongue while you listen.

[00:02:23] It's important that you uncover anything that might hold you back from sticking to your plan. If something comes up, modify your plan to account for it. For example, if your friend says you don't have the discipline to follow your plan, and you think there's some truth to that, then integrate building self-discipline into your plan. You know you're committed when you can ask yourself, is this a done deal? And answer yes, without hesitation.

[00:02:52] It's extremely unlikely you'll be able to do that right off the bat. To be certain your goal will be achieved means you need to have sustainable motivation and self-discipline to follow through. Sustainable is the hard part. You need to reach the point of being in a committed relationship with your goal, so you don't jump ship when the water gets a little choppy. Just as it takes time to plan a wedding, it takes time to establish a true commitment to your goal.

[00:03:21] In many ways, it does resemble a marriage. You're about to embark on a new life, leaving behind your bachelorhood period of financial scarcity. Respect that the process of commitment can take days, weeks, or even longer. It all depends on how badly you cling to your current situation and resist leaving your comfort zone. You'll know you're ready when you can finally say, I do, and mean it. Number five, action.

[00:03:51] Work the plan you've established and never give up. Perform some action from your financial recovery plan every day, even if it's just balancing your checkbook to keep your finances in order. This will build positive momentum. You won't always have the awareness to think about your plan consciously, so it's important to habitualize the routine actions so you learn to do them automatically. In the long run, your financial habits will largely determine your results.

[00:04:21] One of the best ways to get started on your new plan is to kick it off with a 30-day challenge. Use the first 30 days to establish the new habits you'll need and break the old habits that no longer serve you. If you view your plan as something you only need to maintain for 30 days, you'll find it easier to commit to it. By the end of the 30 days, you'll be able to see some results coming in, which will make it easier for you to commit for the long term. And number six,

[00:04:51] wealth consciousness. Recovering from a negative financial situation is one of the most fascinating challenges of the game of life and an amazing growth experience. Even though you may feel very down when you're stuck in debt and can't pay your bills, the long-term process of improving your financial situation can be extremely rewarding. The best part is that once you figure out how to achieve financial abundance for yourself,

[00:05:18] you can turn around and share your lessons with others who are still struggling. So you aren't just solving this problem for yourself, you're solving it for all the people whose lives you'll touch. If you fail to overcome this challenge, you're letting down a lot of people you could have otherwise helped. Moving from financial scarcity to financial abundance is a process of getting past our limited egos.

[00:05:46] Financial scarcity is what you attract when you focus on me, me, me, my needs, my problems, and my wants. Financial abundance is what you attract when you focus on we, we, we, our needs, our challenges, and our potential. The ego is too small a container for wealth. If you want to attract financial abundance, you need a container worthy of it, like contribution or service.

[00:06:14] I remember the moment when my financial situation began to turn around for the better. I can trace everything back to a specific shift in my mindset that happened in late 1998. Up until that point, my focus was largely on ego-driven goals, and no matter how hard I worked, my financial situation kept getting worse. Eventually, I was so fed up that I abandoned that mindset and replaced it with a new one.

[00:06:43] I said to myself, living just for myself is getting me nowhere. I'm going to concentrate on making a contribution instead. If I go broke, then at least I'll go broke doing something worthwhile. Unbeknownst to me at the time, that shift in consciousness would have the long-term effect of turning my financial situation completely around. The problems weren't corrected overnight, but it became clear after a short time

[00:07:11] that this was the right path. Now Aaron and I earn more income each month than we used to earn in a year. What a difference a seemingly subtle shift in mindset can make. Overcoming problems merely for your own satisfaction is very weak motivation. Doing something you know will benefit a lot of people is much more sustainably motivating. The more you fall into your ego,

[00:07:40] turning your personal problems into your whole world, the more you lower your consciousness, shrink your options, and attract scarcity. The more you focus on serving others, even in the midst of financial crisis, the more you raise your consciousness, expand your options, and attract abundance. This mindset shift is the real solution to financial scarcity. The goal setting, planning, and action steps are just a facilitator.

[00:08:11] The reason those steps help is that they shift your consciousness away from fear. When you set goals and make plans, you build certainty that you're about to move in a more positive direction. This reduces your anxiety and summons courage. And in turn, this helps shift your focus away from your ego, which is fear-centered, and towards contribution, which is love-centered.

[00:08:40] You just listened to part two of the post titled Making a Financial Turnaround by Steve Pavlina of stevepavlina.com. And I'll be right back with my commentary. Many leaders think they know where time goes, but as teams grow and tools multiply, reality can look surprisingly different. So decisions about what to automate and where AI fits can be a gut call. That's the problem today's sponsor, Scribe, is helping solve. Scribe is a specialized

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[00:10:35] Thank you to Steve. I like that he says to modify the plan when someone points out a problem. I think that's an important part of commitment because it can be easy to hear never give up and decide that changing anything would mean you'd failed. So for example, if your plan depends on taking on more shifts at work but those shifts aren't available, you could be completely committed and still have a plan that doesn't work. Getting more determined

[00:11:04] might not fix the problem. You'd need another option. And that's why I'd want feedback on the plan itself. Asking someone whether you seem serious might get you encouragement but asking where they think the plan could get stuck gives them something more specific to respond to. You don't have to agree with everything they say, of course. Maybe there's a reason you chose that approach but if they point out something you hadn't considered

[00:11:34] there could be something really useful there. You can care just as much about getting to the goal and still change your mind about how you're going to get there. So thank you to Steve and thank you for being here. Have a great day and I'll be back tomorrow as usual where your optimal life awaits. You can't wait. Have a great day. I'll be back. Have a great day. Have a great day. Have a great day. Thank you.