Mindset and The Game Changer
“Mentality trumps education and intelligence” – Peter Flannery
Live your authentic life, the life you really want …
Mindset is about your lifetime of conditioning, what you believe to be true, your habits, attitudes and therefore your behavior.
The idea is to align your behavior with your big picture long term goals. That way your chances of real success are significantly improved.
The game changer is you being able to make money work for you on a more advanced level. If you are keen to progress, you likely have the capability. Taking your capability, your desire to progress up to a more advanced level, you will achieve more.
Want to know how to adjust your mindset to make you next (first?) $1 million? Click here to contact us get on with it
It all starts here
just be open … be open to new ways of getting ahead.
BIG TIP: Financial independence is about you first … and money second. Your mindset + proven methodology = success. You can be financially independent.
Accept the fact that some of the new ways may not be things that you currently know or understand – otherwise you would already be all over them, right?
When you are open to new ways of doing things, open to stepping outside your “normal”, things that you are less familiar with, even things that challenge you, then you have the opportunity to use your mindset to help you move closer to those things you really want big picture … even though they might seem outside your reach right now.
For some people this is a starting point to more success with money. For others it is literally the launching pad to a financial independence that they previously did not believe possible. Now they are excited and can see the way there – clearly.
Step one then is to be open – observe, but hold back judgment. Uninformed judgment can be a game stopper. We don’t want that.
It just is …
The Law of Money is fundamental, natural, “organic” even.
Indeed, it is a money making and lifestyle eco-system for those who want “more” and who are serious about real financial independence.
This is a good example of a method that is so fundamental that, regardless of market conditions, it will significantly increase the probability of financial success for anyone who is serious.
That brings us to the next point …
What do you want – really want?
Many people are consumed with daily life and don’t think enough about what they really want (educate children, new car, upgrade the home, travel … what else do you really want?).
Pity … they are unlikely to ever be all they can be. They are unlikely to achieve the success that is possible for them.
Once you know what you want then you can focus on it.
TIP: The world is unlikely to throw it all at your feet or place it on your lap. Whatever you want, you will need to be clear about it and really want it. Of course, if you do not want anything … if you do not aspire to betterment, improvement and “more”, then you cannot have it. You will never be all you can, not only to yourself but to others too. The tip is to get clear on what you want and to want it enough …
Unfortunately many people do not aspire to much, have limited ambition and suffer from a lack of confidence that is never resolved.
By the way, it is not the most educated or the most intelligent that are always successful in life.
Do you know people that are neither of those two things and yet are successful? They seem to have life under control. Chances are these are not “the flash Harrys” of the world but more likely “the quiet millionaires”. You can be one of those too – if you want. Do you?
The elephant in the room
The reality is; it is difficult to make money in a straight line without some sort of challenge or difficulty. That … is life.
The “elephant in the room”. People are different. Take your pick…
- Upbringing/conditioning: For some it is their upbringing, which has conditioned them to believe that having lots of money is a form of “moral poverty”. In other words you are a bad person if you have too much money.
Sure, there are people with money that think only of themselves and are malevolent rather than benevolent. But not everyone with money is like that. The fact is … the more money you have the more you can help yourselves and the more you can help others too.
- No Confidence: For others, there is this in-built lack of confidence, the strong belief that real financial success is just not possible. They believe that only people on TV achieve it and others achieve but they don’t think they can – ever. Those with this mindset believe it is not for them and never will be – and so be it.
Those with a lack of confidence can focus on bad outcomes too much or believe their shortcomings make it impossible. It sounds a bit corny but we are all better to focus on what we want (not what we don’t want).
If you think you can or you think you can’t, you are right.” – Henry Ford
- Blind spot: Then there are those who suffer the mind numbing condition of living day to day and just never really thinking about getting ahead or a better life. They just do not aspire to much, they are not ambitious.
There is no improvement going on. This continues throughout life and they finish up basically on the financial scrap heap with others who are dependent on government benefits. They think this is normal. A great pity because they are nice people usually and deserve “more”.
- Damaged Confidence: Others have tried to make money and were foolish, naïve, got taken advantage of, had economic conditions change on them, didn’t know what they were doing, but in any event they were hurt by what they regard as a big mistake. Investors and entrepreneurs regard each of these events as a learning curve.
- Fear of Loss: Some people who can be intelligent and highly educated can be inflicted with a very defensive disposition when it comes to money. They regularly drive on the open road at 100 kilometres per hour toward oncoming cars with only a white line painted on the road separating them and yet they can be almost paralysed by fear when it comes to their own personal economic development.
Simply, they play safe, stay inside their “logic box comfort zone” and rarely trust themselves to make progressive money decisions that help them to get ahead. They worry too much about making a mistake and / or losing money. As a result there is insufficient action, insufficient progress and ultimately financial dependence and a world of financial anxiety, even stress at times – all avoidable.“
My biggest mistake was the error of omission, not the error of commission”. – Warren Buffett
- Don’t Know Who To Trust: This can be a real issue, particularly for wage and salary earners or those not used to outsourcing expertise working with others when they need help. Trusted advisers are valuable but finding them is not always easy.
Whilst those unfamiliar with paying fees to advisers see those fees as a cost, people who are successful rely on their advisers, appreciate the leverage that advisers offer (specialised, custom designed solutions, advice and help) and view the fees as an investment.
- DIY: Whilst there are some who can do it themselves very successfully, most need help. Indeed even those who are successful surround themselves with a team of advisers and others that can help. They don’t do it all by themselves.
The idea is to do what you can do yourself and to leverage off others who possess knowledge, skills and methods that you don’t have. Also these advisers can save you a significant amount of time.
- “Life”: Many people are just consumed by everyday life. Kids, work, charity commitments, committees, travel, family etc … what about you?“
“Life” is the clear winner when we look at why people fail financially. “Life” is all consuming and for most, bigger picture it over rides bigger picture items. Some live in the constant “blur” of busy crazy.
Others are just getting by, day to day – no room for anything of big picture importance or of a more strategic nature. To them, personal economic developments just an abstract notion. The word “more” is usually related to challenge and difficulty – not betterment and improvement. What about you?
“There but for me, go I” – Orrin Woodward
Pattern interrupt or sharpen up or take a big step forward?
Whether you need to break the pattern, to sharpen things up or to take a BIG STEP forward, let’s stop talking and get on with it …
The game changer
When you align your behaviour with your big picture goals and objectives you then do things slightly differently and make more progress.
Sometimes progress is disguised as challenge, lack of knowledge, uncertainty, difficulty and hard work. Sometimes it feels different and unfamiliar.
For a few, there is excitement; revelation and they can’t wait to get on with it … the light is on.
The reality is that what is initially complicated or difficult soon becomes straightforward and easy – but only if you go after it (never though, if you do not get on with it).
TIP: Notice I have not anywhere used the word “try”. Why?
Truthfully, what is the point in a half-hearted attempt?
Better to replace the word try with commit (and just get help if you need it).
No point in needless worry (about what has not happened yet anyway!) and let’s not complicate this.
Best to get on with it, accept that there will be some things along the way that will be annoying / challenging that you would rather not experience but that those things will make you stronger, wiser and better equipped for where we are heading – it’s all good.
“The things that hold you back are the raw material for further progress.” – Dan Sullivan, Vancouver
Your modus operandi – the game changer
At WISEplanning we know that some people are better with money than others and we refer to your modus operandi as the way you go after your financial independence (financial independence modus operandi – FIMO).
If you are looking to achieve financial independence in a way that is incongruent with the principles and methods that work, then it won’t happen.
There are many ways to get there … the bottom line is that there are principles to follow and methods that you can adopt that significantly improve the probability of your success.
The point is that action and implementation will deliver your success – knowledge alone usually won’t, not taking action cannot.
BRUTAL FACT: If you are attempting to achieve real financial independence in a way that is incongruent with your core values and what you stand for, you will likely fail / not even get started. Get those incongruence’s out in the open so that you know what they are and sort them.
Contact us at WISEplanning if you want some help to identify them and/or to sort them out.
Anyway, your modus operandi is how you currently go about achieving your financial independence.
As we mentioned just before, different people work on different levels as they work on their personal economic development. Some are just better at it than others. At WISEplanning we have discovered why that is.
We can help those who are on “Struggle Street” as it were to adjust and change the game so that real progress becomes the norm –struggle becomes challenge and barriers become opportunity, solutions and greater progress.
For those who are making great progress, some targeted questions around the current approach can reveal some subtle yet useful adjustments. The initiatives then implemented can help to speed up progress but in less time and with effort.
Nothing is broken here. The opportunity to fine tune though can be simple yet game changing.
Do you think it is possible that you might be making money too slowly to achieve real financial independence long term?
Is it possible that the level that you are functioning on (FIMO) is holding you back?
Is it possible that the way you accumulate financial wealth could benefit from a review, a “makeover” and some adjustments?
If you can get off “Struggle Street” and stay off would some help to do that be useful?
Would you like to improve your personal economic development so that you progress in less time, with less effort?
“Whatever the mind can conceive and believe it can achieve.” – Henry Ford
I want to talk more about what I can do now
