I can hear you say a resounding “No Way!”

Well, can I ask…. Why do you let other people’s ideals/mindsets/opinions influence your money decisions which ultimately affects your bank balance, your lifestyle, your NET WORTH?

You don’t! I hear you protest almost without thinking.

But then again….

Okay, just to help you a little, let’s see if any of these little voices are around you that influence your buying decisions:

“Buy them both!!”

“Go on….buy them! They aren’t REALLY like the ones you have at home”

“You only live once!”

“They ARE on sale…..!”

“Come on! You have to come! It won’t be the same without you!”

“(husband/partner/spouse) won’t even notice!”

“It’s a sure thing!” (for an investment strategy)

Sound familiar?

All of these are being offered in a good spirit of friends or family only wanting the best for you, but they come from THEIR place of thinking. From their attitude and beliefs around money.

However, they aren’t YOU. They don’t have YOUR goals. They don’t have perhaps an emergency fund they are saving for, or the amazing holiday with their family to pay, or focussing on repaying debt so they CAN make more empowered choices in the future.

Not everyone is ready to make conscious choices around money like you are. Others may be in a totally different place financially and can afford to spoil themselves a little or be a bit risky with investment decisions.

Worse still, they may have absolutely no control over their own spending and are taking you along for the ride!

I’ll let you in on a little secret…. It’s okay to say no. It’s okay to walk out of the store and say I’ll think about it and come back if I just HAVE to have those shoes. Treat these sortsof purchases like when you want to send that email… you know, THAT email or text when you really want to tell someone how you feel in the heat of the moment!  I have three words for you…

SLEEP ON IT! If you just have to have those purchases you can always go back tomorrow.

Say thanks for the heads up about the investment tip, you’re not quite ready to invest but keep me in mind for next time! This keeps you in line with your values so you don’t make rash decisions, based on someone else’s opinion, but also maintains the integrity of your relationship. You never know the next hot tip may be perfect timing and you may be ready to take advantage of it! My bff often sends me investment tips she thinks I may be interested in. There is no emotion behind it, no expectation, just something she comes across that she thinks I may be interested in. I don’t feel any pressure to commit just because she sent it to me. When the time is right for me, the time will be right. But I DO appreciate her thinking of me!

Another way someone else’s money mindset could affect you is that voice you heard a million times growing up….you know, the one that perhaps said money doesn’t grow on trees. How many times have you heard THAT one! I know that was one of many negative money phrases I heard repeatedly growing up in a family of eight.

This is scarcity mentality that often came from someone who experienced financial pressure or hardship such as previous generations who went through the depression. The depression WAS a time of scarcity, high unemployment and of lack, and the next generation were raised with this thinking, who may subconsciously have then passed these beliefs into us. This is three generations who may have been affected by an event that took place 80 years ago!

YOU can change this pattern.

We are now in 2019, a time of abundance and opportunity and the absolute freedom and ability to create any type of a life you desire.  I think that in itself is so empowering it drives me every day.

Thankfully I have been working on my money mindset as an adult and now have created different thoughts around money to generations before me.

I have a little secret for you….money CAN appear ‘magically’! If you focus on what you want, visualise the money having arrived without question, before you know it you will have drawn that into your existence.

What you focus on becomes your reality. You have to BELIEVE with all your being that you can ACHIEVE it. And then take action to receive it.

I know this can happen because I have done that! When I decided to change my life a few years ago after reading Think And Grow Rich one of my daily affirmations was to attract a six figure income. I was about to go from running my own business for over 12 years to a paid job, and was told by one employment agency that I was basically unemployable due to being self-employed for so long, despite my high industry qualifications. Can you imagine how disempowering THAT was for me, when all I wanted was a great paying job that would give me some work/ life balance back!

After going through the initial ‘thought spaghetti’ in my head taking over, I was able to refocus and continue to apply for positions at the level I wanted – with a different recruitment agency. I secured a great job where within 6 months I was promoted and was receiving that income just as I had visualised. (Another thing I visualised was me working in a glass office as part of a team environment, and that came with the promotion!) To me this is evidence that anything you focus on can become your reality.

As you go about your day, be conscious of just who is ‘spending’ your money.

Is it you who is making the buying decision based on your goals and money values, or are you being influenced by your well-meaning friends, or perhaps someone’s voice from your past that was created from THEIR experience with money.

I’d love to hear the money story you heard as you were growing up!