Lesson 5 – Taking Control And Identifying Our Starting Point

A Map for Your Journey

On any journey, there is always a beginning, a starting point for us to become familiar with before we can decide where and how we’re going to get there.

We simply can’t take the journey to abundance if we are in the dark murky waters with our finances. It’s like trying to navigate a journey without light, a destination or a map.

So before we embark on the rest of your journey, let’s start by working out where to begin on your personal journey to mindful wealth.

When you complete the self assessment activity, try to be honest about your current relationship with money as this will help you to establish a clearer starting point and to identify the areas of particular interest or focus for you along the way. It’s good to be curious about your current situation, but be careful not to judge as there is no right or wrong, good or bad!

Step 1 – Take Responsibility for Your Choices

We can hope that someone will save us, or fix our money situation and us. But, giving the responsibility of managing our money to someone else to look after means we lose control and keep our heads buried in the sand when it comes to our money and happiness.

Step 2 – Prioritise Wealth

The second step is to prioritise, wealth.

In our life, to really achieve something, we need to make it a priority. If we want to lose weight or get fit, we prioritise healthy eating and exercising. If we want to get a job, we might go to university or take a course.

When it comes to our money, we often say things like we want to get out of debt, or we want to save money, but we don’t take the actions to make these things a priority and happen in our lives.

Our wealth is our priority.

A very simple affirmation that we regularly recommend and use, that perhaps you may wish to use too is:

“Wealth is a priority in my life”.

We need to set an intention to be wealthy and match this with consistent actions to make us wealthy. Once we commit to something and make it a priority, our focus changes, something shifts and our path becomes clearer, brighter.

If we get clear on the past and embrace the present, then we can best prepare for the future.

Step 3 – Take Control

When we have an internal focus of control, we’re more likely to be wealthier because we’re more likely to take responsibility for our actions and choices, plan ahead and work to our goals.

Jess is constantly stressed about her finances. She lives pay to pay, has no real idea where her money goes and feels like she’s constantly struggling to meet her financial commitments each month. She doesn’t have a savings plan and feels trapped in her current situation. She doesn’t see things getting better unless she gets that promotion at work, or better yet, wins Lotto.

Amanda, on the other hand, feels pretty confident about her situation. Whilst she has the same financial commitments, she puts a little away into savings each month and she’s got a plan to pay down her credit card debt. She knows she’ll be in a much better situation once she’s paid off her debt.

Can we see the difference between these two scenarios?

We might think it’s because Amanda has a plan and Jess doesn’t, but it’s actually simpler than that. Amanda believes she has control over her own situation, whereas Jess doesn’t.

When we believe that things are out of our control we often blame others for our situation, feel powerless to make changes and are less likely to make a plan to achieve our goals.

How to Change Your Mindset

If you find yourself feeling as though you don’t have control over your finances or your future, you can begin to switch your thinking and focus over time by:

When you know that you have complete control of your future wealth and wellbeing you have a starting point to make changes and implement the actions and behaviours to support you in your journey to abundance!