18. What hasn’t been working – The Money Mindset Trap
Welcome to the last episode in the series of things that haven’t been working. Let me introduce you to the 4th episode and the third piece of this “hasn’t been working” puzzle – getting caught up in the numbers.
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Transcription
Welcome to the last episode in the series of things that haven’t been working. In the first episode I gave an overview of what was going on and what you would hear over the next 3 episodes. In the second episode, you heard me speaking to pushing, and in the third you heard me speak to the comparison trap.
Now, let me introduce you to the 4th episode and the third piece of this “hasn’t been working” puzzle – getting caught in the numbers.
I kept the original title for this episode, The Money Mindset Trap – but getting caught up in the numbers isn’t so much a pitfall to money mindset, but a feature of the systems we live in.
Our lives come down to these numbers.
$1200 + utilities for rent.
$346 for car payments.
$700 for student loans.
Food. Gas. Living costs money.
And that doesn’t even include the additional pressures as entrepreneurs to hit certain money milestones.
Again, this is a feature of the system – and not of money mindset work. But I kept the original title for this episode because 1. it is sort of shocking or creates interest at least, and 2. it highlights how the system hides these features so well.
When you get caught up in the numbers, it isn’t your fault. The world around you is set up so that you do.
But when you begin focusing on the numbers as a good rather than service or the other things. It creates even more pressure.
Which is what I experienced.
I got so caught up in trying to hit my next money goal – that I got stucked into this cycle of pressure that continued to demand more and more focus on that money goal.
This was exacerbated by the things mentioned in the previous episodes – comparing myself to others and pushing, pushing, pushing.
When you get caught in these things, you can lose focus of the important things – like service, impact, and creating change in the world. And even the channel for divine inspiration and hearing your intuition can get sticky.
And a sure sign that something has shifted out of alignment is the frustration, the feels of running in place, the resentment and bitterness beginning to set in, and so on.
The fulfillment ends, and the grind sets in.
So, here is what I did to shift out of being caught up in the numbers – and what you can do too when you find yourself suck in this cycle as well.
1. The numbers had to stop meaning something. Or at least having so much meaning attached to them.
This can be difficult, especially when the number means your survival. If that is true for you, it becomes a balance of knowing the number and doing the mindset work to build some trust in money and yourself to show up.
That is what I was doing last year when I was working towards not just having enough, but having more than enough so that we could move. The numbers – because of wanting an apartment and the things – changed that level of goal. Changed that set level. And so that number had meant that if I couldn’t hit that consistently, we couldn’t move. We couldn’t afford to move. And it is that tricky balance of knowing the number (like I knew what I needed so that we could survive, right?), and doing the mindset work to build some trust in the money and yourself to show up. And I had to work on building that trust in myself.
In this last current cycle, for me, the shift was in shifting back into it being safe to let the numbers go. The numbers are important. The numbers are fun to hit. And they can really be a reflection of the other things that are going on. And I think that was the key. Is that it wasn’t the numbers themselves. It was that they reflected the service and transformation that I was providing and giving. So I shifted that. I focused back on service and transformation for my clients and audience – and the money naturally flows from there.
2. Which brings us to the second point of focusing on service and transformation. So we kinda like really segued into that one.
It is not only true for me that money flows when I’m in service and focusing on the transformation for my clients, it is true for all of us.
You know the difference when someone is trying to sell you just for the money. Like we think of the classic example, you know, you walk into a dealership and they’re like “I’m gonna sell you this car because I need to make my quota!” and everything right? And you know the difference between that sort of situation and when someone is actually giving you an opportunity because they care. Your clients feel that too.
And they are also more drawn to that second situation over the first one. So when we focus on service and transformation, it naturally follows that we are less focused on that number goal, right, that we’re trying to hit. And we can sell from this place of service and transformation. Of care. Rather than that place of pressure.
3. And lastly, it absolutely helps to take a step back and look at how far you have come.
This puts the entire journey back into perspective and helps to alleviate some of the pressure that builds up and gets created when you get caught up in the numbers.
You can see how far you have come. You can see what you have achieved over time. And it brings back that trust in knowing that you can achieve your new goals in time, and that it doesn’t have to be right this minute. And that in fact, typically it doesn’t unfold all of a sudden right this minute. It’s been drops and buckets full of effort and shifting and all of those things. It builds up until it tips over all of a sudden.
So you’ve got this.
Just like I was able to sit back and shift away from that number and move into trust and allowing and service and transformation, you can too. You can shift back into that. You can release that number. Or you can walk that balance between knowing the number and also focusing on these other things.
You’ve got this too.
And this episode wraps up the series, as you know, that I have been working on and showing you what wasn’t working for me and where I needed to shift and refocus. So I want you to take these lessons – not just from this episode but from the last four episodes – take the lessons and the wisdom in them so that you can shift and refocus even quicker than I did! So that you can maybe even prevent getting to that point where you need that shift in focus.
And remember, all of these things are normal things that can happen. They don’t mean that you are bad or wrong. It is all part of the journey, and it’s just really about refocusing and reshifting. We don’t live in a vacuum. We live inside of systems that put this pressure on us. That are a feature in the systems and thus a feature in our lives.
But we can take back that power and shift it again. And as I said in the last episode, continuing to widen those cracks. You are magnificent and wonderful. And just because you get sucked in now and again for periods of time does not mean that you are bad or wrong. You are still wonderful and magnificent and you are still creating change in the world and in the lives of your clients and your audience.
So take that as your final lesson or wisdom or what have you, and hold that with you as you continue your entrepreneurial journey.
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