If you finding that you have trouble with money despite being frugal, you may be making one of the following money mindset mistakes – or worse, all of them.
1. You’re Chasing Money
I worked at my accounting day job for over a decade, and I earned really good money. But I never had time to spend it.
I was too busy working and earning to actually enjoy the life I was creating with my loved ones.
Naturally, my relationships suffered, and it took me off track from my personal and financial goals. So take a lesson from me and enjoy the journey.
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2. You Don’t Recognize the Importance of Failing
Last year, I announced that I was going to be documenting all of my freelance business income and expenses via quarterly reports on my blog. My hope was to have at least half of my income be produced from client work and other half coming from revenue streams related to my website.
By the end of the year, my experiment was a complete failure, and I hated that I had shared this big goal so publicly because it meant that I had to share my failure publicly, too. But throughout the year, I learned that failures like these are not only okay – they're inevitable if you want to grow and learn more about yourself.
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3. You Don’t Know Your Own Worth
If you want others to see your worth, you have to value yourself first. You’ll face a lot of rejection and hard times throughout your career, but during it all, you have to know your value and what you bring to the table.
“Your thoughts possess power,” Felicia Hemby, a certified financial educator at Chief Wealth Officer Enterprise, LLC, tells me. “If you choose to change your thoughts and attitude, your life will start to change, too. Having a negative money mindset can keep you in a place of stress and anxiety that will not only hinder you from achieving your financial goals, but your personal and career goals, as well.”
You must learn to focus on your possibilities, not just your limitations.
Spend time developing what you can do, rather than obsessing over what you can’t do. “Throw away limiting thoughts,” says Hemby. “When you think and behave differently, you’ll produce different results.”
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4. You’re Afraid to Invest in Yourself
You can never reach your full potential if you aren’t open to asking for help and spending a little money investing in yourself. Eric Rosenberg, the money expert from Personal Profitability, had this to say when I asked him: “Sometimes you have to invest in your career to reach success. Paying out-of-pocket for a better wardrobe or career-related courses may not be fun [in the moment], but you could see that investment come back to you many times over. You just have to be willing to change your mindset.”
5. You’re Working Harder, Not Smarter
“Imagine spending hundreds of hours mastering a PlayStation game,” says Rodger Alan Friedman, a founding partner of Steward Partners Global Advisory. “This may be great for the ego, but not so much for achieving your life goals and advancing your career.”
Take time to check in with yourself and see where you’re spending large portions of your time. What activities are you doing that are fun, yet absurdly trivial? Balance out the fun activities with the ones that pay off in the long term. “Remember, the quality of your life will be determined by the quality of your decisions. The decision on how you spend your time and what you will focus on is paramount,” warns Friedman.
6. You Only Take One Step at a Time
Your money mindset could also choke your career’s success if you’re adhering to the “Step Theory” – only taking one step at a time. The big error in this theory is that it slows down your advance towards career and financial goals.
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“People perceive they can only advance one step at a time, but this serves as a limiting belief,” says Todd Tresidder, Money Coach at Financial Mentor. “If you’re making $40,000, then the next [logical] step is $45,000-50,000. But what about $100,000 or $200,000? The Step Theory makes such a large leap feel impossible. The mind shuts down and can’t imagine how to get from earning $40,000 to $200,000 per year.”
