We all have beliefs, whether we acknowledge them or not. Beliefs are global ideas that inform the way we see the world and they form our rules of life. These determine how far we can go in any aspect of our lives. Beliefs are global so your beliefs in one area are your beliefs in all areas. Some beliefs while seemingly unconnected to your finances will still impact your financial behaviour. Let’s look at some beliefs that could be hurting your finances.
Scarcity
A scarcity mentality or belief says that resources and opportunities are limited. People who hold this belief operate with rules that state that only one or a few people can do something and that opportunity is gone forever. The evidence on the ground strongly contradicts this; there is space for more than one of everything. So just because someone has started that idea or made that investment it doesn’t mean there isn’t room for you there too.
Comparison
There are many reasons for people to have this as a belief. Perhaps it was embedded in your school days where your performance was a function of how well you did compared to others. Perhaps even earlier in life than that. This one usually comes together with the scarcity belief to limit how you see things. Doing better the person X or Y doesn’t mean you are doing well. Conversely doing better than A or B doesn’t mean you’re doing well. All the energy you spend comparing could be better used to improve yourself. After all, comparison is the thief of joy.
Pride
Pride is a belief that you are too good for certain things. This may manifest in being unable to admit that you don’t know about certain things and need help learning them. Like drawing up a budget or saving money. Pride gets in the way of you learning what you need to learn or doing what you need to do. The thing about life is, that it will keep bringing back the lesson until you finally learn the lesson. So if you keep dealing with the same financial problem it may be down to the things you are too proud to do something about.
Easy
A belief that things will get easier or better could also be playing a part in your financial struggles. While there are such things as difficult periods in life believing that things will one day get easier or better is not the best belief to have. The ideal thing is to aim to be or do better. You will realise, particularly with finances that things don’t get easier, you just become better at dealing with them. More money problems as they say and it’s true. It’s just a different set of more complicated problems. It doesn’t get easier.
Quick fixes
Believing in quick fixes is another belief that can hold back your personal growth and we see it expressed very well in the area of finances. People will tend to rush toward anyone offering a hack, quick fix or the next big thing. All this at the expense of correcting their behaviour. It always surprises me how many thousands of people “invest” in Ponzi schemes though they barely have money to invest in a business. Believing in quick fixes tends to be costly and it also takes away power from you. Instead of getting your behaviour right, you wait for the 1 thing that never comes.
Tomorrow
While we are on the subject of quick fixes and easier days we may as well bring up the day that never comes; tomorrow. If you are constantly stuck in tomorrow you will find it difficult to change your life, especially your finances. We only have one day and that is today. If you know you should do something then today is the day to take action towards. Even if today you are just taking steps to prepare yourself then do so today. We all want to enjoy a good tomorrow but even a good tomorrow is built today.
Do you identify with any of these beliefs? Perhaps there are others you think could fit on this list? I’m always happy to read your thoughts on our discussions in the comments section.
