Eliminate Limiting Financial Beliefs
What are 'limiting beliefs' in terms of creating wealth?
Here's what can happen: In the six-day financial makeover, day number 1 is getting the most from life. That's where we come up with the life zones and figure out what it is you want to own, accomplish and be. You're thinking big; you're coming up with all these great, crazy ideas like, "I'm going to transform my financial life" and "I'm going to do all these cool things." Then, all of the sudden, you hear that voice, that inner voice saying, "You can't do that. You can't achieve that. You're never, ever going to have this much in your investment account." It's that inner voice that can be our worst enemy. I think sometimes it can really undermine our own success and limiting beliefs really do just that. It's like having quicksand for our goals. It just stops you in your tracks. These beliefs, these thoughts, these things in our heads that just tell us, "You know what? You can't do it. Don't even start. Don't even bother." Those are yucky limiting financial beliefs. They're horrible. They're terrible. We've got to find a way to identify what those limiting beliefs are and then come up with strategies to avoid them or to deal with them.
What are the most common beliefs that limit financial success?
There are a couple of limiting beliefs that are probably most common. I'm sure there are thousands out there, but I think I've identified a handful that people will probably, and unfortunately, identify with. One of the limiting beliefs is, "No matter what I do, I just can't get ahead. Regardless of what I do today, it's not going to have any impact on tomorrow." That's clearly a limiting belief. Some others are: "Small actions, small changes, never, ever produce anything worthwhile, never produce anything big." That's a limiting belief, and we can talk about that a little bit in a moment. Some might call limiting beliefs excuses, and maybe they are, but they certainly can be limiting beliefs in that you may think, "If I'm financially successful, I'm not going to have any time with my friends, my kids, my hobbies. I'm just going to be working so much that I'm not going to have any time for anybody else." Clearly, if you have that kind of limiting belief, who's going to want to be financially successful if that's what you think financial success is all about? I hear this one all time : "The rich people, they've had to claw their way to the top. They lie, they cheat, they steal, they abuse. I don't want to be rich because I don't want to be like them." Clearly, no-one wants to lie, cheat, and steal to get their way to the top. That's an excuse. There are many, many, many people out there that are really successful, and guess what? They're not crooked. They're not liars. They're not scumbags. They're actually really, really good people. That limiting belief is just an excuse.
How can I counteract the belief that I can't get ahead financially?
The limiting belief that you can't get ahead financially is really just debilitating. It causes you to take action, basically. There is a concept in psychology called learned helplessness and, an example of that is: if you've ever been to the zoo, you've probably seen the elephant. If you've seen the elephant, you may have noticed how they're secured. It's really, really strange how these huge, huge elephants - some of them weigh thirteen, fourteen thousand pounds - you would think that they would have these huge chains around their legs or around their necks, but they don't. They're actually secured by a thin, little rope around their legs. You've got to ask yourself this: How is that possible? How are these huge elephants not able to just walk away? It's learned helplessness. When they were baby elephants, they had these huge chains around their legs and as a baby they were struggling, trying to get free, trying to break out, but they couldn't. The chains were too big for them. They learned that, if there's something around their leg, they can't get away. As they grow up, the zookeepers replace the big chains with thin rope and the elephant doesn't know any better. Unfortunately, this is how we get a mindset that a we just can't get ahead. "Regardless of what I do, regardless of where I am, I'm just kind of stuck. I can't get ahead." So, how do we counteract that? Well, the first thing is that huge fantastic goal. Set them across all of your life zones. What that does is it starts to get you to think a little bit differently. Rather than, "My life is just going to be like this forever, I can't do anything about it," all of a sudden, you start thinking, "I'd really like to do this. I'd really like to achieve that." Just by doing that exercise, your mind starts thinking differently. You think about what can happen, what is possible, rather than, "I can't do anything."
How can I counteract the belief that getting by is good enough?
The limiting belief that getting by is good enough is a really common one. It used to be that just surviving was good enough - if you go back a hundred years - just feeding yourself and feeding your family was a huge success. That was your goal, that it's just to live and not to die and be able to feed yourself. But times have changed. It's a little bit easier just to get by and it's very easy to give in to the - it's almost a rut - habit of being complacent, but it's not real happiness, it's just kind of existing. The belief that, "You know what? I can have a better life. What I have now is great" - and I think that it's really important to know and be grateful for what you have, but it's also really nice to be able to think bigger, and to figure out, "My life is good, but how do I make it great?" By setting really big goals and setting a lot of goals, you start that process where you're thinking, "This is good, but I'm looking at what could be better." That's really cool to see.
How can I counteract the belief that small actions cannot produce wealth?
I see this limiting belief all the time, that small actions can't ever produce big wealth. That's a limiting belief, and it's 100% wrong. Small actions can produce huge, huge results. There's a great example of how small actions, small savings, can actually generate huge, huge, rewards. Jack and Sue are brother and sister. Jack is this know-it-all kind of guy, and he's making a lot of money. But what he didn't do is start saving early. He decided, "I'm making all kinds of money, I'm just going to spend it, and when I get older, because I'm making so much, I'll just start saving then." Sue, on the other hand, didn't make a whole lot, but she decided very early on that she was going to start saving from her first job. When she turned 21, she graduated college and started working, and she started putting away just a little bit every single month. She started off at $50 a month, not that much, and then after a few years it turned into $100, then after a couple more years, it was $200. The point is that, with whatever she could, she just started saving little-by-little-by-little. She started early, aged 21. Guess what? At the end of the day, she had amassed twice as much money as her brother Jack. Here's the interesting part: she was out of pocket and only contributed less then half what he did. He started later, put in over twice as much as she did, and ended up with half as much as she did. The bottom line is to start saving early, start even if you think it's a tiny, insignificant amount, and at the end of the road, when you want to retire, you will be amazed and shocked at how much is in the account.
How can I counteract the belief that being wealthy requires me to do nothing but work?
Financial independence, if you remember, is the ability to afford the lifestyle you desire without having to work. That's really what the goal of all of this is about. Financial independence is being able to have the lifestyle you desire, which might mean spending time with your family, golfing, or taking family trips places without having to work. The idea that you're just going to be a slave to the man if you want to be rich is not the case. The goal is financial independence. That means, by definition, that you'll have time to do anything you want without having to work.
How can I counteract the belief that one must take advantage of others to be wealthy?
The belief that to be successful you have to just walk over people - you have to lie, cheat, steal, do whatever it takes, at all costs - is a limiting belief. That's an excuse. How can you counteract that limiting belief? One of the best ways is to stop reading the newspaper because, unfortunately, in the newspaper, all they talk about are the crooks and the crimes, and all the bad people taking advantage of others. What you can do is start reading biographies or autobiographies, or start listening to books on tape about people who have succeeded, who are really well off, financially successful, who have actually done really good things for others. That will drive home the point that you can be financially successful and still do good at the same time.
How can I counteract the belief that I'm not smart enough to be wealthy?
One of the best ways to counteract the limiting belief that you're just not smart enough to be wealthy is, again, to take a look at some autobiographies and biographies that have been written about others. People that are really successful, you'll find that they share one thing. It's not that they're smart, it's not that they had great parents, it's not that they went to the best schools; it's that they all came from diverse backgrounds. Everybody is different. You have people born with silver spoons and plastic spoons who are both super successful. People who had really supportive parents, and others who had no parents - still really successful. Some graduated from Harvard, others just didn't graduate from high school. That stuff doesn't matter. You can be financially successful regardless of your past, regardless of how smart you think you are, you absolutely can do it.
How can I counteract the belief that becoming wealthy should be easy?
The belief that becoming wealthy or being financially successful should be easy - "I should just play the lottery and win" - if you have that limiting belief, you're not going to take action. There was a very, very famous book written many years ago called, 'Think and Grow Rich.' I think that Napoleon Hill, who wrote it, was half right. You have to think, but then you also have to act. Action is what creates success. You think about it, create that vision that we talked about, and then you have to follow that thinking up with, "Here's what I'm going to do today to get me closer to my dreams tomorrow." It's not easy, it's tough, but who says it's supposed to be easy? But it will be fun; that's the one thing, that it will be fun. The process, the end result, will definitely be worth it.
What are the elements of a successful, wealth-building attitude?
There are about thirteen elements that I have identified that most successful people share - either most or all of these. The first one is that you have a strong feeling that you can influence your future. By that I mean believing that your actions today will absolutely create results tomorrow. The second one is that you desire more out of life, that you're grateful for what you have, but that you're not just content to live a life of mediocrity. The third element of a successful wealth-building attitude is having a "Why not?” attitude. That just means believing anything is possible. Most financially successful people have not the “Why?” attitude, but the “Why not? Let's do it. Let's give it a shot” attitude. The fourth element to limiting financial beliefs is enjoying personal challenge. This just means constantly challenging yourself. Don't think that you deserve anything but believe that through working hard, you'll get what you want. The fifth element in the financial success attitude is just this constant desire to learn and to improve and to better yourself through audio programs, websites, books; just this desire to know more and to do more. The sixth is to live a balanced life. I think we've all known people who may appear to be financially successful but they're struggling at home or they're struggling with their weight. Really successful people have a balanced life across all of their life zones. The seventh element to a successful wealth-building attitude is optimism; being really optimistic, having the attitude that “Things can happen that are good," and not just focusing on the setbacks of the negatives. The eighth is a huge one. This is absolutely key. It is being action-oriented. You will never, ever meet anyone who is financially successful or successful in any regard who is not action-oriented. Basically, someone who is action-oriented is always moving ahead, always looking at ways to improve and always taking that next step. Number nine on the list of successful financial attitudes is being willing to take risks. That's really important, because if you're not taking risks, you're not challenging yourself enough. Financially successful people have got to take risks and be resilient. You will have setbacks. If you're challenging yourself and taking those risks, you will have setbacks. But be persistent. Be willing to delay gratification. This is actually a big one, because I think with easy credit, everyone's getting credit cards and it's just so easy to say, “I really want that new stereo system” or, “I want that new car." If you do that and you're not able to save and delay your gratification, it means that you're just spending everything today, with no kind of regard for tomorrow. It's really important to delay the gratification. Financially successful people - most of them are really focused. They know what they want and they go after it.
