Mind, Body and Soul (Part 2)

You've had the day to write whatever was in your heart, your mind, whatever your soul told you to write about.  It's probably very lengthy.  For some of you this is the first time you've written anything in a good long while.  For some others it was probably emotional, and caused a whole heap of things to flood over you.  For some others it was probably the hardest thing you've done in a while. 

To all of you that did this - good for you.  I hope you saved it, because today you'll need it.

Exercise Continued:

4.  Re-read what you wrote.  Pay attention to what you wrote, the words you used, the emotion you feel now and that which comes through the words. Use a highlighter if it helps.
5.  Now turn over your goal page.  Read your goals and look over your writings again.  Do they jive?  Do they seem like they jive?  Are they on opposite ends?
6.  Now turn over your spending tracking.  Do this match you goals?  Does it jive with your writings?  Is it different again? 

Who said no to any of these steps?

Here's the thing.  You want a goal of being out of debt right?  How many times did you eat out on your credit card this week?  How many categories are you over budget in?  What did you spend your money on? 

So, tough question....  Do your goals match your actions?  Do they match what's in your heart?  Do they match with what you wrote about and what you did?


It's ok if they don't.  Do not panic, get mad, cry or any of those things.  It means that your head, and your heart aren't together. 

I can hear a bunch of you right now...so what do we do about it?


That very obvious, very personal question is the very reason you're still spinning wheels, and feeling like you aren't making progress.  Here's the kicker.  I can give you a bunch of things you really should do to figure this out.  I can tell you what I would do.  But I'm not you.  So I'll ask you each to think about this question again.

What are YOU going to do about?


The planners will write down everything they think they can talk themselves into doing.  The planners will decide they'll go and do [fill in some other, more fun, less tough, less thinking activity here].  The planners will think to themselves, "well I'll just have to change the behaviour!" Even though they haven't changed it and they've been trying for months or even years. 

To them I say - WHAT BEHAVIOUR?  How can you possibly do something now, that you've never been able to do in your [number of years since you turned 8] years on this planet so far??  Which behaviour are you changing?  ALL OF THEM some of you will shout! 

Ya right, I say!  Ya right you'll change all of them!  That will last all of one hour and you'll be unconsciously doing all of them again without even realizing it!  [Does it feel like I'm sitting in front of you watching and listening to you right now?]  I am (muahahahahah!!)


Seriously though.  The planners will continue to think out loud or write down lists or or or...

The executors will simply start showing by example.  They will know which behaviour to begin with first, because they've already spent the time identifying not only the behaviour behind the action, but also the motivation for the behaviour and the reason it needs to change.  They will start now, and be mindful of it.  They will make conscious, measured changes to bring themselves from this to someplace that meets their goal.  And they will know that it takes consious, daily effort, continued progress and constant testing and refinement.  

The executors will be able to pinpoint the one activity they need to change.  The one behaviour they need to change and set about doing it.  More than that, they'll understand the reason behind the reason for WHY they do this and move towards the spot they really want to be at. 

Wanna be debt free, but you eat out 2 or 3 meals everyday and can't understand where your money is going?  You want to tame your food budget, so you cut it back, and cut out the fun and for 2 weeks things go well, then someone invites you out for dinner.  You go, have a great time, and tomorrow you do dinner and lunch.  the next day you grab lunch, dinner, and drinks after.  Then 3 weeks go by and you've learned you are right back where you decided you didn't want to be.

Why not try it the other way?  Stock snacks at home.  You won't eat there anyways!  Then use your grocery money as restaurant money.  You are happy, you still only have one line item to worry about and you can make cheaper choices with your foods.  The home doesn't have more than a few snacks in it, you still eat out, which is something clearly you enjoy and you've taken care of the food line in a way that both works for your life and your budget. 

So, now that you've taken the steps to figure out what it is you really want, you can modify your budget and life accordingly. 

Have a look at things.  Figure out and learn some things about yourself you didn't know, and now you've got the picture to start to move yourself towards what you really want, and making the necessary tweaks along the way.

Mind, Body and Soul (Part 1)

This past month I've been going through some pretty deep topics and how they relate to you and your finances.  I thought today I'd speak about the three parts of our being.

Mind, Body, Soul.

These are three key areas of your life.  On my financial journey, I've learned that each of these parts moves in it's own way, marches to it's own drum, and the parts aren't always in time, in tempo or in harmony. 

In order to reach your goal, you have to get them marching together, beating harmoniously and making beautiful music together.  How on earth do we do that? 
[I can hear you all now!]

First, I've learned that to get to where you want financially, or in any aspect of life, you need to take a hard, honest look at things.  For example, let's do an exercise!

1.  Get your goal list. (put it in a pile)
2.  Get your spending tracker. (put it in the same pile)
3.  Spend an hour writing down how you feel about your finances, your life, your mood lately, your dreams and how you feel right now! (write and write and write until you've gotten everything out.  DO NOT CENSOR YOURSELF!)

I'll wait while you write...





Keep writing....



Seriously go write...I've moved the rest of this post until tomorrow so you'll have to write today.