The goal
Being able to spend more time with yourself and enjoy your own company! To reach this lofty goal, we need a massive mindset booster—new thoughts strategies that will push us upward and propel us into another orbit.
In this season of reflections on the past year and projections for the upcoming year, we sometimes jump into planning too rapidly. The focus turns to numbers, notes, spreadsheets, receipts— things that drain the brain. But today, let’s stop and pull off to the side of the road, taking time for a much-needed mindset booster, that will promote deep thinking and bring meaningful enjoyment to life’s processes. These tips may not all resonate with you immediately, but only one is needed to begin the mindset boost. Check theses out.
Mindset Booster One
Start with a month-by-month assessment of the year just past. Pull out a calendar and remind yourself of the progress that has brought you to “today”. Grab the positive and pull it forward into the now! Scoop out the goodness buried under the stash of drama and chaos, polish it up and put it on display in today’s trophy case of memories. Some of these are cornerstones of who you are and who you’re becoming. These are your spiritual, emotional, relational, and financial medals of honor.
Let me share one of mine as an example. In June, I made a trip to Cincinnati, Ohio with two of my sisters. There we reconnected with other siblings, nieces and nephews. We celebrated a wedding but most notably, sat down with our family to create and implement exciting financial plans for everyone. In the pursuing months, we re-visited and celebrated individual learnings and earnings – a major upgrade of financial literacy and family legacy.
Mindset Booster Two
Look back on how much of an idiot you were last year! That’s right, think about the dumbest moves you made then, and you will appreciate the wiser person you are right. The word “idiot” is actually derived from the same root word as “idiosyncrasy”. Sometimes your unique, distinct individuality is put on full display when you’re in idiot mode. We all benefit from remembering that last year’s idiot was brilliant enough to land us where we are today! Many of those dumb money decisions have positioned us for better future decisions, which will result in great future success.
Mindset Booster Three
Assess the friendships you cultivated last year. Consider new ones acquired and one or two old ones that were kicked to the curb! We don’t get to choose our relatives, but friendships are a deliberate choice. There are friends for a season, friends for a reason and friends that last a lifetime. Holding onto friendships after the “season” or the “reason” has expired is an energy drain.
Wealth building endeavors will inevitably create a circle of wealth building friends. Knowing that I cannot get to my destination without the help, support, influence and companionship of like-minded people, I was quite intentional in expanding my base of friends last year, choosing those who were in active pursuit of financial freedom – just like me. In short order, many new friends became like family. Other relationships that were misaligned with my values were set aside – not forever, but just until I develop the strength to bring them into the fold without endangering my own progress. I must become a skillful, strong swimmer in order to rescue those who are drowning financially. So, my priority is to gain strength through association with strong friends and then return to help others.
Mindset Booster Four
Pinpoint the biggest resource wasters of last year, clearly identifying expenditures of time, effort and emotion that literally went nowhere. Admit to these errors. Pause and start fresh with newly available information. Address the “sunken cost fallacy”—a syndrome which causes us to cling tenaciously to bad decisions, even if walking away is clearly the best option. Be clear headed and decisive when it’s time to move on.
For me, this step meant addressing the rapid loss of value in my bank savings accounts. The 1% annual returns were being eaten away by 8% or so annual inflation. As I was literally saving myself into poverty, I moved to innovative, newer products that pay handsome rewards.
Mindset Booster Five
Identify at least one negative thing you stopped doing last year. Write it down and draw a big, red X through it. Then identify another. Celebrate these victories and resolve to increase productivity by engaging in more positive actions and removing toxicity. Make a list of those you’ve targeted, then rid yourself of one bad habit after the another until nothing remains to restrict forward progress.
Mindset Booster Six
Make note of the unpredictable good. Many good things were earned through hard work. But some great stuff simply fell into your lap. The universe enjoys rewarding us randomly. Life is unpredictably amazing when we chose to see and acknowledge the randomness of good things.
Mindset Booster Seven
Things have a way of figuring themselves out if you trust the process and trust yourself. In this time of fast paced change, we don’t need to know the full plan to get started in something new. We are simply required to put things in motion, monitor, guide and watch in wonder as they work themselves out. We will never have all the answers at the onset of a new project. In fact, waiting to get full information often result in missing the opportunity. Timing is everything, and the early bird really does get the worm! Just dip a toe in the water and start. “Figure-out-ability” is a skill that can be acquired and utilized to our advantage.
Grabbing even one of these mindset boosters and putting it to immediate use will unleash power and fulfillment in your life this year. So – let’s go!
