I Changed My Mind About Money & Made More Instantly
A Mindset Shift From Wishy-Washy to Laser-Focused Specificity
Are you happy financially? It’s my sincere hope that you are, but just in case you clicked on this article because you, like me, feel a certain kind of way about the number of zeroes in your bank account and want to see it grow — NOW, let me tell you about the mindset shifts that are leading to an instantaneous increase in income.
It starts with specificity.
Are You Setting Goals?
And I mean VERY specific ones. This was a very familiar practice for me as a self-described woo-woo person. Give me all the dream boards! The tarot cards! The goal-setting planners! The Abundance Candles!
I had a goal to make more money and live a fabulously carefree life. I would pin my favorite things on Pinterest, dream up my perfect home, and fantasize about my ideal life. A lot of the time, I’d write these things down as broad concepts and open-minded goals.
I didn’t want to worry about “The How” — so my goals were broad and vague.
This is all fine and good. Truthfully, most people don’t even bother to write down or conceive their goals, to begin with. Plus, I was told repeatedly that that was all I needed to do to be successful and to achieve my desires — write them down.
I was missing a key component to making my dreams and goals a reality: Specificity.
How Specificity Increases Your Chance of Success
It’s not enough to declare to yourself, your notebook, or the powers that be (whatever they are to you) that you want to:
- Make money
- Live in a nice house
- Travel more
- Get in shape
While those are great concepts to start from, that’s all they are — concepts. They’re too broad, and my idea of “pay off my student loans” and “monetize my artistic endeavors” really fell short of the manifestation mark.
I needed to dive deeper and get more specific. Instead of saying “I want to make money,” I needed to articulate the amount. I needed to set that monetary goal. Is it $100? Is it $1,000? One million? All I needed to do was decide and declare.
Determine What Money Means to You
Yep, we’re diving deeper. A specific amount of money is fine and dandy, but what would that money or the state of being a wealthy person mean to me?
This is taken right out of my money journal (yep, I have a journal specifically for money now, see where I’m going with this?:
To me, being wealthy means having the ability to focus on delivering an impeccable performance as a performer and artist, without having to come home to chores like cleaning, cooking, or grocery shopping. I would have an assistant and housekeeper attending to these activities, as well as making reservations, planning travel, shopping for clothes, and whatever else I would need to offload to focus on work.
Being wealthy also means the ability to travel in comfort wherever I want to in the world, preserving my energy to be present and fully enjoy the places I visit.
I want to:
- Eat pizza in Italy
- Spend fall in London and visit Leavesden Studios — home of the Harry Potter film franchise
- Take a winter holiday in Hawaii
- Make friends with a kangaroo in Australia
- Take in the glaciers of Alaska
- Kiss my husband by the Eiffel Tower in Paris
See how laser-focused and detailed that is compared to “be wealthy,” or “become a Millionaire?” And those are just two examples of just how I attached personal meaning t“being wealthy.”
Forgiveness with Specificity
Yes, forgiveness.
I have money blocks. I have money fears. I have judgments I wage upon wealthy people, the poor, and myself.
It was time for me to forgive and forget them ALL.
If you’re a human being on this planet, chances are your life hasn’t been perfect. You may have grown up poor as I did, or perhaps you were born into wealth. And perhaps you may have been told things that weren’t true, like how you’re “just like” your irresponsible father or your miserly mother. Maybe you’ve been called cheap, or stingy. Maybe you were shamed for purchasing items that fell under Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in the physiological or safety categories: Food, Water, Shelter, Clothing, Safety, Financial Security.
Chances are, at some point, someone told you a fear-based bit of nonsense that altered your perception of what it means to accrue wealth.
It’s time to forgive them, and this may not be a one time endeavor. It might be a daily practice of writing them down and releasing them. Even telling the items on your list that you love them, and that you’re grateful for what they have taught you.
This is a practice that money guru Denise Duffield-Thomas recommends in her book: Get Rich Lucky Bitch, which I am currently reading.
When I wrote my list of money beliefs and blocks, and memories that activated me emotionally, that was hard. Forgiving them was a mixed bag — some of them were much easier to forgive and release than others. Some will require a daily commitment. And that’s okay.
I got very specific about these money blocks and memories while my list.
Here are a few examples:
- A family member, in an effort to get me to lose weight as a chubby child, bribed me by saying “if you lose 10lbs, I’ll give you $50.” Along with body image issues later on in life, this connected to seeing myself as only “worthy” of abundance if I looked a particular way.
- My mom insisted that I would never be able to make a living wage as an artist and was vehemently against my pursuit of a creative career unless it was by her definition of practicality — this came from her fear and experience of living in poverty. This inspires the belief that I’m somehow unworthy of making money creatively, even though my skill set and experience beg to differ.
- A family member who offered to pay for a portion of my wedding wanted the event to go according to their taste, rather than that of my spouse or my own. Their reasoning, charged with a desire for compliance and a feeling of inclusivity, was that “If [they’re] paying for it, then why do [I ]care?” This, as well as other memories, contributed to my feeling of not having agency over my decisions if I was not the one footing the bill.
And the list goes on… for a while. Mine is incredibly specific and is updated routinely as my memory pays me a visit.
When I released these memories and the emotions attached, I felt almost nauseated during the process, but then experienced a feeling of lightness afterward. Getting specific on what I needed to release and who I needed to forgive (including myself) was powerful.
Appreciating Every Penny
Another tactic of Denise Duffield-Thomas. She recommends that you track every single penny that enters into your life, whether it’s your salary or a nickel on the sidewalk.
When I counted all of my spare change and moved it from a plastic baggie to an actual piggy bank, it felt good. And then, whether it was by coincidence or not (I happen to believe it’s my newfound alignment with the Universe), I began receiving more money — a birthday gift of cash, an unexpected deposit, more earnings on my other Medium articles. It was all adding up.
What you appreciate, appreciates.
In Summary, Clarity is Key
It makes complete sense to me how specificity is making me some more money and is also helping me feel more aligned. It’s like I’ve changed the radio station and my frequency is emitting signals of abundance and opportunity.
Clarity and specificity can improve a lot of situations — misunderstandings in relationships, at work, communicating with your server at a restaurant, completing a task on time, your grade on a school paper, and overall, just letting people (or The Universe) know where you stand.
Being specific is the key to building wealth. Wealth in your relationships, wealth in your attitude, and wealth in your bank account.
