I’m going to be honest – being told to change your mindset is one of those things that are easier said, than done. “Change your mindset,” they said. “Get out of debt,” they said. In fact, it’s infuriating how easy and simple it sounds. Changing your perception of how you view yourself, your finances, or more broadly – the world around you, takes a lot of time and conscious thought. It took me nearly a year to “change my mindset” which often involved a lot of overcoming self-doubt and resisting the need to research for the quick way out of my financial woes.
How do I change my mindset?
To be brief, it’s all about letting go of the fears we have. You know, when I finally made the decision to take the leap and give it all I had to the cause of getting out of debt, I’m not entirely sure my mindset had 100% converted over to the concept of what needed to be done so that I could climb the mountain that stood before me.
I am, however, a lot more certain that I exhausted myself to the point of just giving into the uncertainty (or spontaneity) of leaping without looking. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to stick my landing or miss my step and fail at the one thing I wanted so badly – to be debt free.
How can I overcome my fears?
For nearly a year I tried to work out a plan that had a Plan B, a Plan C, and Plan XYZ to account for every possible outcome and give me the confidence I was desperatly searching for to know I wouldn’t fail. Sadly, after all that planning I never did find what I was looking for.
I eventually came across the realization that I could only plan for the details I had control over. Not the big what ifs that were constantly floating around my mind when I was trying to sleep. At the end of the day, or should I say year, it boiled down to this: I knew the most I could do if absolutely nothing changed. That is what I could control and could handle and if that’s all I was able to do then there would be no doubt of me being closer than I was fidgeting at the starting line with my drawing boards, protractors, and excel functions.
So that’s my advice to you – figure out what you can handle if nothing were to change. Start there. You’ll soon discover that once you’ve mastered that, you can add to it. Just – like – everything – else – in – life.
Why is changing my mindset so hard?
As cliche as that old saying goes, “they never said it was going to be easy, just worth it.” I do know this much… leaping without looking takes faith and very rarely can we get anywhere in life without a little bit of help. If you’re finding your mindset to be difficult, that’s because you’re attempting to go at it alone.
You need to find someone in your life who has the ability to bolster you up. Say the things that are difficult to hear, but need to be said so that we can shake ourselves off and say, “You’re right. I can do this!” Soon enough, you’ll find yourself vaulting over roadblocks that once felt dauntingly impossible to pass.
Express Gratitude
Changing our mindsets often require just as much rebuke as it does inspiration. In our online world, it’s easy to find sources of both to help us readjust and recommit ourselves to becoming better people and living proof that change is possible.
Once we get to where we are going, we cannot forget to turn around and say, “Thank you.” Because undoubtedly someone along our way gave us what we unknowingly needed to inspire our attitudes so that we could keep going.
