“The slightest adjustments to your daily routines can dramatically alter the outcomes in your life.” – Darren Hardy
It comes as no surprise and it’s obviously safe to say that all individuals have habits! Most often, habits tend to be recognized as being bad, but as you know habits can also be good. Regardless of whether they’re good or bad, they’re always at work. A habit is defined as a recurrent, often subconscious pattern of behavior that’s obtained through frequent repetition.
To put it simply, it’s repeatedly performing the very same things over and over again without thinking about it. Like nail biting or snacking on food for example. Just like those habits, over spending your money can also fall into that subconscious pattern of behavior. Unfortunately, that type of subconscious pattern of behavior will leave you living paycheck to paycheck.
How to Gain Financial Self Control
If you’re going to get away from living paycheck to paycheck, the very first thing you have to do is analyze yourself. Just like a doctor would look at an X-ray to be able to find things that aren’t visible from the outside, you also have to take a psychological X-ray of your mind. And your ideas to examine and diagnose the root of your bad money habits.
It’s only until you do that, that you’ll be able to have self-control when it comes to your finances. Like any other types of habits, bad habits can be broken, and new, good habits can be formed. It won’t happen overnight, but the first step is to recognize your money habits that need to change. Then you can start to put good money habits to work for you.
“Money, like emotions, is something you must control to keep your life on the right track.” – Natasha Munson
Believe it or not, much of your money habits are affected by outside influences, like the media, television, radio, newspapers, magazines, etc. Each year, companies spend billions of dollars in advertising and marketing. All for the sake of getting you to spend your money to buy their latest and greatest product or service RIGHT NOW!
By continuing to be influenced this way, you subconsciously form and create bad financial habits. Even friends, family, co-workers and the general public may have an influence over you based on your perception of having to “keep up with the Jones’”. Trying to keep up with the perceived lifestyle of other people just to fit in or to make yourself feel better is a sure way to financial disaster.
This is where it is so important to recognize and practice self control with regards to your finances. You need to begin to develop the habit of restraining your own thoughts. Pay attention to the way others attempt to convince you about what you need or want. And just as importantly, you need to pay attention to how you try to convince yourself about your needs and wants.
If it’s something you need, you have to ask yourself…do you really need it now? If it’s something you want…do you have the money set aside to get it now or will you have to save up before you can buy it? Those are honest questions you’ll need to ask yourself even when the answers aren’t always easy to admit. But by answering honestly, you can develop the habits you need for financial success.
“Both poverty and riches are the offspring of thought.” – Napoleon Hill
We all have different habits, which include money habits. There are good money habits and bad money habits. Just like any habit, bad money habits are hard to break. But if you really want more out of life, the first thing you have do is make a change. And the change starts within yourself, with what and how you think about spending your money.
At first it will take a much more conscious effort to exercise self control by catching and examining your thoughts before making a purchase. Are you making the purchase because you just want to have it or do you really need it? Or does spending money just make you feel good? Analyzing the thoughts behind your spending is the first step to developing new money habits.
With consistent practice and application of your thoughts and actions, self control will become easier as you find yourself forming those new habits. When it comes to spending and saving money, self control is vital. It’s that practice and application of examining your thoughts and asking yourself about what you really need and want that will set you up for financial success.
That’s the power of having self control when dealing with your finances! And regardless of what is going on around you, that power is within you ready to be used. It’s your choice, IF and HOW you want to use it! Having self control is the basis for any type of success and when it comes to your spending habits, you won’t achieve financial freedom without it.
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