Are you mentally prepared to manage your finances?

Recently I had the opportunity to attand a session by Ron Lee the Corporate Ninja. His inspirational presentation was around how our thoughts and feelings can have a big impact on assisting us in achieving our goals.

Ron had everyone attending to do an exercise. Partnering up with the person beside us, he got one of us to hold our arm out straight and for our partner to push our arm towards the floor. The first time we did this he asked us to think about a happy time in our life (for me it was when my son was born). My partner barely got my arm to move. Ron then got us to repeat the exercise, but this time to think about a sad time in our life (when my grandparents passed away). This time my partner could push my arm down without much effort.

It was a very easy and clear message about how are thoughts, feelings and beliefs impact on what we can achieve.

Why is this important?

Let me digress for a second, I recently ran a survey asking you what you would like me to write about in these posts. Overwhelming the biggest response was around budgeting. When I talk to family, friends or clients about budgeting and their personal finances I often get responses like this:

• I don’t want anything big so I don’t need to save
• I hold a secure job and see no reason to save
• I pay my bills promptly and don’t need budget
• Getting my personal finances under control can wait
• I’m not good at math so I can’t manage my money

These are some of the misconceptions or beliefs that people have which stops them from putting a personal budget in place.

But what is a budget?

A budget is a plan to spend your money. This plan allows you to determine in advance whether you will have enough money to do the thinks that you need to do or you want to do.

Over the next few posts we will look further into these misconceptions, why you should have a budget and how to go about putting a budget together. But I hear you saying, what does this have to do with Ron Lee and our beliefs?

As Henry Ford said

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t–you’re right.”

Budgeting and managing your personal finances is all about believing that you can do it. Don’t worry I will be here to provide guidance and support along the way, but the first step is thinking a happy thought and believing that you can do it. In the next post we will debunk some misconceptions and start the process of putting your personal budget together.

In the meantime if you would like some positive messages and finance tips, check out my Facebook Page.