{"id":41252,"date":"2023-07-27T14:50:28","date_gmt":"2023-07-27T18:50:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/news\/4-habits-holding-you-back-from-living-your-best-financial-life\/"},"modified":"2023-07-27T14:50:30","modified_gmt":"2023-07-27T18:50:30","slug":"4-habits-holding-you-back-from-living-your-best-financial-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=41252","title":{"rendered":"4 Habits Holding You Back From Living Your Best Financial Life"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

When I first started my blog in 2015, my content mainly focused on paying off debt and saving money. And one of the really cool things about that was getting emails and messages from readers who would tell me things like, \u201cYour story really inspired me to pay off my student loans, and yesterday, I finally paid them off!\u201d<\/p>\n

I love<\/em> getting messages like that. I\u2019ve always tried to be the biggest cheerleader for my readers because I genuinely want nothing more than financial and life success for them. And that desire is actually why we\u2019ve switched to a make-money brand\u2014that\u2019s the most effective and fastest way to find financial success.<\/p>\n

Back to getting messages from readers, that\u2019s the kind of thing that gets me fired up about what I do. Those are people who are committed to making a change in their life, but then there are other readers who want change but aren\u2019t ready to work for it, and those are the people who I want to speak to directly in this article. It puts me in a strange position, though, because as much as I always want to be positive and motivate readers toward whatever goals they have, sometimes I have to get a little real.<\/p>\n

Now before I go in on this, I want to tell you something: success is hard. Getting ahead financially is not an easy journey, and it can take years to get ahead. After talking to thousands of people from different backgrounds and even through some of my own experiences, I feel like I have a decent perspective on the difficulties that a lot of people face financially.<\/p>\n

<\/fbs-ad><\/p>\n

So if you\u2019re someone that has been guilty of any of the things below, just understand that you aren\u2019t alone. Also, I\u2019m not attacking you. It takes time to make changes, especially if you have to break habits and make time for yourself. What I\u2019m sharing are common themes I\u2019ve seen over the years, and you may recognize some of these themes in your relationship with your financial life.<\/p>\n

Once you recognize something and realize how it\u2019s affecting your future success, you can evaluate and correct. That\u2019s what it\u2019s all about.<\/p>\n

With all of that being said, here are four habits that might be holding you back financially:<\/p>\n

1. You Don\u2019t Act (Even Though You Know What to Do)<\/h2>\n

We\u2019ve all been here at some point. You know you need to do something, but you simply don\u2019t take action\u2014and I\u2019ve been there too. And out of everything on this list, inaction is probably the one I get the most frustrated with. I see so many people that have everything it takes to get ahead, and they just don\u2019t start.<\/p>\n

Honestly, it never seems to be one specific thing that\u2019s holding them back. Sometimes it\u2019s fear, which I\u2019ll talk about shortly, but a lot of times, it\u2019s just procrastination.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll start paying more than the minimum credit card payment next month.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll save more starting next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m waiting to see what the market does before I invest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll start a side hustle when I have a little more time.\u201d<\/p>\n

While you could try to justify all of the statements above, the reality is that most people haven\u2019t yet reached the tipping point that creates action. It\u2019s not painful enough yet. You\u2019re not worried enough to get started on the journey.<\/p>\n

This lack of action happens with more than your financial life though, and it\u2019s recently been something I\u2019ve been dealing with regarding my health. Since working from home 100% of the time and having a kid, I\u2019ve progressively gotten in worse shape. I kept saying I\u2019d do something about it. I kept telling myself that I\u2019d eat better tomorrow or next month, but then I didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Eventually, I became so frustrated with my pants not fitting that I made a change and hired a fitness coach. Now I\u2019ve lost weight and feel awesome, but it took me feeling the pain of literally not fitting in my clothes to push me toward action.<\/p>\n

Looking back, I wish I had made that decision years ago. So if you\u2019re right at the edge of being frustrated enough financially that you want to make a change, but still sort of comfortable enough to keep procrastinating, go take some action today.<\/p>\n

2. You\u2019re Afraid To Make the Leap<\/h2>\n

Ah, yes. Fear. My old nemesis.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve seen email after email from readers mentioning that they\u2019re afraid to take a leap of faith. And real talk, I\u2019ve been right there before. I mean, I quit a solid teaching job to run a personal finance blog. And you can imagine how terrified I was to take that jump.<\/p>\n

There was definitely a moment before I quit when I almost stopped myself out of fear.<\/p>\n

What if I failed? What if I let my wife down? What if I lost money? What if I let myself down?<\/p>\n

But I did it. And guess what? I survived.<\/p>\n

Now, please don\u2019t take that as a green light to quit your job for a slow business model, like blogging. But you should definitely take it as a green light to step out of your comfort zone to start a side gig, attack your debt, work toward financial independence, or even take that job that you\u2019ve always wanted.<\/p>\n

What I\u2019ve learned is that people who are brave enough to make big changes in their life are usually resourceful enough to make it work once they\u2019ve put themselves on the path.<\/p>\n

At some point, you just have to believe in yourself and your abilities and go make things happen.<\/p>\n

3. You Complain or Make Excuses<\/h2>\n

Back when I was a teacher, I used to complain that teachers don\u2019t get paid enough (honestly, they don\u2019t, and I still talk about this, but that\u2019s beside the point). But I would use my salary as an excuse for why I was buried in student loans, why I\u2019d never have my dream house, why I couldn\u2019t travel as much as I wanted, and so on.<\/p>\n

Wishing for a life I didn\u2019t think was possible wouldn\u2019t lead me on a path toward a bigger house, travel, or debt freedom. And complaining about my salary wasn\u2019t going to increase my income. I had to take action if I wanted any of those things.<\/p>\n

Complaining and excuses go hand in hand, and neither are helpful when it comes to making a real change in your life. Complaining about where you are financially is just ineffective. This might sound harsh, but very few people care when you complain about your finances, and I believe that\u2019s because most people are concerned about their own financial situation. They barely have the energy to focus on their own finances, let alone yours.<\/p>\n

Excuses are even worse because you\u2019re just lying to yourself. And again just as a disclaimer: these are all things I\u2019ve done before, especially when I was buried in student loans on a teaching salary.<\/p>\n

Nothing really changed for me until I decided to stop talking about that and took some action. Nobody forced me to be a teacher, and nobody really forced me to take out loans for college. I knew how much teachers made before I took the gig.<\/p>\n

I put myself there, so I had to figure out how to turn things around.<\/p>\n

4. You\u2019re Settling for the Life You Have Instead of the Life You Want<\/h2>\n

I\u2019ve actually had readers directly ask me if I think that they are destined for greatness. There are a lot of people who don\u2019t believe in themselves enough to create the life they really want, and I truly wish that more people believed that anything is possible.<\/p>\n

But then when I look around at a lot of the messaging out there in the world, I get it. The world can be a mean place\u2014I\u2019ve had people tell me directly how little I would accomplish. Co-workers told me that I\u2019d never make it with M$M, people tell me I couldn\u2019t pay off my student loans as fast I wanted to, and even people now who hope my next big project flops so that they can watch me fail.<\/p>\n

It seems like everywhere you look, someone is telling you that you can\u2019t make it or that you\u2019re not good enough to do what you want to do in life.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m here to tell you that\u2019s all bogus. Everyone has potential. Everyone can be special at something.<\/p>\n

The only way you can get there is by tuning out the noise, hustling hard, surrounding yourself with people who will root for you instead of tearing you down, and understanding that success for you isn\u2019t the same as success for someone else.<\/p>\n

And you also have to try new things and expose yourself to the possibility that you\u2019ll fail a few times along the way. My trajectory with this site and my personal finance journey hasn\u2019t been squeaky clean. I\u2019ve had bumps and bruises along the way. But I\u2019m not afraid to try things and see what happens, and you shouldn\u2019t be either.<\/p>\n

So please, don\u2019t settle for your current situation. If you want to go do something in life, you need to try it\u2014everything from paying off credit card debt, starting a side hustle, reaching for financial independence, retiring early, starting a business, etc.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the point in all of this if you don\u2019t, right?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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