How Much Is This Costing You?

“I don’t want to.”

I hear this one from my kids a lot. But if I’m honest, I hear it in my own brain a lot too.

Clean the house, cook instead of stopping for takeout, quit scrolling, make that phone call… my brain whines back, “I don’t want to!”

When it comes to managing money, we also hear this chorus of mental revolts.

Look into that insurance? Don’t want to.

Wear what you already have? But I deserve new.

Skip the expensive dinner with friends? I shouldn’t have to miss out.

Every decision we face throughout a day, a week, a life comes with some kind of mental dialogue to justify doing what we want.

Therefore, making responsible decisions aligned with our core values and long-term goals requires higher level awareness of that dialogue.

I don’t want to. I’ll do it later. I work hard so I deserve it. I don’t know what I’m doing. I just can’t today. I’ll start on Monday. I’m not good at budgeting. There’s no way to solve this. I give up.

How often are thoughts and excuses like these sabotaging your financial goals?

How much are simple thoughts actually costing you, literally and figuratively, in life?

The trickiest part about managing your thoughts about spending, savings, and avoiding annoying financial tasks is that these thoughts are often true.

It may be true that we work hard and deserve to say yes to splurges here and there.

For example, it is likely true that you work hard and deserve a nice dinner out as much as the next person. But if you’re running tight on cashflow and your goal is to pay off credit card debt once and for all, a nice dinner out is not necessarily aligned with the reality you’re trying to create – even if it’s completely true that you work hard and deserve it.

Maybe it’s true that you’ve made plenty of money mistakes in the past, used poor judgement, or whatever else. Just because that is objectively true doesn’t mean you are now and forever “bad” with money and can’t learn new habits and money management skills.

But just because a thought is true doesn’t mean it’s helpful.

The trick is to replace these excuses and thought traps with useful mental dialogue.

Like, yes, I work hard and deserve a nice dinner out… but I deserve to reach my goal and be free from expensive debt even more.

I’ve made plenty of financial mistakes in the past… but I’m ready to learn and grow from that experience.

I don’t want to… but I’ll feel relieved/proud/happy when I spend just 10 minutes on it anyway.

These thought modifications acknowledge what is true, but also empower you to do better.

They are the difference between staying stuck and persisting steadily towards your most important priorities and goals.