Unlock Better Money Habits With This Metaphor
Unlock Better Money Habits With This Metaphor
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What does an ideal career break look like to you? Is it a time of rest? Diving deep into your hobbies? A time of reinvention? Having the mental time and space to look after a loved one? However you envision it, you're more likely to enjoy your career break instead of feeling chronically anxious in the midst of it, if you have prepared for it in advance.
To be financially prepared for your career break, the first step that you need to do is to figure out how much your current expenses are. But what do you do if you feel a resistance to even looking at how much you spend? Do you avoid digging deep into how much your expenses are?
If so, I got you. Your career break bestie has a way of thinking about money that might put you more at ease when looking into your expenses.
On my first career break, when I quit my job without having another job lined up, I only had this vague notion that I wanted to travel. I didn’t quite have an idea where I'll be going, or how much the travels will cost. Unsurprisingly, I was gripped by money anxieties throughout it all. I went back to full-time work prematurely before I was ready to.
Learning from mistakes is part of the Thrive Test Drive method, where you design life experiments, and constantly tweak strategies to arrive at your desired outcomes.
Refining my career break strategies allowed me to arrive at this juncture where I had planned in advance for my lifestyle to be supported by assets, so that I can enjoy the career break without the pressure of going back to work.
How did I get here? First, we’ll have to overcome the avoidance of money.
For some of you, you have your financial numbers at your fingertips.
For others, you might be hesitant in finding out your numbers. It is not surprising how we landed here. One of the drawbacks of having a steady paycheck from a 9-to-5 job, is that it insulates us from having to know how much we are spending. As long as we keep our jobs, next month’s paycheck will roll in again to support our expenses. But you don't have to feel guilt or shame if that’s where you are at, because we all start somewhere.
We can start today. Now I want to share with you a mind hack, to make yourself more comfortable in your relationship with your money.
How we see money affects our relationship with it. For those of you who are avoiding the issue of money, or how much you've been spending, you might have developed an association with money in the past that might not be serving you today.
One of the participants in my personal finance workshops shared her metaphor of money as dates who always eventually ghost her. For her, money is something that is impermanent and constantly disappears. If you have a painful association with money, it makes sense that you avoid it, and don't want to track how much goes in and out of your life.
How about trying on a more empowering metaphor? In a previous video, I offered the metaphor of money as employees who help me create the life I envisioned. I think of money as something that serves to take care of me and my loved ones, and in return, I want to take care of my money.
I want to offer another metaphor that would 10x the positive emotions you get in your relationship with money.
Ready? Here goes.
I would like to invite you to think of MONEY AS YOUR DIE-HARD FANS. Yes, your fans who would like you to have whatever it is in life that you want. Your fans who are there to support you.
This metaphor was inspired by one of the concerts I went to. It was truly amazing to see so many fans turn up for this entertainer, and how electrifying it felt to be there. Having an experience where so many fans congregating from around the region in the stadium was exhilarating. Everyone was pumped up. It was such a thrill.
This is exactly how I would like to invite you to think about your money as you are tallying up your expenses. I want you to bring all your fans together into the stadium. In money-speak, gather your expenses in one place - your expense sheet.
Instead of the usual dread or guilt thinking about the money spent, feel the rush of gratitude at what money got for you. Think of fans in a stadium, and feel the positive energy. Know that this amount of money was happy to have been spent by you, to allow you to have what you wanted. They are your fans. No judgment!
You can always decide what you want to do differently next time, now that you have taken a look at your expenses and evaluated what that got you. Perhaps next time you want to see a smaller number on your expenses sheet, and allocate money across different venues differently. That might mean you want less fans in the Spending Stadium, and more in the Investment Stadium or Savings Stadium. Remember that you have agency, and you are not a victim of your past spending habits.
Another reason why it is important to gather our expenses in one place for tracking is because money exits via various channels. You might be able to easily track the money spent on your credit card because you get a notification, but what about via other channels? It could be cash removed from our physical wallet. Money could leave through our debit or credit cards. Payment services like Venmo or PayNow are intermediaries for money to depart through our mobile phone, or even make their way out via our digital wallets. Tracking how money is exchanged through these different streams collectively will help you to estimate your expenses better.
I can empathize with why you might avoid wanting to know how much you are spending. You might be thinking, “I don't want to feel the guilt that comes with knowing that I didn't manage my money well that month.” There might be anxieties around overspending. Perhaps you already feel so overwhelmed, and collating how much money you spend seems so time-consuming.
Confronting financial realities can be intimidating. I get it. And the good news is, overcoming that barrier will mean that you will be rewarded with being able to create a well-designed career break that you would love and enjoy.
Gathering your expenses over the last month, or over the last year, is the first step. And that first step is the most courageous step.
I hope the metaphor of money as your fans is a start for you to find your own metaphor. Approaching your money matters in a more positive way aids in your planning for a well-designed career break. Here are more examples of empowering money metaphors:
"Think of money as a reliable ally who supports your goals and ambitions. How can you build a strong partnership with this ally to achieve success in your career break?"
"Think of money as a garden you nurture. What can you do to tend to your financial garden so it grows and thrives, reflecting your careful attention and planning during your career break?"
"Imagine money as an artist's palette. How can you use it creatively to paint the picture of the life you want during your career break, and how does tracking help you mix the right colors?"
If you are interested in digging into how your relationship with money was formed, you may want to reflect on these prompts:
"Reflect on your earliest memories involving money. How did your family's attitudes and behaviors around money shape your current perspective?"
"Reflect on significant financial events in your life, such as debt, financial loss, or sudden gains. How have these events influenced your current relationship with money?"
"Think about external influences, such as societal pressures or media portrayals of wealth, that may affect your views and behaviors around money. How do these factors impact you?"
While economic wellness is only one amongst those encapsulated by the SPECIA-L Wellness Web, it is a key component of a well-designed career break.
Inspired? Do share empowering money metaphors over at the Thrivantgarde IG that you think might be useful to others too. I’d love to see what you come up with!