Make sure you read the title. Read it again.
I turned on the Biggest Loser tonight just in time to see Jillian Michaels at the top of her game. The green contestant was not opening up and not exercising. The funniest thing about the show is that if you really watch the trainers on the show they aren’t worried about the exercise. Yes, they get people to work out a lot. Yes, they teach them how to eat right.
They give the contestants to tools to succeed. They teach the contestants how to work out by teaching them how to do each exercise. They teach them about proper form and what muscle groups the exercise targets. Then they teach them about calorie burning. They teach what to eat and how to eat. These are the tools necessary to being physically fit, to being healthy. But those tools are NOT enough.
With your money, you can learn to budget. You can learn how to spend your money. You can learn when to spend your money and what to spend your money on. That won’t make you rich. You can take it a step further. You can learn where to put your money, what the best investments are and the best financial tools for you. That will still NOT make you rich.
There is a whole other level. There is the mentality. The people on the biggest loser have the mentality to be fat. They have the mindset to be fat. It’s a coping mechanism for most of them. The truth is it’s a learned behavior most of the time. Fat parents have fat kids. Broke parents have broke kids. The best part about is that it can be unlearned. Fat parents don’t have to have fat kids or you could go one step further and teach fat parents to lead healthy lives and they will teach their kids to lead healthy lives.
Just as you can develop, learn or pick up the habits of being fat, you can develop, learn or pick up the habits of being broke. This means that no matter what you do, you will continue to be broke unless you change your mentality. Why do you think professional athletes and actors go broke? Why do lottery winners still end up penniless? They don’t change their mentality, they don’t change their thought process.
So called, ‘professionals’ that focus on dollars or weight are useless. It is NOT about numbers. Yes, your obesity can be measured by a scale. You can argue that your wealth can be measured by your net worth. However, this doesn’t tell you how you got there. It doesn’t tell you why.
Are you happy? Do you want to change? Then it starts with your mind. It starts with your thinking. If you can’t change the way you think about food or money, then you can’t change. You might make progress. Just enough to tease you. Fake ‘professionals’ will help you make a little progress. If you don’t change the way you think, in the end you will be fatter and more broke.
Jillian said on the show tonight, “emotions are a compass“. If you are upset about being fat or spending money, you have to deal with it you can’t just hide it. It’s your body and minds way of telling you something is wrong. The emotions are there to guide you and point you in a direction. They tell you something needs to change. There is no better time than now.
Here are the two best books I know of for changing your mindset about money. It’s a great place to start.
Anyone else have some recommendations?
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Another great post. I’ve always liked T. Harv Eker’s “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind” although I will warn people up front that the book is a marketing vehicle for his very lucrative (for him) workshops. Your thoughts lead to feelings, your feelings lead to actions and your actions lead to results. It all starts with those thoughts.
As a fiduciary financial advisor and wealth coach, I’ve seen way too many cases of people doing the self destruct method of personal finance. They can’t get their head around a wealthy way of thinking (and wealth is a lot more than just your net worth) so they keep doing stuff that creates crappy results – and never figure out why.
You are responsible for your financial situation. Nobody else is. Your choices led you to where you are today. The cool thing is your choices can lead you to anywhere you want to be in the future – but you have to get rid of that “stinkin’ thinkin’” as Zig Ziglar calls it.
@John D Beurger
I actually haven’t read “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind”. It sounds like something I will enjoy. I love your point about how people are insane. They do the same things over and over again expecting a different result. Then you quote Zig Ziglar. I give you the award for the best comment on this blog so far.
I think there are many levels to happiness that unhappy people don’t realize. Often we fixate on 1 thing that is making us unhappy, when in reality there are many small things that could be changed that would result in more happiness.
Concentrating on one thing that needs changing borders on obsession. You must spread out the happiness because a rich life full of stuff you love is a great life.
Great post!
-Austin @ Foreigner’s Finances
Austin:
You make a great point. Things aren’t always as easy as changing one big thing. Maybe it’s your job. Instead of looking to change jobs, which could be tough given the current economy, maybe there are a few parts of your job you could improve on. You might be able to delegate out a piece of your work, change vendors or just redo your office/cubicle. All of these might just make tomorrow a better day.
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