Inspire It.

What is your relationship with money?

Do you have a feeling of dread that there is never enough? or do you rejoice and welcome the possibilities that every dollar can provide?

I am sure you have guessed by now, that I love my money, I welcome it and treat it nicely like I would a trusted friend.

By making money welcome, more will be attracted to you and there will always be enough.  Sure, I would like more sometimes, but I very rarely say “I can’t afford that”  rather I say “What do I have to do to afford that”

The act of purchasing anything is always a choice. Even the simple act of buying bread can range from the budget $1.00 supermarket offering up to high end $10 a loaf artisan bread.  While I may not buy the artisan bread every day, it is sometimes bought on the weekend as a treat.  That artisan sourdough loaf together with slices of good ham and a couple of poached eggs still equates to a far smaller outlay than hubby and I going to a cafe for breakfast.

So how do I do it?

In our personal life, we have been “living on the pension” for a few years now. (you can read about it here)

It is due to this spending plan that we have been able to pay down a huge amount off our debt and will be debt-free (with a luxury car) well before retirement age, which is still over 10 years away for us.

To welcome my money like a friend, I have devised a method of preparation like one might do if they knew a friend was coming to visit and stay a while.

Step 1:  Set aside some time to prepare the visit.
Make a time (I do it monthly) to have a look at balances and spending.

Having an in-depth understanding of exactly what comes in and what goes out each month is VITAL to creating a great relationship with your money.

(As a starting point, try using your debit or credit card for EVERY purchase for a few weeks, I know that sounds against what every “guru” says, but seriously who has the time or inclination to track every cent in a book or app for more than a few hours?   Having purchased on a card means you can go back and examine the transaction list and allocate where each dollar has gone.)

Once you have an understanding of your spending habits, you can organise a spending plan to accommodate the lifestyle you wish to have.  Note that I called it a Spending Plan NOT a Budget.  Budget is a word like Diet in that it has a negative connotation and feeling of lack for many people.  So have a Spending Plan and a Healthy Eating plan

Your money will not be a burden if it knows exactly where it is meant to go and what its purpose is.

Step 2:   Welcome Money
When you do see money arrive, welcome it with open arms ( or wallet 🙂  ) Don’t dwell on thoughts that it is not enough.  Would you open the door to a friend and greet them with  “Oh, It is only you, I was hoping for more”?

Step 3: Treat money nicely.
Literally, have a nice purse or wallet to keep money in. It will make you feel abundant every time you remove it from your handbag.  Keep your purse tidy, clear out those scraps of paper, old receipts and rubbish. This shows money that it is important and has a clear space to live.  Look after bank accounts too, have your emergency money in a higher interest account that means it is working as hard as you are.

These simple things will change your mindset around money and ultimately you will attract more 🙂

There is one thing that stands in your way to becoming anything you want to be and accomplishing anything you’ve dreamed of.
It’s not money and it’s not time. It’s not a lack of luck or not having the right opportunities handed to you on a plate.

The thing that is standing in your way is a lack of consistency.

I am sure everybody has heard that it takes approximately 28 days to create a new habit (or break an old one)
Changing behaviour is HARD, you are rewiring mindset patterns that have been deeply ingrained and are just soooo familiar. Even simple tiny tasks like making your bed every morning can prove to be a tough thing to master.

Making our bed EVERY morning has been a “thing” for me.  I was in the kitchen a while back waiting for the kettle to boil for my morning cuppa, mindlessly thinking of not much really, when it occurred to me that THIS was the perfect time to make the bed!   Who would have thought  LOL

It took less time to make the bed than it did for the kettle to boil.  Now I have a consistent morning habit of put the kettle on, make the bed, make the tea.

Making this tiny consistent change to my behaviour has helped me set up my day in the ideal way I want my home to look.

Why Consistency is the Key

If you want to be successful at anything then it takes work. As much as we might like to think we can be successful through luck or by gaming the system (and as much as we might be tempted to buy into ‘get rich quick’ schemes or diet fads), the reality is that “luck” requires work.
You need to make consistent progress toward your goals.

And the problem is that most of us just don’t commit to the consistent action

We make grand claims about the things we are going to do. We might proclaim we are going to lose weight, get fit, write a best selling book or even just go to bed before midnight each night.  The plan may be carried out for a few days but then it sort of gets forgotten about and we slip back into their old ways. ☹

And why is this? We say that it’s a matter of time but most of us – even the busiest of us – manage to find the time to watch large amounts of TV, flick through trashy tabloid magazines or play long computer games. Many of us will waste time on the train staring into space, or we’ll randomly scroll Facebook or Instagram on our phones in bed not really accomplishing anything or having a particularly good time!

Why? Because we don’t have a plan to enable a consistent behavior to become a habit.

What to do About it

We might claim that we “deserve” a night watching Netflix, or eating things that we shouldn’t really. It feels like a reward.

But the reality is that if you are working towards a goal you care about and that you’re passionate about, you’d probably enjoy that just as much.

This is purely a matter of creating consistent ACTION   Often our goals seem too large or just too far out of reach, but by chunking those goals down to smaller easy to manage steps, we can create ways to find a consistent action to do that task.

And there are few ways you can do this:

• Start Simple. Choose ONE area of your life you want to change right now
• Write down your goals. There have been numerous studies that show the pure action of writing a goal down can help it come to fruition ( you still have to do the work though ?  )
• “Reverse Engineer” those goals. Eg a goal might be “To Save $1000 this year”  reverse engineering might mean you need to save $83.34 per month, or $19.23 per week or just a TINY $274 per day (and who can’t do that?? )
• Formulate a CONSISTENT Action for that goal. Set up a daily/weekly/monthly transfer from your back account into your savings account.
• Reduce the “consistency disruptors” of the rest of your day – Switch your café coffee with one from home, get off the bus one stop earlier to get some extra exercise

Commit to your plan for 28 days.   After that time, if you have succeeded in your goal, add another goal. If not, don’t beat yourself up, review how you can do things differently and commit again for the next 28 days

Find the consistency and you’ll find you can do anything. Now you know the problem, there is nothing to stop you from fixing it!

My RISE to Rich programme helps you determine your goals and breaks each part of your life down into smaller, manageable steps.  By taking baby steps you CAN be living your 10/10 life.

I got what I truly wanted ?

Every now and then the Universe decides to give you exactly what you ask for. It might be in the form that you visualised, or it might be something completely from left field.

For years I have been following the idea that visualising your perfect life will indeed create that life.   It has been a cornerstone of the way hubby and I treat most areas of our day to day life.

And, of course, it is the foundation of my concept of Sunshine Cash and the creation of my “Rise to Rich” course.

One of the big parts of our ideal life is the wish to be able to travel more.  We do manage to get away for many short breaks, but, due to my husband’s business requiring to be “on deck,” it has been a section of my life that has not lived up to my desires.

I have followed many ladies who have created seemingly wonderful lives for themselves and managed to “retire” their husbands.  What joy that would be!  I know my husband has toiled HARD for long enough and has provided a good income for me to be able to stretch with my “Sunshine Cash” methods.

It has been a top of mind goal for me to create a location independent business that would be able to sustain our living standards without him having to go into the factory every day.   I have included travel scenes on my vision board, I read lots of travel books and blogs and have created many “perfect day” visualisations about this reality.

Now you may know that the universe DOES listen to what you put out there, and sometimes does get a little quirky in its interpretations in providing the answer.  This is what has happened to me 🙂

Due to unforeseen circumstances, I have had the opportunity to join a friend in his business as he bows out.   This business is within my zone of genius and I am looking forward to continuing the great work he has begun.

So, for now, at least I am pausing my work with the “Rise to Rich” course.  Of course, my ongoing ways of stretching every dollar that comes through my bank account will continue.  It is who I am 🙂

This opportunity has certainly cemented the belief in my mind that what you believe DOES become your reality and that there is no such thing as “the Right Way” to reach your goals.

Keep dreaming, be open to odd pivots that might come your way and I cannot wait to see you RISE!!

Sue

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A little over a month ago, I had a speaking engagement at a conference. I was also meeting a number of my coaching clients for the first time. In the lead up to the conference, I was determined to have nice long strong nails for the weekend. To achieve this, I had a routine of using strengthening oil on my cuticles and coating them with Sally Hansen’s “Hard as Nails” Strengthening Polish twice a week. (If you have not used the Hard as Nails polish, try it, it is great for growing long healthy nails.) By the time of the conference, my nails were GREAT!! Nice and long and strong.

After the conference, I was even busier than usual, and self care was the thing I neglected. I felt I just did not have time for me amongst everything else that was going on. Exercise, quiet mediation time, and – yes- my nail routine, went out the door.

As a consequence, my nails are currently NOT long and strong 🙁 , my stress levels have been high, and I am not living my ideal life, in fact, I feel like I am careering out of control, backwards down long hill 🙁

My plan for this week ( and subsequent weeks) is to take back some me time and rebalance my life. I know that this will mean i have to delegate some tasks, and outsource others for a short while, but it is necessary.

Do you make YOU a priority in your week? Let me know in the comments.