Marie: Hey it’s Marie Forleo and you are watching MarieTV, the place to be if you want
to create a business and life you love, and this whole shindig is Q&A Tuesday.
Today’s question comes from Elise and she writes:
“Hi, Marie.
Big fan.
My question today is about my money mentality.
You see, I recently became aware that I'm surrounded by poor people.
What I mean is everyone in my life at the moment has a poor person mentality including
me.
It feels like my family, friends and even my partner are stuck in scarcity.
They're scrambling for dollars, stressed out about bills, complain about the government
stealing from them and say everyone’s got their hands in your pocket.
It’s gotten to the point where movies are out of the question, date nights don’t exist
and there are no more nice dinners.
It sucks.
So my question is how do you break out of the scarcity mentality when everyone around
you is stuck in it?
Should I cut everyone off and move to Greenland or do I have to constantly read books about
money?
Help!”
– Love, Elise.
Elise, this is an awesome question and you are so not alone.
Not many people I know grew up with wealth whether that’s actually cash or an abundant
money mentality.
Here is the good news.
You can totally break out of your scarcity mentality and create a shift in the energy
around you without moving to Greenland.
I know you put a lot of emphasis on the people around you, but as you know, the only person
you can change is yourself so that’s where we got to focus.
Here are six ways to turn that money frown upside down:
1 – You’ve got to write yourself a fat reality check.
I know you probably know this but let me remind you almost half the world, almost 3 billion
people, live on less than $2.50 a day and 80% of all humanity lives on less than $10
a day.
I did a little research on you and I'm pretty sure you don’t fall into either one of those
populations.
I'm not making you wrong for wanting more but you got to get that true abundance starts
with appreciation everything you already have right now.
So if you want out of that scarcity mentality, you’ve got to start appreciating what you
got and make it a habit.
You’ve got a roof over your head, you have clean running water and you have some damn
cute clothes.
Girl, I've seen you; you look fine.
I think Oprah said it best when she said:
“Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more.
If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.”
2 – Get an ATM.
What?
Steal a cash machine?
No silly girl.
It’s an automatic transformative manta; that’s just a simple phrase you put on automatic
repeat that transforms your money mindset.
This is something I personally use to overcome my own scarcity mentality around money and
I still use it to this day.
Here it is:
Any time you part with money whether you're paying a bill or you're buying something,
say this: there's always more where that came from.
This might sound silly but there is real power in the words that we say to ourselves and
immense power and rituals.
It’s a super simple way to retrain yourself in the truth with a T about money.
3 – B.Y.O.L (Bring Your Own Luxury) Who says you can't have nice dinners at home?
In fact, I actually prefer to eat at home.
My meals taste way better, they are so much healthier and they cost a fraction of the
price.
You can take any inexpensive dinner and make it a nice dinner if you plate it beautifully
and you light some candles and you put on some music and you wear something nice.
With just a little bit of effort, you can take a cheap dinner and make it an amazing
dinner.
In fact, one of my favorite resources for budget friendly recipes is this magazine Cooking
Light.
4 – Start a fun fund.
Before we go any further I got to say, you and your partner have got to get on the same
page about money.
You can't change your family or your friends but it is vital that you and your man get
and stay on the same page regarding finances.
You can make busting out of your scarcity mentality something you work on together and
the fun fund can help.
Here’s what that is.
It’s a checking account or a piggy bank or a pickle jar that’s earmarked for fun
and fun only.
That money is exclusively for movies or meals out or other things you and your partner might
normally say “we can't afford.”
I don’t judge, but just remember that cabbage is off limits for paying bills or other necessities.
5 – Build your knowledge bank.
You said, “Do I have to keep reading book about money,” and my answer, until you get
your money game together, yes.
Whether it’s books or seminars or audios, its not just about reading or listening, but
you actually have to implement it, especially if you want to have money and keep it.
As for money seminars, they can be a little cheesy and people may try and sell you some
more stuff but that doesn’t matter.
You'll still learn a ton and what's even more important, you're going to be around people
who are actively improving their own money mentality.
6 – Spread the wealth.
This is another strategy that I've personally used and it’s a little bit counter-intuitive.
Anytime you're feeling a lack around money, you got to give some away.
For example, if you catch yourself in major scarcity mode, you should donate a little
bit of money to a cause you believe it.
If you're not sure where to donate, we have an organization that we love.
It’s called Kiva and we also have our own lending team and I’ll put links below this
video so you can check it out.
Another way to spread the wealth is to just be generous with your friends and family.
There's something amazing about saying “I’ll treat,” even if it’s for something simple
like a coffee or a home cooked meal.
As we've discussed, you cannot change your family or your friends around their money
mentality but you can be a living demonstration of a more abundant reality.
That is my A to your Q, Elise.
I hope it helps.
Now I would love to hear from you.
Have you broken out of a scarcity mentality around money, and if so, how’d you do it?
If you're currently working through this, I would also love to know which of these six
strategies resonated the most and which can you put in practice starting right now.
As always, the best and richest discussions happen over at MarieForleo.com so come on
over there and leave a comment now.
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Thank you so much for watching and I’ll catch you next time
on MarieTV.