Did you know that your mindset and the way you perceive money plays a big roll when it come so managing your finances.

Yup, in fact I struggled with this for years and to be truthfully honest I still do at times.  I thought I knew how to manage my money but for some odd reason I just felt like I could never move up to that next financial level.

Even saving that extra $1000, or paying off a few small debts felt like a difficult task to complete.

What’s worse, when I would go on the internet to look for answers I would read stories about people who had transformed their entire financial situation overnight, paid off their debt,  and built up a massive savings.

The reality is that for most of us this rarely happens over night, but rather over a longer period of time and in most cases years.

However, there’s one thing they did to make this change in order to level up their financial game, they changed their mindset.

Everyone Influences Your Finances

When it comes down to it’s their is a certain crowd of people we like to be around.  These people may eat the same food as us, wear the same clothes, drive the same car, live in the same type of neighborhoods, associate with the same types of people, and even spend our money in very similar ways.

The problem with this is that it has a direct influence in the way that we handle our money and approach our financial situation as well.  In fact our mind will do whatever it takes to stay at that same place where we feel the most comfortable at.

This may sound kind of odd so let me explain with an example.

The Thermometer Example

To illustrate my example think of your finances as a thermometer, and let’s say you feel the most comfortable when life is around the 80 degree mark.  Again this where you feel the most comfortable with your financial situation and the way you see yourself.

Then say things change and get a little uncomfortable and all of a sudden life gives you 65 degrees.  Your bills are stacking up, you car just broke down, and your boss is upset with you at work.

However, because this feels uncomfortable to you and you don’t like being at that 65 degree mark you start to work back towards that 80 degree mark, and before you know it the  things that were pretty bad for a while have seem to gone back to normal.

You get up a little earlier to go to work, you pick up some extra jobs to earn a little extra income, you manage your budget and watch what you spend a little closer, and before you know it you’re right back at that 80 degree mark again.

Now the same can happen just as well the other way.

Say life has given you a 105 degrees all of a sudden.  Your bills are all paid up on time, the family is pretty happy, and you’re up for a big promotion at work.

However since you see life at 80 degrees and not at 105 degrees you start to fall back to 80 degrees because again this is where you see yourself and feel the most comfortable.

Why We Are Always Stuck At 80 Degrees

So why are we always stuck at this 80 degree mark, it’s because are mind has subconsciously programmed us to constantly move towards where we feel the most comfortable at.

When we’re at 65 degrees an alarm goes off in our subconscious saying this doesn’t feel right and we look for ways to improve our financial situation.

The same is true at 105 degrees.  We hit this high but we realize this doesn’t feel comfortable or that we don’t deserve this because we are use to living life at 80 degrees.

What’s even more interesting is that most of this is done subconsciously and we don’t even realize we’re constantly doing this to ourselves.  When things are going great we’ll literally self sabotage ourselves so we fall back to that 80 degree mark, and at the 65 degree mark our mind will literally look for ways to improve our situation.

Now this brings up the question, how do we make 105 degrees the new normal?

How Level Up Your Finances

Below is a simple list of things you can use to help you improve your mindset and go to that next level in your financial game.

Consider The People You Associate With.  First off, consider the people you associate with most.  If the people you hang around handle their finances poorly then this is a clear indication they are people you do not want to take financial advice from.

If at all possible try to stay away from some of these people since they can influence you to make poor financial decisions.  I know this can be impossible in certain situation such as family, or even your spouse, or co-worker, but just know that the financial advice they give may not always be accurate.

Read Books.  Second consider reading books as way to learn more about your finances and expand your mind to other possibilities.  I remember when I had the big AHAH moment with my finances when I read a book called Rich Dad Poor Dad.

This book opened my mind up to the idea that I didn’t have to be stuck in the rat race and live paycheck to paycheck.  From then on I’ve read tons of books on finance, business, investing, and it has empowered me to take control of my financial situation.

Listen To Podcast.  Third, is to  listen to podcast.  One of the great things of today’s technological age is that we have things like podcast which can provide us with a wealth of knowledge.

One podcast I’ve been listening to in particularly these days is  The Money Plan SOS Podcast with Steve Stewart.  This podcast is chalk full of tips and ideas to help you improve your finances.  So take some time to find a few podcast you like now.

Self Help Courses.  Another place to look is self help courses such as Lynda.com or Udemy.com where you can invest very little money or even get information for free to help you improve your finances and more.

Want to learn how to manage your budget, improve your finances, or even learn a new skill that you can charge money for, then these self help sites are the simplest way to get started and learning now.

Mentors.  Another way to go is to look into hiring a mentor.  Mentors can work with you specifically to help you improve your finances and make quick changes that may have otherwise taken a lot time.

A few people I know who do this are Todd Tresidder of FinanicalMentor.com and Mary Beth Storjohann of  WorkableWealth.com.  I should also mention their is a fee involved in doing this but it could be well worth it to boost your financial situation fast.

Mastermind Groups.  The final option is to join a mastermind group.  This is a group of like minded people who all have somewhat similar goals in mind.  What’s great about this is that it gets you around people who have the same financial desires as you.

What’s also great about this you can do this for completely free but the real trick is finding the people.  Places like Facebook groups, Twitter, and MeetUp.com can help facilitate this.  On top of that you can do them completely online or even your local area.

Education Is The Key

As I wrap up this article the best way to level up your finances if you haven’t figured it out yet is to continually keep learning and get around like minded people.  That’s right, education and getting around the right people is the best way to improve your current financial situation.

For example…

• Don’t know how to put a budget together, learn it.
• Don’t know how to pay off your debt, learn it.
• Need support to keep you motivated, find a group.

 So what are you doing to shift your mindset and up your financial game?  Feel free to share your comments and thoughts below.