Today’s big idea is that money is like energy. Although it feels like one, money is NOT a finite resource. They print more money every day. And yet, we tend to think of money as a zero sum game–once it’s gone, it’s gone, and it’s never coming back. And that distorts your thinking about money and leads to a lot of beating yourself up if you don’t spend it wisely. Not a very empowered position from which to make decisions, now is it? A very helpful mantra for reframing your view of money is “There’s more where that came from.”
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Sometimes, no matter how careful you are, you spend money that, in hindsight, you shouldn’t have. I’m thinking about the basketball hoop we bought for the kids at the start of the pandemic so that they would be active. Seemed like a great idea. Then our neighbors then asked us to move out of the street. Because winter was settling in we couldn’t dig a hole to embed it in the ground. And basically it has been lying in our yard, killing our grass, for 6 months. And it wasn’t cheap.
Yes, we could sell it and recoup some of the costs, but you know what else? There’s more where that came from. Remembering that is going to mean we can decide what to do with it not out of guilt, but out of curiosity for what’s possible.
You’re not going to get to the end of your life and get a receipt like they give you at TJ Maxx that says at the bottom, congratulations, you saved XXXX dollars! You will make money mistakes, and spend too much on some things, and lose money on other things. It’s not ideal, but it is ultimately OK, because there’s more where that came from.
Today’s money mantra also keeps you focused on drawing more money to you
Instead of only focusing on not spending money. Because when you’re super focused on reducing your spending–like every financial article will tell you to cut out your latte or your avocado toast–you will miss the very real opportunities for making more money that are floating around.
Do you want to focus on contracting your spending, or on expanding your income and wealth?
Reminding yourself that there’s more where that came from keeps your ears tuned for growing your income.
Daily Tiny Assignment
Your tiny assignment for today is simple: the next time you feel that pang of, ooh, I shouldn’t have spent that money or made that money choice, remind yourself, there’s more where that came from. And then stay open to the opportunity to invite more money into your life that you might otherwise miss if you were busy beating yourself up.
Come back tomorrow when I’m sharing a mantra that helps you change the way you think about money in the first place.
