Limiting money beliefs keep you poor. It is the brutal truth, but it is also good news: it means that when you change your money mindset, you can also change your financial situation. Sounds good, no?
Getting rid of those limiting money beliefs can be quite tricky. I’m sharing 5 steps with you that I used to improve my own mindset successfully.
What are limiting money beliefs?
- Making money is hard.
- Money is Scarce.
- You need a lot of money to invest.
- Having Money is Selfish.
- Rich people are bad.
- More Money = More Problems.
- Money Needs to Be Held Onto.
- I Am Not Good With Money.
- Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness.
Do any of these sound familiar? Probably most of them. I don’t blame you, we get raised in a society that likes to make us believe money is bad.
What is a limiting belief?
→ Limiting beliefs are thoughts, opinions that one believes to be the absolute truth. They tend to have a negative impact on one’s life by stopping them from moving forward and growing on a personal and professional level.
Limiting beliefs are basically obstacles in our minds that keep us from moving forward, even though those obstacles aren’t necessarily real.
Mark Manson mentioned this anecdote in his book “The subtle art of not giving a fuck”:
There’s an old allegory about a baby elephant that is tied to a fence post. As the baby elephant tugs and pulls, it fails to break the fence or break the rope. Eventually, it gives up and makes peace with its fate. The baby elephant is stuck.
But eventually, the elephant grows up and becomes a big, adult elephant with gargantuan legs and a huge tusk and swirly trunk and it could easily walk away from the fence if it wanted to. But believing the fence to be some immovable thing, the adult elephant remains tied to it, falsely believing it can never get away.
Where do limiting money beliefs come from?
These negative associations with money are at some point introduced to us. Babies aren’t born with a bad money mindset, you know. Limiting beliefs are always taught behavior.
But where do they stem from?
Family and friends
A lot of these beliefs are implanted in our heads by family and friends from a very young age. I’m not saying they do this on purpose to sabotage you. They’re all doing their best to raise you, and they usually do that in a way they think is the right one.
I don’t know about you, but it took me a while to figure out that what my parents told me wasn’t the only truth or wisdom in this world. As a kid your parents are your world, so it’s hard to see how anything can exist outside of that bubble.
But once you are thrown into the world everyone has been preparing you for, you start to realize that there is more than one version of the truth. The moment where I realized my parens didn’t know everything and they just tried to make it work, that’s the moment I became an adult. It was both liberating and frightening.
If your upbringing was a bit like mine, you’ve probably heard things like “I’m not made of money”, “making money is hard” or “you need to study and find a secure job that pays a good salary”. I learned that earning money was going to be a struggle every day, for the rest of my life. There’s a big chance you have heard a similar thing.
School
School has a huge impact on your life. You spend your whole childhood and teenage years in class, so it’s not hard to see how education shapes you.
I’ve had teachers rant about capitalism, about the fact that money is the root of all evil in the world. These beliefs became so engrained in my head that I saw them as the ultimate truth. They were a dogma I never even thought about challenging. My teacher said this, why would it be wrong?
I have seen teachers go on strike to get more pay, and they told us about it in class. They stressed the fact that we had to get good grades in order to get a good job, otherwise earning money would be hard.
The same goes for money: negative experiences with money are very much like trauma and they influence your mindset. The good news is that you can un-learn those limiting beliefs by creating positive experiences.
Negative experiences
If you grew up in a household where money was a problem, you probably have a negative attitude towards finance. That is only normal, it is how our minds work.
At university I had a horrible professor who taught economics. He was mean and sexist, and because of his behavior I started to absolutely despise economics. I couldn’t see the subject apart from him, to me they were one cloud of negativity. It wasn’t until later that I discovered how interesting finance really was, and then I got rid of that negative association.
The same goes for money: negative experiences with money are very much like trauma and they influence your mindset. The good news is that you can un-learn those limiting beliefs by creating positive experiences.
How to get rid of limiting money beliefs
While growing up I collected a whole collection of limiting beliefs around money.
Later on in my life though – only a few years ago – I started to question those beliefs.
Why was money such a problem?
On my travels I began to realize that I wanted a different life, I wanted out of the rat race and into the freedom lifestyle. But for that I would need money, and money was bad. Hm. Dilemma.
It wasn’t until I hired a coach to work on my personal growth that I learned limiting beliefs. It became clear that in order to reach a certain goal, you had to work through that mindset.
You cannot just shed them at once, you need to peel them away, layer after layer. At first I only saw the personal growth limiting beliefs, but later I saw that they apply to finances too.
5 steps to remove limiting money beliefs
It’s in the removing of those dogmas that the key to freedom lies. This is the very first step you need to take to start building wealth.
But how do you do that? It’s not that easy and it can be really uncomfortable to shred the things you learned from a young age. If you follow these 5 steps it will become a whole lot easier.
Step 1: Identify the beliefs
Identify them to begin with. Start with searching and writing down what your own limiting beliefs are. Take a piece of paper and do a brain dump about your thoughts around money. You could be pretty surprised about what comes out of your head.
Step 2: Where do they stem from?
See if you can find what – or who – installed these limiting beliefs. Your parents? School? Friends? Your situation? Maybe your parents didn’t have much money to spend, and you ended up hating money because of that. Maybe you had a teacher that hated capitalism and made you belief money is evil.
Step 3: Visualize what would happen if you hang on to these beliefs
Envision what would happen if you didn’t tackle these beliefs. They probably have hindered you in the past. Can you think of those situations? Now think of your life goals and how your limiting beliefs are standing in the way. I want you to really visualize this. (soccer player shooting for the goal, running up stairs but beliefs are ambushing you to trip you…)
Step 4: Stop using negative language
Use positive language. Don’t say “I can’t” but say “How can I?”. Recite affirmations to yourself, confirming that you are able and worthy to earn money, that you deserve to be rich. The more you say it, the more you will train your brain to actually believe it. Repeat it so much it becomes a reflex to think positively about money.
Step 5: Surround yourself with proof of the opposite
Read books. People were able to install limiting beliefs upon you, so it is possible to install new, positive beliefs. My tips: “You’re a badass at making money” by Jen Sincero and “Rich dad poor dad” by Robert Kiyosaki.
Those were my tips for getting rid of limiting beliefs about money. I have been actively removing these negative thoughts since a year or two and honestly, I can’t believe what a difference it made.
I can see so many opportunities now that I couldn’t see before. I’m curious how these tips will work for you!
Ready to take your new and improved relationship with money to the next level? Then you might be ready to start investing and build wealth. Download my free guide “How to start investing“ and you’ll be on your way in no time!
