Have you ever heard the concept of manifesting what you want in life? The idea that you can create what you want in life by changing your thoughts? Mantras are part of that and, today, we’re going to break down how you can use money mantras to improve your finances.
Now, I get that this sounds a little woo-woo, maybe a bit crazy to you.
Maybe you just closed your eyes and thought, “I will have a million dollars,” opened your eyes to an unchanged bank account, and concluded that this is nonsense.
But a mantra is not a wish. It’s the root of changing your thoughts, your beliefs, and how you ultimately shift your behavior with money.
It’s not permission to not take action. It’s not waiting for wonderful things to just fall in your lap. It is a small thing that results in massive action.
Ready to learn more? Let’s dive in.
Understanding What Money Mantras Really Are
Money mantras are short, powerful statements that you declare to yourself regularly and loudly to help you build your money confidence, attract abundance in your life, and reach your goals.
When practiced intentionally, mantras can help you broaden your perspectives. Our brains look for ways to prove our thoughts – it’s how we create stability in an uncertain world. So, by taking control of our own thoughts we can trigger our mind to look for opportunities to prove our mantras to be true. Opportunities you may have otherwise never noticed or written off.
And as our thoughts change and how we see the world changes, our beliefs about who we are and what we can do shifts as well.
If you stop telling yourself, “I’m terrible with money,” and instead practice the mantra of, “I make intentional choices with my money,” over time, budgeting won’t be so hard. It won’t be something that goes against your core nature, but instead, aligns with who you believe yourself to be as a person.
Of course you budget. You’re intentional with your money.
How to Improve Your Money Mindset with Mantras
Are Your Money Mantras Helping You Reach Your Goals?
Reflect on your money beliefs and create healthier money mantras today with our free workbook!
Step 1: Identify What Your Current Money Stories Are
Before we can create new money mantras, we have to understand what our current money beliefs and stories are. Often, the stories we tell ourselves about money are deep-rooted and mostly subconscious. To change those feelings, we have to bring them out into the light of day and determine if they are serving us or holding us back.
As you reflect on your own money stories, consider these elements of your relationship with money.
Scarcity vs. Abundance Mindset
Obviously, there are endless unique mindsets and viewpoints about money. But most can be broken into two main buckets: Scarcity-based mindsets and abundance-based mindsets.
A scarcity mindset is centered around the ideas that money is limited resource and there is never enough to go around. This can come from growing up without enough money, constantly seeing arguments about money, or a lack of security.
People with a scarcity mindset are pessimistic about the future.
An abundance mindset is centered around the belief that money is constantly flowing and there is plenty to go around. They are excited and optimistic about the future. Some people may seem more naturally disposed to an optimistic mindset than others, but in a world full of negativity, we all need to pay attention and work on cultivating an abundant and positive mindset.
An abundance mindset is important for long-term financial success because it helps us believe in our own power, be willing to try new things, and not be defeated by the natural ups and downs of life.
Consider these examples of scarcity- and abundance-based money mindsets. Which do you most associate with?
Scarcity-Based Money Beliefs
- Money corrupts people
- I’m not good with money
- I can manage the budget, but I’m not smart enough to invest
- I’ll never get out of debt
- I could never afford that
- People in my field never make enough money
- My income is just play money, not real money
Abundance-Based Money Beliefs
- I have what it takes to be wealthy
- Money is easy
- Giving money feels good
- Money is always flowing and flows to me
- I can afford anything I truly want
- I will always have enough money
- I can do meaningful work and make a lot of money
Which thoughts rang true for you? Do you believe you currently live in a scarcity place or an abundant place when it comes to money?
Now that you have a sense of your current mindset, let’s look at where that might be coming from.
Your Earliest Money Memories
Think back to your childhood. What were your first money memories?
Was it going into the bank with your parents and feeling excited about depositing your allowance? Was it your mom telling you you couldn’t go on the school field trip because she couldn’t afford it?
Give yourself a moment to reflect on what memories came up first and why you think those are so close to the surface for you. What, as a child, did you take away from those moments?
When we evaluate our early money memories, we tend to find the ones that come to the surface are moments when we made a decision about money and how it worked in the world. But those don’t always make sense with adult-eyes.
Our perspective as children is limited and the beliefs we formed may be riddled with contradictions. Yet, we carry them for years and see those beliefs formed in childhood create a ripple effect through our entire money relationship.
Money mantras act as a way to correct those limiting beliefs.
Do Your Current Money Stories Serve You?
One mistake we see people make with money mantras, time and time again, is rushing through this part of the process. Not wanting to spend time on “the past” and just wipe the slate clean. Fortunately or unfortunately, we can’t just erase years of built-up money belief.
So, before you move on to determine what you want to change and what your money mantras will be, take a moment. Pause and consider how your money stories are serving you.
Where have your beliefs held you back? Have there been times where you passed up on opportunities or self-sabotaged because of your beliefs? Or, have there been times when your stories protected you and helped you make positive decisions?
No money story is all good or all bad. We need to give our current and past relationship with money acknowledgment and understanding to prepare to move forward.
Step 2: Focus In On What You Most Want to Change
As you thought your current money beliefs in the first step, you likely realized that no one believes just one thing. We have a myriad of experiences with money and thoughts about the role money plays in the world and in our lives. Some are negative, some are positive.
Unfortunately, we can’t change all the negative thoughts in our mind overnight. And we can’t go from our most negative thoughts – I’m always struggling to make ends meet – to the most positive, abundant thought – All the wealth in the world flows to me – without it feeling insincere.
Instead, you have to consider all your money stories. Then, narrow it down to the one or two that are most holding you back. Stories that, if you changed them, would make overcoming your other limiting beliefs easier.
Those are the stories we want to change first.
Step 3: Re-write Your Limiting Money Beliefs to Reflect More Abundance – Truthfully
You’re now ready to write your new money mantras.
All you’re going to do is flip your one or two biggest limiting beliefs inside out and make them powerful.
For me, my mantra became “net worth does not equal self-worth.” Depending on your mindset, that may or may not sound powerful to you. But for me, who spent years believing that my savings and career equaled my value, this was a huge shift.
And this is the most important thing. Your mantra should feel important and relatable to you. If you’re rejecting the truth of your mantra before you can even get the words out, it isn’t going to serve you.
That might mean going from “I’m no good with money,” to “I’m committed to learning more about money,” instead of jumping straight to, “I am a money master.”
Your money mantras can shift and grow with your own needs and experiences. Create a mantra that makes you feel hopeful and optimistic today. It will help you generate positive feelings about money and start to build that stronger, more abundant relationship with money you deserve.
But don’t stop here! We can’t just create our mantra once and move on. We need to bring it your mantra into the world.
Step 4: Give Yourself Opportunities to Prove Your New Mantras
This is the key step. The absolutely most important one to make your money mantra work for you and actually shift your financial life to a better place.
First, it is crucial to keep new money mantras, affirmations, or personal promises (whatever you want to call them) front of mind.
This could mean physically writing them down in a journal every day. That could making your mantra the background of your phone or writing it on a sticky note and putting it on your bathroom mirror.
Those practices will remind you of the person you want to be.
But if you want your mantra to become core to who you are, to help you overcome the deeper rooted negative stories that you’ve lived with for a long time? You have to give your brain evidence that your new money mantra is the story that’s true. Not your old beliefs.
If your new mantra is “I handle money easily and well.” Create opportunities to live that truth.
Grab your favorite mug, some hot coffee, and sit down to look at your budget calmly.
Pick an item off your to-do list you’ve been avoiding, like creating a plan to reduce your grocery budget or call your 401(k) provider with a question, and actually do it.
The more you force yourself to prove your mantras the easier it will be to take action without the worry or stress.
These small changes are small, simple and powerful. Yet, they won’t always feel easy. And that’s okay.
Step 5: Keep Track of Your Wins
As you’re taking action proving your new mantras, you want to keep track of the progress you’re making. All the little positive actions that prove your mantra right.
I recommend starting a Money Smile File. This file will note all the actions and results – big and small – that make you feel good about your relationship with money.
On days your negative voices creep up, this is where you’ll come to remind yourself that while those voices may be strong, that doesn’t mean they are correct. You have what it takes to reach your biggest goals!
Step 6: Don’t Expect Perfection
With effective money mantras, you’re trying to change what may be decades-long developed beliefs. You’re creating a new vision of yourself, a new relationship with money. It won’t be clean and easy.
You’ll have days where you hit a setback or have an argument with your spouse about money and all your old, negative, scarcity-based thoughts will come rushing back into your mind.
Don’t panic.
In those moments, don’t feel like you’ve failed or that things can’t change. This is just life. It has its ups and downs.
Instead, take a deep breath. Literally, stop, breathe, and take a calming moment to look at what’s happening without judgment. And let the thought pass through your mind.
Then question it.
Is your old negative mindset really the only way to view the situation? Or can you reframe, with the help of your mantras? Are there elements of the situation that are better and healthier than they would have been in the past because of your commitment to improving your mindset? Things you can use to learn and grow for the future?
Money mantras don’t magically make things better. This is a journey. And you have to give yourself grace as you learn and grow.
Step 7: Surround Yourself With Voices That Support Your New Mindset
Your people matter.
Who we choose to spend time with and let into our lives impact who we believe ourselves to be and what we think we can achieve.
If everyone around you believes credit card debt is just part of life, you’re probably going to think that too.
Now, I’m not telling you to go out and cut ties with all your family and friends if they have negative money beliefs.
Instead, find ways to connect with new, positive voices. Head to a local personal finance meetup, join our monthly membership community – the Motivated Mama Society, re-work who you follow on social media to be more goal-oriented, optimistic, people and creators.
We can’t do this alone.
A good money-savvy mom friend can help you reframe those negative thoughts when they come up. Because sometimes, those negative thoughts are going to feel so true. And you’re going to need someone to help you question it, not someone who will agree with the scarcity.
A good community can change your lens.
You Can Thrive Financially, No Matter Where You’re Starting
Money mantras are powerful things – they open us up to a whole new way of seeing the world. But they aren’t magic wishes from a genie. To make them work, you need to do the work.
Reflect on what you believe today and how those thoughts do or do not serve you, make a decision about what you want to change and how. Then, take the steps – even through setbacks and failures – to prove to yourself time and time again why your new mantra is valid and real and true.
Over time? It will just become who you are. A money-savvy mama, raising kids who are confident of the world’s abundance.
