When it comes to your financial potential, you may be doing yourself more harm than good without even realizing it. Did you know that every negative thought requires at least five positive ones to overcome it? It’s unfortunate to think that negativity has a greater influence on us than positivity.
Sometimes it just takes a little creative thinking to turn things around—both in your mind and in your reality. If you catch yourself thinking negatively about money, how can you make that thought positive? Then make sure you say it often enough to compensate for those negative things you were thinking.
You may have read about my TREE Method for improving personal finances in other Money Matters posts. In my method, TREE stands for Track, Record, Eliminate, and Expand. Today, I want to focus on what you can do to expand your personal financial potential. I’ll start with how you can expand your thoughts, but I’ll also include some tips for creative ways you can make more money.
Keep an Open Mind
It’s easy to get down on yourself when money is tight. But this attitude will only attract more bad money vibes. Have you ever wondered why you just can’t seem to get out of your money rut? Have you examined your thoughts to see if they might be the culprit? If you haven’t tried keeping an open mind about money, now’s the perfect time to start.
You never know when some unexpected money will come your way. The universe works in mysterious ways, so the more you keep an open mind, the more you might find your luck changing.
Here are some unexpected ways money might come to you:
- A gift—anonymously or from someone you know,
- A refund from past bill overpayments or taxes,
- A great discount on something you need!
I bet you can think of even more ways money can come to you unexpectedly. Keep them in mind, because we will revisit them at the end of the article when it comes time for our first journal prompt.
Be Clear About What You Want
Keeping an open mind works even better when you combine it with knowing what you want. The universe likes clear messages, and when you’re trying to turn your finances around, you want your message to be clear.
For example, instead of sending the message you want more money, can you tell the universe you want $1500 so you can pay for a university course you’d really like to take? Do you see how specific that is? You are stating an amount and what you’re going to do with that money.
What if you don’t know how much money you need?
That’s okay. Maybe you want your bank account to stay in a positive balance all year. It might be hard to figure out exactly how much money that is, but you can still say or think something like, I’d like my cash inflows to be $200 more than my cash outflows every month so my bank account maintains a positive balance.
Get Creative with Your Earning Opportunities
Positive thinking and affirmations are great, but you can combine them with some practical earning opportunities too. When it seems like all your earning options are exhausted, you may need to get a little creative with how you can earn more money.
Here are a few things to consider.
Start a Side Hustle
Do you have a special skill you can market? Have your friends ever told you that you should start a business? A side hustle can be a lot of fun, especially if you start with something you enjoy doing. If you have a hobby, you might be able to sell the products of that hobby.
Some of the best side hustles provide a much needed service. Service-based businesses are great because they often don’t require you to spend any money to get started. Since you’re trying to turn your finances around, starting a side hustle that requires you to spend money doesn’t make sense. Think in terms of something you might already be doing that you can charge for.
Find Odd Jobs
Odd jobs will often be advertised in your local paper or even on flyers around your neighborhood. They’re the kinds of things people need help with but often they don’t amount to enough work for to be a part-time job. If you don’t see any opportunities, you could create your own by advertising that you will do odd jobs. Things like house cleaning, running errands, and mowing lawns make great odd job side hustles.
Sell Old or Unused Stuff
It’s true what they say that one person’s junk is another person’s treasure. Especially if you keep an open mind. Do you have some things laying around that you don’t use anymore? Maybe they have value to someone else.
If you’re not sure what you might have that you can sell or how much to ask for it, you can find buy and sell groups all over the place. There’s a number on Facebook that are location specific. Kijiji also has a location specific search function. Your local newspaper is a good place to check too. This will give you a good idea if there is a market for the things you want to sell.
If you have a lot of stuff to sell, you might consider having a yard sale. Of course, depending on when you host it, you might have to put some social distancing protocols in place.
Affirmations
Affirmations are a great way to help you keep an open mind when it comes to expanding your financial potential.
Here are some affirmations to help you expand your financial potential.
- Money comes to me in unexpected ways.
- My income is expanding every day.
- I am connected to the universal supply of money.
Use these affirmations (or come up with some of your own) every day to help you reach your financial potential.
Journal Prompts
What are some unexpected ways money can come to me today?
I warned you earlier that we would be coming back to this. For this prompt, I want you to write about all the unexpected ways you can think of that money could come to you. Don’t edit yourself. If it feels too far fetched, write it down anyway. The universe works in mysterious ways—you just never know!
How can I be more clear about the money I want?
For this prompt I want you to write about all your money goals. If you know the exact amount it will take for you to reach your goal, that’s even better. Try to be as specific as possible. This is a good prompt to revisit again. Often, the more you think about something, the more clear it becomes.
How can I purposely expand my income?
This prompt is about expanding your income both by thinking and by doing. For example, you may want to change your negative monthly thoughts so they’re more positive, but you might also want to start taking steps toward starting a side hustle. However you feel you can expand your income both by thinking and by doing, write about that.
Expanding your financial potential is hard work, and often takes time. The good news is, it can be achieved in small steps each day. Start with just one thing then after you’ve been doing that for a while, add something else. Most of all it’s important to stay positive. Remember what I said about it taking five positive things to overcome one negative? If you can stay positive on your money journey, you’ll be that much farther ahead. Here’s to expanding your financial potential!
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Have you read this Money Matters article? *How To Face Your Financial Fears
From Mari:
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Author bio: Michelle Cornish is the author of Prosperity Planner: Manage Your Personal Finances and Get Out of Debt, an undated planner where she shares more about her personal financial journey and her TREE Method for keeping her personal finances in check.
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