If you spend your days thinking about how much money you’ve pissed away, how hard it is to make a decent living at your craft, all the times you’ve failed, do you think that is going to help or hurt your chances of correcting the problem in the future? We tend to focus on all the negatives and ignore the positives. Why is that? Why don’t we believe, instead, that anything is possible and that the future looks bright?

• Focus on the positive. Make a list of all the positive things you have going for you. If you can’t think of any make a list of all the things you think are holding you bak, then wad it up and flush it down the toilet (literally) and see how that feels. Then start again and make that list of positive traits.
• Things aren’t as bad as they seem. If all  you can think about is how you have mismanaged money and what an idiot you have been, it will drag you into depression and affect all areas of your life. Let’s put things into perspective. Money is only one area of your life. You are not a failure. Maybe you have failed at finances (in the past), but that doesn’t mean you need to beat yourself up. There are many creative people who are successful but don’t have a lot of money.
• Focus on the here and now. Today is a new day and what has happened in the past does not determine your future. Focus on the task at hand. It is a funny thing, but when you don’t focus on the money (or money problems) but on enjoying the process of acquiring it, good things usually happen. The past is the past.
• Force yourself past your fears. How? Let go of the outcome and focus on the process. Or in other words, remain in the moment and usually the pressure and fear will disappear. Besides, when you remove the fear, everything is more fun, and when you are having fun you tend to do better work.
• Financial freedom doesn’t actually come from money. You can have freedom from financial worry at any income. Some people worry about money even when they have more than enough. Everyone has anxiety about money.  But if you don’t deal with your fears and issues about money early, they are still there when you make it.
• Money doesn’t equal happiness. Happiness is NOT a byproduct of wealth. Happiness is in your head. If you feel rich then you are rich. There are people who have millions who don’t feel it is enough or that they are enough. Sad. Making a magical amount of money doesn’t make everything in your life all right.
• Even if you are struggling, keep creating. The tide will turn. You can’t stop at the first setback. Keep busy and keep your mind off money matters for a while and ENJOY the creative process without the pressure of trying to make millions. If you stress on money problems 24/7, do they get any better? Nope. Worrying solves nothing but robs you of your life and the joy that is all around you if you would just put your financial concerns on the back burner. Then you will free yourself up to do better work, and I’ll bet things will turn around. A combination of thinking good stories along with doing good work leads to good results.
• Don’t compare yourself to others. The only time comparing yourself to others does any good is when you want to do something that seems impossible but someone else has pulled it off. If someone else did it, you can too.
• Don’t listen to others. If others are the reason you don’t feel worthy, you need to look at that. If others are telling that you should give up your dream and get a normal job I hope you put your fingers in your ears.
• It never ends. You would think that after having speaking on stages for years, written a series of books i would be very self confident about telling my stories in public. Not!  Every time again self doubt appears. To overcome it, I use all of the ideas mentioned.

ACTION TIME

What specifically is bothering you about your current financial situation? Be as specific as possible. Next to each item, write down what you believe you need or needs to happen to make you feel better. Then write a first step you can take for each item.