You are a Badass at Making Money. Yes, you read that right. YOU are a badass at making money. Your visceral reaction to that might be to laugh out loud as you sip on 99 cent ramen for dinner or plot to steal granola bars from your office’s snack room for breakfast (and maybe a second for a snack for the impending weekend.) But really, you are – or can be – a badass at making money, according to Jen Sincero.
I’ve been lucky enough to have two promotions, along with two pay bumps, in my first year of work. I started off as an Executive Assistant on a short term contract, meaning I was on a three month trial period. After the three months, I got a full time offer. Six months following, I was able to make a lateral move to the Strategy team – which meant a new title and more money.
With a year of strategy under my belt, I am currently feeling antsy around fighting for another promotion, dropping associate in my title, and hustling for more money. But why should I feel antsy? The fact of the matter is I bring a lot of value to the company and the work. Let’s face it – I’m worth a lot.
According to Jen Sincero, in You Are A Badass At Making Money, “Money is currency and currency is energy.” Ain’t that right! Money gets the meaning we give it. And I would be lying (as most of us would) if we didn’t say money was one of the main motivators in our day to day – and of course, in our careers.
By no means does it run my life or fuel my decisions. I value God, family, friends, empathy, collaboration, laughter, and a few other things before money. But that being said, I also want to live in a space that I like, drive the car that I want, help and give to others, and pick up the tabs for my friends on occasion.
Thankfully, Sincero gives us a how-to guide in making this happen. It’s the ultimate golden ticket between the life and income we want, and ourselves or current state.
First off, you have to re-evaluate your relationship with money. Plain and simple. Analyze it, get to know it, and learn what you wish to tweak.
Second, our “realities” are make-believe – whatever we make ourselves believe, we experience. How interesting is that? Sincero provided an illustrative story to demonstrate this point, of a time she was forced to eat a worm in a foreign country – when in reality it was squid, and she liked fish.
The meaning of this point really is that “the power of the mind reigns supreme over any type of external “truths.” To excel and achieve this practice and patience over our minds is challenging, more so today than any other time, because of our constant consumption of media and content. Think about it. We are trying to tell our mind one thing, but being overfed information throughout the day. We can see when our friends attend a concert over Venmo transactions, who our ex-boyfriends started following on Instagram, and when our best friend turned enemy got that killer promotion at their dream company. There’s constant opportunities to create narratives in our mind about what is existing around us, who is doing what, and how we compare.
I’ll keep this straightforward, and in the words of Sincero, “The belief that you are hot and sexy will have you getting hit on by strangers on the street. And if you believe you’re eating worms, you will gag.” Your external world is a reflection of your internal world. I’m sure you’ve heard some variation of this before.
Our beliefs are at the roof of everything we experience and how we experience it in life and Sincero wants you to master your mindset. Need help getting started? Here’s her quick guide to do it – one of many drills in getting the bread.
- Become aware of what your limiting thoughts and beliefs are
- Question and investigate them.
- Rewrite them
- Say them out loud and proud
There are so many nuggets of wisdom in this book – and some of them apply to facets of life outside of money. But I will try to keep this brief, and leave you with three more lessons.
One: Who and what you surround yourself with has a huge effect on how you perceive and feel about money. This one is interesting for me. If you asked me if spending $175 on fake eyelashes once a month was a critical investment four years ago, I’d say what do you mean fake eyelashes? You can get them at Walgreens for $10. But now I live in LA, and I guess it’s changing me.
“Your environment helps define what you consider to be expensive or cheap, a wise or stupid purchase, and how much you’ll allow yourself to make.” Sincero even offers up a “sobering” exercise: Take the average income of the five people you hang around with most, and you’ll most likely find yours.
Two: “The very unfunny cosmic joke: In an attempt to protect ourselves from pain, we perpetuate behaviors that create the very pain we are trying to avoid.” I’ll leave the for interpretation.
Three: Change loves company. You started the company. You saved it from the lawsuit. You bought the house. You got your dream car. You moved to your favorite city (you know, the one you’ve only seen in pictures).
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The Universe is rooting for you, and it wants you to succeed.
