I think almost everyone understands it is essential to save. We all have a general idea of what it means to save. We dream about what the savings would bring, and we have so many things to save for like retirement, emergencies, kids’ college, the list goes on and on. Yet, when we take a look at our finances, we often fall short. Is it a lack of priority, not acknowledging our situation, bad luck, poor decisions? Well, I would say a little of some and more of others. What we need is to understand the art of saving. The true art of saving is more than just practical tips on how to save money. It is a total transformation of how we look, feel, and think about money.
The lens through which we view money directly affects our behaviors and ability to generate long-term wealth. Typically, we associate money with status and fulfillment. Once we have enough, we will be worthy of respect, and we can indeed be happy. The problem is money doesn’t solve all of our problems. It is a great tool, but just a tool nevertheless.
If money could solve all of our problems, then why do we feel like enough really never is enough? The real problem is that we don’t think about money in a healthy way. Our mind controls our behaviors, and our behaviors dictate our financial future.
In order to master the art of savings and live in true freedom, we need to take ownership of our journey.
Embrace The Journey
We have all seen the rather corny but very true bumper sticker, “It is about the journey, not the destination.” What does that really mean in our pursuit of freedom and, more specifically, to the art of saving?
So often, we only focus on the end destination with our money and even our freedom. Our goals are not to be a truly financially free person but to have the newest car or gadget available. It is not rooted in identity but rooted in things.
From my personal experience and research, I have found that goals that focus on direct outcomes associated with them are much harder to keep and don’t provide sustainable change compared to goals that affect your identity and focus entirely on the process.
When we make our process the goal and the goal the process, we are living perfectly in balance and can take whatever life throws at us. What’s fantastic about this mind shift is your goals are just byproducts of embracing your journey and process. If your goals are not pushing you towards your objective, what is the goal’s purpose? If you are pulling yourself to the goal, that requires willpower which will fail eventually by no fault of your own. When you have an identity change, your identity pushes you towards the change you are looking for.
Let’s break this down a little further. Let’s say I am overweight (which, thanks to Covid quarantine, definitely applies to me right now), and I want to lose weight. I can go about my weight loss journey in two distinct ways.
Outcome-Based Goals:
The first way, outcome-based goals, is the more traditional western approach and methodology. In this approach, I will set a goal of losing 25 pounds. Everything I do will be focused on getting my scale weight down 25 pounds from my current weight.
This method can be effective, especially in the short term, but it also comes with a few problems. If you focus solely on the number, how do you handle plateaus, setbacks, failures, all things inevitable in your journey? Also, what happens when you do reach your goal of losing 25 pounds? Once I have lost 25 pounds, I have accomplished my goal; so, what is to stop me from gaining weight and doing this all over again? I can almost promise you that the weight you lost is coming back not because of your effort but because of a lack of actual identity change.
Athletes keep their physique up because they are rooted in their identity as an athlete. The problem is as soon as they are not athletes, they typically gain weight quickly. Why? Did they forget how to work out and eat healthily? Nope, their identity is no longer as an athlete, so the actions of eating and working out quickly fall off.
Process/Identity-Based Goals:
The second and better method is to make your goal centered around your identity. To do this, your goal must be rooted in your identity, not just a simple checklist or outcome you are searching for. When you know who you are, you know what to do. Battles are fought first in our minds, and when you change your identity, your brain will do everything in its power to affirm and keep that identity.
Let’s go back to our weight loss example. When we apply this framework to weight loss, instead of our goal being I want to lose 25 pounds which is focused on the outcome; our goal is to be a healthy and fit person. Healthy people work out, don’t eat four cheeseburgers at dinner, get enough sleep, and healthy people work on themselves. When we suddenly change our identity, we know what needs to be done, and living according to our identity seems easy.
The beauty of this is every time you workout, eat healthy, sleep, skip the donuts, you have accomplished your goal of being a healthy person at that moment. Every day you can achieve your goal of living and being a healthy person. Being a healthy person isn’t something you do, but it is who you are. Change who you are, and your actions will follow the new identity. When you change your identity, you no longer hold yourself to a standard against your future self or others. Instead, you are comparing yourself to who you were yesterday.
The same is true when it comes to the art of saving and living a financially free life. We need to free ourselves from the negative identity and embrace change. Today is a brand new day and an opportunity no matter who we were yesterday. Let’s use it!
What Now?
So hopefully, at this point in the article, you are convinced of the power of identity and self-belief. You might be thinking, how the heck does this relate to the art of saving? Here are a few practical ideas/thoughts to realize your identity as a saver and a financially free individual.
- You are not the things you buy.
- Who you are and what you do are entirely different.
- Change happens daily, whether you are aware of it or not. You are either moving towards your goals or slipping away from them.
- There is no such thing as a lack of identity. If you think you don’t have an identity, then your life feels like chaos, and chaos, I would argue, has become your identity.
- Changing your identity is work. Embrace the work. “By the yard, it is hard, but by the inch, it is a sinch.”
- You are more capable than you could ever imagine.
- Living in financial freedom is not a goal but an identity. You can’t check it off a list, but rather you accomplish everything on your list because of who you are.
As always, you got this!
