Money, I'll Be Happy When!

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you've thought to yourself or said to someone, "I'll be happy, content, sorted when I have that thing, experience, feeling or accomplishment"?

It could be "Once I have that pay rise, new car, bigger house, get rid of debt, change career, start my own business, retire or have that trip of a lifetime"

Or it may be something else.

Most of us have things backwards, we approach life with a once I HAVE the thing, I can finally DO the things I want to do and BE who I want to be approach to life, wrongly believing that we will finally be happy when we have more stuff.

Consumer society encourages us to think that the more things we have, the busier we are, the better we are and only once we have those things can we be truly happy and free.

It's no wonder so many people get caught up on the hedonic treadmill of acquiring more stuff and experiences believing they will be happy once they attain the next thing, only to discover they aren’t happy when they get there and it's still not enough.

When what we really want is more love, connection, freedom and security.

It's not about acquiring more stuff, it's about who we are being. And the thing is you can and need to start to do the being, and you have that within you right now, long before you have the stuff, things, money and financial freedom.

"You've got to BE before you can do, and DO before you can HAVE" Zig Ziglar

This is where the BE DO HAVE model of thinking and being comes in.

The BE DO HAVE model is simple and effective and turns this old way of thinking on its head by asking; Who do I need to BE? what do I need to DO? to HAVE the outcomes and results I desire.

The model establishes the ideal mindset, environment and standards for success before anything is done.

Take saving and investing for example. If we look at this through the HAVE, DO, BE mindset, someone might say;

“When I have financial freedom, then I’ll finally be happy and able to do the things I want to do, but I’m just not good with money, the stock market is a dangerous place and I don’t even understand the options available to me, so I’ll just spend my money, buy all the things that will make me happy, borrow more when that runs out and I'll live that life now"

Now, staying out of debt, saving and investing is a long-term game and requires a completely different mindset to the example above. To change the outcome and results we can put this challenge through the BE DO HAVE model.

To start with you will need to ask yourself the question "who do I need to BE" then "what DO I need to do" to be able to achieve my savings and investment goals and HAVE freedom and choice.

Here are some prompts for this example;

BE = (Awareness and mindset)

Who do you need to be?

Are you being the type of person who values paying yourself first, saving and investing over spending your money?

What new beliefs about saving investing, do you need to start believing?

What is important about this?

Are you walking the talk?

Does what you say match what you do?

DO = (Way of being and actions taken to move you forward)

What education and skills do you need to get to be able to understand the options available?

Who are the people you need to talk to get this education?

What decisions do you need to make?

What do you need to start doing?

What do you need to stop doing?

Who do you need to surround yourself with in the pursuit of your goal?

HAVE = (Outcomes and results from the action taken)

What are the saving and investment outcomes and results that you want?

What will this give you and those you care about?

Why is this important to you?

By deciding who you need to be to achieve your goals, you will have a clear picture of what is truly important to you and what you must do as you take the action steps to move you forward. This will also help you make decisions that align with your goals when roadblocks, challenges and temptations come up.

You will notice how much more empowering it is to be fully in control of your life and take 100% responsibility for your results.

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results" Albert Einstein

Now this is just one example of the how the BE DO HAVE model can be used. The beauty of this model is that it can be applied to any area of your life, such as your career or business, relationships or life itself.

Where can you use this in your life? I look forward to seeing your comments below.👇