The most common thing that stops people from achieving their highest financial potential?

Themselves.

In this episode of Beyond Finances, we consider whether the roadblocks and challenges you’re facing might actually be all in your head.

“Learned helplessness” is a phenomenon that can stop you from making the progress you’re capable of, and it happens when you experience struggle or suffering that you feel is out of your control — and if you practice this subconscious habit, it can prevent you from seeing, and acting on, what you can control to make your financial situation better.

We all face hard times and difficult choices in our lives. What often makes the difference between someone who pushes through and carries on to an eventual positive outcome and someone who tends to stay stuck and struggling is how we interpret the things that happen to us.

In this episode, we discuss a number of issues that might stem from you being your biggest enemy, including:

• Not focusing on what you can control
• Prematurely declaring a goal or outcome impossible, or an effort you made to be a failure
• Claiming that you “can’t” do something, rather than considering you can try to do something and see what happens
• Failing to brainstorm all possible actions to take but claiming there’s nothing you can do
• Comparing your path to someone else’s, or accepting someone else’s values rather than taking the time to understand, identify, and prioritize your own
• Sticking with a fixed mindset or a pessimistic outlook (instead of opting for optimistic, growth-oriented mindsets

We discuss the most common mental roadblocks we see that stop capable people with a lot of potential from reaching the financial success within their power to achieve — as well as how you can address your own mental blocks to clear your path to your goals and the life you really want to live.

Jump into the episode here:

Further Reading & Resources Mentioned in the Show

• In case you have no idea what we’re talking about, this is Gritty. If you have any good Gritty 2020 merch, send Kali a tweet about it.
• Highly recommended reading: Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth
• Read Martin’s Seligman, Ph.D.’s, research paper on learned helplessness and the power of optimism.
• You can also check out more articles like this one, which explains why people who think they are luckier actually seem to be luckier.
• If you need a reminder on how to be intentional and align your actions with your values, cue up this previous podcast episode — which can be really helpful in identifying a “life philosophy” or an overarching, long-term, big picture vision you want to work toward.
• And if you enjoyed this podcast episode, you might like this past show that discusses how your emotions can stop you from being good with money (and how you can stop your feelings from leading you to financial failure)

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