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Episode 580: How to Cut Emergencies in Half

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Join us today for an episode about the reason for an emergency fund...

Today's episode is focused on what an emergency fund is and how you need one...

In today’s episode about investing in yourself through stewarding your treasures, I talk with you about how an emergency fund works and what it is.  I share why this cuts emergencies in half.  I also talk with you about what to do if you don’t have an emergency fund and find yourself in an emergency and what to do if you do have an emergency fund in an emergency.

Join in on the Chat below.

00:00:00 Thanks for joining me on Episode 580 of the inspired stewardship Podcast Thanks for joining Me on Episode 5 80 of the inspired uh, they lose a job. They don't have an emergency fund, so they just keep living exactly the way they were living before. And they usually use debt toe fund it that use credit cards and other things, and that debt begins to mount day after day after day. And then it's six months or a year before they actually get fully employed again. And now, Now all of that income is tied up trying to dig out from under the mess that they made Welcome and thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcast.
00:00:47 If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling in the inspired stewardship Podcast will learn to invest in yourself and best in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world. In today's episode about investing in yourself through stewarding your treasures. I talk with you about how an emergency fund works. Why having one can cut your emergencies in half and what to do if you don't have an emergency fund,
00:01:29 but then find yourself in an emergency as we talk about stewarding your treasures. Wouldn't it be great if you could support this podcast and do it without costing yourself an extra dime? It turns out you can't. All you have to do is use inspired stewardship dot com slash amazon when you're ready to make a purchase via Amazon, and a small commission will come back to support the show. If you enjoy the show when you're ready to buy from Amazon, just use inspired stewardship dot com slash amazon. Let's talk about emergency funds,
00:02:06 and right now, depending on what's going on with you in the cove in 19 situation, this may be really relevant. And one of the things I'm going to talk about today is what to do if you are in an emergency but didn't have an emergency fund ahead of time. But before we get there, let's talk a little bit about what an emergency fund is and how it works. You know, simply put, an emergency fund is simply some money that you've set aside that you don't touch,
00:02:34 you don't do anything with its not in in an investment. It's not in anything that's a long term deal.
00:02:40 It's not meant to make a lot of money or anything. It's simply there to be used in case of an emergency.
00:02:47 It's the money that you set aside. So when something goes wrong and notice, I didn't say if you've got some cash to help,
00:02:55 take care of it. And that cash is readily available. Doesn't necessarily mean it's cash that you're storing in a coffee can on your back shelf.
00:03:04 But it does need to be readily available, and it needs to be the cash that you would use to kind of weather that storm.
00:03:12 So one of the questions that people ask is, How much should I have in my emergency fund? And the short answer to that is,
00:03:17 well, it depends. There's both a financial and an emotional factor. When you're thinking about it, what makes you feel secure?
00:03:25 But at the same time, you don't want so much money tied up in cash that you're not able to afford to do other things like long term investing and saving money for other purposes.
00:03:36 See, by definition, an emergency fund is money that you put aside that you do not use for anything else.
00:03:42 It doesn't turn into a new couch fund. It doesn't turn into the money to go on vacation fund.
00:03:47 It doesn't turn into the money that you buy pizza with its there on Lee for emergency, separate and isolated from everything else.
00:03:58 You know the rule of thumb that the gurus will tell you is 3 to 6 months of expenses, meaning if you lost your job,
00:04:05 would you be able to pay to keep the lights on? Keep food on the table. Keep the roof over your head for at least 3 to 6 months,
00:04:12 and that's a good starting point. But you also want to think about things like how secure is your income?
00:04:17 How secure is your job? You know, most of the time our jobs are pretty secure, but maybe you're in a field where there's a large about a turnover.
00:04:27 Then you definitely want to air on the side of having more money. Set aside. If your couple are there,
00:04:34 both of you employed or just one of you could you survive on one of your incomes? Well, then maybe you can afford with having a little smaller emergency fund.
00:04:43 But then there's also the feeling of. But do you feel secure? So you kind of wanna get into that idea of figuring out together with your partner or if you're a single by yourself?
00:04:56 What kind of amount of money makes you both feel secure without tying up? Too much of your resource is,
00:05:02 and with your unique situation, actually makes sense. This is one of the things that I work with my coaching clients on because we often end up with different amounts of money.
00:05:15 You'll also hear people talk about having a starter emergency fund and then a fully funded emergency fund, depending on where they are in different goals,
00:05:22 like paying off debt and other things. But let's right now, just talk about it in general, having some money set aside for an emergency is a good thing.
00:05:34 One of the things that I point out is once you get some money set aside for an emergency, by definition it cuts your emergencies in half.
00:05:43 And that sounds funny because at first you started thinking Wait I have fewer emergencies just because I have some cash and honestly,
00:05:50 I've seen that happen. I've seen it where, because you're also doing other things that cause you to pay attention and prepare and be more diligent,
00:05:58 you actually have fewer emergencies. But even if not, even if you have the same number of emergencies,
00:06:04 by definition you have half assed many because here's what happens right now. If you have no money set aside for emergencies and your car breaks,
00:06:13 you have a car transportation emergency and you have a financial emergency because you've got to figure out how to get the money together to fix the car.
00:06:24 But when you have an emergency fund, then by definition you only have the car emergency and all of the emotion that goes along with that.
00:06:32 It's still a bad situation. It's still rough. It's still something you've got to deal with. There's still a problem to fix,
00:06:39 but you have the money so that part of the problem isn't as big of a problem. Right now.
00:06:46 A lot of people are seeing the need for an emergency fund, but what happens if you get into that situation and you don't have an emergency fund.
00:06:56 Well, then you have to begin to think creatively. It's not necessarily about whipping out the credit card right away and just putting it on debt.
00:07:05 In fact, if this is a long term situation that may last for a while, that actually can make the problem worse instead of better.
00:07:13 It's about looking at your budget and thinking about what your priorities are and what can you give on? What can you cut out?
00:07:19 What can you give up in terms of expenses? It's also about looking at the income side and thinking to yourself,
00:07:26 What can I do to bring in income both short term and long term? Do I need get a different job or a new job,
00:07:33 or do I need to sell something all of these air possible? You need to think broadly and creatively about both sides of the equation,
00:07:41 the income and the outgo, and depending on what the emergency is, how much it's gonna cost, how long it's gonna last or could last get tells you how creative you want to be.
00:07:55 How far back do you wanna pull? Are you just paying minimums on debt or are you getting into a situation where perhaps you can't even pay on debt depending on what's going on in your life and how big of an emergency and how long it will last and how much money you actually have.
00:08:12 You could be doing either of those things. One of them is not right and the others wrong. It really depends on the particulars of the situation.
00:08:20 But regardless, what you want to do if you find yourself an emergency and you don't have an emergency fund,
00:08:26 is you immediately want to take a step back and reassess everything. Look, ATT, every expense. See what you can cut out.
00:08:34 Look at everything that you have available to you to bring in income and see what you can do. You immediately want to shift into action.
00:08:43 One of the things that I've seen happen time after time is people kind of get into denial. They lose a job.
00:08:49 They don't have an emergency fund, so they just keep living exactly the way they were living before. And they usually use debt to fund it.
00:08:56 They use credit cards and other things, and that debt begins to mount day after day after day, and then it's six months or a year before they actually get fully employed again.
00:09:05 And now, now all of that income is tied up trying to dig out from under the mess that they made would in reality.
00:09:14 If they would have cut things back quicker, they never would have gotten in his deep. Even if they use debt to fund what was left,
00:09:22 they still wouldn't have spent nearly as much money. So the key when you find yourself in an emergency without an emergency fund is to not pretend it's to recognize what's going on.
00:09:34 Dig in and take action immediately toe. Limit the damage. Now, on the other hand, if you find yourself in an emergency and you have an emergency fund,
00:09:45 then you can use the emergency fund to take care of the emergency again, depending on the timing and how long you think it's gonna last.
00:09:53 You may want to still limit expenses and look for additional ways to bring an income and not have to use the emergency fund It all.
00:10:01 But if it's a short term thing, just the car broke and you've still got your job and everything else is business as usual,
00:10:07 pay to fix the car and then put the money back in the emergency fund. It may take you a few weeks or a few months to do that,
00:10:14 but you can do it and then you don't sweat it at all. That's a wonderful place to be,
00:10:21 and you can get there anyone can. It takes time. It takes hard work. It's not easy,
00:10:26 but it is worth it. Thanks for listening. Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship Podcast.
00:10:39 As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen. But act on what you've heard and find a way toe.
00:10:49 Live your calling. If you like this episode on the stewardship of treasures, you can sign up for our treasures tips by going to inspired stewardship dot com slash treasures or text in the U.
00:11:06 S. 44222 Treasures tills, and we'll send you five weeks of our best tips on stewarding your treasures until next time investor time,
00:11:20 your talent and your treasures develop your influence and impact world

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In today's episode, I talk with you about:

  • How an emergency fund works...
  • Why this cuts emergencies in half...
  • What to do if you don’t have an emergency fund and find yourself in an emergency...
  • and more.....

Into each life some rain must fall, Some days must be dark and dreary. - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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Some of the Resources recommended in this episode:

I make a commission for purchases made through the following link.

Let Me Know What you Think Below....

Episode 575: Stewardship Brings Peace

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Join us today for an episode about why stewardship brings peace both during and after an emergency...

Today's episode is focused on how stewardship brings peace...

In today’s episode about impacting the world through stewarding your treasures, I talk with you about why good stewardship brings hope and peace even in stress.  I also share why stewardship and faith isn’t an excuse to not take action.  I also talk with you about what faithful stewardship looks like when times are crazy.

Join in on the Chat below.

00:00:00 Thanks for joining me on Episode 5 75 of the inspired stewardship podcast. Hey, I'm at him, author of Redefined Rich and I Challenge You to Live richly by listening to the inspired stewardship podcast with My friend Scott made her. The truth is, there's always choices you have. There's always action you can take at the best of time or at the worst of time. There's always something else that we can continue to do. And when we recognize that, that is what we're called to do to take that positive action each and every day to make today a little better than tomorrow.
00:00:45 Welcome and thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling in. The inspired Searchie podcast will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world in today's episode about impacting the world through stewarding your treasures. I talk with you about why good stewardship brings hope and peace, even in times of stress like the's.
00:01:29 Why stewardship and faith isn't an excuse to not take action. And what faithful stewardship actually looks like when times are crazy? As we talk about stewarding your treasures? Wouldn't it be great if you could support this podcast and do it without costing yourself an extra dime? It turns out you can't. All you have to do is use inspired stewardship dot com slash amazon when you're ready to make a purchase via Amazon,
00:01:58 and a small commission will come back to support the show. If you enjoy the show when you're ready to buy from Amazon,
00:02:05 just use inspired stewardship dot com slash amazon stewardship. You know, the theme of this show constantly comes back to this idea of being a good steward,
00:02:18 and today I'm gonna use stewardship of money as an example. But recognize that this principle, this idea of stewardship,
00:02:26 is about way more than money. One of the definitions I've seen for stewardship when it comes to find finances is that generosity is a matter of action intentions in heart.
00:02:39 It's the grateful outpouring of gifts to others out of our love for God. Outpouring is a terrific description,
00:02:47 since all of these treasures of the Gospel. Not just our money, not just our time. But all of the gifts of the Gospel comes from God,
00:02:56 and it's meant to be poured out to others. And what stewardship is is recognizing the idea that we're given something not for ourselves but for how we can use it to serve others.
00:03:11 So there's a couple of key principles that we want to talk about, and I want to recognize how stewardship,
00:03:16 good stewardship, having that mental and physical philosophy leads to peace both in a practical way as well as in a faithful way.
00:03:31 So the principles of stewardship. There's a one, the 1st 1 and this is the key one. And this is the one that,
00:03:38 really, at the end of the day is probably the hardest to internalize but also the most important. And this is the principle of who owns things you know.
00:03:49 Psalm 24 says the earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and all who live in it.
00:03:56 In other words, anything that you have anything that's in the world is not yours. It's not anyone's,
00:04:03 it's God's, and our job is simply to take care of it. It means that when we're damaging something in the world in the environment,
00:04:14 that we're not being good stewards. It means when we're not spending the time that we've been blessed with,
00:04:18 well, we're not being good stewards. It means when we're not using the money that we've been given well,
00:04:25 we're not being good stewards. That leads to the second principle, the principle of responsibility. God gives us everything,
00:04:34 and it even says God gives us all things richly to enjoy. God does not want us tow, live in the state of scarcity and lack and fear,
00:04:45 and right now that's probably a really hard thing to deal with. But that's not the intention that we're supposed to live in the world with.
00:04:54 That's not the feeling or the attitude that we're supposed to have. Instead, we're supposed to recognize that we have a tremendous responsibility to God and to each other to take all of those gifts that we have been given and used them well and use them well to serve others,
00:05:14 not just ourselves. The third principle is the principle of accountability. The word stewardship comes from this idea of being someone given responsibility and accountability for what others have God has entrusted us and giving us the responsibility to manage things well.
00:05:34 And God has also made us accountable to that, meaning that we will have to speak up and say what we have done and be ableto do and represent that over time we've done the best we can with everything that we've been blessed with so that at the end of the day's God looks at us and says,
00:05:56 well done good and faithful servant, that is the idea behind stewardship. Those four key principles and the idea is the recognition here is when you've done those things when you've said about tohave,
00:06:14 good resource is and take care of them. Well, then what's interesting is you have more hope, more peace and less stress.
00:06:24 First off, from an emotional standpoint, it gives you the ability to recognize that your job is to do the best you can.
00:06:33 But it's not all on your shoulders. It belongs to God. It lets you begin to give up some of the fear and the frustration while still taking action and moving forward.
00:06:46 The other thing, from a practical standpoint, it means that you've done and taken good care of. Your resource is you've laid up resource is for in a time of feasting for a time of famine,
00:06:57 which means that when something goes wrong and something always goes wrong, you're prepared for it. And now all of a sudden,
00:07:06 instead of the car breaking, being a financial emergency and a transportation emergency, it's just a transportation emergency.
00:07:14 The finances air taken care of. It means that in a time like this, whatever everyone else is panicking,
00:07:21 you're able to have a little bit more of a peaceful attitude. You're still taking action. You're still doing things to take care of yourself and others.
00:07:31 But you're not panicked about it. You're not in fear and see. That's part of what's important. To recognize the idea that stewardship is not the same as O God's Got it.
00:07:44 God will provide. I don't have to do anything. Stewardship is about taking action. Stewardship is taking responsibility and accountability for the gifts that God has given you,
00:07:57 and if you set back and are passive, that's not taking responsibility. That's, Ah, false form of stewardship,
00:08:06 and this is what it looks like whether times their normal or times or faithful, it means taking action.
00:08:12 It means identifying what is it that God wants for us? And it means not looking to money or anything else to be your provider,
00:08:22 but recognizing that God is your provider but that God has empowered and entrusted you with certain. Resource is so that you have the role of doing the right things,
00:08:35 whether that's getting out of debt, whether that's giving to others, whether that's building well so that you can start a foundation or a charity or just donate money to someone,
00:08:47 whether it's giving of your time or your talents for a nonprofit or another organization that has your heart or a group of people that need your help,
00:08:58 whether it's right now just showing up and delivering groceries for someone that can't get out of their house and leaving them on the porch.
00:09:05 All of these are examples of good stewardship, and the truth is when times were crazy like this, it's even Maur important that we look for the opportunities to take accountability and responsibility for all of the blessings that we've been given.
00:09:25 Now, if this is hitting you hard right now because you recognize that maybe you haven't done as good of a job of laying up and preparing for the future.
00:09:35 Well, that's okay. Use this as motivation for recognizing that you've got to do better when you come out of the other side.
00:09:44 Recognize the fact that this just means this is a motivation and a wake up call that you need to take responsibility,
00:09:52 be accountable and sit down and do the hard work of figuring out What is it that you can do to re focus on what's important to you.
00:10:01 To gain control of the resource is that you have so that you can take responsibility and accountability for those things that God owns.
00:10:09 And then to set a plan in place so that you begin to get in a better position so that the next time there's an emergency,
00:10:16 you're better off. The truth is, there's always choices you have. There's always action you can take at the best of time or at the worst of time.
00:10:25 There's always something else that we can continue to do, and when we recognize that, that is what we're called to do to take that positive action each and every day to make today a little better than tomorrow.
00:10:39 That is being a good steward. Thanks for listening. Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship Podcast.
00:10:52 As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen. But act on what you've heard and find a way toe.
00:11:02 Live your calling. If you like this episode on the stewardship of treasures, you can sign up for our treasures tips by going to inspired stewardship dot com slash treasures or text in the U.
00:11:20 S. 44222 Treasures tips and we'll send you five weeks of our best tips on stewarding your treasures until next time investor time,
00:11:34 your talent and your treasures develop your influence and impact world.

+ Click to view entire transcript
- Click to collapse


In today's episode, I talk with you about:

  • Why good stewardship brings hope and peace even in stress...
  • Why stewardship and faith isn’t an excuse to not take action...
  • What faithful stewardship looks like when times are crazy...
  • and more.....

A faithful steward loves God first. ― Laura W. Watts

Click to Tweet

Some of the Resources recommended in this episode:

I make a commission for purchases made through the following link.

Let Me Know What you Think Below....

Episode 570: It Always Costs More Than You Think

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Join us today for an episode about the way's we often ignore the hidden cost...

Today's episode is focused on the three steps we need to do to develop a realistic budget...

In today’s episode about developing your influence through stewarding your treasures, I talk with you about why we tend to ignore the hidden cost in many things, optimism isn’t the same as false beliefs, and why you can learn to be realistic in the approach.

Join in on the Chat below.

00:00:00 Thanks for joining me on Episode 5 70 of the inspired Stewardship podcast. I'm Daryl Lines, author of 18 to 80. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talent and your treasures toe. Live out your calling. Having the right behavior with your money is key to doing that. And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this. The inspired stewardship podcast with my friend Scott made her either because you behaved in a way that you didn't plan to behave or because there was something else going on some hidden costs or some accident of time or event that caused something to deviate and see.
00:00:55 That's the third step, that act of reflecting, looking at the tracking, looking at the plan and actively thinking about what happened. Welcome and thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling. In the inspired stewardship Podcast will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world. In today's episode about developing your influence through stewarding your treasures.
00:01:40 I talk with you about why we tend to ignore the hidden cost in so many things. Why optimism isn't the same as false beliefs and how you can learn to be more realistic in your approach to money as we talk about stewarding your treasures.
00:01:58 Wouldn't it be great if you could support this podcast and do it without costing yourself an extra dime? It turns out you can't.
00:02:06 All you have to do is use inspired stewardship dot com slash amazon when you're ready to make a purchase via Amazon,
00:02:14 and a small commission will come back to support the show. If you enjoy the show when you're ready to buy from Amazon,
00:02:21 just use inspired stewardship dot com slash amazon. One of the things that I've noticed over the years of working with clients and their budgets I've seen now literally hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of budgets for many different people over the years,
00:02:39 and all too often one of the problems that we have is, well, you know, At the end of the day,
00:02:46 we just tend to underestimate the rial cost of things. I mean, somebody comes along and offers us something for free.
00:02:56 And so we think, Well, this is not gonna have any monetary costs. It's not gonna have any impact on me,
00:03:01 But we don't think about hidden cost. So as an example, you know, you you get a puppy for your kids and you pick up the puppy for free from the pound,
00:03:10 or maybe just for 20 or 30 bucks. But you don't think about the lifetime cost of that puppy in terms of dollars and cents.
00:03:19 Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that having the puppy is a bad thing. In fact,
00:03:25 the love and companionship of a pet is something that has an emotional impact on us that has great benefits.
00:03:34 But the truth is we often ignore the fact that there's a monetary cost that comes along with it. Everything has some level of opportunity cost.
00:03:44 Everything has some level of impact on our money, even if it's just a impact on our money. In terms of time.
00:03:53 Now, I often challenge clients toe, think about ways to do things cheaper than they've done them before.
00:04:01 You'll have clients that come to me, for instance, and say, Well, going, socializing, spending time outside of the house always cost money.
00:04:10 And, yeah, there's always a monetary impact. But you can begin to make choices that allow you to have a lower impact on your money rather than a higher impact.
00:04:20 There's ways that you can choose to do things that change the impact, but the first step is to recognize that there are hidden cost.
00:04:31 If you hire someone to do something for you, there's not just the monetary costs, but there's the cost in time and effort that you spend with them.
00:04:39 There's always a cost and we tend to underestimate it. We tend to ignore things like the impact of taxes on our income,
00:04:48 the fact that if we finance things that there is a cost in terms of interest that also affect us,
00:04:54 and so we don't really look at the true cost of things when we're making plans. Instead, we tend to look at only the best case scenario.
00:05:06 We tend to look at it as if everything's gonna work out perfectly and the truth is, as right now is showing us there's always a chance that things won't work out perfectly.
00:05:18 You know, I have an emergency fund, not because I know what's going to go wrong, but because I suspect that at some point something will go wrong.
00:05:30 And because of that, having an emergency fund helps gives me emotional peace of mind during those times. See,
00:05:38 it's not about knowing the future. It's about preparing for the future. There's a difference between optimism, which is looking at things as if they will be better in the future and false beliefs,
00:05:52 which is where you ignore reality and just pretend like everything is going to somehow work out. It's not about having faith or hope.
00:06:03 It's about ignoring any sort of downsides, ignoring any possibility that anything will go wrong. And the truth is,
00:06:12 optimism is about not just assuming things will go right, but beginning to paint a vision of a future that you then move towards.
00:06:23 You actually do the hard work and the steps and the priorities and the process to create that future. You know,
00:06:32 it's about having a realistic approach. It's about looking at the world as it is, but also then looking at the world as the way you want it to be,
00:06:44 and then trying to connect the two with the process and actions that will get you there. This is one of the reasons that doing a realty true budget is so important,
00:06:55 but it's not enough by itself. I've had people that come to me for help with their budget, and they've been doing ah budget for years,
00:07:05 but they've never actually look to see whether they're living to that budget. See, I tell clients there's really three parts here.
00:07:13 There's doing the budget and then there's tracking how you work and seeing if it actually fits the budget. Did you actually spend the money that you budgeted on what you said you were going to spend it on?
00:07:26 Or did something go wrong with the plan either because you behaved in a way that you didn't plan to behave or because there was something else going on some hidden costs or some an accident of of time or event that caused something to deviate and see?
00:07:43 That's the third step, that act of reflecting. Looking at the tracking, looking at the plan and actively thinking about what happened.
00:07:52 Why didn't it work? Why didn't the plan work out the way it should have? And as you do that over time,
00:07:58 you begin to refine your plan and you begin to change your behavior and build the systems and the processes that keep you on track.
00:08:07 This is why it's a process on an event you generally don't create the perfect budget the first time you create a budget.
00:08:13 And in fact, you probably never create a perfect budget because I don't think there's anything any such thing as a perfect budget because there isn't a perfect life.
00:08:24 Life always throws us a curve, and sometimes it's not about the curve. It's about our reaction to that curveball.
00:08:35 That's what determines if we win or lose. That's where optimism comes in, recognizing that when life throws you a curveball,
00:08:44 you have a choice in how you react and you can move forward effectively, not out of fear, not out of any sort of worry,
00:08:53 but out of the ability to create the future that you want as you go there. So I ask you,
00:09:00 what do you do to examine the hidden cost of things. What do you do? Tow? Make sure that you're paying attention to the opportunity cost when you make a choice.
00:09:10 And how do you balance that with a realistic approach that keeps you optimistic but also realistic? Thanks for listening.
00:09:23 Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship Podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen.
00:09:33 But act on what you've heard and find a way toe. Live your calling. If you like this episode on the stewardship of treasures,
00:09:43 you can sign up for our treasures tips by going to inspired stewardship dot com slash treasures or text in the U.
00:09:55 S. 44222 Treasures tips and we'll send you five weeks of our best tips on stewarding your treasures until next time investor time,
00:10:09 your talent and your treasures develop your influence and impact world

+ Click to view entire transcript
- Click to collapse


In today's episode, I talk with you about:

  • Why we tend to ignore the hidden cost in many things...
  • Why optimism isn’t the same as false beliefs...
  • Why you can learn to be realistic in the approach...
  • and more.....

Realize that the real hidden cost of everything you buy is how much life it cost you to get it.  - Ann Voskamp

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Episode 565: Tools or Behavior?

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Join us today for an episode about the reason there isn't an app for that...

Today's episode is focused on the real secret to changing your life...

In today’s episode about investing in others through stewarding your treasures, I talk with you about why there isn’t an app for that.  I share how the tool isn’t the secret to changing your life and your money.  I also talk about why having tools, habits, and mindset create the system that is true key is to fix your life.

Join in on the Chat below.

00:00:00 Thanks for joining me on Episode 5 65 of the inspired Stewardship Podcast I'm Joe, some from soul patch, Hip of success coaching. I want a surgery journey to be the next version of you to be inspired to become the most authentic. You listen to this. The inspired stewardship podcast by my friend Scott made her every day can help you keep the focus that you need. Then you end up trapped, feeling like you've never been able to successfully change anything and you stay stuck where you are. I've heard people with that limiting belief.
00:00:45 I can't change how I act with my money. I've tried before and I failed. But the truth is, the fact that you've tried before and failed probably makes you human welcome. And thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship Podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling in the inspired Searchie podcast will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world In today's episode about investing in others through stewarding your treasures.
00:01:32 I talk with you about why there really isn't an app for that. How the tool isn't the secret to changing your life and your money, and what the true key is to fix your life or help others work on theirs as we talk about stewarding your treasures. Wouldn't it be great if you could support this podcast and do it without costing yourself an extra dime? It turns out you can't. All you have to do is use inspired stewardship dot com slash amazon when you're ready to make a purchase via Amazon,
00:02:08 and a small commission will come back to support the show. If you enjoy the show when you're ready to buy from Amazon,
00:02:14 just use inspired stewardship dot com slash amazon. Whether I'm talking with people about how to use their time,
00:02:22 how to use their money, One of the things that comes up Maurin more nowadays is what's the app that I could use that would get my money and order?
00:02:31 What's the app that I could use that would get me more productive? That would make me where I'm able to get organized?
00:02:37 What's the magic app that's going to fix my life. And the short answer is there isn't an app for that.
00:02:46 Sure, there are all sorts of tools that you can use that will help you get organized. You can look at the systems that we used to have a minimal lifestyle.
00:02:56 You can look ATT, things like asana and other tools that help you use your time or effectively. You can look for tools like wine,
00:03:05 abbe or even a simple Excel spreadsheet, so that you could do your budget. You can find all sorts of tools that help you measure and track what happened with your money.
00:03:16 You confined tools that will let you measure and track and plan for the future. But the truth is,
00:03:25 those tools don't change anything. You are the app that changes how you behave with money or with time at the end of the day.
00:03:37 The tool, plus the habits plus the mindset and behaviors that you exhibit is the system that you live in and you can actually address all of these.
00:03:50 You need something for each of these to be able to really be effective. So let's take money. For example,
00:03:58 when you think about the tools around money, you need a tool that allows you to plan, and you need a tool that allows you to measure how you've actually executed on that planet.
00:04:09 A tracking tool that may be one tool that may be more than one tool depends on your life in your situation as to what's most effective for you.
00:04:19 But if you have that tool and you never use it, that it doesn't do anything for you. This is where habits and routines and systems come in when you set up a habit and allow you to check that tool in an effective way so that you you always play in before the month begins.
00:04:37 You always track as you go through the month in a regular way so that you don't get too far off track before you haven't a chance to adjust,
00:04:47 and you actually do the reflection and make the adjustment in your behavior that's needed. Then that tool becomes effective because you've layered on habits on top of it that allow you to behave in a way that allows you to adjust.
00:05:03 But let's look at the mindset in the behavior you can see, The truth is you can have all the tools in the world.
00:05:08 But if you don't actually use that tool to figure out what is important to me and I am I moving in that direction,
00:05:17 if I'm not doing things that are getting me what I want, what can I do to change what I'm doing?
00:05:23 What can I do to make adjustments to my behavior and my mind set and my beliefs? Are there things that I believe about money that just aren't true?
00:05:32 Are there things about I believe about money that are limiting my ability to do things that I really want to do?
00:05:41 And if I am, what can I do to change that mindset? What can I do to examine that limiting belief?
00:05:47 Have I surrounded myself with people that actually challenge my thinking? Have I plugged in and allowed myself to develop a mindset that's one that's abundance and growth oriented rather than scarcity and stagnation oriented?
00:06:06 See, that is the true key to fixing your life, recognizing the fact that it's not about the tool,
00:06:14 it's not about the habit, it's not about the mindset, it's about all of them. So that you can develop a system that allows you to really effectively change your life.
00:06:26 And when you think about making a change, you have to recognize that change comes in phases. It's a process.
00:06:33 It's not an event. You don't just suddenly change your behavior or your habits. Instead. Usually we start with a mode or thought process where we're thinking about changing the fancy term.
00:06:48 For that is the pre contemplations stage. You begin to rethink your behavior. You begin to think about how you're acting and what's happening and why.
00:06:58 This might be something that you want to change, and then you begin to do what they call the contemplation stage.
00:07:05 Well, if it's pre contemplation than after, that should be contemplation, right? And this is still thinking.
00:07:11 But you begin tow beam or analytical about it. You begin to weigh the pros and cons. You begin to test and adjust and begin toe measure.
00:07:21 What is it gonna take to a change? You begin to identify things that are holding you back from doing the things that you really want to do that are keeping you from changing,
00:07:31 and then you begin to prepare an experiment and change the behavior a little bit at a time. You begin to prepare to take action and then take action.
00:07:42 Here's the interesting thing. It's after that phase when we get into the maintenance phase that most people slip backwards.
00:07:51 This is when most people fall down on making a change because after maintenance they relapse and they go back to the beginning.
00:08:00 And if you don't recognize that, that's a natural part of change, this ability to slip back to where you were before is a natural part.
00:08:09 And if you don't build into your process, the ability to recognize that and move forward again and make the change again so that it will eventually stick.
00:08:20 Then you end up trapped, feeling like you've never been able to successfully change anything and you stay stuck where you are.
00:08:28 I've heard people with that limiting belief. I can't change how I act with my money. I've tried before and I failed.
00:08:36 But the truth is, the fact that you've tried before and failed probably makes you human because that's a normal thing that happens.
00:08:44 You relapse back to where you were before and said to sustain that change, you have to circle back and retake action.
00:08:51 You have to keep repeating that loop over and over again and eventually, eventually. Over time, that habit finally sticks,
00:09:01 and then you've got the correct mindset. You got the correct habit. You've got the correct tool, and you've created a system that allows you to sustain a new normal.
00:09:11 And then you could begin to examine it all over again. And if you do this often enough and regularly enough,
00:09:17 what you discover is your life begins to stair step upwards in a way that's always positive instead of stagnating.
00:09:26 Sure, you may slip backwards. You may have ah, ah, moment of weakness or something goes wrong and you slip back.
00:09:32 But over time in the process, not the event of life. Your progress is better because it's about progress.
00:09:42 Not perfect. Thanks for listening. Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship Podcast. As a subscriber and listener,
00:09:56 we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way toe live your calling.
00:10:06 If you like this episode on the stewardship of treasures, you can sign up for our treasures tips by going to inspired stewardship dot com slash treasures or text in the U.
00:10:22 S. 44222 Treasures tips and we'll send you five weeks of our best tips on stewarding your treasures until next time investor time,
00:10:36 your talent and your treasures develop your influence and impact world way.

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In today's episode, I talk with you about:

  • Why there isn’t an app for that...
  • How the tool isn’t the secret to changing your life and your money...
  • What the true key is to fix your life...
  • and more.....

A good tool improves the way you work.  A great tool improves the way you think. - Jeff Duntemann

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Some of the Resources recommended in this episode:

I make a commission for purchases made through the following link.

Let Me Know What you Think Below....

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