Episode 1250: Align Your Money With Your Values

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining me on episode 1,250 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:00:06] Winston Clements: I'm Winston Clements, motivational speaker and limitation breaker. I challenge you to invest yourself, invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world using your time, your talent, and your treasures to live out your calling.

[00:00:21] Having the ability to recognize your limitations are an illusion and develop resilience is key. And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this inspired stewardships. Got podcasts with my. Scott made.

[00:00:35] Scott Maderer: That's also why a lot of times at this point, we'll spend some time identifying our why, not just the goal, not just what I want to have happen, but why do I want it to happen? What's the deeper emotional connection for that, and how does money show up in that? What are the things that money. That help me achieve that [00:01:00] emotional connection.

[00:01:02] 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, who will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others, and develop your.

[00:01:24] So that you can impact the work

[00:01:28] in today's episode about developing your influence through stewarding your treasures. I talk with you about how you can know what your money values are. I also share how you can begin to bring your money into alignment with your values. And I share how awareness, a plan, and tracking are all important to the process as we talk about stewarding your treasures.

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[00:02:16] I talked before about how a lot of times the real problem we have with money isn't what we're doing with the money per se. It's how what we're doing with the money is out of alignment with what we really value and believe. A lot of people have values in different areas. They may value integrity, or honesty or respect or faithfulness.

[00:02:42] They may have values around their spiritual behavior or their physical behavior or their relationships, but you also have values about your money as well. And what's more you have values around your money, whether you're conscious of that or unconscious of [00:03:00] that, and oftentimes the way we act with our money ends up being out of alignment with those underlying values.

[00:03:09] Most people can struggle in life with finding satisfaction or being happy because their actions and their values are not in a. I, If you look at money as a tool and it is, then if you end up using that money for things that you don't really fundamentally value. Then you begin to feel like you're out of alignment and then you have cognitive dissonance.

[00:03:35] It's like saying that I value a healthy body, but then sitting on the couch and eating a tub of ice cream every single night and not exercising, it's out of alignment. And you begin to feel this feeling of I'm either gonna change my beliefs and my value. I've gotta admit that I don't really value health and fitness.

[00:03:58] I need to stop eating so much ice cream and [00:04:00] get up off the couch and go for a walk. Same thing happens with our financial life if you feel like you value being debt free and yet you constantly charge extra stuff on your credit card, or if you value financial independence, but you're not actually saving any money, you're spending everything you earn or even more than you.

[00:04:25] Then you have a conflict in these values and you begin to feel that conflict, and that shows up as feeling frustrated, feeling out of alignment, feeling problems, feeling like stressed out, anxious. It feels like something's not right, but a lot of times you don't even realize that it's, that's your money spending and your money saving and your money activity isn't in alignment with having your money values.

[00:04:54] So positive money values tend to lead to good decisions and poor money. [00:05:00] Values tend to lead to poor decisions. Basically, you need to spend some time examining your money values. This is not about thinking that we should do something. This is not about how we were raised. This is not. The way society says we should do things, you need to think about what you want to value and how you want it to show up in your money.

[00:05:28] And the truth is, a lot of times unconsciously, you've been programmed by the way you were raised. You've been programmed by society and culture around you. You've been programmed without even realizing it. So the first thing to do is sit down and actually just brainstorm, just write different things. in your life where money has an impact, where does money show up in your behavior?

[00:05:56] Where does money show up in your [00:06:00] activity? Does it show up in your lifestyle? Does it show up in your marriage, your dating, your relationships? Does it show up in how you raise your children and your career decisions? In your health decisions, hobbies, education, giving, retirement, saving, spending.

[00:06:18] Think about all of the ways that money shows up in your life And the truth is, a lot of times you won't find areas that it doesn't, cuz money shows up in our life in a lot of different ways, in a lot of different places. And then begin to say, Let's think about the future. Let's think three or four or five years into the future, ask yourself, what does your life look like?

[00:06:48] Then I like to use the airport example where picture yourself five years of the future and you run into an old friend that you haven't seen for five years, and they ask you how are [00:07:00] things going? And you say, My life is awesome. It's the best it's ever been because. What comes after the, because what does your life look like?

[00:07:13] What do your relationships look like? How does your family life show up? How do you feel about yourself? How have you grown? What has changed in your life? What's important to you? What new goals have shown up? What's happened in your financial. And when you think about all of the ways that your life has changed in all of those different areas where money touches your life, that is oftentimes this core of your money values, then what you wanna do is audit what you're currently doing with your money.

[00:07:53] In other words, you want to track or find out or identify either through a budget or tracking, or both what it [00:08:00] is that you're doing with your money. and begin to answer the question, Is what I'm doing today moving me in the direction of that five year future or not? Are the choices I'm making today helping me get to what I want?

[00:08:19] Are they moving you into alignment with your money values? That's also why a lot of times at this point, we'll spend some time identify. Are, why not just the goal, not just what I want to have happen, but why do I want it to happen? What's the deeper emotional connection for that? And how does money show up in that?

[00:08:44] What are the things that money does that help me achieve that emotional connection? Because at this point, you've got awareness of what you're doing with your money, and you've got awareness. Of your [00:09:00] values. This is when that cycle of budget plan, review, and adjust comes up. You can look at what you're currently doing with your money.

[00:09:14] You can then make a plan of what you want to be doing with your money, and then you begin to track and see are you executing on that? And if you're not, then you need to review and reflect and adjust what you're doing. You may discover that you need to cut out some things out of your budget. That might seem important, but when you look at 'em in the larger scheme of things and how they move you in the direction of your bigger goals, they're not that important after all.

[00:09:47] You may discover that you need to spend some time in schooling and find a way to increase your career or even get a new job and make more income. You may discover [00:10:00] that you need to be spending money in ways that you're currently not, or you need to be saving money in ways that you're currently not, but then you can begin to set up your behavior to actually execute on.

[00:10:14] Thanks for listening.

[00:10:16] 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, but act on what you've heard and find a way to 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.com/treasures or text in the US 4 4 2 2 2 treasures tips, and we'll send you five weeks of our best tips on stewarding your treasures.

[00:10:59] [00:11:00] Until next time, invest your. Your talent and your treasures. Develop your influence and impact the world.