Episode 815 What Are Money Triggers
[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: [00:00:00] Welcome to episode 815 of the inspired stewardship podcast. I'm Dow Tippett,
[00:00:07] Dow Tippet: [00:00:07] author of seven daily choices. 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 to live out your colleague. Having the ability to make the right choices every day is key.
[00:00:25] And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this, the inspired stewardship podcast with my friend, Scott Mader.
[00:00:42] Scott Maderer: [00:00:42] create something like that post-it note, or even sometimes just carrying your debit card or your credit card in a different place in your wallet, believe it or not can change your spending behavior because by taking that extra moment of going to look for it, It slows you down enough [00:01:00] that your brain kicks in and goes, wait, welcome.
[00:01:03] And thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcasts. 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. We'll learn to invest in yourself. Invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.
[00:01:37] And today's episode about impacting the world through stewarding your treasures. I talk with you about the triggers that may cause you to spend and waste money. I share how you can also establish triggers that would actually help you not to spend. And I share some examples of each one, these types of triggers, as we talk about stewarding your treasures.
[00:01:59] Wouldn't it [00:02:00] be great. If you could support this podcast and do it without costing yourself an extra dime. Turns out you can't. All you have to do is use inspired stewardship.com/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.com/amazon.
[00:02:27] So all week we've been talking about triggers and how these things can get you working in particular habits starts you going down a certain road, cue certain behaviors that you do almost without thinking. And the truth is spending works this way, too. Wasting money at times is something that can happen as a habit.
[00:02:49] And what I mean by that is we can use triggers. For instance, having a certain emotional state like stressed out that then triggers behaviors like spending. [00:03:00] I saw someone who posted the other day, a friend of mine about how they were going to have to cancel a whole bunch of orders because the night before they were stressed out.
[00:03:09] And so they ended up going on Amazon and they listed these ridiculous things they bought. And they weren't ridiculous because nobody on the planet would ever buy them. But they were things that I know this person they really didn't need. And they really didn't want. They actually said, I only bought these things last night because I was stressed out and a little bit bored and it just was something to do to pass the time it lowered their stress, lowered their boredom.
[00:03:39] Now, in this case, they're actually gonna return these things, but still think about how that happens is there's times that you've done that you've spent mindlessly. Th this happens by the way in marketing, they actually try to develop a pattern and a habit in your mind where you associate certain colors, [00:04:00] certain brands, certain things with doing something or spending something or buying something.
[00:04:06] That's how marketing works. There's always triggers around us. There's things that cue us to behave in certain ways. And so certainly some of those ways can include. Spending money, including spending money on things that you don't really want to spend money on. Things that you really consider a waste of money when you stop back and look at it, things that aren't moving you towards your goals, they aren't building on your priorities, but instead you end up looking up going home, can I spend so much money and have so little to show for it at the end of the day?
[00:04:45] But just as surely you can use triggers to actually help you monitor your behavior and spend less overall. For instance, some of my clients actually take a post-it note and they wrap their debit card [00:05:00] with a post-it note that says, remember, you're saving for that new house or you're saving for a vacation or you're saving.
[00:05:10] Because you want to be able to quit the job that you hate, whatever their big goal is, they write it out and they create a trigger. So that every time they reach for that debit card, every time they reach to spend money, they immediately see that thing that reminds them of what their bigger goal is. And a lot of times they put the item back, they put the card back in the wallet and they end up choosing to not buy that.
[00:05:39] As well other folks create visual images, they will create a picture of their goal and they post it right there where they see it every single morning. So that now they're focused during the day is on that thing that they really want, not necessarily an item, but that emotion, that feeling that. [00:06:00] Priority that value.
[00:06:01] The thing that they really are after that they want to align their money with, because that begins to have them change their behavior. Just as surely as triggers can cause you to spend money, you can create triggers that help you not spend money as well. But the key to both of these things is to actually examine your behavior, to be intentional about thinking about it.
[00:06:28] What is it that you do? What causes you to behave in a certain way? What are the mindless things that you spend money on? Think about it. Begin to keep a log. When do you buy those items? Without even thinking, without even worrying about it? Just. Mindless swipe. And as you begin to identify those things, think about again, what is the location?
[00:06:53] What is the emotional state what's going on that triggers this behavior? [00:07:00] And as you began to identify the triggers, look, if there's a way you can modify that trigger or that cue so that you can change the behavior. Look, if you can identify the cue and break the habit loop before it even starts or create a new trigger that disrupts the pattern, create something like that.
[00:07:23] Post-it note, or even sometimes just carrying your debit card or your credit card in a different place in your wallet, believe it or not can change your spending behavior because by taking that extra moment of going to look for it, It slows you down enough that your brain kicks in and goes, wait, have I actually thought about this purchase?
[00:07:44] Is it in alignment with my bigger goals? Is it going to move me towards what I want and don't get me wrong. I'm not saying you need to live like a spendthrift and never spend any money. That's not the point. The point is to be spending the money you spend [00:08:00] intentionally, not just reactively. Thanks for listening.
[00:08:11] 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 liked 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 U S four four two two two treasures tips.
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