Episode 955: Money Worries versus Money Troubles

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining me on episode 955 of the inspired stewardship podcast

[00:00:07] Matt and Jocelyn Woodrum: I Matt. And I'm Jocelyn from the family life movement podcast. We challenge you to find a way to balance your work and your family. And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this inspired stewardship podcast by my friend, Scott Maderer.

[00:00:26] Scott Maderer: Because as you worry. You can focus on taking action when indeed there is a money problem, something that requires direct action and the worry is no longer hold you back from taking that action. But at the same time, it also allows you to spend your emotional energy on other things that ultimately are more important.

[00:00:49] 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 [00:01:00] use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true call in the inspired stewardship podcast. We'll learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can.

[00:01:14] The word

[00:01:15] in today's episode about impacting the world through stewarding your treasures. I talk with you about why money worries. Aren't the same thing as money problems also share why you can only deal with money worries when you are actually aware of them. And I also share why learning to worry less is power.

[00:01:34] 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. 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, we'll come back to support the show.

[00:01:56] If you enjoy the show, when you're ready to buy from Amazon, just [00:02:00] use inspired stewardship.com/amazon. I came across a great little book called how to worry less about money by John Armstrong published back in 2012. And one of the things that it said in that book that really hit me as an interesting thing, is there was a difference between money troubles and money worries.

[00:02:26] And I think that's an important thing to recognize. That money worries and money problems or money troubles. Aren't the same thing here is how he put it. This book is about worries. It's not about money troubles and there is a crucial difference. Troubles are urgent. They asked for direct action by contrast worries.

[00:02:47] Often say more about the worrier than about the world. And therefore addressing money worry, you should be quite different from dealing with money troubles to address our [00:03:00] worries. We have to give attention to the pattern of thinking and to the scheme of values as these are played out in our one individual private existence.

[00:03:10] So the idea here is that you can have a money emergency. You can have a trouble, you can have something wrong financially. That requires action and attention. And a lot of what we do in coaching in some situations is dealing with those sorts of money troubles. When I'm working with a crisis client who's maybe behind or has old bad debt, or has a bankruptcy looming, or has a foreclosure looming.

[00:03:37] Those are money troubles. They require actions and skills, but more often, most of my clients aren't in crisis. Instead they're dealing with money. Worries as well as money troubles or problems. And we have to spend some time working on the worries, too, working on how we think [00:04:00] about money and our relationship with money, because.

[00:04:04] As giant Armstrong puts it. The theme of money is so deep and pervasive in our lives. One relationship with money is lifelong. It colors one sense of identity. It shapes one attitude to other people. It connects and splits generations money. Is there a Rena in which greed and generosity are played out in which wisdom is exercised and.

[00:04:27] Committed freedom, desire, power status, work, possession, these huge ideas that rule life are enacted almost always in and around. I missed the idea. He also uses this analogy of the difference between training and education, where training is teaching someone specific skills is change. Teaching someone how to do something in a way that is reproducible.

[00:04:54] That is accurate. That has been official. That is correct. Our education is about opening up your [00:05:00] mind, becoming a lifelong learner, being interested in embracing the whole person yourself. What you're interested in, what you know to train you. I don't have to know anything about you. I simply have to take you from a certain level of skill to another level of skill, but to educate you, I have to have a relationship with.

[00:05:21] And he says to the same, thing's true about money problems versus money skills. The truth is that most of the education around money is focused on either how to deal with it when you don't have enough or how to get more money. It's not really dealing with the underlying, emotional and relational.

[00:05:42] Benefits and challenges around money. And that means that to deal with that, to recognize money worries, then you can begin to deal with those money worries. But first you have to be recognizing that your [00:06:00] relationship with money is bigger than just your knowledge and your skills about. What you bring to that relationship with money includes things about who you are.

[00:06:10] It includes things about the culture you were raised in. It includes things about your family of origin, your memories, your past and your future. That's one of the reasons that, the money to happiness curve levels out because we define happiness. In a very unique way that ends up not being directly related to money and happiness.

[00:06:33] Isn't directly related to money, but money can secure the ability to pursue things that are related to happiness. So there is a connection at some level you have to first become aware. Of the fact that you probably have money worries to then be able to work on those money. Worries. [00:07:00] Some of the questions that Armstrong brings up that are related to these psycho, emotional and societal and social factors are the questions around money.

[00:07:09] Like, why is money important to you? How much money do you need to achieve? What is important to you? And what's the best way to acquire that money. And then what are your economic and larger responsibilities to others and to the world? Over the course of acquiring and using that money. The idea being that if you're making more money, but you're doing it by serving others well, then that's not great.

[00:07:37] If you allow that money to also multiply your generosity, that's not greedy, but the exact same actions could be greedy for a different person because of the way it plays out. It's recognizing that we won't overcome our money worries until we first underlie and recognize and dig out our relationship with money [00:08:00] in a deeper way.

[00:08:02] And the truth is learning to worry less about money is a powerful tool. For success, because as you worry less, you can focus on taking action. When indeed there is a money problem, something that requires direct action and the worry is no longer hold you back from taking that action. But at the same time, it also allows you to spend your emotional energy on other things that ultimately are more important.

[00:08:32] Then money, things like freedom, things like the ability to make decisions that are your decisions without feeling trapped by the situation that you're in, because they give you financial independence. They give you the ability to decide things without having that underlying baggage that comes along with money worries.

[00:08:53] This is why spending that time with a coach or with someone else or with. [00:09:00] Unpacking. What is your relationship with money and where does it come from? Can be so freeing and actually help you make even more progress towards your financial goals. Thanks for listening.

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