Episode 995: How Money is Affected by Stress

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining me on episode 995 of the inspired stewardship podcast.

[00:00:07] Dr. Gary Johnson: Hey friends. My name is Dr. Gary Johnson and I serve as the executive director of effect of elders. I challenge you to invest in yourself. In others and develop your influence while impacting the world by using your time, your talent, your treasures, to live out your calling, having the ability to grow yourself through self leadership is key.

[00:00:33] And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this, the inspired stewardship podcast with my friend, Scott Mann.

[00:00:43] Scott Maderer: I talked before about the framework I use for coaching about refocus gain control and set a plan. This cycle is what I'm talking about. Refocus on what's really going on, then [00:01:00] gain control by using certain tools and tricks and techniques. And then once you've done that, set a plan and begin to live to that place.

[00:01:10] Welcome 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.

[00:01:36] In today's episode about impacting the world through stewarding your treasures. I talk with you about how stress affects your finances. I share how some of the indirect effects of financial stress still affect your finances as well. And I share some tips with what you can do about that stress as we talk about stewarding your treasures.

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[00:02:23] Just like on Tuesday, we talked about how stress can affect your productivity. The truth is money and finances and stress are all connected to each other as well. In a recent survey about 77% of American surveyed said they feel anxious and stressed out about their personal. Financial situation about 58% said that their money or their finances are in control of their lives, as opposed to them controlling their finances.

[00:02:57] Over half said that they have [00:03:00] difficulty controlling their money and have money related worries that they can't manage to control. And Ababa. 70% of Americans recently have said that they're worried about having enough money to retire. And the truth is there's a link between stress about money and stress in your life, and then stress that causes money problems.

[00:03:25] These things are all connected to each other because you end up with fatigue. You end up with difficulty concentrating. You end up with insomnia and sleep problems, and often even long lasting health issues. But the reason money and stress are often. It's because stress leads to difficulty and poor decision-making difficulty in making decisions, difficulty in seeing the long-term impacts of decisions.

[00:03:54] This is one of the reasons that people talk about retail therapy getting worried or stressed [00:04:00] out. And so I need to go shopping to feel better because that dopamine hit of making a purchase does give you a temporary. That makes you feel less stressed and less anxious. That is actually true in the short term, but the problem is that then you get home and you recognize that you are thinking about what color to buy and you ended up spending money that you didn't have.

[00:04:24] And now you're even more stressed out, which leads you to do more retail therapy, which leads to even more stress. It's a feedback loop where the poor decision making leads to stress, which leads to poor decision-making, which leads to. It's a negative feedback. And the truth is you can actually stop that cycle.

[00:04:47] There are things you can do to help it directly and indirectly financial stress has a financial impact. The health impacts of stress are huge on your [00:05:00] financial. Healthcare and taking care of yourself is a very large impact on your money and stress has an impact on your health. So these things are related.

[00:05:12] And then, like I said, because it's a negative feedback loop, those health behaviors, the insomnia, the relationship difficulties, things, it and depression, those things lead to more money problems. There's a vicious cycle that goes on and I've seen it in many clients. You have to break that cycle, just like we talked about in the time factor.

[00:05:39] You need to find a way to break the cycle. And usually that means, especially with money, it means finding outside accountability that may be with a coach that may be with a therapist. It depends on the situation and the problem that you have. But by opening up to your family, your friends, a coach, or other professional, you can actually [00:06:00] find a way of beginning to break that cycle money, stress, and money problems often happen in secret.

[00:06:08] When there's hidden money going on, when there's a credit card that maybe you don't know about, or when there's other things that are going on in a couple relationship, that's usually a sign of a bigger. And if you're a single, if your spending money without really sitting down and thinking about the long-term impact in the long-term benefits, that's going to be a problem.

[00:06:31] So one of the other things you can do to deal with money, stress is actually sit down and take inventory of your finances, do a realistic triage of your day. Of your income of your spending and look to begin to make small changes. You do the cycle of planning and then tracking check against the plan review.

[00:06:55] Is it that the plan was wrong or is it that my behavior is wrong? What's going [00:07:00] on begin to use cash to help reduce impulse spending, begin to make a plan and actually stick. I've talked before about the framework I use for coaching about refocus gain control and set a plan. This cycle is what I'm talking about.

[00:07:21] Refocus on. What's really going on. Then gain control you by using certain tools and tricks and techniques. And then once you've done that, set a plan and begin to live to that plan. The other framework that I use to describe this is plan, then review, reflect, revise, and repeat. These two things are really two different ways of saying the same idea, and that is the way to break the stress side.

[00:07:53] Yes, you need to do things like make sure you're doing physical exercise, make sure you're practicing meditation or relaxation, [00:08:00] getting enough, sleep, eating well, being good about your environment and taking care of what's going on. All of those things help with the stress, but you also need to attack the money behaviors.

[00:08:13] It's not. The budget. It's not the plan. 90% of it. It's the behavior around it. And that's how you break the money stress cycle. Thanks for watching.

[00:08:26] 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 treasure. You can sign up for our treasures tips by going to inspired stewardship.com/treasures or text in the U S 4 4 [00:09:00] 2 2 2 treasures tips.

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