A look at how can emotional intelligence make your dreams come true: Americans with a salary of $100,000 per year can become millionaires in a relatively short period of time. According to Thomas Stanly, Ph.D and William Danko, Ph.D. It is not rocket science and the solution is simple. The catch is, it may require you to reprioritize your entire life. Regardless of salary, you can achieve your financial goals.
When you put together a realistic plan, including your financial advisor’s advice, you start off on the right foot. Many become frustrated when their advisor explains, “You would need to either significantly increase your income or drastically change your life style to achieve those goals.” Many feel deflated at this point and loose their vision. Perhaps you shouldn’t be so quick to settle for something less. Instead, seriously examine the advice your financial advisor has provided you with and boldly consider the options.
In their book The Millionaire Next Door, Drs. Stanley and Danko examine individuals with relatively modest salaries who cultivated powerful financial resources. They distinctly describe two strategies that millionaires use to amass their fortunes. First, playing a good offense involves increasing income. Next, playing a good defense requires being frugal and reducing the level of expenses in your life.
Life Coaching Tips for Achieving your Financial Dreams:
1) A Good Offense: Significantly Increase your Income.
Do you have vision for your career? Some professionals focus on a career goal and some still search for their true passion. Where do you see yourself 5 years? Career markers are important because they help you plan and prepare. Some people sell themselves short or miscalculate risk. Some overestimate their abilities, leaving no back up plan and others suffer paralysis by analysis. Emotional intelligence skills help you stay centered and focused as you set out to methodically increase your income.
2) Play a Good Defense: Drastically Decrease your Expenses.
Don’t let go of your goals before examining your options. Financial coaching will help you explore those alternatives until they become realistic goals. Have you seriously considered living below your means? Most people get stuck when they have to give something up. Investment advisors familiar with behavioral finance know that you are more motivated by the fear of loosing something than you are by the prospect of gaining something. This applies to life style just as it applies to investments.
A story used to illustrate the millionaire mentality involved a husband’s birthday gift to his wife. Receiving more money in stocks than most people make in 5 years, she thanked her husband as they kissed goodbye. Then, she sat down and continued clipping coupons at the kitchen table.
With emotional intelligence skills, you can learn to let go of paralyzing fear responses. Without skills it becomes one more set of self-limiting beliefs. Have you ever told yourself the following? “I’ll start living frugally right after I put this one computer or plasma TV on my credit card.”
People are reluctant to talk about finances. Most people feel uncomfortable talking to even their therapist about personal finances. When smart people with high paying jobs have huge debt, it becomes “a dirty little secret.” People can feel more shame and embarrassment about their finances than they do about having an affair or a substance abuse problem.
The Emo-Economic Death Spiral:
Lacking emotional intelligence skills leads to the paralyzing effects that contribute to a unique kind of economic death spiral. It starts with negative judgments about yourself. Judgments lead to bad feelings, which lead to a desire to change how you feel. You spend money on something that makes you feel better, relieving your pain temporarily, but putting you further in debt. This prompts you to judge yourself harshly for making a bad decision, which makes you feel bad about yourself again. Now you need an experience or something of value to change how you feel, which puts you further in debt. You judge yourself harshly, which causes you to feel bad about yourself.
Include financial coaching in your plan and assess your emotional intelligence skills for gaps. Find your Achilles Heal when it comes to finances and learn how to manage it. Each individual has a unique set of challenges. Use life coaching exercises to find and fill emotional intelligence gaps.
Follow the advice your financial advisor gives you and don’t discount the options they provide. If you already use an executive coach or a life coach, re-examine your financial goals, making your dream realistic and achievable.