Episode 333: The Secret Weapon To Achieve Your Goals & Change Your Financial Life

Jamila Souffrant 0:02

Maybe you don't want to be great at finances you don't want to check a budget every day you don't want your finances to rule your life. But understanding and and getting a hold of it especially if you're ever in a negative space with your finances is key if you want to live the life you want.

Intro 0:19

T-Minus 10 seconds. Welcome to the journey to launch podcast with your host Jamila souffrant. As a money expert who rocks her talk, she helps brave juniors like you get out of debt, save, invest and build real Whoa. Join her on the journey to launch to financial freedom in five, four, three, two, one.

Ad 0:46

Hey, hey, hey, real real quick. It's Jimmy over here and I have some exciting news to share with you. My first book, your journey to financial freedom. A step by step guide to achieving wealth and happiness is finally available for preorder. That's right. You can pre order my book right now. Today, the book is officially out December 5 2023. But you do not have to wait that long to get some resources and information to help you. If you preorder the book today, I'm giving you some fabulous bonuses that will help you with your financial freedom and independence journey. I'm giving you the Financial Toolkit for free. When you preorder the book, you'll get the debt payoff matrix workbook, the goal fuel worksheet, the financial goals workbook and the retirement account questionnaire, my most effective and FE resources to share with you for free, go to journey to launch.com/book To get your copy to preorder that book today.

Intro 1:47

If you want the episode show notes for this episode, go to journey to launch.com. Or click the description of wherever you're listening to this episode. In the show notes, you'll get the transcribed version of the conversation, the links that we mentioned and so much more. Also, whether you are an OG journeyer, or brand new to the podcast, I've created a free jumpstart guide to help you on your financial freedom journey. It includes the top episodes, so listen to stages to go through to reach financial freedom, resources, and so much more. You can go to journey to launch that comm slash jumpstart to get your guide right now. Okay, let's hop into the episode.

Jamila Souffrant 2:31

Hey, hey, hey journeyers, my fellow people on the path with me to financial independence, experiencing freedom and joy along the way, I hope you're having a wonderful summer, if you're listening to this, you know, when this episode drops, I know I have quite a few people who find me later on after episodes are released. And they're like I'm listening to an episode that was, you know, two years ago. So whenever you listen to this, hello, I wanted to come and give you a solo episode, I am excited as we enter into the end of the year, summer is winding down. I mean, let's let me not rush the summertime, it's still August for me. And for you and my kids don't go back to school until September. So we have quite a while to enjoy what is left of the summer. And with that I said, you know, let me come with a solo episode to talk about something that has been my secret weapon for achieving my goals. And that is my mindset.

And while I talk a lot about this in my new book, your journey to financial freedom out on December 5, you can get that going to journey to launch.com/book if you want to learn more, but I talk a lot about the mindset, the internal work that you have to do to reach your goals and to be happy. Because I have experienced the transformation in my life, the external goals and metrics that we see you know how much money is in the investment account and savings account. Like all these things, the ability that I have now to go to the beach after I record this, all that I have achieved and been able to achieve externally has all started from internally. And I consider it my secret weapon. And it doesn't have to be secret anymore. I mean, I think you guys know if you've been listened to this podcast for a while, or you just joined and are listening, that you've heard that before. Right? Your your mindset and your attitude predicts your altitude and the quality of your life. But I want to talk more about how that relates to not just your general happiness, but your finances.

And when I think back to where I was, let's see my daughter is five so I officially quit my job when I had my daughter. So you know five years ago or going back even before when I was pregnant with my first son who he's nine now, my life looked completely different. But I still had a great life back then. You know I had a job and a career that was going somewhere. I was making good money, I was starting my family. So I had a good life before. But something felt missing. I felt stuck, I didn't feel 100% Happy. And that's a slippery slope, the feeling of being always happy, I don't think you have to be always happy. But something felt missing. And it wasn't until I found this concept of financial independence that I thought, wow, there is a pathway out of this. So how did I go from that the cubicle, the crazy commute the hour and a half to two hours one way commute. And feeling so stuck to where I am now. And, of course, there's some privilege baked into my journey, I always have to acknowledge that in terms of our income being a dual income household, having the stability that we had. But apart from that, which is a big part of it, it is my mindset, because there are people who earn as much as us or me and are still not financially Okay, for various reasons. So while the income and the starting points are very important, there's also a underlying or invisible secret sauce, I like to say the intangible factors, which I'll talk about in another episode that help you reach your goals to help you enjoy the life you have something that I think if you don't get a handle on now, doesn't matter how much money you have in the bank, or in your investment account, when you do reach your magical number, you still will probably feel unhappy still. Think back to a goal that you've set for yourself that you actually achieved. And you know, you achieved it. And you're still like, Alright, that was cool. Now what, right?

So we're on this ever lasting cycle of achievement or wanting of things. And so how do we get to a place where we're using our mindset, to pull us forward to become our best selves internally and externally, but then also be realistic about what our life is, you know, it's meant to be the journey. So I want to talk more about the secret weapon that I have, which is my mindset, and some things that allow me to feel or to do what I've done. So I'm gonna really focus on two kind of concepts here. The first is the fixed mindset versus the growth mindset. You may have heard this before. But I want to talk about it also in terms of financial concepts. So let me explain what a fixed and growth mindset is, first,

a fixed mindset is the perspective that you are your failures. If you can't do something, or you fail at something, you see it as a sign that you are not capable of ever doing it. And then on the opposite end, the growth mindset is you see a failure as an opportunity, it does not define who you are, it is just maybe a data point for you, or a signal, not that you should stop, but that you can figure something else out and keep going. Now, these are important concepts. And I did not come up with these concepts. I know this is was made very popular, I forgot the book. And once I find it, I will put it in the show notes. But there are many books that talk about this many articles and psychology, terminology that refer to these mindsets, because it's a big deal. And it talks a lot about children actually. And you know, realizing if your children also have like which mindset they have, and how you can develop them into having growth mindsets, whether that's for schoolwork, sports, or in life, it makes such a big difference. And, you know, we are all once children, right? So in some ways, we are still very child like, and when we can figure out what our natural setpoint is being honest with ourselves, you know, do you have a growth mindset? Do you have a fixed mindset. And I actually don't think that these mindsets like if you have one, it applies to everything. Like there are some things in your life, you may have a growth mindset about that you're good at in some areas, you I always look at people who are runners or into sports. And that takes work, right? That takes work to continue to work at a sport to use your body in a way to its highest degree, to continue to work out and to create new levels of development in your body. To me, like if you do that, and that's you have to have a growth mindset in that space. If you're continue on, even when you don't win, you know, the competition, or you're not getting a skill right away. That's a growth mindset. But just because you have a growth mindset, and sports doesn't mean you necessarily have a growth mindset in your finances or in other areas of your life. And so I think there can be an overall set point that you have, where you you know, most things you think of in a growth mindset way or a fixed mindset way, or it's just like certain areas in your life.

Now I will say this, it's important to know where you are and to be honest with yourself about your mindset, like where you think you are with a growth mindset, a fixed mindset, but you don't have to be good at everything. You know, I am okay with having a fixed mindset in cooking. I say to myself, listen, I would love to be a great cook. I don't think that it's that hard of a skill. I mean, I know the chef's, my sister, if she's listening, because she's a chef would be like, listen, it takes skill. I know it does. But what I'm saying is, if I really wanted to learn how to be a better cook, and chef like I would do that, I just don't want to. So there's a difference in, you actually don't want to improve at something. So you just don't try. Versus there is something that one you do want to improve on, and you are getting frustrated that you can't, or it's not that you even want to, but it's necessary for you to get to something the next stage or level in your life. Maybe you don't want to be great at finances, you don't want to check a budget every day, you don't want your finances to rule your life. But understanding it and getting a hold of it, especially if you're in a negative space with your finances is key if you want to live the life you want. So it's not a matter of what you want to do. It's like you need to do this.

So it's understanding, okay, again, what is your mindset? Is your mindset fixed or growth overall? And then in the areas that matter to you? What is your mindset in that? Is your mindset fixed? Or is it a growth mindset? It's extremely important for you to have a growth mindset when it comes to money. And because money is so it's nuanced, right? So money is actual, like dollars and cents for the you know, the in the US. And you know, counting it. So if we're talking about a growth mindset, or a fixed mindset, it can mean how much money you can accumulate like your income. So do you have a fixed mindset about how much money you make, or a growth mindset, like maybe you're not making a lot of money now, but you believe you can make more. And the way you make more is through a career or job in which you earn money. And if you're within that job, let's say, and you're not getting a skill, understanding and developing that skill will help you earn more money. So it's like that's also related to money, and a financial mindset. Because you can have a growth mindset about how you earn income and your skill set that allows you to have more confidence and to go after things. Or in some cases, if you're currently in a career, you don't enjoy, you're not making enough money. But you know, there's something else for you out there. Whether that's pivoting to a whole new career, I'm going back to school to get something that you're going to use to earn more money. What does that look like? Or do you feel like your current income is your current income, and you're just stuck? Right? So that's one way that growth or fixed mindset works with your finances.

And then if we even like dig deeper down, it can be also just related to your day to day management of your money. So I talk a lot about budgets, or we talk about budgets a lot in the personal finance space. And that's because it is really important, especially if you're in the beginning stages of your journey, or you are unhappy with where you are to get and understand your income and outflow of money. So what comes in what goes out? And how are you managing that to help you pay off debt invest, live the life you want to live. And the way you do that is with a financial plan or a budget, a money plan. So you can look at a budget. And if you haven't been using budgets, or that's just not something that appeals to you. And there are different ways you can budget right? So there is a level of just because one way is not working doesn't mean you can't find a way that works. But if you look at a budget, and you say to yourself, I've tried it and it just doesn't work, I can't get it, you know, the system that I'm using is not helpful, and then you just give up? Or do you have the ability to say to yourself, all right, this is not working. For now, I keep maybe starting and stopping, or there's something that's not clicking with this. But it doesn't mean I'm going to stop, it just means I need to find another way. Maybe the budgeting of you know, taking time, every single dollar is not something I want to do forever, or this app is just not my thing. But I'm going to continue to research and find and search out methods that work more for me. That's the way a fixed or growth mindset can work with your money. And just overall numbers, right? Sometimes we hear words, we can be intimidated, by the way people frame talking about money, you know, there's investments that we may not understand. Or once we even open up, you know, we tell I tell people all the time, like look at your 401 K's lock into your company account, HR account to look at what your 401k holdings are and what you're investing in, or do that deeper research. If you hear a word that you don't understand, it doesn't mean that you're not smart. It just means you don't understand it yet. I mean, I even at this stage will sometimes read something or hear something that's maybe a little bit more just more advanced or complicated than I know at the moment. And I'm just like, wow, I didn't get that. Let me read that again. Or let me table it. Let me write down that word and I will come back to it when my head is in a better state. for me to understand, not that wow like me not understanding this is confirmation of me being where I am or me not knowing enough.

Ad 15:13

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Jamila Souffrant 16:50

So I want to remind you, as you're on this journey, that there are so many things we don't know or don't understand, yet. But I want you to think back to where you were five years ago, 10 years ago, and there are concepts of things you didn't understand then that you understand now. And so it's not an indication that you're not smart enough, or you don't deserve it, whatever that is that you want. It's just a it's just a data point. It's just a measurement of where you are and having kids you there's nothing like having kids, they always just show you, they show you who you are they I think they show you they teach you life, if you pay attention to them. Because when you have kids and you see them grow, you see like they are always they need to have a growth mindset in terms of Elisa lived the basic life, right, like, at some point, even us, because we're adults, now, we didn't know how to walk, we didn't know how to talk at some point. And if we just stopped, you know, when we first fell, because won't get it, then we would not be walking, right? Like we would not be able to be in the world in the way that we're using our legs if we didn't continue to try for those of us that are able bodied. And I see this, especially in sports with my kids now that they're are starting to play more basketball and just just get more becoming more athletic and be even more competitions. And how a skill set that they didn't know how to do last year or two years ago that they are you know, getting? And I'm like, wow, look at that, if they would have just stopped or thought that that one time if they didn't get that skill set, they were not equipped or capable? Where would they be? So I want you to think back and get confirmation for when you believe or when you're starting to think that you are not going to reach your goal of earning more. Or there's something that's just not coming to you as easy as you'd like, I want you to go back and think about something that you were able to achieve or get better in and it can be small, right? Sometimes I think when we look for the big confirmations, and that's not realistic. I think a lot of our wins that we have in life, the joys that we have in life are the smaller moments, the smaller wins. And you know, it can be as simple as one time when I was taking more classes at my gym, I would avoid the step class. You know, that's the step class when you stepping up and doing these combinations. I was like I'm not doing that because I tried it once. And so here's where I had the fixed mindset. I tried it and I was just like, I can't get these steps. He's like if they're twirling around and doing all this stuff, and it just seems complicated. And then you know, I one day I was like you know what, I'm gonna try it. I'm gonna try it again. And I stuck with it for a couple of months. And by the end of the time that I was doing it, I was getting some other combinations. I was no stepper stepper but I was getting some things and I thought like wow, that's confirmation that if you want to do something or if me if I want to do something, it can be done. And I haven't been I haven't been to the step class since because I've been working out on my own more. But I know that if I want To become a fancy stepper, you know, I love when I go on Instagram, I see, they sometimes have the hip hop step classes, where it's like really like they do it to the music I like. And they do all these cool combinations. And it looks hard. But I'm like, you know what if I want to do that I could.

And so that's how I want you to view your life and to look for confirmations in your life, even things non money related to give yourself confidence, to give yourself confidence that you can figure it out, you can go from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset and anything you want, as long as you want to. So that's number one, number one thing, and I think I've had that mindset growing up, and I've applied it to where I wanted to apply it. And that's one of the ways in which I've been able to become or be who I am today. So let's talk about the B do have model. So this is a self improvement concept, again, not something I created. It's something that has been widely widely used in personal development and self help circles since the 1980s. And it's this idea that you have to become the person you want to be first, then do the thing. So then you can have the thing. And be if you think this way, then there's nothing out of your reach. Because you don't have to wait, let's just say you want to be someone who is you know, a millionaire, or you want to reach like a school you when you see the person you want to become, you know how when you say, Oh, when I reach financial independence, when I don't have to work here, this is what I'm going to do. Right? And if you think about if you think forward to what that person looks like, how they carry themselves, how they treat people, who is that person? Right? Like when you had the millions of dollars in your bank account? Who was that person? Are you more happy? Are you more confident? Do you walk different? Talk different? Are you reading different things, you know, think about like, fast forward and think about really sit with yourself and think about who that person is, and the end goal of what you want to become? And how can you embody that night and be honest with yourself? One? Are you that person? Now? Let's be honest. Are you the person who has the million dollars that you want right now?

Now, I know a lot of you and it's easy to say like, of course I'm not like hello, I don't have that I don't I can't dress the way I want to dress I'm not driving the car I'd want to drive. But still I feel like those are still external things, right? Like the car, the clothes, while that is the external validation, or rewards for having that money. But what is that person who wears that outfit? Or who drives that car? What? What is what is that inner being like, right? That's the goal, that's the be part of the be do have model, how can you be come the person you want to be from the inside, right. And so that comes to the way you talk the way you treat people, the way you have a growth mindset, there's something that you want to go after, you're not going to stop until you have it until you understand it. Right? You give yourself grace, you talk nicely to yourself, talk nice to me, you know. And so, this we do have, we do have model is really important. Now, typically, you know, we mostly learned how to more have a do have be model, like that's how we typically have been taught, you know, we do that thing first, right? We do that thing in order to, to have what we want and then become what we want. So in order to have the money I want, I'm gonna have to work hard, you know, and I'm not even looking at the internal things, but I just need to work, work, work work, then I'll have the money and then I will be happy. And while that is something that works for some people, and if I mean, if you think about it, I think most of our parents and the people before generations before us, they had to think of it that way, they didn't have the luxury to sit down and meditate. Or, or think about like the internal first, right, they had to get to work, which I get. But as we now have opportunity and more space and more privilege, and I think we all have certain levels of privilege in our life, we can have the opportunity to change from the inside out. So let's change it from this do have be modeled waiting for the external validation before we can feel good about ourselves. We are feeling good about ourselves. First, we are feeling good or we are being and embodying that person first.

And I think you know, for me, one of the ways in which this shows up in my life is that I no longer wanted to wait to reach complete financial independence to enjoy my life. You know, I didn't want to wait until I didn't have like to work anymore. And then I would take vacations and I know that's more of a physical or external thing. But I didn't want to wait until that to be happy. So How am I able to then now even without being completely financially independent? You know, I do feel like I'm living my financial independence life without the money. Now, of course, there are some differences. You know, I might, I might take more breaks on my podcast if I had all the money in the bank right now. But, you know, I truly feel that from coming from a place of working internally on what my life feels like, I've been able to then have the things I want. So that may look like I have a more flexible schedule now. But that's all because I started to appreciate the life even when it wasn't perfect. Even when I had that long commute. No, there was so many things I appreciated about it. That was like, wow, how lucky am I because I'm gonna get to where I want to go. But how lucky am I to have this commute and be able to learn so much from podcast about financial independence, because that's all I listened to, or to have been able to get the intelligence of understanding what I wanted a podcast to be because I listened to so many. And that was because I was in my car. And so I came to embody and feel free. And that's what I truly believe helped me to become free. So think about in your life, where you're operating from a you want to do have and be right, like that could be also like specific money things. But that's why with the work that I talk about in terms of personal finance, we want to jump into straight doing, you know, like, I want to pay off the debt, I want to make more money, like, I just want to get to the like, what are the action steps? How do I make more money, right? Which is important. But until you can understand, like, okay, what are the reasons why maybe you haven't been making more money is it because you're not speaking up and advocating for yourself at your job, you haven't negotiated? You, you're not raising your hand and you know, contributing, because there's something internally stopping you. What is the internal being right versus the the person that's making the money is showing up is speaking up for themselves is confident, and that comes through, and then allows you to be the person that makes more money. And I know, that's not going to be the situation for every job, or career. But think about if there are instances in your life, where you are using a lot of action, but not receiving the results you want, or they're not sustained results. So you get the thing, you get the action, the action is done, you get the goal, but it's just like, not even happy still. Or no matter how much work you're putting towards it, it's not working for you. And think about how you can switch around. And so instead of doing first, you are being first and what does that look like for you. And it can be small, it can be as small as you know, you feel like when you are financially independent. You want to be the kind of person who can enjoy your mornings and know I don't know, maybe you you see yourself going to the beach a lot or living by a beach. That's one of my goals is to have a house by the beach. And I don't want to like need to have the house by the beach to enjoy my life in that way. And so there's a little bit of doing like me going to the beach more often in New York, which is no blue waters of Jamaica, but it will do okay. And then this this idea of appreciating like the little the little pockets of freedom in the morning that you do have, despite it not being everything.

How can you embody that person, right, though that five minutes, whether it's you're praying, you're meditating, you're sitting down, you are imagining you hearing the waves of a beach like what does that feel like? How can you embody that person? So that's another way that I feel like I've been able to get to where I've gotten to is this working from this model working from the be do have model and I hope that it's helpful for you to, again, I want to share this with you because these are just some concepts. You know, there are a lot more. But I think it's really important to talk more in the personal finance, space, and financial independence space about the internal work that it takes to reach our goals and to be happy, because I don't know about you, but our lives are really a blip in the whole universe, right of things. It's one sand on a beach and it's so it's so short, but it's so long. Why shouldn't we enjoy even through the struggle or enjoy through what's not complete yet? Why shouldn't we find ways to do that and be thankful and you know, happy for what is so that what is can become what we want.

I hope that was helpful. Let me know I always love hearing from you hearing your feedback, what resonated? I'm on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook at journey to launch. I'm mostly hanging out on Instagram though. So if you're listening to this, take a screenshot. I always love when you share that you're listening. And that allows the podcast to get to more people. And let me know say hi, I love saying hi back. If you want the episode show notes for this, just check out just click on More wherever you're listening, and I hope you enjoy the rest of your summer. Also, don't forget, you can pre order my book your journey to financial freedom right now get some special bonuses, go to journey to launch.com/book for more information, and until next time, keep on journeying journey airs.

Ad 30:35

Hey journeyers, I have a special treat and offer for you. I'm right now working on my first book, your journey to financial freedom a step by step guide to achieving wealth and happiness, it will be out officially December 5, and I'm working to get it in the hands of as many people journeyers as possible. I know that this book has the ability to change lives. And so the way that I'm thinking about doing that is by tapping into my journey or community that's you. And here's what the deal is. I am waiving my speaking fee and podcast advertising fee for the next few months. And instead asking organizations and small businesses to preorder copies of my book pre order my book in bulk copy. So what does that look like? You can either have me come speak to your organization, or company to talk about general personal finance topics to do q&a, I will zoom in and do that. Or you can tap into the awesome community of journeyers, who wants to hear more about your business if you're an entrepreneur, and advertise on the podcast, and all you have to do is pre order bulk copies, that means multiple copies of my book, it is going to be easier than you think it is. I don't have that many spots to be able to offer this but I wanted to get this out to you. If you're interested in not only helping this book, reach more people but getting our value out of it too by me speaking to your organization or company or advertising on the journey to launch podcast. Now if this sounds like something you may be interested in, let me know. Email me at hello at Journey to launch.com. Also go to journey to launch.com/bulk orders that's b u LK orders o r d e r s for more information, I hope to hear from you soon.

Outro 32:21

Don't forget, you can get the episode show notes for this episode by going to journey to launch.com. Or click the description of wherever you're listening to this. And you can still grab your jumpstart guide for free to help you on your journey to financial freedom by going to journey to launch.com/jumpstart. If you want to support me and the podcast and love the free content and information that you get here, here are four ways that you can support me in the show. One, make sure you're subscribed to the podcast wherever you listen, whether that's Apple podcasts, that purple app on your phone, your Android device, YouTube, Spotify, wherever it is that you happen to listen, just subscribe so you're not missing an episode. And if you're happening to listen to this in Apple podcasts, rate review and subscribe there. I appreciate and read every single review. Number two follow me on my social media accounts. I'm at journey to launch on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. And I love love love interacting with journeys they're three supporting check out the sponsors of this show. If you hear something that interests you, sponsors are the main ways we keep the podcast lights on here. So show them some love for supporting your girl for and last but not least, share this episode this podcast with a friend or family member or co worker so that we can spread the message of Journey to launch. Alright, that's it until next week, keep on journeying journeyers

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