The Worthy You - Financial Identity

You can never outperform your identity. If you’ve been here a while, you know I say that over and over again because I wholeheartedly stand behind that statement. But what exactly is your identity? Is it that you’re from a poor family so there’s nothing else for you? Or maybe you see yourself as a struggling mother. Or you see yourself as always being that woman who will never have financial security without the assistance of a partner. If any or all of these resonate with you, they will always remain as your identity instead of just your current situation. And that is the level or standard you’ll continue living your life from.

Think back to a time when you decided to make a change in your life, it could be anything from starting a savings account to trying to lose weight. Usually when we decide we want to change something, we shift our habits. And it looks and feels amazing, for a short time. But at some point those old habits start to creep back into your life. One impulsive decision leads to another and you find yourself back where you started.

Let me give you an example of one of my clients. She started the year with the intention of putting aside $10 every week into a savings account so that in December she would be able to buy herself a nice Christmas present. Well, the excitement propelled her for about 2 months, but then the shine wore off and that $10 per week started being spent on other things. We’re halfway into the year and she has a stalled savings account with just $80 in it. The intentions were there, the habits were created but she never looked beyond that $10 every week. She was never able to visualize herself with that present she wanted to purchase for herself. She never moved past that identity of not being able to afford it.

Change happens at the identity level, not the behavioural level.

No matter how much you try to change your financial habits or behaviours or how much content you consume on the topic, you will forever revert back to the things that align with the identity you see for yourself which is often your current situation, your past mistakes or the stories you’ve created for yourself.

To shift your financial behaviours, you have to first shift your financial identity.

To start identifying what that looks like for you, follow these journal prompts as honestly as you can:

What financial identity do I currently live from?

What is the identity of my future financial self?

What does she believe about money and abundance?
How does she treat and respect money?
How does she make financial decisions?
How does she spend her money?
What does she believe she is worthy and deserving of?
How does she dress, walk and talk?
What does she believe about herself?
What do others say about her?

Once you’ve completed the journal prompts, you need to start living from the identity of your future financial self. How do you do that? Here are some tips to get you started: