Martial Arts Mindset and winning with money.

Have you ever felt that your finances have a submission hold on you and that you feel you might pass out from the pressure?  I have and it is not fun.  Did you know there are lessons from training in martial arts to win with finances?  One my first and very best Martial Art teachers was Mr. Huh. Mr. Huh used to tell me.  “If want to be a good martial artist.  Master the basics.  If you master the basics you will be a good martial artists.”  I have found those words of wisdom apply to wining with money. 

A couple of years ago my beautiful wife Julie and I started to use a proven financial plan to release the submission hold our finances had upon us.  We reached out to a Dave Ramsey Financial Coach by the name of Mihei Egeroff.  Mihei helped coach us through the seven bay steps of wining with finances.  As Mihei pointed out; finances are about 20% head knowledge and about 80% behavior/mindset as we started to win with our money for the first time in years. 

With the coaching, my years of learning and teaching martial arts started to really kick in.  Martial arts definitely takes head knowledge.  But you got to do the hard hours of practice if you want to be any good.  Martial arts helped me understand how to apply the seven baby steps better.  It all goes back to what Mr. Huh said.  Master the basics.  So I focused on which ever baby step we are with laser focus.  Doing the same moves (successful financial behaviors like budgeting each month) over and over again to start to master them.  So they become instinctual and are part of who I am.

Let’s break down the first three bay steps.   Each of the first three steps must be executed like your life depends on them.  Remember that feeling of being in a submission hold by your finances we talked about earlier.  This is where you shift your financial stance and start to take the fight to your finances.  Not your finances taking the fight to you.

Baby Step 1

Is a $1000.00 starter emergency fund.  This is where you start to put a little space between you and life. This can be the easiest and hardest step.  You have to make this happen fast.  Put your mind, body, and soul into accomplishing this. Sell something, work extra hours, get a side hustle going, do whatever it takes to get this step knocked out fast.

Baby Step 2

List your debts smallest to largest.  Then laser focus all your efforts to pay off that first smallest debt.  Put all the other debt payments on minimum payments.  Don’t worry about the interest of the debts. This is about getting emotional traction.  You need a win emotionally to believe this will happen.  This is not about math. This is about retraining yourself to master your finances.  To put it into martial arts terms, this is where you start to slowly leverage your way free from the submission hold your finances have on you.  Each debt paid off will snowball into a bigger payment on the next debt.  You can do this. This is probably not going to be a five minute fight. So prepare yourself for a slug fest that is going to take round after round to finally win. But win you must and win you will if your keep at it. As Henry Ford would say. “Whether you think can or think you can’t. You are correct.” So put your mind to making this happen.

Baby Step 3

Once you have paid off all you debt minus your mortgage.  It is now time to build your three to six months of expenses into an emergency fund that is liquid.  It can be easy let up on the intensity at this point; don’t!  Your finances can still put you back in submission hold if you relax.  Don’t drop your guard yet.  You are almost there, where you can finally reverse the struggle and submit your finances to your rear naked choke hold so to speak.

Here is a secret martial arts move that will help you win at these baby steps.  Are you ready for the secret move that will help you win?  Budgeting, you have to budget your money each month.  If you don’t tell your money where to go, you will wonder where it went.  I recommend the best budgeting app out there.  That is Ramsey Solutions Everydollar.  It is what Julie and I use for our personal finances.

If you want someone to coach you, help hold you accountable, walk alongside you and help you win with your money.  The first session if free. Please contact me by email at email info@mcfas.com or call 503-908-2701.