In life, we all have our own mindsets around money. Some of us hate it and think it’s the root of all evil, some of us see it as a means to get by, some of us see it abundantly, some see it as hard to get, some see it as easy to get. The list goes on and the opinions change drastically with each person.
These mindsets and beliefs around money are oftentimes rooted in our upbringing. They are mostly because of the beliefs that were instilled in us or the experiences we had with money while growing up. These beliefs differ DRASTICALLY from person to person.
The definition of a “money-mindset” is your overriding beliefs around money. These beliefs will affect the way you make decisions about money and it will make a big impact on your ability to achieve goals around money.
When I first started working, I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a “money mindset”, let alone how much it would affect me.
In college, almost everyone is a broke college kid, then we graduate and we are all still broke just college graduates now. Everyone is just trying to get by and kind of always jokes about it. But that harmless joke turned into a belief for me.
When I first started working my belief was that I was broke and just trying to get by. My “money-mindset” was one of disbelief. I didn’t believe I could make or was worthy of making money. I didn’t believe I was good enough at my job yet to real make money doing it. And since I didn’t have any money when I first started working because I was a broke post-college kid, so it was hard to picture myself actually having it.
Being in a sales role, I learned quickly that this mindset wasn’t serving me well.
Since I am a recruiter, I am in the business of sales. People often forget that, but recruiters are 100% commissions. If you work for an agency or third party vendor, many of us have a base/commission compensation plan, a draw, or even a 100% commission based compensation plan.
Having that type of payment structure can be really great and financially rewarding, or it can be really tough and you may find yourself stressing about the bills on a bad month. Either way, it is stressful AF and your “money-mindset” around money makes a huge impact on your performance.
I quickly realized that I had to change my mind-set around money or I would totally fail, so I did what I always do when I don’t know where to go next, I turned to books.
I didn’t really know what I was doing and just started googling, “books about money”. The first one I started out with was about money-mindset. After reading that first book, it then had a ripple effect and in no time I had a list of books to read that I wanted to read about how to have a better “money-mindset”. What I learned from these books, and then what I implemented in my daily life, totally changed the way I thought about money and felt towards it.
It’s weird to publicly talk about money at all. They always say don’t talk about religion, politics, and MONEY. But I am breaking the rules and sharing this with you because this is a blog I would have loved to find when I was first starting out. This is a blog I would have loved to read at a time when I needed the guidance and the understanding that all I had to do was change my mindset about money.
What’s most interesting is that many of the top reps that I talk to every day on the phone, whether they are sales reps, executives, managers or individual contributors, have a “no-limit” belief of the earning potential. So I was starting to recognize that these top reps were also following the principles I was reading in my books.
Below are the top 4 books that I started with that entirely changed my mindset around money. Regardless of what your profession is, these are incredible books that will educate you, open your eyes and change your life.
You are a Badass at Making Money – Jen Sincero
This was the first book I bought about money and it totally changed my perspective. My original thought was that books about money were dry, boring, and pretty much the most awful painful thing to read. This book was the DEAD opposite. It was hysterical, uplifting, insightful, and I loved it and benefited from it so much that I had listened to it 7 times to date. Jen is an incredible writer and captures you with her story. But she also breaks down our fears and thoughts around money in such a simple relatable way that you can’t help but think to yourself, “omg me too!” or “preeeaachhh sister!”. This book is so so so good! If you only buy one of these books buy this one.
The Science of Getting Rich – Wallace D Wattles
This book suggestion actually came from Jen Sincero. In her book, You are a Badass at Making Money, she mentions this book and how much she hated it at first and then how much she loved it later on, which inspired me to buy it. I loved this book from the beginning. I was inspired by the content, but my favorite part about this book is that it was written in 1910. It was created when they were still modernizing the railroad system and building train stations, yet everything he talks about is so relative to today. The information is timeless. It’s written in the vernacular of that time period and it takes getting used to, but 100% worth it. This is another book I listened too multiple times through.
Think and Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill
This is another classic that pretty much every article suggests reading when googling, “books on money”, but it’s for a good reason. Napoleon Hill was a big influencer in professional and personal development during his time. He wrote this book because he was inspired by Andrew Carnegie’s “magic formula” to success. He used the lessons and “magic formula” in this book to impact thousands of lives and still does today. This book was written in 1937 and is STILL very relevant for today’s world. A classic that is a must-read.
Money – Master the Game – Tony Robbins
As we all know, Tony is our generation’s OG when it comes to personal and professional development. In his early years, he primarily focused on our psychology and how to alter it to create a more positive outlook to be able to achieve the goals we have. Then after the market crashed in 2008/2009 he decided to write this book to help the average American protect themselves from something happening like this again. The beginning is inspirational, the middle gives very hard detailed facts around everything you need to know about money, and then the end he interviews some of the greatest leaders in the financial industry. In those interviews, they tell him what they do with their own money and investing habits. The middle can get tough, but it’s worth the push for the interviews at the end.
So there you have it! My top 4 books, to date, on Money-Mindset. I know that in a year or two this list will grow and I will learn more than I thought I could on the topic of money. But these four books, alone, have completely changed my mind-set about money and because of that, I got to see a whole lot more of it!
The topic of money is weird and uncomfortable, but dive into these books and you will see it’s all about the way we think about money. That small but crucial change will change everything.
Please let me know what you think of them! I can’t wait to hear about your transformation! =D
Until next time, Happy Reading!
