Written by: Dr. Amanda Barrientez, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
“Your dominant ideas and feelings are always accepted by your subconscious mind” — Joseph Murphy.
Have you ever thought about how your brain shapes your ability to make “easy” (low stress) or “hard” (high stress) money? This happens because our beliefs are simply thoughts we keep having over and over again. So, our dominant thoughts create what neuroscientists call “paths of least resistance” in our brain’s neural wiring. These paths of least resistance create our belief system, and our belief system subconsciously creates our results.
Money Belief Ice Tracks
Let’s imagine a sled hill to understand how our subconscious thoughts lead to making easy or hard money,
Remember when you were a kid, and you’d jump on your sled to go down the hill, but you wouldn’t go very fast because the snow wasn’t packed into a path? Then, you trudged up and went down again and again, on the same path, and an icy track formed that shot you straight to the bottom fast! Once that happened, it was nearly impossible to go off track. You would have had to very intentionally create a new ice track, starting at the top, to end up at a different point at the bottom of the hill. Your brain does the exact same thing in its belief system wiring when it’s creating paths of least resistance.
How are Money-Based Paths of Least Resistance Created?
When we’re ages 0-7, we absorb everything that’s going on around us. Repeated cues from our environment shape our neural wiring into paths of least resistance. Over time, these become autopilot, subconscious drivers (thoughts, beliefs, and habits) - just like the ice track on the sled hill! When these paths of least resistance are set up for our success, they shoot us where we want to go. But, when they aren’t set up for success, they lead us into subconscious autopilot behaviors that limit our potential.
So, when it comes to money-making, parents and surrounding adults shaped our money belief ice tracks by saying things like:
You have to work hard to get good grades so you can get a good job and retire someday.
Money doesn’t grow on trees.
How will you ever make enough money doing that?
You can’t do what you love and make money.
If money was tight, you likely watched adults in your life:
Fight about money
Stress and worry about money
Judge “rich” people as corrupt and greedy
Have jobs they hated to make money
Live for weekends and vacations to escape job stress.
Or, if you grew up in a higher income family system, you might have experienced watching your parent(s) work long days, feel stressed, not be around much and even sometimes hide the amount of money they made (a symptom of what I call “wealth shame”).
Does any of this resonate with what you were taught about money when you were a kid? I bet it does!
After doing hundreds of “money stories” with entrepreneurs around the world, I’ve come to learn that most of us don’t grow up in childhoods where we developed money beliefs that supported ease, abundance, and flow. Instead, our paths of least resistance were formed to set us up to believe that money is hard to make, it causes a lot of stress, and you’re a daydreamer if you think you can do what you want to make money. Fortunately, you can consciously choose to change your money beliefs starting today.
3 Strategies to Train Your Brain for Easier Money Making:
1. Get Conscious About Your Money Ice Track
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying,
“You can’t get where you want to go if you don’t know where you are.”
So, back to the sled hill example, you’ve got to get a bird’s eye view of your “money belief ice track.” This will help you understand your money beliefs that have become your paths of least resistance. Start by considering:
What did the adults in my life tell me about money?
How did they act around money?
Did they enjoy what they did for work?
Was I supported in doing what I loved doing as a kid, or was I encouraged to work hard for security?
Was money talked about easily and openly?
How are these beliefs shaping my adult money habits?
Answering these questions will help you begin to understand why you’re likely (re)creating an adult money reality that is built on the belief that money-making is stressful, hard work.
Caution: It’s important that you don’t use this exercise to shame your family or beat yourself up - this strengthens negative neural pathways! Most likely, your family was doing the best they could with the tools they had at the time.
Use the past to inform new decisions in the present and cheer yourself on for getting conscious now. It’s your choice to commit to changing your money reality starting from this day forward instead of focusing on a disempowered past. You can create easier money-making in your future!
2. Build a New Money Ice Track
Thanks to neuroplasticity, you have the ability to train your brain for different results. This means you don’t have to stay stuck on the same sled hill that’s been shooting you into a reality of stressful, hard money-making. Instead, you can build a new money ice track where you get to do more of what you enjoy to make easier money.
Start by Asking Yourself:
Are the money beliefs I learned as a child the ones I still want to believe today?
Are my money beliefs empowering or disempowering me?
What if I choose to believe the exact opposite - even just for today?
What are 10 ways I can make money doing what I enjoy?
How can I start each day with fun?
What’s one empowering money habit I can start practicing today?
3. Go Down the Sled Hill Again and Again!
Remember how you went down the hill again and again to form the ice track that shot you to the bottom of the hill fast? Your brain needs the same repetition to create new paths of least resistance. So, be patient and consistent, and over time you’ll see the results appear as easier, less stressful money-making.
I am certain you can do this because I used these same steps to go from feeding my kids with food stamps to building a 6-figure business fast and now help other entrepreneurs align their energy, mindset, and habits to make easier money faster.
To dive deeper into your money beliefs, go to www.MoneyBlocksProfile.com and join the NFA Money Maker™ Lab (www.NFAMoneyMakerLab.com) so you can learn strategies to work less, make more and have fun!
Dr. Amanda Berrientez, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Dr. Amanda Barrientez is an NFA - No Fucking Around - Business Consultant who helps coaches and online entrepreneurs align their energy, mindset, and habits to attract easier money using her proprietary NFA Money Maker™ Methods. After going from food stamps to building a 6-figure business fast, she's been on a quest to teach business builders how to make more money doing exactly what they love to do. Get her 30 Money Making Secrets to breakthrough to the next level -www.NFAMoneyMakerLab.com.
