A debt can lead to many problems, such as insufficient savings, nonpayment of utility bills, inability to cope with monthly expenses, unaffordability of standard healthcare, and much more. According to a report, in 2015, more than half of New Zealanders above the age of 15 years were in debt. Living in debt can be brutal and challenging for many reasons. You cannot save for an emergency or make investments for your future.

However, you can repay your debt with the right mindset and practical tips. The first step is to realize the depth of your debt problem and how much you are stuck in it because the strategy depends on your financial situation and goals. You can start the journey by following the tips mentioned below or view website to know more about it.

1. Debt consolidation loan

Simply put, a debt consolidation loan is like a new loan to repay existing loans. How is it viable to take new debt to repay the old debt? Well, it is one of the features of a debt consolidation loan. When you are buried under multiple loans with varying interest rates and payback periods, it can help you manage all your debt under one umbrella.

 

You must match the lender’s requirements to qualify for a debt consolidation loan. Several international companies offer these loans across the globe, but if you are a resident of New Zealand, then look up quick approval debt consolidation loan NZ to make a well-informed decision. They require basic information only, like proof of income and employment. After the verification process is successful, you can receive this loan.

Once approved, instead of worrying about multiple debts, you now have a single liability. Some of the benefits include:

• Lower interest rate
• Single monthly amount
• Increased credit score

Review your progress frequently and check whether you are improving your spending behavior and achieving financial goals.

2. Money management

Budgeting is the key aspect of paying off debt. It is vital to make the most of the resources and use them strategically. Review and redo your monthly budget and find ways of paying a little extra toward your debt. It is because interest rates on mortgages, auto loans, or even student loans are rising. Therefore, paying more will save you on interest.

You can manage the budget by dividing it into three parts. Consider setting aside 50% of your income for essentials, 30% for leisure, and the remaining for debt repayments. So, cutting off leisure activities and using that money for paying extra money can reduce your debt much faster.

After budgeting your expenses, automate maximum payments and monitor them. It will free up your mind and help you look for other ways to pay off debt, like selling items for cash or finding a side gig for extra income.

3. Snowball and avalanche methods

Another effective way of reducing your debt is the debt snowball method. It is an appropriate method when you are already paying higher than required. In this method, you pay the minimum on all your debts except the smallest loan, which you must pay as much as possible. It is called the snowball effect, where you eliminate the smallest debt first and then move on to the next smallest loan while maintaining the payments on the rest of the loans.

For example, you have three debts; an auto loan of $4000, a credit card balance of $3400, and a personal loan of $20,000. Your priority will be to pay off your credit card balance, which is the lowest, and then auto loan. 

Along with lowering the burden of debts, this method keeps you motivated. It builds momentum toward getting you out of debt. On the contrary, the avalanche method suggests you pay off debt with higher interest rates first. Once it is paid, you then pay the loan with the next highest interest. The aim is to save on loans with high-interest rates in the long run, as they are expensive to carry on.

You can start by listing all your outstanding balances, arranging them, and allocating funds. Further, automate the payments to protect yourself from deviating from the plan.

4. Negotiate the current terms

It may sound impossible, but this method works well. You will be surprised to see how willing creditors are to negotiate based on your positive record. If you have a good history of timely payments and have maintained a friendly relationship, you are in a position to qualify for better debt repayment terms.

One way is to negotiate lower rates and save on interest payments over the years. On the other hand, the ideal outcome is to pay less than what you owe. It is possible to agree on terms with creditors, make a wholesome payment once, and get out of debt. You can either do it yourself or take third-party assistance.

However, there are risks associated with early settlement. During your ongoing negotiations, you may not make any repayment. As a result, it would adversely affect your credit score.

5. Use windfall to pay the debt

In addition to student loans and mortgages, windfalls can ease the burden of substantial ongoing obligations. It refers to a stimulus check or tax refund. Use that money to pay your debt instead of saving or spending it carelessly. 

It is critical to use available financial resources wisely and get the most out of them. Another way is to split the windfall into two parts, one for paying the debt and another for creating an asset.

Consequently, the asset will give a return on investment that you can use for debt repayments and eventually leave the vicious debt cycle behind. Other windfall examples include work bonuses, inheritance, or cash gifts. For desired results, your sole objective must be to use extra money to pay off debt.

Conclusion

A debt-ridden situation can hinder your personal growth and negatively affect the quality of your life. It takes effort and the right strategy to pay off the debt completely. Debt consolidation loans, money management, snowball, and avalanche methods, negotiating the current terms, and using the windfall to pay the debt are some tips for achieving financial stability and improving your spending behaviors. When you have paid off your balances, remember why you got into debt in the first place and modify your behavior to prevent yourself from repeating the same cycle.

Pursuing an MBA with an accounting specialization is an excellent way to enhance your business education and increase your chances of success. This type of program combines traditional MBA coursework with an emphasis on accounting and financial management. It provides students with the knowledge, skills, and network necessary to advance their careers and reach their goals.

This blog will explore the top reasons why obtaining an MBA with an accounting specialization is a wise investment in your future.

1. Career Advancement Opportunities

One of the main benefits of obtaining an MBA with an accounting specialization is the doors it opens to executive-level positions. Graduates of this program have a deeper understanding of financial operations and are better prepared to take on leadership roles. With the skills to make informed business decisions, analyze financial data, and manage operations, they can easily advance to higher-level positions. According to a survey conducted by the Graduate Management Admission Council, 90% of MBA graduates reported an increase in their earning potential, with an average salary increase of 40% after completing their MBA program.

2. Increased Knowledge and Skills

An MBA focused on accounting provides students with advanced knowledge and skills in accounting and the financial operations of a business. You’ll learn about the latest accounting concepts and practices, financial management and analysis, and have the opportunity to study business from a global perspective, all necessary to succeed in today’s fast-paced business world. Graduates come out of the school well-equipped to make informed business decisions and analyze complex financial data, allowing them to solve complex business problems and make strategic decisions.

3. Networking Opportunities

Whether you pursue a traditional on-campus degree or enroll in an online MBA accounting program, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to build relationships with like-minded professionals and connect with alumni and industry leaders. Students enrolled in this degree have access to organizations and events that can help them expand their network and connect with potential employers.

Networking is a critical aspect of career advancement and success. Building relationships with others in your field allows you to learn from their experiences, make new contacts, and gain valuable insights. Additionally, your connections will provide you with job opportunities and valuable career advice.

4. Improved Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills

Pursuing an MBA in accounting can open up a world of opportunities, not just for job placements but also for enhancing and refining your skills. One such set of skills is critical thinking and problem-solving.

Studying for an MBA in accounting requires students to push themselves beyond the boundaries regarding numerical structures, theoretical models, and even practical industry experiences that could inspire analytical decision-making. With a wide range of study material from marketing to human resources management and even further into legislation and policy-making, students gain an invaluable skillset that allows them to solve complex problems logically. The ability to think critically and proactively can help students analyze complex data and situations to positively impact an organization’s bottom line.

5. Boosting Confidence and Leadership Skills

Pursuing an MBA in accounting provides students with critical thinking, collaboration, problem-solving, and communication abilities. Courses focus on contemporary and varied accounting topics, which can result in informed decision-making and better on-the-job performance. Experienced instructors can use their industry knowledge to teach their students important concepts through case studies, simulations, and real-world examples.

Additionally, students gain practical skills they can immediately apply while exploring areas such as finance, auditing, or payroll design systems. Students focusing on a career in accounting will have a distinct advantage by completing the program, making them knowledgeable and confident professionals with valuable leadership qualities.

6. Exposure to a Global Business Perspective

The program teaches business practices and introduces students to challenges encountered around the world, allowing them to study the latest global business trends. It instructs students on international financial operations, allowing them to think on their feet in rapidly-changing markets.

By studying business from a global perspective, graduates develop a deeper understanding of cultural differences and the challenges of doing business in a global market. This will help you make informed decisions and better understand the challenges when entering new markets. Also, potential accountants can develop the confidence and knowledge needed to surpass the competition. With coursework focusing on managing risk, legal practices, and fiscal strategy within a multinational framework, anyone who holds this degree will stand out.

7. Prepares you for the CPA exam

If you have your sights set on becoming a certified public accountant, an MBA in accounting may be the perfect pathway to success. With tried and tested knowledge of the complexities of financial systems and management-level strategic economics, those with an MBA in accounting will hit the ground running when it comes time to take their CPA exams.

Defining success by more than the end result of taking and passing the tests, an MBA in accounting provides the necessary tools for a successful accounting career that can’t be found anywhere else. From comprehensive understanding to increased confidence, taking this educational journey is sure to benefit future aspiring accountants for years to come.

8. Access to Cutting-Edge Technology and Tools

From developing an understanding of how data science is being used in financial services to gaining proficiency in advanced software, such as Quickbooks and Excel, there are numerous opportunities available through this specialized degree path. As modern businesses demand more complexity, an MBA in accounting prepares graduates to provide strategic direction leveraging data-driven solutions and insights into critical decision-making.

With a focus on the latest trends and a necessary toolkit for success, choosing an MBA in accounting program can help any student cement their career within the world of finance.

9. A Great Way To Switch Careers

With an MBA in accounting specialization, you’ll gain the knowledge and confidence needed to advance your career and make a successful leap into the world of accounting. You’ll learn about management and business strategy fundamentals and gain valuable insight into effective financial planning, recordkeeping practices, and tax preparation. Moreover, this specialization will give you the foundation to leverage your skillset and have a competitive edge over other candidates entering the field. It’s a perfect match for those who want to challenge themselves, learn new skills, and make their mark in the world of finance.

Conclusion

Enrolling in an MBA accounting program is an excellent investment in your future. With a combination of traditional MBA coursework and an emphasis on accounting and financial management, you’ll be well-equipped to succeed in today’s fast-paced business world. From increased career advancement opportunities to improved critical thinking and problem-solving skills, an MBA with an accounting specialization provides students with the knowledge, skills, and network necessary to reach their goals.

If you’re looking to enhance your business education and take your career to the next level, consider pursuing an MBA in accounting. With its many benefits, you’ll be well-equipped to succeed in today’s fast-paced business world.

Are you in good financial shape? How do you know if you are on the path to financial success or financial failure? In this post, you’ll be able to take a short, 7 question quiz to see if you are in good financial shape or not, and learn more about improving your personal financial situation.

 

How are you doing with your finances? Are you looking to improve your financial situation this year? Do you know if you are in good financial shape right now?

Before improving your personal finance situation, let’s see where you are currently with your personal finances.

In this post, I have created 7 easy to answer questions to determine your financial shape.

With this personal finance quiz, you can understand where you are in your personal finance journey and get some recommendations to better your financial future.

Let’s get into this personal finance quiz now!

7 Questions to Determine if You are in Good Financial Shape

How can you know if you are in good financial shape? What are the principles and foundations of personal finance, and how can you get started on your financial journey?

To answer these questions, I’ve created a simple 7 question quiz for you to take to determine if you are in good financial shape.

Below, I’ve listed the 7 questions you can answer to determine if you are solid financial shape, and in the following sections of this post, you can see the scoring for each of these questions.

1. Do you track your income and expenses?
2. Do you know your net worth?
3. On average, how much time do you spend a month learning about personal finance?
4. Do you have any debts?
5. Do you have an emergency fund?
6. Do you have any investments for the future?
7. Do you have any financial goals?

Let’s get into each of these questions to determine your financial shape now.

Make sure to grab a pencil or something else to track your score!

1. Do You Track Your Income and Expenses?

The first question is easy: do you track your income and expenses? Do you use a spreadsheet or use a personal finance tracking software tool to understand how much you spend on different categories each month?

Knowing your income and tracking your expenses is one of the most important things to do if you want to improve your financial situation.

One of my favorite quotes is “What gets measured, gets managed.” If you know how much you spend on food, you will be able to adjust your spending habits if it’s too much.

Likewise, if you don’t know your spending habits, then you won’t be able to improve on them!

If you track your income and expenses on a monthly or yearly basis, you get 1 point. If you don’t track your income and expenses, then you get 0 points.

2. Do You Know Your Net Worth?

The next question is similar to the first question: do you know your net worth?

Your net worth is the what you get if you add up all of your assets and subtract your liabilities.

If you know your net worth, then you have a snapshot of your current financial position.

Personal finance is similar to navigation: tracking your income and expenses is like knowing how fast and in which direction you are going, and your net worth is your current location.

If you know your net worth, you get 1 point. If you don’t know your net worth, then you get 0 points.

3. On Average, How Much Time Do You Spend a Month Learning about Personal Finance?

Next, let’s look at your habits.

On average, how much time would you say you spend learning about personal finance on a monthly basis?

Learning about personal finance could include:

• reading personal finance books
• listening to podcasts or videos about personal finance
• reading personal finance blogs
• talking with professionals in the personal finance industry

By learning personal finance, you can start to discover more tips to further improve your financial situation.

If you spend over 5 hours a month learning, reading or thinking about personal finance, you get 1 point. If you don’t spend over 5 hours a month on learning, reading or thinking about personal finance, then you get 0 points.

4. Do You Have Any Debts?

Next up, do you have any debts?

While being in debt isn’t necessarily bad, being debt-free is amazing and a fantastic goal.

Do you have a mortgage? What about credit card debt? Do you have student loans or other personal loans?

Again, being in debt isn’t necessarily bad. Honestly, I have some debt and sometimes debt can be a good thing to have.

However, having no debt can be very beneficial for being in good financial shape.

If you are debt-free, then you get 1 point. If you have any debts, then you get 0 points.

Bonus: Do You Pay More Than the Minimum Payment on Your Debts?

If you have debt, have no fear! You can still get a point for this question.

Do you pay more than the minimum on your debts?

If you pay more than the minimum on your debts, you will be able to crush your debt much faster.

Paying more than the minimum payment on your credit card, for example, is essential for getting out of debt.

Even paying $100 more than the minimum a month can be extremely beneficial for your debt situation.

If you pay more than the minimum on your debts, you get 1 point! If you only pay the minimum on your debts, you get 0 points. If you are debt-free, you don’t get an extra point.

5. Do You Have an Emergency Fund?

Next, do you have an emergency fund?

The common definition of an emergency fund is if you have 3-6 months expenses saved in a safe account.

These 3-6 months of expenses are important in case of emergency (loss of job, medical emergency, broken down car, etc.)

At the very least, having an emergency fund is good to have to sleep well at night.

If you know you don’t have to worry about emergencies, then you’ll be able to sleep soundly.

Saving $1,000 is a great start for your emergency fund, but over time, getting to 3-6 months of expenses is a great goal to have.

If you have an emergency fund, you get 1 point! If you don’t have an emergency fund, you get 0 points.

6. Do You Have Investments for the Future?

Next, let’s talk about your future plans. Do you have any investments for your future?

Do you have any of the following?

• Stocks
• Bonds
• Rental Properties
• Business
• Precious Metals
• Cryptocurrencies

If you have some of these assets in your possession, and you plan to keep them to sell in the future, then you are investing for the future.

Investing for the future is a fantastic

If you have investments for the future in a brokerage account, retirement account, rental properties or other investment vehicles, you get 1 point. If you don’t have any investments for the future, you get 0 points.

Bonus Question: Are You Using Any Tax-Advantaged Accounts?

Another bonus question for you!

If you are using a tax-advantaged account, such as a 401(k), IRA, 457(b), etc, then this is great!

These tax-advantaged accounts allow more flexibility in your investing and financial situation.

If you are using tax-advantaged accounts for your investments, you get an extra 1 point! If you aren’t using tax-advantaged accounts for your investments, you don’t get any extra points.

7. Do You Have Any Financial Goals?

The 7th and final question is do you have any financial goals?

Financial goals can help you align your current actions with where you want to be in the future.

However, your financial goals need to be specific.

You can’t just say, “I want to become rich someday.”

What is rich? When is someday?

Instead, a true financial goal is “I want to save 30% of my income this year” or “I want to pay off $5,000 of debt this year”.

Concrete goals will bring clarity to your situation and help you focus on improving your financial situation.

If you have any concrete financial goals, you get 1 point! If you don’t have any financial goals, you get 0 points.

What’s Your Total Financial Situation Score?

How was this financial quiz? Hopefully it was pretty easy to complete!

Now, let’s take a look at your final tally. How many points did you have?

If you have over 7 points, then you are a financial superstar! You are in great financial shape and are most likely on your way to achieving financial success.

If you have a score of 4, 5 or 6 points, you are in pretty good financial shape. With a score of 4, 5 or 6 points, you have taken some steps to building wealth, but still have some work to do. Overall though, you are in a great spot.

If you have a score of 1, 2 or 3 points, maybe you just started on your personal finance journey or don’t know where to start improving your financial situation. Luckily, getting a better financial score can happen by taking some simple steps for building wealth!

If you have a score of 0 points, then it’s time to get to work!

Whatever your score is from this quiz, it just represents your current situation, and does not have any affect on your future financial situation.

You can now take this score and start making plans for a successful future.

Now, let’s learn now how you can get into better financial shape today.

How You Can Get into Better Financial Shape Today

After taking this quiz about personal finance, you now have a better understanding of your personal finance situation.

At this point, what’s next? What are the next steps you can take to learn more about personal finance and improve your personal finance situation.

On this website, I have a few resources you can read to learn more about personal finance and grow your savings.

I’ve listed them below:

Hopefully with this personal finance quiz and personal finance article, you can get on the way to achieving the financial success you want!

Thanks for reading!

If you want to improve your financial situation and find success with money, you need a plan. In this post, you’ll learn about the first steps to wealth, what you can do today to get into better financial shape, and how you can get on the path to financial freedom.

Are you looking to find success with your money? Do you want to achieve financial success and get into better financial shape? How would you feel if you had a little more money in the bank?

Becoming wealthy and improving your financial situation might seem confusing and difficult, but with the right plan, you can grow your wealth.

In this post, you’ll learn about the first steps to wealth you can take today to start having more money over time.

After reading this post, you’ll have learned actionable steps to build wealth.

One thing I want to say before we start though is becoming rich fast or becoming rich quick is not what I’ll be talking about.

No one becomes a success overnight. Becoming wealthy is no different, and it might be months or years until you become rich.

However, every journey starts with a single step, and in this post, you’ll learn how you can take that first step to financial success and having financial wealth.

First, before discussing the steps for building wealth and having more money, I want to ask you a question.

What Would Your Life Look Like If Money Wasn’t a Problem?

First, before laying out a financial plan for you and talking about the steps to building wealth, I have a few questions for you:

What would life look like if money wasn’t a problem?

A pretty simple question, but an interesting one. What would life look like if money wasn’t a problem? I want to get you thinking about this because what I’ve experienced is that when you have stability with money, you can live a great life.

For you, if money wasn’t a problem:

How would you feel? How would you spend your days? What are your dreams, and could you reach them? Would you have the same job? Live in the same house? Take the same vacations?

I wanted to start this post out with these questions because I wanted you to start thinking BIG.

Personal finance is a BORING subject, but if you attach it to your goals and dreams, you can make amazing things happen with in your life.

What would life look like if money wasn’t a problem?

Got your answer?

Great!

Now, let’s get into the meat of the post, and the first step to wealth.

The First Step to Wealth and Having More Money

The first step to wealth is to make a conscious decision that you are going to become wealthy.

You need to make a decision today which will impact your entire live.

Today, you are going to start on the path to wealth and being good with money.

With this decision comes a responsibility to yourself to take care of yourself, your family and be good with money.

The first step to wealth is making a decision you will be good with money.

However, saying “I’m going to become wealthy” is great, but if you don’t actually believe you can do it, then what good will this decision be?

So many people make goals and decisions, but after a few weeks, the excitement is gone and you are back to the same place in life.

Making changes in life is tough without the right mindset and focus.

How can you change your mindset to set yourself up better for success in life?

For me, I’ve been able to change my life most effectively after changing my mindset and mental make-up with affirmations. With money affirmations, you can change your mindset to get on the right path mentally.

How to Use Money Affirmations to Improve Your Mindset Financially

Before getting into any tangible and concrete steps for improving with your money, it’s important to believe in yourself and get in the right head space to achieve your financial goals.

Mindset is so important.

Having a strong mental game is as important as having skills and talents. Positive thinking has proven, time and time again, to lead to more success than negative thinking.

With positive thinking, you can alter your reality and become the person you want.

Similarly, if you think negatively, you will not become who you want to become.

With regards to money:

• If you tell yourself you aren’t good with money, then you won’t be good with money.
• If you tell yourself you will always be in debt, then you will always be in debt.
• If you tell yourself you will never become rich and wealthy, then you never will become rich.

These are negative thoughts and will not help on your path to creating wealth for yourself.

Instead, we need to use affirmations such as the following to cultivate positive money thoughts for ourselves.

Right now, I want you to read out loud the following affirmations:

• I am good with money.
• I can make good financial decisions.
• It’s possible for me to save money.
• Debt will not consume me and I can destroy my debt.
• It’s possible for me to learn more about personal finance.
• I can become wealthy over time.

Now, write these affirmations down, or come up with your own money affirmations, and each morning, read these aloud to yourself.

Over time, you’ll start believing that you can become wealthy, and with this belief, you can accomplish your money goals.

Now, let’s get to what you can start doing today which will have an instant impact on your personal finance situation.

The Second Step to Wealth and Finding Success with Money

The second step to building wealth, after making the decision you are going to become wealthy, is to start tracking your money.

Do you know how much you are spending each money? Do you know how much money you have after taxes? Are there any expenses you could cut to save more money?

One of my favorite quotes is the following:

What gets measured, gets managed.

If you don’t know where your money is going on a monthly basis, how will you know what to change for improvement?

Knowing where you are financially is so important for financial success.

Tracking your income and expenses is the most important step to building wealth.

There are potentially hundreds of financial metrics you could track, but there is beauty in simplicity.

The 4 metrics I believe you need to know for personal financial success when it comes to understanding your finances are:

• Net Income
• Gross Expenses
• Savings Rate
• Net Worth

First, you need to know your net income and gross expenses.

Net income is how much you made in income, after taxes, for a given period.

Net income is what you see in your bank account after your paycheck is deposited.

Next, your gross expenses is how much you spend on things throughout a given month.

These gross expenses are things like food, transportation, housing, insurance, travel, shopping, child care, home improvement, debt payments, etc.

For me, I like to break down these further to get a more detailed look at my spending:

For you, you can make this as high level as you want, or as detailed as you want. The main point of this exercise though is to understand where you money is going each month.

Next, we have your savings rate and your net worth.

A person’s savings rate is the percentage of income which a person saves in a given time period.

Simply put, your savings rate can be calculated as (net income – gross expenses) / net income.

Finally, we have net worth.

What is your net worth?

It is your assets minus your liabilities.

What are assets?

Assets are things a person owns which have value. Typical assets include houses, cash, stocks, bonds, cars, precious metals (jewelry, etc.), currencies, businesses – and the list goes on and on.

Next, what are liabilities?

Liabilities are things a person owes, either to a bank, a financial institution, or another person or business. These include credit card balances, mortgages, auto loans, personal loans, liens – and the list here goes on and on as well.

To calculate your net worth, subtract your liabilities from your assets.

With these four personal finance metrics, you will have a complete snapshot of your financial situation.

But now, how do you actually get these pieces of information?

How to Track Your Personal Finances Each Month

Tracking your personal finances is all about being organized and knowing where your money is going on a monthly basis.

The first spot I look is at my bank and credit card statements.

My monthly bank statements will show me all of my expenses, and give me an a complete picture of where my money is coming from, and where my money is going.

Next, you should categorize your spending and calculate the different metrics we discussed in the last section.

Finally, you need understand the details around your savings and debt accounts, i.e. what are your interest rates, what are the minimum payments, and are there any fees associated with these accounts.

While this sounds like a lot of work, there are some tools and softwares you can use to make this easier.

For example, some common personal finance tracking tools include:

• Mint
• Personal Capital
• Tiller Money
• You Need a Budget

Some of these tools are free, some are premium. Of course, you can always make your own spreadsheet or keep a notebook 🙂

Once you have your numbers, now the real improvements can happen.

Tweaking Your Budget and Spending after Calculating Your Expenses

Once you have your numbers, now you can start doing analysis on your spending habits.

For example, let’s say you tally up all of your expenses and you notice you spend $1300 a month on food for your family.

Is that $1300 a good use of your money? Do you value eating food and think $1300 is right for your family, or is this too high?

The true power of the quote “what gets measured, gets managed” is in the second part of the quote – the management.

If you have a goal to save $500 more a month, and you now know you spend $1300 on food, could you cut $500 out of your spending to unlock that $500?

With this analysis, the possibilities are endless. By knowing your numbers, you can make a financial plan for yourself and get on to improving your financial situation month by month.

Now, let’s get on to the last step you can take today to get on the path to personal finance success.

The Third Step for Wealth and Becoming Wealthy

The final step you can take today is to decide to get educated about personal finance.

In the United States, we don’t learn about personal finance in school, and as a result, we have to learn it on our own in the real world.

Luckily, there is a ton of financial education content on this blog, the internet, and in books where you can further your personal finance education.

Personal Finance Articles and Resources on The Mastermind Within

On this blog, there are a number of great resources you can read and apply in your life to learn more about personal finance.

These articles range from beginner articles to somewhat more advanced articles, but look to cover a wide range of personal finance topics.

Some of these articles include:

• Saving More Money
  • Increase Savings Fast by Reducing These 3 Big Expenses
  • $5,200 Money Saving Challenge – How to Save $100 Per Week
  • 9 Ways to Save Thousands of Dollars Every Year
  • 5 Simple Steps to Save Your First $1,000 This Year
  • Create the Ultimate Emergency Fund with These 3 Assets
• Paying Off Debt
  • Get Out of Debt Fast Using Simple Debt Payoff Methods
  • 5 Credit Card Debt Pay Off Tips to Get Out of Debt
  • The Mindset Hacks Necessary for Getting Out of Debt
  • 6 Things to Stop Buying When You’re Trying to Get Out of Debt
• Mindset
  • Benefits of Living with an Abundance Mindset
  • Why Money Matters and How to Use Your Money as a Tool
  • Become the Master of Your Money with these Six Easy Steps
•  Investing
  • A Beginner’s Guide to Investment Accounts
  • Should you Pay Down Debt Fast or Invest Your Money?
  • What Does it Actually Mean to Invest in Stocks?
  • It’s Never Too Late to Start Investing
• Real Estate
  • The Millionaire Real Estate Investor Book Summary
  • Retire Early with Real Estate Book Summary
  • House Hacking 101: A Guide for Getting to Financial Freedom

By reading these articles, and other articles on the internet, you can further your understanding of personal finance and get on to personal finance success.

If articles aren’t your thing, you can also read books about personal finance.

3 Personal Finance Books to Read for Personal Finance Beginners

I love reading books, and I’ve learned a ton about personal finance from these different books.

The three books which I’d recommend, because of their simplicity and ease to read are:

• The Automatic Millionaire
• The Slight Edge
• How to Think About Money

I’ve included a brief summary of each of these below.

Data analytics is a rapidly growing area that is revolutionizing how businesses operate. An MBA with a data analytics specialization can help you develop the skills and knowledge necessary to pursue a career in this exciting field. An MBA in data analytics will prepare you to take on leadership roles and help organizations make better decisions based on data.

In this blog post, we will explore the benefits of an MBA with a data analytics specialization and how it can help you reach your career goals.

What Is an Online Data Analytics MBA Degree?

An online data analytics MBA degree is an advanced business degree focusing on using data and analytics to drive business decisions. This program combines traditional business skills with data analysis to give students the tools to become experts in the field.

The degree typically includes courses in economics, finance, marketing, and operations management, along with courses focused on data analytics. The degree will also cover topics related to software engineering, programming, and computer systems so that graduates can develop custom data-driven solutions for their organizations. Students will learn how to analyze data from multiple sources and leverage it to make sound business decisions. 

Online MBA data analytics programs prepare students to work in a variety of data-driven roles, such as data analyst, data scientist, marketing analyst, and business intelligence specialist. The curriculum typically covers topics such as statistics, data mining, predictive modeling, and machine learning, as well as business management principles. Additionally, these programs offer specialized courses in analytics and data science to give students a deeper understanding of the technical aspects of the subject.

The Ever-Growing Demand For Data Analytics 

Data analytics is an increasingly important field in the modern business world as businesses of all sizes strive to make better decisions faster and more effectively. As a result, demand for data analytics professionals has skyrocketed in recent years. With the emergence of big data and sophisticated analytics technologies, companies can now analyze vast amounts of information to uncover trends and insights that were previously impossible to detect. 

Companies are using data analytics to gain valuable insights into customer behavior, improve operational efficiency, better understand the market, and even predict the future. Data analytics is also used to develop new products and services, identify potential opportunities, and optimize marketing campaigns. 

The Skills You’ll Learn In An MBA Program With A Data Analytics Specialization

With an MBA program with a data analytics specialization, you’ll gain a range of highly sought-after skills that are vital in today’s data-driven business world.

• You’ll learn the fundamentals of data analytics, such as data mining, data visualization, and predictive modeling. 
• You’ll also gain an understanding of how to use statistical methods to analyze data and draw meaningful conclusions. With this knowledge, you’ll be able to make informed decisions about the most effective ways to use data for business purposes.
• You’ll develop a deep understanding of the ethical implications of using data and learn how to protect it from security threats. 
• You’ll also acquire the necessary skills to identify customer needs, build customer relationships and target your marketing efforts.
• The MBA program will equip you with the managerial skills to lead and motivate a team of data analysts. 
• You’ll learn how to set objectives, create strategies and evaluate progress to achieve results. All of these skills are invaluable in any organization where data plays an important role.

The Job Market For Data Analytics Professionals

No matter what type of role you are looking for, having an MBA with a data analytics specialization will give you a competitive edge in the job market. Employers know that an MBA degree indicates advanced knowledge and skills related to business administration and management, which makes you an attractive candidate for any type of data-related position.

The job opportunities for data analytics professionals are plentiful, ranging from management positions in corporate environments to freelance roles working remotely. You could be hired to work on projects related to risk assessment, customer segmentation, financial analysis, marketing campaigns, or any number of other tasks that require data analysis. You could also find yourself in demand for roles related to cybersecurity, healthcare, or government intelligence, as well.

In addition to traditional job opportunities, the growth of big data has opened up many freelance opportunities for data analytics professionals. Freelance gigs provide flexible hours, a chance to try different types of projects, and the ability to choose the type of clients you work with.

The Salaries You Can Expect To Earn As A Data Analytics Professional

If you have an MBA with a data analytics specialization, you can expect to earn a very competitive salary. As the demand for data analysts continues to grow, employers are willing to pay top dollar for talented individuals who have the necessary skills and experience. With the right qualifications, you could find yourself earning a lucrative salary in no time.

In general, the salaries of data analytics professionals depend on their skill level, experience, and location. An entry-level data analyst might make an average of $60,000 per year. As your skills improve and you gain more experience, you could move up to positions such as Business Intelligence Manager or Data Science Manager, where salaries can range from $90,000 to $150,000.

In some cases, the salaries of data analytics professionals can be even higher. Of course, salaries for data analytics positions vary depending on location and other factors. 

Conclusion 

If you are interested in data analytics and want to take your career to the next level, earning an MBA with a data analytics specialization can be a great option. You will gain valuable skills that are highly sought after in the job market. You can use data analytics to solve complex problems and make informed decisions for your business. 

In addition, as a data analytics professional, you can expect to earn salaries that are among the highest in the field. Ultimately, an MBA with a data analytics specialization can provide you with the skills and knowledge necessary to become a successful data analytics professional.

In 2019, I made over $13,000 from my side hustles. During the year, I rented out rooms in my house, performed statistical consulting, and helped small businesses with their websites. In this post, I’m going to share with you my thoughts on each of these side hustles and talk about how you can start a side hustle this year to earn more money.

In 2019, I was busy and had a great year side hustling. During the year, I made $13,416 from my side hustles.

This was a fantastic year in terms of hustling, and helped me on my path to building a solid financial foundation for my future.

The reason I side hustle is because I want to speed up the time to reach financial freedom.

While some weeks and months can get very busy, this extra income has helped me pay off debt, build my emergency fund, and invest in my future.

My three side hustles I did in 2019 was house hacking, statistical consulting, and freelance web design.

Each side hustle is different and unique in what I did, but also how I got started. Below I’ll talk more about these differences and how I’ve grown these hustles over time.

Side hustling isn’t for everyone, but I definitely recommend it if you are looking to improve your financial situation.

For me, this was my third year of seriously hustling. One thing I’ve learned is balance is very important in life. What I mean is that I don’t recommend having 3 side hustles – I’ll get into this more though later on.

In this post, I’m going to talk about the side hustles I performed in 2019, give you some side hustle ideas for 2020, and hopefully inspire you in your hustles.

Finally, note, I’m not including any money I’ve made from this website in this article. In 2019, I brought in a few thousand dollars, but spent more than I made on this site. You can see this in my three year blogging anniversary post. 

How I Earned Over $10,000 in Side Hustle Income Last Year

As I mentioned above, in 2019, I earned $13,416 from side hustling.

First, let’s take a look at the numbers.

You can see below my side hustle income by month:

This was a great year, and I’m very fortunate and blessed that I have the free time to do these hustles.

The most lucrative side hustle is my statistical consulting side hustle. In 2019, I made $8,691 from my statistics side hustle. I’ve been doing this side hustle for 3 years now, and spend a handful of hours a month helping dog doctors and veterinarians with their statistical research.

The second side hustle from 2019 I performed was house hacking. For the first five months of 2019, I rented out space in my house and collected $3,050 in rent (I stopped house hacking because I sold my house in July).

The third side hustle from 2019 I performed was freelance web design. During 2019, I worked with a few different small businesses.

With these businesses, I helped build and design their websites in WordPress, and helped with other website related tasks (email forms, theme customization, site migrations, etc.) to help push those businesses along. For my web design contracting work, I made $1,675 over the entire year.

For the rest of the post, I’m going to talk about each of these side hustles in greater detail.

By going into more detail, you can learn more about each side hustle and see if they might make sense for you! 🙂

Making Money By Helping Dog Doctors with Statistical Studies

My first side hustle is consulting for dog doctors. Three years ago, an former co-worker of mine approached me with an opportunity to help do some statistical consulting.

For $85 an hour, I help these dog doctors perform statistical analysis, and these analyses work their way into published manuscripts.

The work I’m doing isn’t rocket science, but it’s necessary to get the results required these doctors want.

For example, I run a lot of simple regressions, ANOVA analyses, chi square tests, and look for cases of statistical significance.

Most of this is college level statistics, but it’s not anything someone with a background in numbers couldn’t learn.

In this case though, I was able to leverage my connections and previous work to secure this side hustle.

By showing my worth, I was able to connect with a former co-worker, and now, I’ve been able to bring in about $20,000 over the last three years with this hustle.

You never know who could be valuable at work, so it’s important not to burn bridges!

Renting Out My Rooms and House Hacking to Make More Money

Back in the summer of 2015, I bought a three bedroom house and rented out the other rooms to my friends.

For four years, I house hacked, and was able to make passive income every month with the rental income.

House hacking is a fantastic way for someone in their 20’s to make extra money every month.

If you can afford it, buying a house and renting out your extra space can be very beneficial for improving your financial situation.

As I mentioned, I sold my house in July because I wanted more flexibility and the price was right.

But before the sale, this side hustle was mostly passive and helped me with my mortgage payments.

Housing is one of the biggest expenses you will have on a monthly basis, and with house hacking, you can reduce this expense drastically.

For the most part, house hacking isn’t that much of a time commitment. At the same time, owning a house can be a lot of work, and this is where things can get expensive.

However, if you are going to have a house and extra space, why not rent it out?

House hacking changed my life, and through house hacking, I was able to make $3,050 this past year. I’m definitely thankful for this and am excited to get into real estate again in the future.

Helping Small Businesses with their Websites through Web Design

The third side hustle I did in 2019 was freelance web design for small businesses.

When I started this blog at the end of 2016, I didn’t know anything about HTML, CSS, php, or Javascript.

After taking some free courses on Code Academy, I started to make customizations on this website and learning more about these different web programming languages.

Use and action is so important to learning a new language – programming or foreign!

During my first year of blogging, I kept learning more and more about web design.

After a year, and after meeting a lot of different bloggers at FinCon 2017, I connected with a few people needing website updates.

As I grew my portfolio, I was able to get more clients and exposure through word of mouth.

Now, I’m comfortable with:

• front-end design
• back-end development
• integrating with different web services (email, payments, automation)
• and many other things WordPress

These are all skills I love using and in 2019, I was able to leverage these skills to help others.

By providing value to others, I can make a little money and help others who need a technical hand.

This one is probably my favorite side hustle, but it’s quite time consuming to find clients.

Now, I want to talk about other side hustle ideas that you could use to make some more money in 2020. But first, I’m going to talk about what is the best side hustle.

What’s the Best Side Hustle?

When starting on your side hustle journey, you might ask, “what’s the best side hustle?”

In my opinion, the best side hustle is providing value to another person or company and doing what you want with your free time outside of your day job.

There are a number of possibilities to choose the best side hustle. The best side hustle might be the one that makes a ton of money. Maybe it’s one that brings new opportunities and helps you in your day job. Perhaps it’s one that brings passive income and allows you to retire early!

Really though, the best side hustle comes back to doing what you enjoy – without necessarily caring about the profit potential of the endeavor.

We all have limited time on this Earth.

Let’s say you love teaching yoga (or some other athletic class). When you teach, you make $100 a session. Even though you only do a few sessions a week, you still love it and have had a ton of great experiences through your teaching.

This side hustle might not be the most lucrative (though a few hundred bucks a week is pretty good), you are doing what you want and enjoying your life.

Again, in my opinion, the best side hustle is doing what you want with you time and potentially making money in these endeavors.

But really, my opinion is just my opinion. You are entitled to your own opinion and can decide what the best side hustle is for you!

Now, let’s get into the list of side hustle ideas you can consider for this next year to increase your side hustle income.

18 Side Hustle Ideas You Can Consider This Year to Earn More Money

In the world, there are hundreds of ways to make extra money each month to further your financial situation.

In the following list, I tried to focus on ways you can make money in the real world.

When searching for “how to make more money”, you will find a lot of spam and “get rich quick” schemes.

I prefer to focus on providing value to those around and you to help others directly.

While I do believe you can help others through a platform or through passive actions over time, some of the best side hustles come from doing the work yourself and directly interacting with your customers.

Below is a list of 18 side hustle ideas you can think about to make money on the side of your day job.

1. Tutor Students
2. Help with Yard Work
3. Edit Audio or Videos for Others
4. Build Furniture or Make Household Items
5. Referee Sporting Events
6. Start a Business
7. Help Others with their Businesses
   • Bookkeeping
   • Web Design
   • Social Media Marketing
   • Freelance Writing
   • Content Creation
   • Graphic Design
8. Rent Out Your Spare Things
9. Sell Your Stuff and Become a Merchant
10. Help Move People Out of their House
11. Edit Resumes
12. Invest in Income Producing Assets
13. Deliver Things in Your Car or Bike

While these side hustle ideas are great, like I said, there are hundreds of other ways you can make more money in the world.

I have just scratched the surface of what you could possibly to do make money.

A side hustle could possibly be created by thinking of the following questions:

• What do you love doing?
• Is there anyway you can turn that into a hustle?
• How can you help others and provide value to make a little more money on the side?

These are all questions you can think about as you decide whether or not you can and will start a hustle this year.

Real World Examples of Side Hustlers and Side Jobs

On The Mastermind Within, I’ve had the pleasure and honor to feature some amazing side hustlers in my Side Hustle Spotlight series.

These side hustlers are making great money on the side of their day job. Here is a list of the side hustle interviews I’ve featured so far:

• Tutoring
• Consignment Store Flipping
• eBay and Online Marketplace Flipping
• Musician
• Food Tour Guide
• Sports Press Box Worker

Hopefully, these amazing interviews give you inspiration to start your own side hustle (and if you do, I’d love to hear about your side hustle!!)

Are You Going to Side Hustle This Year to Improve Your Financial Situation?

2019 was a great year for me and my side hustles. I was able to make more than $10,000 on the side of my day job, and use this money to improve my financial situation.

For me though, I don’t think I’d recommend doing multiple side hustles at once – especially if they are active and take up your time.

It’s important to have balance in life and to not burn yourself out.

Three side hustles, a day job, and other goals is too much for me, and in 2020, I’m only going to actively pursue my consulting gig. If people ask me to help with their website, I’ll do this, but I’m not going to be looking for clients.

As I mentioned, there is more to life than hustling and trying to push and push and push. Family, health, learning, goals, faith, friends, etc. – all of these things are important as well to consider before diving into a hustle.

Now, it’s your turn.

Do you have any financial goals for this year? Are you looking to make smarter financial decisions, save more money, or pay down some debt?

How would a side hustle play into this? What would a few hundred dollars do for your bank account?

I hope this article has been interesting and inspiring for you.

Hopefully we both can make 2020 a lucrative year and crush our financial goals!

Thanks for reading and happy side hustling!

Readers: what’s your side hustle? Are you looking to start or continue a side hustle in 2020? What are some other questions you have about side hustling?

What is money really? Why is money so important? Why does money matter? In this post, I’m going to answer these three money questions and talk about how you can use money to create a great life. Money is a tool, and you can use your earnings and money to create a life which is forth living.

What is money?

This is a simple question, with a seemingly simple answer.

But, really, what is money?

Also, what is debt? Are they the same thing?

In this post, we will explore the simple question of what is money, why money is important, and how you can use money to live a life worth living.

What is Money?

First, what is money?

I typed “what is money?” into Google and got a ton of hits – all from financial and information websites (Investopedia, the IMF, Wikipedia, and Economics and Liberty)

Most of what I looked at had similar definitions of “what money is”.

Money, simply put, is a medium of exchange. 

Societies throughout history have used money to make it easier to exchange and trade goods.

Very early on in history, humans used bartering as the main way to exchange and trade goods. “I’ll give you 2 pounds of grain for 1 gallon of milk” was probably close to a common trade back in the day.

Unfortunately, milk and grain go bad after a certain point, and humans looked to other things they could use to facilitate these activities.

Silver, gold and other precious metals were used, and over time, paper and digital forms of money have been introduced to facilitate the exchange of goods, services, and capital.

The type of money (silver, goods, cash, etc.) is determined socially, be it by a governing body or by the people in a given market.

At this point, I could go into the functions of money, what are some of the properties of “good” money, and talk about “why fiat currency is the best form of money and why cryptocurrencies have no intrinsic value” (or is it the other way around?), but these are just distractions from the question we are trying to answer of “what is money?”

What I don’t like about the simple definition above is that is ignores the fundamental constraint of the world: energy.

Money is a Number for True Capital and a Claim on Energy

While many financial analysts, actuaries, and investment professionals believe in the energy tooth fairy (i.e. energy will always be plentiful because of technology or because oil never runs out), it’s my belief that energy needs to be considered when talking about finance.

With this in mind, our definition of money from above needs tweaking.

Here’s what I believe the true definition of money is: money is a claim on a certain amount of energy.  

Think about it, with $25, you could pay someone to cut your lawn for you (which requires energy), or you could spend an hour of your valuable time and keep your $25 (but in this case, you personally have expended energy).

The more money you have, the more things you can do because you can afford to use a certain amount of energy.

Speaking a little more in general, the cost of buying something (monetarily), should be roughly equal to the amount of energy (be that actual energy, joules) put into producing that something.

Over time, as processes become more efficient, the cost of goods should decrease, because efficiency leads to lower uses of energy during production.

If Money is Energy, What Can We Conclude?

After establishing a definition, it’s good to look at some of the results and logical statements we can conclude from it.

First, if money is claim on a certain amount of energy, then we can say the following:

• Having more money is good, as it allows you more options.
• If money is a claim on a certain amount of energy, then debt is a future claim on a certain amount of energy.

With these conclusions, I want to try to answer a few questions.

First, why is money important? Second, how should you think about money? Third, why does having more money in the bank matter? And, finally, how can you use money to create and live an interesting and fun life?

Why is Money Important and Why Does Money Matter?

First, why is money important? Why does money matter?

Let’s start with an easy question: at a basic level, what do human beings need to live?

Shelter, clothing, food, and water.

Going a step further, some other needs include education, sanitation and relationships.

Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and all of these things cost money.

The purpose of money, in my opinion, is a that money should be viewed as a tool for us to facilitate the purchases of our needs and wants.

Money is a tool. Money is a store of energy which can be used to create freedom, acquire things or experiences, and can give us a buffer for times of emergency.

Saving money allows us to not have to work later, and can be used to finance and fund a great life today or tomorrow.

Money should be viewed as just this: a tool which can be used to enrich your life.

Why Money Matters

It’s Wednesday night and I’ve just finished up dinner.

In 12 hours, I’ll be waking up, showering, and getting on the bus to go to work.

I have to go to work tomorrow because I have rent to pay, a mouth to feed, and other obligations to meet.

I’d love to stay at home and read a book. Or take a nap. Or work out.

At this point in my life, I can’t afford to not work – I need the money.

Money matters because money can help you become free. Financial freedom is my ultimate goal in the next 5 to 10 years. I don’t want to be a slave to the bank, a slave to my employer, or a slave to anyone else.

Financial freedom will allow me to spend time the way I want to spend it. Financial independence will allow me to pursue my passions for pleasure or profit, and I’ll be able to help millions with my talents.

There are so many problems to be solved out in the world, and I’m excited to be able to dive in and contribute to the solutions.

Now, I’m going to talk about how exactly you can think about money and how you can use money as a tool to create and live a life worth living.

How Should We Think About Money and What’s the Purpose of Money?

For you, again, thinking about money as a tool to fund your lifestyle and amplify your life and personality is a great way to think about money.

Money is a tool, and with this mindset, you can start thinking more strategically about how you want to spend your money.

So before you start making a plan to use money in the best way for yourself, I have some questions for you.

What Makes You Happiest and How Could Money Help?

On this blog, I want to help you with your goals and help you create a great life.

Figuring out what you want your life to look like can’t be found without breaking it down into smaller questions. These smaller questions can be used to get at the core of:

• who you are
• how you like to enjoy your time
• what you like to do on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.

So now, first, here’s a big question for you:

When are you most happiest and what are you doing when you are experiencing this joy?

This is a simple question. When do you feel happiest? What activity or thing are you doing which brings the happiness?

For me, happiness comes from creation and helping others. I love creating content, building things, and solving problems. If life was a huge puzzle, I’d love it (which it kind of is, but the pieces are constantly changing 🙂 )

Happiness also comes from doing things on my own terms and having the freedom to create what I want when I want.

For you, how could you use money to do more of these things? What would that look like? How could you use your money and savings to bring more joy into your life?

How to Use Money as Tool to Create and Live a Great Life

Now that you have figured out what makes you happiest, now it’s time to come up with a plan to use your money to the fullest.

In my opinion, life is all about pushing towards doing what makes you happiest and understanding that while today might not be where you want to be, over time you can get there.

For you, what do you love to do?

Next, how would live change if you could spend 2 times as much money on that thing? What about 4 times as much money?

Now, what could you do to free up that extra money to do more of that?

• Do you track your spending now and know where you could cut some expenses?
• Could you prioritize your spending or budget to free up some extra cash?
• Is there any way you could save more money in the short term to have more money in the long term?

For me, I try to cut out spending my money on things I don’t like, and spend more on things I do like.

With this simple mindset shift, and looking at my money as a tool, I’m now living happier and feeling good about life.

What about you? Are you going to start viewing money as a tool?

Start Using Money as a Tool Today to Fund Your Dreams

With more money, you have more options. With more options, you can do the things you want with your life. You can live out your dream and you can be the person who you are meant to be.

After this post, now you know what the purpose of money is, why money is important, and how you can start thinking about money to bring happiness into your life.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this article about money and with this, now you have the mindset to create the life that you want to live.

Readers: what makes you happiest? Why do you do the things you do? Why does money matter to you? What is the purpose of money in your life? 

Having a good mindset, a positive attitude, and using the power of positive thinking can help you achieve all of your goals. In this post, you’ll learn how to have a strong positive mind, the benefits of positive thinking, and how you can use affirmations for positive thinking.

I have an exercise for you to do tomorrow morning when you wake up.

Before you moan and groan about exercise, I’m not talking about some sort of physical exercise.

Instead, a mental exercise.

When you wake up tomorrow morning, say to yourself, “I’m a positive person.” 3 times.

“I’m a positive person.”

“I’m a positive person.”

and once more:

“I’m a positive person.”

Then go about your day the usual way you would.

Mindset is everything. Having a strong mental game is as important as having skills or talents. Positive thinking has been proven to lead to more success than negative thinking.

While this probably sounds good in all, let’s dive a little deeper here into the power of positive thinking.

In this post, I’m going to share with you the benefits of positive thinking, talk about affirmations, talk about how thinking positive thoughts has changed my life, and share with you how you can have a strong, positive mind.

The Benefits of Positive Thinking

There are many benefits of positive thinking.

Some of the benefits of positive thinking includes:

• Increased life span
• Better coping skills in timing of hardships
• Better psychological and physical well-being
• Increased willpower when looking to achieve our goals

Positive thinking and having a good mindset and outlook on life can be very beneficial for trying to create a life you want and deserve.

Our minds are incredibly powerful and can quite literally create its own reality.

The power of positive thinking can manifest itself in living the life that you want to live.

Telling yourself you are a positive person will result in you becoming a more positive person.

You are what you say you are.

Saying, “I’m a negative person who can never accomplish anything” is a reinforcing trap. Saying this sort of thing will result in you being a negative person who will never accomplish anything.

Likewise, telling yourself, “I’m a positive person who can accomplish anything” will lead to accomplishments beyond your wildest dreams.

The human mind has a way of creating it’s own view of the world and through this view, that is the world.

One way in which you can create a good mindset for yourself is with affirmations. In the next section, I’m going to share with you how you can use affirmations and give you some examples of affirmations for positive thinking.

What are Affirmations and How You Can Use Affirmations in Your Life

Let’s start simple. What are affirmations?

An affirmation is a statement of truth.

Affirmations strengthen us because we can “trick” our brains into thinking what we want in this world.

An affirmation is as simple as the following statement, “I’m a nice person.”

An affirmation also could be more involved, such as, “I’m a person who is looking to become better in my relationships and I’m focusing on asking better questions.”

Typically, the statement you choose will be something you want to change in your life.

If you want to become a nicer person, tricking your brain by saying, “I’m a nice person”, will result in you becoming nicer!

By using affirmations, we can trick our powerful brains into becoming who we want to become.

“Every time you choose the easy thing, instead of the right thing, you are shaping your identity, becoming the type of person who does what is easy, rather than what is right.”

How to Write an Effective Affirmation

Writing effective affirmations, for yourself, is easy.

First, turn inward and think for yourself for a minute.

What do you want to change in your life? Who do you want to be? What are you struggling with?

Right now in my life, I’m struggling a little bit with focus and balance.

Taking this struggle, I can flip it around into an affirmation which will bring my brain to focus on what’s important.

Here’s my affirmation for the day:

“I’m able to focus for long periods of time and get my work done.”

Notice a few things:

• I started my affirmation with “I”
  • Taking control of your life is critical to becoming better.
• I wrote in the present tense
  • Right now, I’m focused – not, I’m going to focus (if I’m going to, I never will)
• The affirmation was positive
  • Positive thinking is incredibly powerful and will lead you to where you want to go.

Using the three bullet points above as a loose framework will help you write affirmations for yourself.

Examples of Affirmations for Positive Thinking

Back at the end of 2016, I got really into affirmations. Recently, I was digging through my drawer of old notebooks and found some of my affirmations. Below are some of those affirmations.

12/11/16 “I am charming, easy going, and can get along with many types of people. I”m capable of brightening the lives of other people with my great smile and big heart. I will ask good, penetrating, and thoughtful questions at work and at home to gain a better perspective on life. At the end of each day, I will reflect on the questions I asked people to better understand my interactions and to increase my ability to connect with others.”

12/12/16 “I am persistent, diligent, and detail oriented in my work. I want to climb the ladder at work. By doing the work I have done, I believe I can get there. More responsibility brings more money and options, and I want more money and options. To get there, I need to ask good, penetrating and thoughtful questions. I will do what is right, not what is easy, and will achieve this goal.”

12/16/16 “I am the owner of what happens in my life. I want to meet and hang out with amazing, beautiful women. It’s time to align my goals with my actions. I want a beautiful family. By being charming, easy-going, and kind, I will accomplish this.

12/17/16 “I am patient, I am kind, I am aware.”

12/18/16 “I am reliable, I am friendly, I am determined to succeed”

12/21/16 “I am capable of coming up with creative ideas”

12/27/16 “I’m an investor. I’m building financial wealth. Is today the day I find an opportunity to make a deal?” (I was reading The Millionaire Real Estate Investor)

After spending a month doing these affirmations, I was feeling much better about my situation, but still had a lot of work to do. I was looking to find a girlfriend, and later did in 2017. A hope of mine was for a raise at my corporate job. 16 months later, I had received 2 promotions. Finally, I wanted to create a blog and business, and since have.

These affirmations allowed me to tap into my powerful brain and manifest my wants and goals. Now, it’s your turn.

Tap Into Your Powerful Brain and Influence Your Life With Affirmations

Becoming a better person, and someone who is more successful in what they do, will take time, but it can be accomplished.

Here’s the thing: you have a powerful brain.

By thinking critically about what you want, asking good, penetrating, and thoughtful questions at yourself, and getting answers will result in some action items to implement.

With these action items comes a call to become better as a person and a shift in your mindset.

With affirmations, you can influence your life and become who you want to be.

Now, let’s talk about how you can develop a strong mindset for yourself.

The Power of a Good Mindset and How Mindset is Everything

Having a good mindset and a strong will to want to work towards your goal is something great to strive for.

Having the grit to want to keep going is something rare and can set you apart from the rest of the herd.

Success in this world comes from action and consistency.

Consistent efforts added up over time WILL lead to amazing success and results.

Many people, myself included, deal with a lack of consistency.

Think about exercising. Maybe you exercise 3 times one week and only 1 the next. Maybe the week after 0 times and the week after that 2 times. The results you want probably won’t come from this routine.

With mindset, this inconsistency can be avoided.

Saying “I’m a person who is consistent and does not procrastinate.” will affect your actions.

It’s a tough world out there, but with our words and powerful mind, we can accomplish a lot.

While things may not have gone to plan in the past, that’s okay.

Having a strong mindset is accepting the past for what it is and moving on to bigger and better things.

How Thinking Positive Has Changed My Life

When I was younger playing sports, I didn’t have a strong mental game. I’d let things get into my head and couldn’t let them go.

My dad always harped on me to try to not let those emotions get the best of me. I had to look inwards and seek out the answers. I had to tap into my powerful mind to control the emotions of anger and sadness and funnel them towards performance.

It took a number of years, but over time, I was able to control my emotions and understand that bad things happen. Good things also happen. If I could stay level headed – not get too high or too low – I’d see more success.

Change is really hard.

In physics, the first law of motion, put simply, is an object at rest will stay at rest.

To start moving, energy and force must act on that object; otherwise, it will stay at rest.

Change is beautiful.

Have you ever started to work on something new and felt worse about yourself? I can’t think of a time where I actively pursued growth and didn’t become better.

Over time, I got better. It was beautiful, fulfilling and fun.

Change is okay.

Resisting change is a recipe for sadness.

If something is not going well, you have the ability to change and you are free to do what you can to make the situation better.

How to Have a Strong, Positive Mind

Make no mistake, taking control of your life and becoming success is tough.

Developing a strong and positive mind will not happen overnight, but you will be able to go it over time.

Improving over time will be tough, but is possible with getting into the right mindset and understanding the right thoughts will get you to your goals.

Without community and helping others, the personal growth and change is empty.

There are three concepts I want to talk about with regards to change in this article:

• the herd mentality
• how you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with
• the fact that you have the ability to change your situation

Let’s dive more into each of these.

Think Critically, Don’t Accept the Herd

One of the things which is absolutely CRITICAL for success in life is critical thinking and determining what is important in life.

Something I’ve been seeing a ton lately in the media and blogging space is the comment:

“the stock market always goes up! keep dollar cost averaging!”

Many of these people are the EXACT same people who were bashing the run up of cryptocurrencies.

There are a lot of things on my mind which are outside of the scope of this post (namely, inflation, how energy – not money – drives the economy, and debt fueled corporate buybacks) and I don’t want to fear monger either.

With this said, when you are on the side of the majority, sometimes it’s good to do a little research and reassess your position. Confirmation bias is at play here as well (another concept I won’t get into in this post but worth mentioning).

Naturally, humans form tribes, migrate in groups, and perform cooperative work. It’s in our DNA to follow the group for safety and sustainability reasons.

Because of the herd mentality, we can sometimes get trapped in thoughts which control and restrict us.

In terms of change, those following the herd will not change for fear of losing their status in a tribe.

If your tribe isn’t progressing as you’d like to be progressing, maybe it’s time to make a change.

You are the Average of the 5 People You Spend the Most Time With

Something that I’ve struggled with in my life is making friends.

After I grew up a little and found a great group of friends in high school, and then in college, I found myself falling into ruts and not getting to where I wanted to be in life.

Building extreme wealth is one of my goals in life, and many of my friends did not share this same goal; they were happy with getting by comfortably, but not willing to push the envelope.

Over the past few years, I’ve started to shift my friend circle to include more entrepreneur types, people who are interested in pursuing different extremes, and people who are on the way to financial freedom.

Not only has this motivated me to become better, it’s exposed me to new ideas, new views, and my worldview has changed for the better.

Many of my friends didn’t understand my choices or decisions. “Come on, let’s play some Xbox tonight! Stop reading!”

You may have noticed this as well, but there are certain people who don’t want to see you succeed or who are haters.

People who live like this have a scarcity mindset – living in abundance is foreign to them, but not to us.

You can win and I can win – and when we both grow, we are capable of so much more.

You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with in all areas of life: physical fitness, career, emotional intelligence, street smarts, wealth, etc.

I’ll never forget where I came from, but I’ve realized that to achieve my goals, I needed to make a change. Now, I have to value my time, I’ve changed my habits, and I’m raising my average by hanging out with people more successful than me.

There’s an unstoppable force living inside of you

Change for the sake of change is not what I’m recommending. Change for the sake of change, if rooted in rash decision making and not thinking for yourself, will not lead to success.

The human brain is incredibly powerful.

You have a potential inside of you which is unstoppable. Through simple daily disciplines, through critical thinking, and through tweaking habits in your life for the better, you will be successful.

YOU have the power to change your situation.

Make no mistake: CHANGE is really hard.

Like a rock rolling down a hill, the first push is really hard to do and the rock only moves a few inches. The next push, a few more inches. Another push and a few feet. After a few more pushes, the rock is rolling down the hill with little effort on your part.

Change is beautiful. Motion is beautiful. The rock is rolling down the hill without much effort and isn’t stopping.

My main recommendation for you in this post is to understand change is okay. It’s okay to do things a little different than others; it’s okay to think differently than others as well.

Change is difficult, change is beautiful, and change is okay.

Thinking critically for yourself and seeking a better life will be fulfilling.

 

The Slight Edge, a fantastic personal development book written by Jeff Olson, is all about how you can improve in life and reach your goals. The Slight Edge is all about doing a little bit each day and finding success through simple actions.

“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

You have complete control over the direction that the rest of your life takes.

Humans are creatures of habit. Every day, we make simple decisions: what to eat, should we exercise, should I call my parents, should I read my book, etc.

With these decisions, there a few questions that come with them:

• Are the decisions you are making helping your life?
  • Or are they detrimental to your life?
• Are they bringing you closer to your goals?
  • Or are you still a long time away from achieving those goals?

The Slight Edge, by Jeff Olson, walks us through a strategy to achieve success in anything we want in life.

What do you want to achieve in your life? Well, first, you have to start. You have to be consistent. A positive attitude helps keep you going, and with consistent actions over time, you can achieve your goals and create the life you want to create.

The rest of this post includes a summary of The Slight Edge, takeaways from The Slight Edge, and a reading recommendation for you.

Your philosophy creates your attitudes, which create your actions, which create your results, which create your life.

Book Summary of The Slight Edge

The Slight Edge is a mindset and a way of living a life of success.

Having a slight edge in your life is your ticket to success and a life that you want.

With the Slight Edge, you can accomplish anything and everything you can dream of doing.

The best part of all of this is that The Slight Edge is actually a pretty simple concept.

What is the Slight Edge?

So, what is the Slight Edge?

Essentially, the slight edge is your philosophy of life.

The slight edge is your driving force; your philosophy creates your attitudes, which creates your actions, which creates your results, which create your life. You should live your philosophy each day.

By performing tasks which will are located on the path to your goals, you can achieve anything.

The following is a graphic of the Slight Edge:

The Slight Edge is a mindset and philosophy that is all about doing the little things. By be disciplined in the details, all of the bigger picture things and actions will be taken care of over time.

What are some examples of The Slight Edge?

One of the best examples of The Slight Edge comes from personal finance. The power of compounding and compound interest is such a great example of the Slight Edge.

You can see this from the following example and question:

Would you rather receive $1 million dollars today, or would you rather take a penny, but double it every day for a month?

The first day, you have 2 cents, the second day, you have 4 cents, the third day, you have 8 cents… two weeks in, you have $81.92. Well, guess what? At the end of the month, you end up with over $10 million dollars. You only started off with a penny, what happened?

That’s the power of time and the slight edge.

Yes, you started off with a small amount, and for a long time, you didn’t have much, but 30 days later, boom, $10 million bucks – much more than $1 million!!!

Another example of The Slight Edge is with working out. At first, you are weak, but over time, if you are consistent, you will get into shape, build your dream body and become strong.

It won’t happen overnight, but you will find success.

“Be not afraid of going slowly; be afraid of standing still.” – Chinese Proverb

Powerful Quotes from The Slight Edge

Below are a number of powerful quotes from The Slight Edge.

These The Slight Edge quotes are all about self improvement and how you can become better as a person by applying the principles and concepts of The Slight Edge.

• What you do today matters. What you do every day matters. Successful people are those who understand that the little choices they make matter and because of that they choose to do things that seem to make no difference at all in the act of doing them, and they do them over and over and over until the compound effect kicks in.
• The secret of time is simply this: time is the force that magnifies those little, almost imperceptible, seemingly insignificant things you do every day into something titanic and unstoppable.
• In a world filled with instant coffee, instant breakfast, instant credit, instant shopping, instant information, and 24/7 news, we have come dangerously close to losing touch with reality and believing we have access to instant life. But life is not a clickable link.
• Successful people form habits that feed their success, instead of habits that feed their failure.
• Growth creates abundance, and that abundance in turn creates responsibility. The more success we have, the more greatness we step into and the more abundance we experience, the more responsibility we have to the world around us.
• Success doesn’t come out of nowhere. It can’t be conjured up out of thin air, brought to you by the genie from Aladdin’s lamp simply because you rubbed it and thought good thoughts. Success does come from a small beginning, often a beginning so tiny that it seems invisible and most people miss it. But there has to be a beginning.
• All true success is built from a foundation of study plus street smarts.
• “Knowledge without practice is useless and practice without knowledge is dangerous.” – Confucius
• You truly are the average of the five people you spend the most time with, in all aspects of your life.
  • Show me where you fish and I’ll show you what you catch.
• Every decision you make is a slight edge decision.

Each of these Slight Edge quotes are fantastic and I use them in my life when I need motivation.

Takeaways from The Slight Edge

With all books you read, it’s important to have takeaways and action steps to apply in your life.

If you don’t apply what you’ve read, then what’s the point of reading a self help book?

For me, The Slight Edge taught me that I need to treat everyday with purpose and to live intentionally.

One of my favorite quotes from The Slight Edge is the following:

What you do today matters. What you do every day matters. Successful people are those who understand that the little choices they make matter and because of that they choose to do things that seem to make no difference at all in the act of doing them, and they do them over and over and over until the compound effect kicks in.

Every day, I try to apply The Slight Edge and do a little bit to get closer to my goals.

Each day, even if it’s just doing a little bit of work for fifteen minutes, going on a walk, or trying to learn something new, I know that as long as I do just a little bit, I can push myself along to on the path to success.

With this slight edge philosophy and slight edge mindset, I know that with my efforts, I can achieve anything I want in my life.

I can create a life which is the life I want.

The Slight Edge book has been life changing for me, and I hope it will be life changing for you as well.

The Mastermind Within Recommends The Slight Edge

The Slight Edge is a fantastic book and a great addition to my library. I plan to read it many times over in the coming years. It was a motivating, easy, and refreshing read.

For you, I definitely recommend The Slight Edge and think it would be a great addition to your library. Reading The Slight Edge will help you cultivate a winning mindset and a mindset towards taking action.

It’s all about taking small and simple disciplines and turning these into wild success. Focusing on the daily actions you can control will allow you to achieve your goals and dreams.

Start today and watch yourself grow into what you want.

Readers: What daily habits do you have which have been beneficial to your success? Do you have any bad habits you want to get rid of? Have you experienced the compound effect in your life?

Erik