Regardless of when you’re reading this (end-of-year period, going into summer, or a normal April day), here are 6 likely reasons why you haven’t gotten any closer to financial freedom.
But first, I need to acknowledge that this post may be confrontational. Some of you will get heavily triggered, and that’s okay.
As I often say in my personal life, and something that’s been echoed by the stoics:
What triggers you, is what you need to work on.
some Stoic dude, probably
The important thing to remember is that I am not your enemy. This entire blog, this entire brand is all about helping you get to a place of financial freedom.
While this includes very practical and helpful posts like “X Steps to Achieve Y” all with the purpose of growing your bank account, that also requires us to talk about the mindsets on how to get there successfully and sustainably.
Reason 1: Intangible Goals
You model your goals off of one, or both of these things:
Social Media Claims
You’ve seen the posts and ads all over the internet.
“How I became a millionaire with this supersecret method that nobody wants you to know in 3.2 seconds!”
Clearly, that’s an exaggeration. But you know what I mean.
You model your goals off of these outlandish numbers that you trust this complete stranger, to you, has achieved.
So, you think it’s attainable for most people as well.
You watch their webinar, buy the program on a payment plan, get in the exclusive Facebook group and then you see it…
A lot of people in the group are talking about how they’re struggling. And only a handful have had some significant, life-changing success.
This is not to diss any of those course creators. And I will always applaud ambition.
But, usually, they’ve gotten to that place not by focusing on this outlandish 7-figure number as a goalpost.
You model your goals off of this and/or this…
You just thought of a random number
Usually, a number that’s so big and large that in your mind has always been associated with financial freedom.
And most likely, that number is somewhere in the million dollar range.
Shooting for the moon is great, but first, you need to build a rocket that will get you there.
It’s either one, or both, of those things combined with
Not Being Able to Believe It’s a Possibility For You
If you’ve never been around 7 figures, it’s hard to imagine what that feels or looks like.
Actually, no. It’s easy to imagine it, but it’s hard to believe it.
What happens here is that you may be able to conjure up images of what your life would look like when you’ve hit that big-figure number.
Maybe you even write it all down.
But because you’ve never been around that kind of money, there’s a part of you that stops you from believing that it’s a possible reality for you.
That is why you’ve failed in the past, and that’s why you will continue to fail, unless a stroke of luck happens, which neither of us can control.
The solution
To explain the solution, I first need you to do an exercise for me:
Imagine how you’d feel with 7-figures.
Peaceful, right?
Now, imagine how you’d feel with 6-figures.
Still peaceful, right?
Now, imagine how you’d feel with an extra $2000/month.
Most likely, that thought of having an additional $2000/month in your current financial situation brings the same level of financial peace that 6- or 7-figures did.
So, let’s start with that: whatever you’re currently getting in income every month + an additional $2000/month.
Now, to the solution.
The way to make your mind believe that it’s attainable, it needs to be somewhat familiar to something it can wrap its head around.
$1M broken down over 12 months is $83,333.
$83,333 broken down over 30 days is $2,777.
So ~$2,777/day is what you’d need to reach those 7 figures.
The problem with this is that this is close, or maybe more than you make in a month. So your brain can’t wrap its head around making that in a single day.
And it starts sabotaging you.
Take that additional $2000/month.
$2000 broken down over 30 days is $66.66…
This is something your brain can wrap its head around.
Don’t focus on making 1M. Don’t focus on making $100,000. Don’t even focus on $2000.
Keep your focus on making $66.66.. a day.
Then, if you’ve been making that consistently, focus on adding another $66.66.. to that.
And once you’ve hit that goal post, move it up again with another $66.66.
This is how to make it attainable for you. This is the solution.
Not only does it build confidence, because you’re actually reaching your goals and starting to make some significant additional income, it also teaches you most of the skills that you’re going to keep needing as you move that goal post up and up and up again.
Reason 2: Reliance on motivation
Motivation can be a great driving and creative force.
It’s wonderful when you can wake up and feel pumped to work on your online business.
You get in front of your computer, get working and everything just clicks. You’re in a state of flow and can go to bed at night knowing that you’ve moved the needle in a significant way.
And then…there are days where you don’t feel like doing anything at all.
So, you don’t. You rationalize it to yourself by saying “I deserve a break.”.
Rest, breaks and self-care are essential to everybody, but there needs to be discernment between when you actually need a break and when you’re actually just being lazy.
The point I’m trying to make is this:
Motivation will inevitably vary. It’s part of the human condition and the human experience.
Don’t only work towards creating a better future for yourself when you’re motivated. Push yourself. Do it anyway.
This is one of the reasons why you haven’t gotten any closer yet your financial goals.
You let your mood and vibe determine the time you put in.
Reason 3: Losing Sight of Your ‘Why’
When you first heard about financial freedom, it was very clear to you why you wanted to pursue it and make it a reality in your own life.
But, along the way, you’ve kind of lost sight of why you’ve been pursuing it.
As humans, we need to tell ourselves stories. Stories that motivate us, stories that move us and stories that drive us.
Your ‘Why’ is a story you tell yourself to keep pursuing it and doing whatever you can to make financial freedom a reality in your life.
The story of ‘Why’ can be a powerful driving force. One that not only motivates you, but also serves as a psychological anchor as to why you’re doing all of the work.
But, the same as with motivation, you may not always feel as moved by your story.
Perhaps your personal situation has changed a bit.
For some reason, you’re kind of liking the security that can come from your traditional job.
So you’re putting in less and less time into your online business, because your Why doesn’t seem as important or urgent anymore.
And then, something comes along that threatens that job security (like a pandemic) and you take the online business and push it back to top-of-mind and you’re dusting off your Why.
Suddenly, you realize your Why was always an important one.
And it gives you momentum to work on the online business again.
But, if we take a closer and deeper look at this situation, your Why hasn’t changed. The importance of it hasn’t changed.
The only thing that has changed is that you lost sight of it.
Thus, less work was put in.
If you don’t have your Why yet, take a few minutes to think about it.
Your Why can change as time goes on, it’s flexible like that.
But don’t allow your situation, your perception and others’ to minimize the importance of it.
Reason 4: Impatience
Another reason why you haven’t gotten significantly closer to financial freedom yet is impatience.
You’ve bought into the lie that it can happen overnight.
Yet, as with most harder things to accomplish:
It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
You’ve gone through the process.
You picked an industry to be an affiliate in. You’ve found (hopefully relevant) products to be an affiliate for. You’ve set up a blog and even published a few posts and have got a basic traffic strategy down.
A few days go by, and nothing happens.
You give it a few more days, and the needle doesn’t move all that much in a significant way.
You’ve given it a few weeks and nothing budges, so you call it a day.
You put significantly less effort into it and, eventually, either start a new project, or scrap “this online thing” altogether.
Only, eventually, something happens in your life that puts you in a reactive mode.
“Shit, I need an online thing.”
So you start something new.
Go through that entire process again.
But because you haven’t yet learned how to better deal with your impatience, the same thing happens.
Again, it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
And you need butt-in-seat time, all of it that you can give it, for it to eventually click.
Reason 5: Perfectionism
This one is definitely something that hits home for me pretty hard.
Also known as failure-to-launch syndrome, perfectionism is crippling.
This isn’t about not putting in the work.
This is about putting in too much work without ever actually launching it.
You want the design to be absolutely perfect. The words on the page to be impeccable.
Everything needs to be absolutely perfect. All the i’s dotted, all the t’s crossed.
Striving for your blog or business to be great isn’t something bad at all.
But taking that to the extreme – when it becomes perfectionism – can cripple you from actually putting it out there for people to see and for your business to start.
Remember: done is better than perfect.
You do not need the perfect design. You do not need the perfect email funnel.
You need to give people a way to sign up for your email list. You need to give people a way to actually visit your website.
Improve as it happens, based on customer feedback or from actual data that you’ve gathered and analyzed.
Reason 6: Not Taking Your Responsibility
No matter what happens, it’s always somebody else’s fault.
It’s your boss. It’s your spouse or significant other. It’s the government. It’s “the system”. It’s everybody else. It’s never you.
Not to say that none of the above can be severely impacting obstacles in creating the kind of reality that you want, up until a certain point, it becomes a you-issue.
What could you have done differently? What can you do differently? How can you navigate forward? How can you overcome it?
“The pain you have may not have been your choice, but the pain you feel is your responsibility.”
Financial freedom can’t be handed to you, I hope you realize that.
So, if no one can hand it to you, why are you giving the power to others and their choices to stop you from having it?
There you have it. 6 reasons why you most likely haven’t gotten any closer to financial freedom yet.
Did it make you uncomfortable? Good! This means that that is something you need to work on.
Which reason jumped out for you?
Let me know in the comments!
Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links, which means that I may receive a commission if you make a purchase using one of these links, such as from the Amazon Associates program.
