Too Much Time Worrying About Your Finances?

If you’re like many people, you might spend time worrying about your finances: bills, debt, taxes, income, retirement, the list goes on.

The problem is, worrying doesn’t fix the situation. It may motivate you to do something, but often it just adds to mental chaos or causes you to act out of fear, which can lead to poor decisions. It’s just a lousy place to be.

So, how can you spend less time worrying and more time doing something constructive about your finances?

Often we start by setting goals, but if you’re exceptionally worried or feeling anxious, I don’t believe this  should be your first step.

If you ignore the “why” behind your worry, there’s a good chance that no matter what goals you set or the practical steps you try to take, you won’t have the long term energy or focus to follow through.

So let’s put the worry to constructive use…

Step 1. Where am I?

Plain and simple, ignorance is not bliss when it comes to your money. Yet, trying to tackle every aspect of your financial life all at one time is not going to work either.   It’s like thinking you can enter a marathon when you’ve just started training for a 5K. You need to build up to it.  I believe a great deal of financial worry comes from not having a solid understanding of the situation and the emotional and behavioral impact it has on you. Our minds can take us to scarey places sometimes and a reality check up can often bring things back into perspective.

Exercise: Write down the thoughts and worries you have about your financial life.  Whatever comes to mind, write it down, whether it seems rational or not.  Some things may even feel to scary or silly to write down. Do it anyway. After you have some thoughts collected, answer these questions:

• What’s the worst part about the worrying?
• How is worrying interfering with my life?
• Why does it bother me?

Step 2. Where do I want to go?

It’s really easy to get caught up in the pain and frustration cycle of worry. When we think about where we want to be, we might focus on “anywhere but here” rather than really thinking about what the ideal situation looks like.  I suggest that, rather than just trying to get out of a bad situation — the worry — answer these questions so you can identify a specific situation you want to be in.

• What would your situation need to be or look like in order for you not to worry about your finances?
• If you had your situation exactly the way you wanted, what would that do for you?
• Once you improve this area of your life, how will it impact other areas of your life?

 Step 3. How do I connect the dots?

Now that you have done your introspection, how do you make use of it?  Well, one thing I’ve found that makes a big difference is to hold off on setting big goals for a while and instead, start with a handful of smaller objectives to make a quick impact. Seeing results relatively soon can help create the momentum to stay focused on moving away from situations that cause worry and towards your ideal situation.

Thinking about what you have written in step 1 and step 2, I want you to answer the following:

• What are 3 to 5 action items that would help free me from this worry and move me to my ideal situation?
• How will these things help my situation?
• What is one thing from the action items that I can start today and what will I do to make sure I complete it?
• What actions can I take to help energize me and keep me focused on setting and finishing new tasks and goals?
• How will I track my progress and how will I reward myself for getting things done?

If you are still feeling overwhelmed and trapped by all of this, I suggest you speak with a money coach or financial life planner to help you gain better insight on your true financial picture as well as hold you accountable so you can focus your energy on constructive change rather than paralyzing worry.

How have you dealt with financial worry? Do you have a way you turned worry into motivation?  Let me know your thoughts and post your comments below.