How To Up Your Mental Money Game

It was about 22 degrees out with a decent breeze making it feel colder, and dark.  My hands were getting numb as I had to remove my gloves to work the latch to unattach the chain from my waistbelt.

“Dave?  Is that you?  Man what’re you doing out here with that?!” 

It was my neighbor from a few houses up.  We were in the park a few blocks from my house.  He was walking his dog.  I was not.

“That looks miserable!  Man, you’re crazy…” he said, tossing a frozen tennis ball across the park for his dog to chase.

I was doing 100 meter dashes dragging a big SUV tire attached to my waist by a chain.  This was my way of training for an upcoming 5 mile race, mostly driven by my determination to get my personal record (PR).

Most importantly that night, I was gaining the psychological advantage. 

It may sound extreme and crazy, and maybe it is, but for me winning the mind game is most of the battle. 

I mostly compete against myself, I’m not a great athlete.  The D.C. area is chock full of hyper-competitive and accomplished athletes, so it’s best to stay humble here.  If you don’t choose to be humble it will probably be chosen for you.

But I do want to get better, which means setting new PRs. 

And when you’re trying to set a new PR, you’re essentially just competing against a younger version of yourself.  Now in my late 40’s, that’s getting harder all the time.

Being out there that night doing those painful and agonizing sprints put my brain in a PR mindset. 

“I know my younger self wasn’t out here in the cold and dark doing this, this is my advantage.  I’m doing what younger me just wasn’t willing to do…” 

That’s the thought process.  That’s the psychological advantage. 

 

Mind Over Money

The cool thing is that psychological advantage can also help you get your finances in order.  Here are some ways to win the mind game. 

Start small – If you’re starting from scratch on your savings journey or from a position of debt, starting small might be the easiest thing to do.  You could use a micro-investing app like Acorns, Qapital, or Stash.  These apps usually set aside a small amount of money when you make a purchase.  Or you can have them set aside money based on rules, like every other Tuesday, or when you drive past the guitar shop 🙂 

Let’s be honest, you’re not going to get to FI by saving the money that rounds off to the next whole dollar at purchases.  The key here is that you mentally know you’re making progress.  You’re moving. It’s a psychological win.

Automate Things – Micro investing apps are a start to automation but you should go bigger.  Automate your contribution to your 401k.  If you can afford to do so automate even more money to go into your investment account every paycheck.  You’ll never see the money, and your new take home pay will become the norm.  If you’re like most you’ll adjust, and with the knowledge that you’re winning and the savings are built in.

Trash-Talk Your Old Self – This doesn’t mean harp on your financial mistakes from the past or to keep revisiting regrets.  It just means to have fun with your journey, and talk a little trash to your pretend old self. 

Mine might go something like this:  “Hey younger Dave, you think I’m beating you now by saving more, you ain’t seen nothing yet.  Is that all you got dude?  Be prepared for me to run up the score.  Get ready, cuz it’s coming!” 

This may or may not work for you but it works for me, both financially and especially in my athletic pursuits.  And there’s research to back it up.  Self-assurance and confidence are invaluable in any tough pursuit, and a little fun trash-talk can help build them. 

Gamify Things – Set a savings goal and reward yourself if you hit it.  Make the reward something that won’t blow the savings of course.  Maybe a cheat day for your normally healthy diet, or a Saturday at the park with the kids when you’d normally be doing chores.  Every time you cash out your reward you’ll be gaining a mental advantage.

 

Measure and Observe 

The suggestions listed above are great, but the number one thing I did for a psychological advantage in my journey to financial independence was to measure and observe. 

I’ve written about my beloved spreadsheet, now 21 years old.  My lord she can drink now 🙂  It’s an excel file that I’ve been updating on the 1st of every month since 1997.  It’s as simple as they come and only contains my investments, liabilities, and a total net worth number.  

But for me this little file made of ones and zeros that exists only on a silicon chip is the key to everything.  Whenever I got down about a big car repair or a bad year in the stock market, I’d simply look at the graph of my net worth and put it in perspective.  

“You’ve come a long way dude.  Yep, things may be sucking these past few months, but you’re winning.  Look at that curve going up over time.  You’re still winning.”  

Success breeds success, and is contagious.  Knowing that you’re winning and on the right path is the biggest psychological advantage.

So did I beat my 5-mile PR in that race?  You bet I did.  And I know that the brain boost I got from cold and dark nights in the park dragging a tire around helped me get there. 

How about you AF readers – Do you have any mental tricks  to improve your money management not mentioned here?