New Brainpower for Money Matters!

Some people say that complex financial jargon prevents people from making intelligent money decisions. Others claim that technology rarely lives up to its hype to help people navigate financial opportunities. I say that unless we put brains back into money basics, we’re lost in shambles that “experts” created.    

Einstein warned not to expect different results by repeating similar practices, an affirmation that current monetary systems need radical reconfiguration. How many more financial groups must fall before we transform money’s role in society?

Daily we read disturbing news of financial doom. First it was greedy mortgage lenders, then banks fell for the same reasons. Other systems topple too but educational organizations, and health insurance greed is harder to detect.  Tenure raises steel walls around broken practices. The results? Higher taxes for more secondary school drop outs. Inflated health care costs for poor service.

Reconfigured financial systems could come from neurofinance – a new field that blends brainpower and finances. How so? 

Here are tactics that rewire the brain’s potential for more financial intelligence:

1. Take one financial step – Whenever you act- even to earn or save one dollar only today, your brain literally rewires to do more of the same tomorrow. Each time you make a wise move, you increase your chances of successfully making another. It may take a month to land that next solid contract, yet there’s likely a far smaller move you could make today.  Start with one step to stop dollars going out or gain a few more greenbacks. Once you simply act,  you’ve already launched better chances for the following day.

2. List your assets on one page – Spatial intelligence kicks in to help you create a critical plan – when you see exactly where you stand at the moment. If you work better with encouragement – and most people do – then fuel your brain with the support it needs by visualizing assets already owned.

3. Start small – Rather than read the financial-fix-for-experts – instead, add one straightforward target for coming week. Simply map out a few steps toward it today. Continue to move toward a destination you set – one step and one day at a time. It’s easy to get lost in complex road maps that go nowhere near profit. Before consulting experts, first make your own daily plan to grow what you have, and then build on that with experts’ advice later. Brainpower increases whenever we hook new information onto what we already experience.

4. Reward you efforts – At the end of the week – head out for your favorite golf course as a reminder that you plan to build in mental rewards along the way. The brain stokes itself with chemicals for well-being and for sharper outcomes whenever we take a diligent step and then pause for a well-deserved reward before we hit the trail again.

5. Hold on – Each time you step forward with a plan to build better profit – you also reboot the brain for your next positive step, so that it gets easier as you go. It’s also possible that you may have hardwired your brain for financial failures in the past – and so that wiring may stop, spit, and stall a bit when new pressures mount as you try to change directions. Commit to holding on, before you slip though, and you’ll regain your step far faster when you get back up.

6. Buy lunch for a financial guru – Take someone you respect for lunch – and ask how they build their wealth and approach financial management. Suggest a few plans you’ve been brewing to increase profitability and see if they add any wit ‘n wisdom to the mix. Due to interpersonal intelligence … your brain moves far faster in the direction of solutions whenever you start with giving. Rather than look for a mentor, though, expect a more mutual exchange of ideas.

7. Prepare prompts – Your brain operates best when you outsource that part of your memory that will promote your financial plan. Create a lit, jot down daily progress in a financial planning book, or wear your ring backwards to remind you to sock a bit away weekly into a growth account.

8. Play with ideas – When you make money into a game – you motivate the brain to come back to the winning edges on the following day. Think big – even if you spend small at first. Brainstorm on the left side of your serious financial records to spark new ideas that spill much more easily into practical plans from a playful pool of your brain’s creative side.

9. Laugh at a mistake – Laughter sticks the luster back into work and creates a new buzz for your brain to chase in your advantage. If nothing else you’ll add zest for the plan you make and laugher adds to your healthy state along the way.

10. Spot venting for what it is – If you’ve ever heard people vent about why they have less money than they want or need – you’ll see why rage usually works against your brain’s potential to win. To the brain’s chemical and electrical systems – venting is like swallowing a bottle of Clorox and then hoping its toxins don’t take out your health and plans along the way.

11. See one step ahead of where you stand – Retrofit your financial plans whenever you sense you are no longer making a few dollars a day more than you spend. The brain leaps to an advanced organizer – so that it becomes a steel trap for ongoing profit growth.

12. Hook financial goals to your best talents – See your plan as a hat rack and your talents as multiple hats tossed toward its golden hooks. Whenever we link what we do best in any one area– with what we hope to do better in another area – we create a synapse for the brain to win. It’s like laying down a new neuron pathway toward profit and using one thing you already do well to catapult you there.

13. Teach a financial lesson to your dog – When the brain teaches what it knows – even at the time it’s being learned – you retain 90% more of what you learn. So if you explain your best financial idea – the one you tried that day – even to the dog, if nobody else shows interest – you’re already further on your way to making a smart financial move the next day.

14. Back away from negative people – Surround yourself with anxious, fretful, cynical, or just plain stuff people and you will also increase the dangerous cortisol chemicals naysayers spread. Negativity spills toxins into the human brain, and these chemicals detract from taking healthy risks or making wise financial decisions. Have you seen it happen?

15. Speak a financial plan idea into a tape while you drive home – Your intrapersonal or reflective intelligence helps you to step back and see new angles that work well. Take a break, or go for dinner before you replay the taped plan. Then create a 5-step approach that draws from your own insights, and could mushroom money. You’ll be surprised as what the intrapersonal intelligence comes up with – once you begin to retrieve its gems, as suggested here.

16. Trust your own brain – While it can be a great idea to take advice from financial experts, it’s also a good idea to problem solve with your own brain in mind. If nothing else, you’ll gain a sense of what you hope to accomplish before you get confused by too much geek speak on money matters. Neurofinance gurus show how the brain is more fully involved that we thought. And economic decisions are not mere rational choices either – as MRIs show many parts of the brain engaged in financial decision making than once recognized.

Oh, and don’t worry about age, failures or past limitations. Why not? Because fear shuts down the spigots and cuts off water that refreshes financial brainpower. Give your brain a shot through a few new tactics this week and watch profits begin to flow again. Ready … set … go ….

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Created by Ellen Weber, Brain Based Tasks for Growth Mindset