(Akiit.com) We all have a comfort zone when it comes to our finances. Indeed, there’s a specific part of your brain (hypothalamus) that operates in a similar way to a thermostat in an air conditioning system; as its job is to ensure the temperature is kept in alignment with the boundaries of your comfort according to the temperature programmed into it.
Now, when it comes to your brain the thermostat is set based on your subconscious conditioning; meaning whilst on an intellectual level you might want to earn $100,000 a year, if your subconscious is programming your inner thermostat to stay in the comfort zone of $30k a year – it’ll be very hard to break through to the level of income you desire… as your subconscious is incredibly strong and in conjunction with your hypothalamus will ensure you stay congruent to what you feel is “safe”.
Moreover, it will keep you at the level that you associate with on the basis of “identity”. See, some people see themselves as wealthy – even if they don’t have any money in their bank account at that specific moment; they have conditioned themselves (or been
conditioned by others) to expect a certain level of wealth for themselves, and in this sense, their thermostat is set at a much higher figure than someone that grew up in poverty and can’t envision the feeling of earning more than a certain threshold; even if they have the aptitude to achieve that level of income.
What tends to happen, is our internal thermostat tends to rise with experience; for instance, people go to college and they graduate – internally, the subconscious mind computes this as deserving of more money… therefore, the thermostat rises up a few notches… next, they get their first promotion at work, this increases their feeling of self-worth, so their thermostat rises up again.
The point is, your internal thermostat is somewhat evolutionary in that it is in alignment with your personal growth.
It is programmed at a subconscious level. If you had parents that said you weren’t going to amount to much and would always be broke; the subconscious absorbs this and takes it as fact – particularly when it has come from such an authoritative source. Again, we’re dealing on a subconscious level here. You might know your parents are wrong, and have disagreed with them for several decades, but somewhere, in your subconscious these comments will have been imprinted.
There’s an interesting technique found in NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) where you can visualise all the things that were said to you (known as inherited beliefs) that no longer serve you… on a wall, like graffiti, that has marked the wall or perhaps etchings that have been chiseled into the brick.
Then, to visualise yourself jet washing or sandblasting the wall in order to remove the grafiti – and perhaps, even painting over what was written on the wall with something more true and empowering.
The point is, your subconscious mind holds the key to your financial comfort zone. You will always remain in congruence and alignment with what your subconscious holds as your identity – meaning, if you see yourself as a poor person, at a level of identity, then you will find it a real uphill struggle and inner battle to make a decent income… because there’s a large part of your brain that will fight to ensure you stay congruent with your subconscious beliefs.
This is the same with weight loss.
When someone relates with a particular identity, such as that of being overweight then it’s no longer a circumstance – it’s an identity, meaning anything different would shift them out of their comfort zone and make them feel rather uncomfortable.
Now, on a conscious level they might want to lose weight, but if on a subconscious level they seem themselves as someone that is “overweight”… there’ll be an inner conflict, between what they “want” and who they feel they are, at their core.
This is why a lot of people will engage in yo-yo dieting; as there is a constant battle, where it’s like a boat trying to set sail with the anchor dragging along the ground. Until the person changes their identity on an internal level, they will find it difficult to change their circumstances.
Going back to the financial thermostat, think about what happens in a building when the room gets too hot. The thermostat will send a message to the air conditioning fans to blow cold air in order to keep the temperature within the set parameters. Similarly, if it gets too cold, the thermostat will send a message to the heaters.
In a financial sense, if your comfort zone with regard to your income is $50,000 and that’s the salary you’re used to earning – but you get fired tomorrow – then your brain will order you to do whatever it takes to get that income back to $50,000. Will your brain order you to start applying for $100k jobs? No, because it’s not congruent with your identity. Similarly, it won’t have you applying for $18k jobs!
The point is, we all have a financial comfort zone and when we dip ‘dangerously’ into the red on either side – the heaters or fans will kick in.
There are obviously times, when temporary unexpected cash flow issues come into play – and at times like these it’s worth visiting sites such as onlinecash4payday.com in order to get you out of a pickle… but in this article, we’re not talking about short term fluctuations – we’re talking at the level of identity.
We all have an income level that is “comfortable”. Sometimes, we would like more, but it’s not essential as it is not a cornerstone of our sense of self.
In reality, the number doesn’t matter.
The concept suggests that people will become very motivated to do whatever it takes in order to keep their income at a level they feel congruent with; which is why we see some sales people, after having a bad month, bouncing back and making it all back the next month.
It’s also the reason why so many lottery winners end up bankrupt after a year or two; their bank balance has changed, but their psychology hasn’t, and therefore they are still operating from a thermostat of not being a millionaire – meaning, they are psychologically totally out of their comfort zone… which is why, they tend to blow it or give it away.
The point is, if you want to shift your finances for the better then you need to first shift your financial thermostat and upgrade your comfort zone.
Here are three ideas to help you do that:
- FOCUS ON WHAT YOU ACTUALLY WANT
Create a vision board and write down some dreams. Then, from here, now that you’ve identified what you want you can work backwards from that and work out how much that lifestyle will cost. This way, you can quantify your ideal lifestyle and have a target income in mind… which, on an internal level, means you now just need to get comfortable with feeling you are worth earning that income.
- BELIEVE IT’S POSSIBLE
You need to believe it’s possible. This might sound overly simplistic, but many people limit themselves by not believing in what is possible. They prefer to focus on what is definite or probable; meaning there’s a limit to the positive growth that can flourish.
- ASSOCIATE WITH WHAT YOU WANT
You want to get associated with the lifestyle you want… for instance, you should take the car you desire for a test drive, eat in a few nice restaurants and treat yourself to the outfits you desire. This way, your financial thermostat is being raised – making you feel more deserving of the things you want in life.
Staff Writer; Greg Adams