Pruning For Prosperity
(Part 1 in a 3-Part Series on Financial Prosperity)
If we use gardening as a metaphor for growing financial prosperity, then pruning is an important part of the process. This weekend, in a move that seemed to shock my hubby, I grabbed some pruning shears and got to work on the massive shrubs in front of our home. It was a pretty day, and it felt great to snip and cut away errant vines and unsightly parts of the shrubs to make them more pleasing in appearance.
To prune means to strip or cut away, to snip off leaves and buds and fruit to make way for a healthier and more productive plant. This frees up the energy of the plant to produce its best.
We can apply the concept of pruning to our financial goals.
To prune, we must first observe, in this case, our finances, from every angle. We must notice where there is beauty and strength and good vines. Also, we must notice where there is poor production, yellowing, withering and rot.
Rot is a strong word but relevant to this concept!
The first step in this pruning process is to begin by looking at your beliefs about money. Be willing to observe them, the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Remember, our beliefs result from thought programs that we play for ourselves, or that others play for us on a repeated basis. Some beliefs serve us well and some limit us in a way that does not serve us, our families, our causes or our Creator.
So, get still with a pen and paper and create a list of your money beliefs.
To get you started, here are some common limiting beliefs related to money:
Money is the root of all evil.
There is not enough money to do what I want to do.
It’s hard to ask for more money.
I am not worth that much money.
I have to work a lot harder to increase my money.
I can’t save money.
I spend too much money.
I can’t get ahead of my bills.
I will never pay off all my debt.
Debt is bad.
It’s not good to focus on money.
It’s tacky to think and talk about money.
Whew! That’s just a small number of limiting beliefs that can hold us back from having success in the financial realm of our lives.
Be sure to add your own limiting beliefs about money to your list.
As you read through those limiting beliefs, ask yourself if any of those reside like weeds in your garden or rot on your plants. If so, you are going to have some work to do.
Following are a few additional beliefs about money that could be cultivated for better financial success:
Money is the currency we use to grow.
There is always enough money for the things that are most important to me.
It’s easy to earn money.
I am paid in proportion to the value I bring to the world and I am always increasing.
I enjoy saving money.
I spend money wisely.
I am a generous and cheerful giver.
I am blessed to be able to pay my bills.
I have the resources and tools to pay my debt off at just the right time.
Debt serves my important goals.
I am wise to learn and share ways to manage money.
Talking about money can be fun and exciting.
I have financial goals.
Ahhh! That feels so much better.
Try some of those beliefs on and see how they feel. If it’s true that everything in this world was first a thought, then it follows that you have a lot of control over your finances.
It’s pruning time y’all!
Of all the above beliefs, and your own personal money beliefs that you have added, which ones do you need to prune to make way for better growth of your finances?
Recent scientific studies support the idea that it takes 66 days to create new habits, more than three times as long as previously thought. The process of creating them requires new thinking. The thinking itself lays down new brain pathways. On brain imaging, those new thoughts look like trees!
So, when you prune and plant new thoughts you literally are growing something new and better in your brain. Along the way, your physical reality will reflect this new and better thinking and the resulting beliefs. As a matter of fact, when you practice thinking new thoughts, your brain looks for evidence to support them.
Ask God for discernment on your money beliefs, and ask him to bless your efforts in this area.
It says in 1 John 5:14, “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”
A partner exercise to creating stronger beliefs that support you is to create space in your financial garden for new growth. The second step in this pruning process to accomplish this is to prune debt that may be choking off your growth.
As with our beliefs, we start this process by observing the debt in our lives.
Remember, we have pruned the belief that “all debt is bad” and hopefully replaced it with “debt can serve my financial goals.” It seems obvious that some debt is more desirable than others. Some common debts to observe could include:
Mortgage
Student loans
Personal loans
Auto loans
Boat Loans
Credit cards
Business loans
In my experience, the best way to observe this debt is to list each debt and include the following for each one:
Amount owed today
Interest rate
Current expected payoff date
Monthly payment amount
Get it all out on a sheet of paper or an excel spread sheet. Chances are, as you list each debt, it will evoke a neutral to strong emotion. Notice that.
I cannot advise you on the best approach for you, but a few questions to ask about your debts could be:
Does all of this debt serve my financial and other life goals?
Would it be helpful for me to pay off any of this debt early?
How will it feel to pay off each debt?
Is there something else I would rather use my money for than paying off debt, such as saving, investing, giving or some other thing?
There are several approaches you can take to lessen your debt balance.
Dave Ramsey advocates the snowball approach, which basically has you focus on paying off your smallest debt amount first while making all your other payments. Once it is paid in full, apply that same amount of payment to your next smallest debt until it is paid off, and repeat this process until you are done paying off all the debt you plan to pay off early.
This approach can be effective and requires discipline and commitment.
The approach I have taken in my life has been two- fold: I first refinanced our debt to lower the interest rate. This lowered my monthly obligation and the amount due over time. With interest rates historically low, and set to go even lower this is a good approach. One financial expert stated that every time the interest rate lowers by 0.75%, it makes sense to refinance.
Second, we chose to prune our highest interest rate debt first rather than the lowest amount. For us, that was credit card debt. Once we successfully paid off all our credit cards, we worked on our auto loans and then eventually, our mortgage.
Once we pruned away the debt in our lives, our financial options opened up, giving us the freedom to give, save, invest and spend money on whatever goals we wished.
There is no one right way to approach pruning your debt. Whatever steps you take though should move you closer and closer to the financial goals you have in life.
Remember, “And God is able to make all grace about to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed;” 2 Corinthians 9:8. Be encouraged that you are making progress!
In part two of this series, we will look at money from the idea of getting it, which will involve planting.
Until then, have fun with the pruning process!