A Meaningful Conversation?
A Meaningful Conversation?
As you race through this last stretch of 2025, you can probably remember some meaningful conversations you have had throughout the year. Perhaps it was a conversation that caused you to change your career, change your relationship “status,” your financial goals or even change your worldview.
As author, Joshua Becker, reminds us, there is one conversation that has influenced your life more than any other. “It is the conversation you have with yourself.” He goes on to remind us that “every day, often without noticing, we talk to ourselves about who we are, what we can do, and what we believe is possible.”
Do you get to the end of a day and wonder why you are so physically fatigued? Could it be that your conversation with yourself has been focused on negative thoughts? That internal dialogue becomes the ‘soundtrack’ for our choices, our decisions, our confidence, and ultimately, where we decide to end up. And if that dialogue takes a negative turn, it takes away so much energy we have for daily life and progress, doesn’t it?
Consider the difference between these conversations:
“I’m not good at relationships” vs. “I can learn the skills to be a better spouse, parent, or friend.”
“I am not a disciplined person, so I will never get my finances in order” vs. “I have struggled in the past, but I am fully capable of creating a budget and sticking to it.”
“I am too old to change” vs. “My experience is an asset, and I’ve spent my whole life preparing for this moment.”
Perhaps you can relate to one of these or something similar?
The most amazing thing is that the conversation with yourself is the only conversation in the world you get to have full control over. We realize that often, even when we practice important or difficult conversations we need to have with others, they never end up going exactly as planned. But we are in full control of how we speak to ourselves…and there is no one else who can change the script!
As Becker concludes “That doesn’t mean there aren’t people or events or circumstances that might try to take control of how we speak to ourselves or what we say, but the control is ours. So, no matter what is happening around us or how loud the other voices might try to become, we decide how we speak to ourselves. Speak positivity!”
“If you measure something, you can understand it. If you understand it, you can control it, and if you can control it, you can improve it.” The same holds true in your monthly budgeting.
The reality is that it is nearly impossible to complete & follow a monthly budget without improving your overall financial position. There are several reasons for this, so I would challenge you to do this.
First, just developing a budget for yourself will raise your awareness of what you have for revenue or income sources and then also boost your cognizance of how much you are spending each month. Next, you will come to grips with the reality of one of three facts. Either you need to boost your income sources, reduce your outgoing expenditures or, thank goodness, if you have more income than expenses, you can then save some money. Of course, this is fantastic! You just need to determine where you will store or invest those extra funds each month…
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