Financial Success: A Parable

Written by Barbara Huson

There is an old fable about a wise King who pushed a big boulder into the middle of the busiest road in his kingdom. Everyone who walked by simply went around it. No one attempted to move it.

Then came a poor peasant, carrying a load of vegetables. He put down his load, walked over to the boulder and tried to push it aside. It wouldn’t budge. He strained and struggled until finally it moved. Slowly he pushed it to the side.

On the road where the boulder had been, he noticed a purse. He opened it up and saw it was filled with gold. There was a note tied to the purse: this is the reward to anyone who moves the boulder.

Moral: Every obstacle is an opportunity in disguise. The bigger the obstacle the greater the reward.

Here’s my question to you: What’s the boulder in your path? Share in the comments below.

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And You Thought It was about Money!!!!

Written by Barbara Huson

Once a woman achieves financial stability, no longer struggling to make ends meet, something within her dramatically changes…though she’s rarely aware it’s happening.

Her brain, no longer tasked with simply surviving, is ready to rewire itself.

She finds herself yearning for Greatness, no longer satisfied with mediocrity.

She deeply desires to create wealth, not for its own sake, but for its original meaning—well-being.

She strives for power, not to appease or dominate others, but to have dominion over herself.

She searches for significance, not by being the best or making the most, but by doing what God put her on earth to do.

Rewiring, however, requires tremendous effort. She must intentionally respond differently, not habitually, consciously choosing behaviors that permit her to thrive…rather than merely survive.

Yet, unless she’s vigilant, her old neural connections will keep recreating ‘not enough’. She’ll unwittingly remain rooted in the hard-wired neuropathway offering the least resistance (otherwise known as her comfort zone).

I truly believe when enough women understand how to rewire their brains by taking the path of most resistance, building their wealth and claiming their power, a global transformation will occur.

We’ll have the values, visions, sensitivity and the resources needed to change this world, heal this planet.

This, I believe, is our essential legacy, our inherent destiny, our financial responsibility as women.

Tell me about the legacy you want to leave in the comments below.

Get the support you need to create the Wealth you desire in my virtual community of women supporting women, The Wealth Connection. Now only $47/month! Join the conversation today!

Finding Pleasure in the Writing Process

Written by Barbara Huson

I remember sitting down to write my first book. I was so excited. Until I read what I wrote. It was awful. I tore up the pages in utter defeat.

This went on for months. I’d write. Read the draft. Rip it up in disgust. Walk away in despair. Eventually the book got written but oh, did I suffer. It was the same with each of my next 6 books.

Now, working on my 8th book, I swore I’d do it differently. And I did. Here’s how I made the process actually pleasurable.

1. Don’t wait until you’re inspired. William Faulkner said, “I only write when I am inspired. Fortunately, I am inspired at 9 o’clock every morning.” I’ve blocked time on my calendar for writing. And I’m at my computer, inspired or not. Of course, deadlines work wonders!

2. Kick perfectionism out the door. My new approach: Write shit, then clean it up. Awful first drafts don’t mean I’m an awful writer. It means I have to become a really good rewriter. As prolific writer, Nora Roberts says, “I can fix a bad page. I can’t fix a blank page.”

3. Hold tight to a grander vision. I’m approaching this book as if I’m supposed to write it and there’s one person out there who really needs to hear what only I can say. When my ego insists I’m a fraud and everyone’s about to find out, I just say “Thank you for sharing” and tune in to my Soul’s guidance

4. Make it a priority. Writing had to take precedence over the myriad of other items on my list. When the book became a priority, right up there with spending time with my kids, the momentum shifted and the writing took precedence. No struggle or effort necessary.

Is there something you know you should share with the world or, perhaps, that one person who desperately needs to read what you have to write? Tell me about it, here, then start writing!

Get the support you need to create the Wealth you desire in my virtual community of women supporting women, The Wealth Connection. Join the conversation today!

Check It Out

Written by Barbara Huson

Last week, one of my credit cards companies was hacked. First I panicked. Then I Googled. Once I knew what to do, I acted fast.

I called Capital One and froze the credit card. After that I checked my credit report. Then I breathed a sigh of relief. So far, everything looks good. But this made me realize I hadn’t looked at my credit score in ages.

What about you? When’s the last time you checked your Credit Report? Even if your credit card wasn’t hacked, it’s a good idea to do it at least once a year, if not every quarter.

A Credit Report is a summary of your financial reliability, your history of paying bills.

If you’re not monitoring your credit, you’re taking a big risk. Credit makes a huge impact on everything from your insurance rates to your ability to rent an apartment or refinance a mortgage.

You might be paying higher interest rates, higher insurance premiums, or other fees because of “bad credit” that’s the result of a simple, solvable error.

There are 3 credit reporting agencies: Experian, Equifax, Transunion. Every year, you can get a credit report at no cost on www.AnnualCreditReport.com.

If you find an error, report it to the agency immediately.

Credit scores under 400 are considered low…above 700 are considered healthy.

Have you ever found errors in your credit report? Join the conversation below.

Get the support you need to create the Wealth you desire in my virtual community of women supporting women, The Wealth Connection. Join the conversation today!

Blame It On Your Brain

Written by Barbara Huson

I remember a friend telling me that her son, a financial advisor, tried to explain some financial concept to her. “I want you to get this,” he insisted.

She listened intently but when he finished, she told me, “I hadn’t heard a word he said. I went into a haze. I felt so stupid. Why do I do this?”

I see this all the time. A woman attempts to take financial control but she’s suddenly struck by a sense of foreboding. It’s as if she’s entering a place she shouldn’t be and a voice in her head screams out: Danger! Keep Out! Immediately, she shuts down.

It wasn’t until I started studying Neuroscience that the reason for this pervasive reaction became clear. Women’s and men’s brains process financial (and other) information differently. Men see investing in the market as a challenge. Women see investing as a threat.

Our prehistoric brains were wired to ensure our safety and survival. Anytime we feel threatened, our rational brain shuts down, sending us into fight, flight or freeze mode.

This doesn’t apply only to beginners. I’ve had women who work in the financial industry or manage large budgets in their jobs, tell me, “I do this for a living, but my own finances are a mess.” If you’re in this boat, there is a way out. It’s not filling your head with more facts, but instead learning to rewire your brain.

I’m excited to announce McGraw Hill will be publishing my latest book, The Rewire Response: Mind Training for Wealth, Well-being & Whatever Else You Want. I just got the contract so it won’t come out for a while. But I’ll be sharing some brand-new programs on rewiring this fall. Stay tuned.

I’d love to know… Does this help explain why you, a smart woman, have a tendency to avoid money? Leave me a comment below.

Leaving a Legacy

Written by Barbara Huson

Have you thought about the legacy you want to leave? Not just the business you want to build or the career you want to pursue. But how you want to be remembered after you’re gone?

Every one of us leaves a legacy—be it Greatness or Mediocrity. But surprisingly few reflect on what they want theirs to be. Yet it is an important point for us all to ponder.

Your legacy need not light up the sky. It need leave only the slightest footprint in the sand.

Whether you engage in small acts of kindness or a groundbreaking global initiative, the scope is irrelevant. All that matters is that you’ve touched another’s life.

Not clear about your legacy? Try this exercise. Close your eyes, take several deep breaths, and relax. Imagine that you are on your deathbed, at the end of a long and wonderful life.

As you lie there, ask yourself this question: What gives me the most satisfaction knowing this is what I’ll be remembered for?

Then ask yourself: What can I begin doing right now that will contribute to this legacy?

I’d love to hear the legacy you wish to leave and what you’re are doing about it. Leave a comment below.

Where Are You Out of Integrity?

Written by Barbara Huson

Whenever life gets hard, doors won’t open, nothing goes right—I know I need to ask myself a question. Where am I out of integrity?

The word integrity comes from a Latin root, meaning wholeness or entirety.

Whenever you’re not asking for what you want, spending money you don’t have, or your behavior is out of synch with your most cherished values and highest aspirations, you’re giving away your power, sabotaging your success.

Conversely, you take your power back by identifying, verbalizing and living your truth, moment by moment by moment.

Or, as A Course in Miracles puts it: “there is nothing you say that contradicts what you think or do.”

Believe me, it’s as easy to slip out of integrity as it is for a dieter to slip in extra calories, never realizing that’s what you’re doing.

But life will show you. It always does.

And when it does, try asking yourself: Where am I out of integrity? Where am I living a lie? As soon as you find the answer and course correct, I guarantee, the situation miraculously shifts.

Where are you not living your truth? Share in the comments below.

Do you know what you cherish most in life? Use this Values Clarification Exercise to find out. Values Clarification

Lifting the Veils of Confusion

Written by Barbara Huson

The class was titled “Women, Money and Power” and I took it over 30 years ago.

I had attended countless financial classes, read countless money books but this one class changed forever my relationship with money–and, much later, my approach to teaching it.

On the first day, I remember sitting in a circle, in the middle of which was a clump of white netting, like a bridal veil, flung carelessly on the floor.

The instructor walked over to the netting, scooped it up, and announced: “This is what we’re going to do in this class. We are going to lift the veils that cloud our understanding of money.”

Underneath the netting was the Wall Street Journal, which (ironically) I’d recently subscribed to. I couldn’t understand a word of it and I was about to find out why.

“To lift the veils,’ the instructor continued, “We have to get in touch with the decisions we’ve made about money, most of which were made early in life and are now unconscious. These decisions are like veils that get in the way of our financial understanding.”

She patted her head. “The more we can see in here, the more we can see out there.” She pointed to the newspaper.

The instructor was speaking from experience. Although she was the director of the University’s MBA program, had a degree in economics, and an extensive background in financial services, she had a long history of financial neglect in managing her own money.

“I had all the technical information to act in a responsible way, but I wasn’t doing it,” she told us. “I realized that I may have some deeper issues and I better start working on them.”

Reflecting back, I asked myself: Why does the mainstream, male dominated financial industry still takes a strictly intellectual, left brain approach?

Why don’t they get that, regardless of IQ, education or experience, many continue to behave in disturbingly irresponsible ways with money?

The industry focuses solely on changing behaviors. Yet our behaviors are not the problem. They are symptoms of something deeper. And we aren’t likely to find the solution “out there’, in a conventional finance class or book.

If you see yourself exhibiting self-sabotaging behavior, keep this in mind. While you’re learning the facts you also need to examine your blocks. While you’re exploring the difference between a stock and a bond, you also need to delve into your attitudes, beliefs and early messages about money.

Unless you do the inner work, shifting your behavior will be a constant struggle.

Have you done The Inner Work of Wealth? What early beliefs about money did you uncover? Leave me a comment below.

Get the support you need to create the Wealth you desire in my virtual community of women supporting women, The Wealth Connection. Join the conversation today!

How Does One Become Wealthy? Part 4

Written by Barbara Huson

I’d like to share a story that Sharon Salzberg, an author and meditation teacher, tells about a yoga retreat she attended.

“Every other student in our class,” she wrote, “was far more limber, easily flowing into pretzel-like poses. Almost worse, they all seemed to know the traditional Sanskrit name for each move.

One day as my teacher, John, was demonstrating a pose, he made an awkward-looking movement, then rebalanced. Coming out of it he asked, “What just happened?”

One by one, my classmates offered a Sanskrit name for that extra little twist.

Finally, John turned to me and repeated his question, “What just happened?”

I replied: “To be honest, I think you fell.”

“You’re right,” he said. “I fell. Then I started over. That’s good yoga.”

Those words, in a nutshell, sum up the “good yoga” of wealth creation.

“It’s about honoring your intention,” Sharon explained. ”If we fall, we don’t need self-recrimination or blame or anger—we need a reawakening of our intention and a willingness to recommit… once again.”

And that’s precisely how you will turn your intention into a reality. When you fall, go back to your intention, recommit, and take one tiny action step…again and again and again.

As Sharon points out, “Often we can achieve an even better result when we’re not afraid to appear less than perfectly polished. We learn and grow and are transformed not so much by what we do but by why and how we do it.”

I’d love to hear from you how the fear of not being perfect, or making a mistake, was getting in your way, but you overcame it. Share in the comments below.

Get the support you need to create the Wealth you desire in my virtual community of women supporting women, The Wealth Connection. Join the conversation today!

How Does One Become Wealthy? Part 3

Written by Barbara Huson

According to success guru, Jack Canfield, “Everything you want also wants you. But you have to take action to get it.”

I thought of that quote when a woman, in one of my groups, recently posted: “Even though I say I want to create wealth, I keep signing up for more courses that kept putting me deeper in debt.”

I hear this all the time. Taking endless classes feels like you’re taking action, but it’s actually an act of self-deception. So I responded with a question: why don’t you want wealth?

When an unconscious desire—say, to conform to family patterns—is stronger than your spoken intention—to be wealthy—you’ll stop yourself at every turn.

You’ll water down your efforts, make misguided choices, and justify your actions with a variety of excuses. You may say, and believe, you want to be wealthy, but that’s not the message that’s reaching your brain.

There’s a story about two caterpillars that spy a butterfly high overhead. One turns to the other and says, ‘You’ll never get me up in one of those things!’

In many ways we’re like that caterpillar. We get a glimpse of what’s possible and immediately get cold feet. We may say we want something, but deep down, a muted voice is convincingly arguing, ‘No you don’t.’

I’d love to know if you’ve struggled with an internal conflict: part of you wants something, part of you doesn’t. Leave me a comment below.

Get the support you need to create the Wealth you desire in my virtual community of women supporting women, The Wealth Connection. Join the conversation today!

Life Lessons

Financial Success: A Parable

And You Thought It was about Money!!!!

Finding Pleasure in the Writing Process

Check It Out

Blame It On Your Brain

Leaving a Legacy

Where Are You Out of Integrity?

Lifting the Veils of Confusion

How Does One Become Wealthy? Part 4

How Does One Become Wealthy? Part 3

Meet Barbara Huson

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