Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Got a great listener questionthey emailed the other day. That's
what they said. They said,ralph, what's my secret weapon against
losing financial motivation?What a great question. Because for
so many of us, we're doing thework. We're making better, smarter
financial choices. When we'rehonest with ourselves, that journey
can feel slow. That journeycan feel long. And that journey can
(00:22):
feel exhausting for so many ofus. Debt payments seem like they're
barely moving the needle.Savings are growing, but not fast
enough. Budgets seem likethey're this grind. And it's in those
moments we're not careful thatmotivation slips away. Start wondering,
will I ever really get there?I'll tell you right now, you're not
(00:42):
alone in it. Studies haveshown that 80%, 80% of people abandon
their financial goals withinthe first year because motivation
fades. But here's the truth Iwant you to hear today. Motivation
doesn't just happen. A lot ofpeople think, oh, I'm just going
to be magically motivated.Doesn't work that way. Motivation
is fueled and it's fueled byintentional practices, by community.
(01:03):
And most of all. And this iswhat we're going to talk about on
today's show, by God'sstrength. So today I'm going to show
you the secret weapon. Yes,there is a secret weapon that's going
to keep you moving forwardeven when the finish line feels far
away. So stick with me todaybecause your financial motivation
is about to get a seriousboost. This is Financially Confident
Christian, your daily dose ofgospel, grounded insight and faith
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driven tips for to help youbreak the cycle of financial shame
with confidence. Hey there.Welcome back to Financially Confident
Christian. I'm Ralph and I'mhere every day helping you answer
this question. How can Ibecome a financially confident Christian?
And we're continuing our miniseries of financial momentum. If
you missed yesterday's show,we started a four day miniseries
(01:47):
of locking in your wins,turning progress into habits. If
you miss it, I encourage youto go check it out. You can find
all of our episodes atfinanciallyconfidentchristian.com but
today we're going to talkabout motivation. Great listener
question today. How do I staymotivated, Ralph? How do I stay alive
on this truly long journey?It's a long journey. You didn't get
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into a bad financial situationovernight. It takes time to get out
of it. And for so many of us,and I'm speaking for myself right
now, maybe you're listening orwatching. You're like, Ralph, yeah,
I started off enthusiastic,man. I was so excited to get on board
this train. I was ready to go.We were rolling. But over time, that
enthusiasm just started tofade a little bit. I saw that mountain
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of debt before me, man. I wasrunning the race. I was climbing
that debt. I was building thatsavings, man. The progress just got
slow and it feels endless. Andwhen you live in that reality, when
you live in that level ofdiscouragement, this leads us into
apathy. It leads us to loseour motivation. We feel like we're
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going to slip back, we'regoing to get back to those bad habits
that put us in this place inthe first place. And that's the problem.
When you live in thisemotional drain of persistence, so
many people get burned out.Listen to this statistic. Only 19%
of people stick with theirlong term financial goals without
external support oraccountability. That's from the National
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Financial Educators Council.19%. After one year, they give up.
And so many of us live in thisfear. Listen, I've lived in this
fear from time to time. Youmight be right now living in this
fear as well. You're so afraidyou're going to lose steam before
that finish line. That's whatthe listener was asking me today.
Ralph, how do I maintain thismotivation? But here's the thing,
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and I said this a few minutesago, motivation isn't random. It's
not some magical thing, oh,I'm going to get motivated. It's
going to pop. It's going to begood for good. It doesn't work that
way. Motivation is cultivated.It's a financial journey. It's a
marathon. So many people thinkit's a sprint. I'm going to sprint.
I'm going to get out of debt.I'm going to pay off those credit
cards. I'm going to build thatemergency fund. I'm going to do whatever
those things are to make youfeel better financially. It's not
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random and it's not a sprint.It's a journey. And here's the secret
to the whole thing. Secretweapon. You ready for it? I promised
it. The true strength comesfrom Christ. Let's get into the Word.
This one comes from Hebrews,chapter 12, verses 1 and 2. I always
want to give you somescripture to back up what I'm saying.
Hebrews 12, verses 1 and 2.Therefore, whenever you hear therefore
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better, listen up. Therefore,since we are surrounded by such a
cloud of witnesses, let usthrow off everything that hinders
and the sin that so easilytangles. And let us run with perseverance
the race marked out for us,fixing our eyes On Jesus, the pioneer
and a perfecter of faith. Whata reassuring Bible verse this is.
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When you put on the fridge,when you're starting to feel down,
you're starting to feel likethat motivation is waning. We're
surrounded by a great cloud ofwitnesses. Let us throw off everything
that hinders us, the sin thateasily entangles us. And let's run
with perseverance, the racethat's marked out for us, fixing
our eyes on Jesus, thepioneer, the perfecter of faith.
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The true answer to today'squestion is financial journey requires
perseverance. The only wayyou're going to stay in that journey
is if you fix your eyes onJesus. Because if you fix them on
the obstacles, you fix them onthat mountain of debt, you fix them
on that mountain of what youwant to save, whatever those things
are for your life. You'regoing to get burdened by those obstacles
unless you look past thoseobstacles and look to Jesus. And
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when you can do this, yourmotivation will be maintained and
you will build resilience andyou will find long term peace and
progress. I love what JohnMaxwell said. And listen, this is
another one you might want toput on the fridge today. Motivation
gets you going, but disciplinekeeps you growing. One more time,
I want to say that becauseit's so very important, it's so impactful.
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Motivation gets you going, butdiscipline keeps you growing. So
now you're asking, Ralph, howdo I keep that momentum alive? How
do I keep that momentum whenprogress feels slow? It feels slow
as death, Ralph. Well, here'sthe answer. Reconnect with your why
celebrate your progress andshare your journey? Because once
you change that mindset, youhave a fresh energy, enjoy and resilience
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for the long. I like what TonyRobbins is not a big fan of Tony
Robbins, but I love what hesaid here because he reinforced something
that I think is so true.People are not lazy. They simply
have goals that do not inspirethem. Wow, that's a great way to
say it, isn't it? They're notlazy. Their goals just don't inspire
them. So here's your oneaction step today to get inspired,
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to stay motivated, to stayrunning that race. And I said it
a second ago, reconnect withyour why. Picture your biggest goal.
What does that thing look likefor you? Picture it in your mind.
Is it being debt free? I don'twant to have that burden to death
with that mountain of debt. Idon't have those credit cards. I
want to pay that mortgage off,whatever those things are. Maybe
it's building savings,building that emergency fund, building
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that go to savings account. Ormaybe for you, you just want to be
free to give more. You want tobe able to bless others with what
you've been blessed by.Visualize that goal and ask yourself
why that's important. Why isthat goal important? Because here's
what's going to keep youmotivated. Is it less stress? Is
it you want to be moregenerous? Is it freedom to serve
other people? But write thosethings down. Keep it visible. I love
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sticky notes. I love it onyour phone wallpaper. Maybe use a
budgeting app. But visualizethat biggest goal, why it's important
to you. And look at that everysingle day. And here's something
you weren't expecting me totell you. Plan a micro celebration.
Pick that next milestone,whatever those things are for you.
Maybe it's $500 of debt paid,$100 saved, one week on a budget.
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Just do something simple. AndI'm not saying go blow your budget
doing it, but some joyfulcelebration, a prayer of thanks,
a nature walk, a game night,your favorite meal, whatever it is.
Do those celebrations becauseyou want to stay motivated. I'm on
a diet right now. I shouldn'tcall it a diet. My doctor keeps telling
me, say it's a lifestylechange. You know what keeps me motivated?
When I get on that scale andI'm down a little bit, I can be totally
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honest with you. When I firststarted this, if I wasn't down a
lot, I got demotivated. Butyou got to do the same thing in your
financial life. Pick amilestone, whether it's that next
hundred dollars saved or that$500 debt paid off, whatever that
is, and celebrate thosethings. And I'm encouraged to do
one more thing. Share theprogress. Share the progress. Share
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the struggles. Tell a friend,a family member, if you've got an
accountability partner. Sharethose wins with other people. Encourage
other people. Tell them aboutyour next milestone. Get them to
be bought into what you'redoing. And at the same time, if you're
feeling discouraged, sharethat with them. Say, listen, I'm
really feeling discouraged. Ithought I could do this a lot quicker
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than was. This race is deeperthan I ever thought it would be because
they can encourage you. AndI'll tell you right now, encouragement
will fuel that perseverance.And that's what we need to do. We
need to fuel this. Like Isaid, this isn't some magic. You
need to fuel this almostdaily. There's gonna be times you're
gonna need that. But when youdo this, you're gonna combat discouragement
by focusing on your why.You're gonna keep that vision fresh.
(09:05):
It's gonna be compelling. Andif you have that accountability person,
you can share in the joys. Youcan share in the low moments, too.
You can share in those timeswhen you're really struggling and
get some reassurance from thatperson, because all those things
are gonna fuel your momentum.How about we pray together now? Father
God, let us thank you forcalling us to run with perseverance
the race you've set before us.And we confess that financial journeys
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can feel long and tiring anddiscouraging, Lord, and we need your
strength to keep movingforward. Just ask that you would
help keep our eyes fixed onyou and truly remember our why and
celebrate the progress you'vealready given us, Lord. Surround
us with people who encourageus, Lord. And surrenders are people
who fill our hearts withrenewed energy and joy. And Lord,
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we trust that you will carryus through this to the finish line.
We ask this in completeconfidence. In the name of Jesus,
Amen. Your secret weapon isstaying connected to your why. I
said at the beginning, I'mgoing to give you the secret weapon.
That's really what it is.Staying connected to your why, celebrating
those wins and leaning on Godand the community. So my challenge
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for you today, write down yourwhy. What is it that you have that
goal? What is it? Why is thatimportant to you? Plan those micro
celebrations for your nextmilestone. And remember, you're not
running this race alone. Godis with you every single step of
the way. I love what CraigGroeschel said. He said successful
people do consistently whatothers do occasionally. Consistency,
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that's the key to it. If thisshow has encouraged you, if it's
made you feel some hope, Iwant to encourage you to share it
with somebody else who's on afinancial journey themselves. Maybe
they need a fresh boost ofmotivation. Your share may very well
be the encouragement they needtoday. Just point them right to our
website. That's atfinanciallyconfidentchristian.com. just
send them to our website. Sendthem a text, send them an email,
(10:54):
give them a call. Say, hey, Iknow you're feeling a bit down lately.
I got some encouragement foryou. Another thing you can do is
go pick up a free copy of mybook. I just finished writing my
third book. It's calledBecoming a Financially Confident
Christian. It's a guidebook tohow to find this success, how to
stay motivated. There's allkinds of stories of people that I've
worked with over the past 30years who have gotten to this point.
(11:14):
You can get that free by goingto financiallyconfidentchristian.com/becoming
I'm going to give you thatwebsite one more time so you don't
miss it. Send it to yourfriends. You can share it with anybody
who wants to download a freecopy of my book. It's at financiallyconfidentchristian.com/becoming
now. Don't forget to join metomorrow. Tomorrow we're going to
continue on our four day miniseries. We're going to talk about
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Grace when habits aren'tPerfect. How to overcome shame after
slips. Because let me tell yousomething right now. I'm going to
give you a littleforeshadowing tomorrow. You are going
to slip and I don't want youto fall in that level of shame. So
join me tomorrow. We'll talkabout grace when Habits aren't Perfect.
It'll be a great showtomorrow. I just want to encourage
you right now. Go out thereand be a financially confident Christian.
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You can do this. I trulybelieve in you. But more importantly
than any of those things, Godbelieves in you. Stay financially
savvy, God bless you and youhave a great day.