157. How to Stay Motivated When Saving Money Feels Slow

Ever feel like your financial progress is crawling? You’re budgeting, cutting expenses, and building your emergency fund—but it still feels like nothing’s happening.

In today’s Question of the Day, Emily from Arizona asks how to stay motivated when saving feels painfully slow. This is one of the most common struggles my clients face—and it’s often where people lose steam.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• Why slow progress is still powerful progress
• How to measure growth beyond the numbers in your account
• Why “slow is not stuck” when it comes to your financial journey
• The key to focusing on alignment instead of speed

Your steady steps today are building the stability your future self will thank you for.

👉 Want to reframe your mindset and reignite your motivation? Join my free 7-Day Money Mindset Shift Challenge inside the Legacy Builders Network. 

Learn more about working with Laura Sexton

. Join the Facebook group Legacy Builders Network.

· Become a master with your money. Learn more here!

· Checkout the resource library here!

Want to ask a question Laura can answer on the podcast? Connect with her here!

Want to receive a live money or career audit? Apply Here

Send an email to [e-mail] or send a DM on Instagram @accelerateyourlegacy

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
hello, and welcome to thequestion of the day series here

(00:02):
on Money and Career Mastery,where we tackle real questions
from real people who are tryingto make money, feel less chaotic
and work feel more meaningful.
Think of it like chatting with afriend.
If your friend also happened tobe a money coach.
Okay, let's jump in to today'squestion.

Laura (00:21):
Hey, accelerators.
Today's question comes fromEmily in Arizona.
She writes, Laura, I've beenworking really hard to get my
finances in order.
I've cut expenses, made abudget, and even started
building my emergency fund.
That's kind of awesome, buthonestly, it just feels slow.
I know I'm making progress, butsome days it feels like it'll

(00:41):
take forever to get ready toreally get ahead.
How do I stay motivated when itfeels like I'm barely moving
forward?
Mm.
This is such a good question.
Emily.
Thank you so much for writingthis question into me.
It is such an honest question,and I want you to know that
you're not the only one thatfeels this way.
This is probably one of the topfive struggles I hear from my

(01:03):
coaching clients because theywant the flashy progress, right?
But it doesn't always come thatway.
And let me tell you, this isalso one of my biggest struggles
inside my business.
I see the end goal, and I justwanna get there faster.
It sounds to me that you weredoing all of the right things.

(01:24):
You've cut expenses, you'reliving on a budget, you're
building your emergency fund.
That's amazing.
You're doing the right things,and I know it doesn't always
feel that way.
So let me just check in withyou, Emily.
I'm assuming because of the wayyou worded this, that not only
cutting expenses have made abudget.
You are either doing yourstarter emergency fund of a

(01:45):
thousand dollars, or you've paidoff all of your debt and are
building up your emergency fundof three to six months of
expenses.
Now, if you are trying to buildup your emergency fund and
you're trying to pay all of yourdebt payments at the same time,
it's going to feel slow becauseyou're doing it in the wrong
order.
If you have debt, you need totackle that first, but I'm going

(02:05):
to continue talking about thisas if.
Your debt is paid off and youare in the middle of building up
your emergency fund.
And sometimes that's the hardestspot to be because you just
tackle this giant mountain andyou were constantly excited
because you're paying somethingoff and paying something off and
paying something off, and youwere getting those quick wins

(02:26):
and now you're in a slog of thisthree to six months of savings
and it doesn't feel like you'regetting anywhere because you
don't get to have the dopaminehit of paying things off.
While progress isn't alwaysvisible, it is always
compounding.
Okay?
So think of it like wateringseeds.
You don't always see the growthcoming from the seedling, but

(02:47):
something is happeningunderneath the surface.
If you try and dig it up andlook at it, you're gonna kill
all of the growth that's alreadybeen made.
So just.
Keep plugging away.
If you feel like you aren'tactually making progress towards
your savings.
Let's look at what you areactually doing.
Go look at where your savingswas three months ago.

(03:09):
Go ahead and ask yourself where,where was I three months ago?
What did things look like?
Because I'm willing to bet thatyou savings account is much
higher than it was three monthsago.
Am I right?
See, sometimes you're justfeeling stuck.
You're not, actually, you'remore stable than you ever were
before.
So don't just look at thenumbers.
We can look at our financialstatements and they're not going

(03:33):
to reflect the peace that wehave.
They're not gonna reflect theconfidence that we're feeling,
and they're certainly not gonnareflect how you are at your
decision making now.
'cause I'm willing to bet afteryou're doing all of these things
and you're putting in the workand you're starting to really
gain, gain stability.
I'm gonna guess that you werefeeling more stable than ever.

(03:55):
So don't let your feelingsdetract from the things that you
are actually doing.
And please remember, you're notstarting from scratch.
You are building something thatis sustainable.
Slow is not the same as stuck infast does not mean that you are
actually getting things done.
You've all heard slow and steadywins the race.

(04:18):
I have a client named Lonnie.
She has Boscos, creatives andBoscos crafting, I'm sorry, and
she crocheted me these littleturtles and I have one that sits
on my desk and I've given themout as prizes inside my Facebook
group.
If you're in one of ourchallenges and you win, these
are one of the things that Ilove giving out the most.

(04:41):
These tiny turtles, they arejust so sweet and they remind
the people they're sent to.
They're a reminder that slow andsteady wins the race every
single time.
Keep going.
Don't get distracted by theflashy on the side.
Keep going.
Keep doing the next right thing.
Emily, your slow progress isstill progress and it's building

(05:04):
something that your future selfis really gonna thank.
Thank you for.
I don't want you to measure yourspeed.
I really want you just tomeasure your alignment.
How are you?
How does it feel when you layyour head down at night?
Are you in alignment?
And the thing that my coach saysto me all the time, you're not

(05:25):
behind.
You're becoming.
You are exactly where you weresupposed to be.
And if you're still strugglingwith your mindset and you're
ready to fall back in love withprogress.
Go ahead and join us inside theFacebook group for the seven Day
Money Mindset Shift Challengekicking off in October inside of
the Legacy Builders Network withLaura Sexton you.

(05:46):
We will help you reframe yourhabits, your thoughts, and your
vision for the future.
The link is down in the shownotes, or you can type into
Facebook Legacy Builders Networkwith Laura Sexton and I will pop
right up.
That's it for this week, legacyBuilders and Emily, thank you so
much for writing, and if anybodywants to write in and give me
your specific question, I wouldlove to have it on the show.

(06:09):
I'm starting to run low onthese, and I would love it if I
could feature you and yourquestions.
All right, accelerators, that'sit for this week.
Go out and make a difference.