For those in the arena ...

This is a special email for the people in the arena. This is for the doers, the shakers, the movers. Lots of people are struggling right now. A lot of people are struggling financially on top of emotionally, mentally. But I have some advice, because you know what? Mindset is everything. As a marginalized woman, as a woman who grew up Indigenous within Canadian borders, I know the barriers your mindset can erect to stop you from getting where you want to go. And I know that it's possible to change that mindset. So let's talk about it. Hi, everybody. My name is Sandy Boucher. I'm Red Thunderbolt, woman of the Loon clan, a proud member of Seine River first nation in Treaty 3 territory in Northern Ontario. And today is all about mindset. And like I said in the opening, so many people are struggling right now emotionally, physically, spiritually and yes, financially. And the reality is, I'm going out on a limb here, but I'm going to say most of them are just going to complain. They're going to find other people and they're going to complain. And even worse, there's a segment of those complainers that will start pointing fingers. They're going to blame that person or that person and that person, just like that old saying goes, they never realize how many fingers are pointing back at them, them. But the reality is, what if you are one of those doers and shakers, movers and creators, someone who has initiative, someone who is self motivated, someone who is determined, persistent and hardworking, Someone like me. And what if you're just sick of these challenges? As I mentioned in the opening, mindset is absolutely everything. And if you were born into a marginalized group, you've inherited some stereotypes, some mindsets that are incredibly limiting. I know growing up indigenous, it was, we don't do that and they're never going to hire us. And it wasn't even that people were saying this to me. It's just what the environment gets you thinking. But I want to remind you of the feather teaching. Think of a beautiful feather and use it as a metaphor to remind you that it represents every relationship. One side of the feather represents you and one side represents whoever you're in a relationship with. If I were to ask you how much power and control you have over someone else's words or actions, I hope you'd be quick to say zero. But you have total control over your words, your actions and yes, your thoughts. Because remember, I'm a 10 year domestic abuse survivor. I used to have some pretty God awful abusive thoughts in my head. The abuse continued long after the relationship end with the horrible things I was saying to myself. And yes, the names I was calling myself. That just doesn't happen anymore because you can retrain your thoughts. You can stop playing that same broken record. The power is on your side. And mindset is absolutely everything. Which is why I read books like We Should All Be Millionaires. Because I know by reading these books, by listening to the podcasts and watching the videos, I was able to identify my limiting beliefs and change them. And I mentioned in other videos this book is taking me forever to read because I swear I read a couple of pages and have another amazing idea for my business. And no, I'm not complaining. This is not the type of book that you should race through because if you do, you just wasted your money buying it. If you're going to invest the money, whether you do it through like the audio version or get the actual book, you got to take the time and you got to absorb it. And by the way, any entrepreneur out there, you need this book. Especially if you're female. Especially if you're marginalized. Well, if you're female, you are marginalized. So I got all excited this morning. I was doing my reading. No surprise I ended up thinking of you. But she was talking about the fact that so many people are struggling in their financial situation right now and how that often invokes so much shame. And of course we don't talk about that because shame needs silence to survive. We keep it to ourselves and it just seems to grow and grow and grow. So the first thing that Rachel Rogers is the the author listed was, as she describes them, here are some grim, bleak, shame riddled thoughts you may be thinking right now. So there's six of them. What I want you to do is grab a pen and pencil. If you have to pause the video, go right ahead. It's all good. I understand, but. Or you can count on your fingers. But I want you to honestly identify how many of these thoughts have you had recently, especially if you're struggling financially. I've definitely had a few over. I've had all of them at different points in my life. Let me tell you, I grew up in a house without running water. I have sold furniture to feed my kids. I have eaten once every three days because that's how long. How little money I had and how long I had to make the food last. Trust me, I know poverty, shame. So are you ready? Are you ready to count on your fingers? Here we go. Number one, my credit score is practically minus 200 abysmal. You ever beat yourself up about your credit score? If you're not even thinking about your credit score, that's what she would call a broke ass mindset. You got to think about those things because now you're erecting barriers against yourself again. Don't be doing that next one. Oh, been there, done that. I have $5 in my checking account. I'm a clown, a joke, or whatever other nasty name you want to call yourself. Have you ever done that? That was statement number two. Statement number three. I have no. No savings. I have student loan debt, credit card debt, and prob. Other debt. I'm probably tons of debt I'm not even aware of because I pushed it out of my mind or stopped opening bills months ago. I know a certain someone who I will not identify who used to hide the bills on the top of the fridge just so she didn't have to see them. I can relate to that. Have you done that? Can you relate? Statement number four. I haven't paid taxes in two years and Revenue Canada is probably going to start sending me terrifying letters soon. Ugh. Now, of course, I switched it to Revenue Canada. She's American. She mentioned the irs. But my following tends to be Canadian. The fifth semen. How you doing so far? What's your score? Number five. I am a disaster with a capital D, which rhymes with P, which stands for poor, which rhymes with floor, which is what I want to disappear beneath. Or something similar. Have you been there, done that? And the last one. My situation is such a mess. Even if I work my tush off, I will never climb out of this hole. I'm beyond help. Can we all. I hope you could all understand just how limiting and depressing and not helping any of those statements are. Those are the kind you got to flip the coin. You got to change this. You got it. You know what? What's that quote? It's not what happens to you. It's what you think of or feel about what happened to you. The story you tell yourself. None of those are going to help you. And they're probably going to keep you in that trap. Now, of course, I wouldn't leave you there. Don't be silly. Now we're going to look at. Here are some much better thoughts. These are truthful, empowering thoughts that get you in motion rather than keeping you stuck. These are not examples of you lying to yourself. It's just a different perspective. So you're ready? Yeah. Might want to write these down. Feel free to rewind. Rewind. Do you Rewind a video. I'm showing my age here. It's not an eight track tape, Sandy. Or a cassette tape for that matter. Here are the six more empowering ways of looking at the exact same situation. But these six are going to get you into a place where you're actually working on it. A doer, a mover, a creator, a succeeder. First one. My credit score isn't great. That's the truth. But I can improve it. If I keep taking action, things will shift in the right direction. Truth, Truth. Consistency is everything. Don't take some huge action once in a blue moon. The people that wish they would win the lottery and you don't know how to manage your money, you're going to blow that just like you blew your paycheck. Right? You got to change the mindset. Second one. Did you get that one? Did you get that one? Start practicing it. Second one. I don't have very much in my checking account yet, but I'm determined to expand my income. This year I will earn more than ever before. That's going to get you thinking you can. That's going to get you taking the right actions rather than burying your head under the pillow and yourself into the bed. Which is not going to help you get out of this. You see the difference? Still have nothing in the checking account. But the second statement is going to help you change that. The first one's going to keep that your reality. Third statement. I have no savings yet. That's about to change. Watch me world to feel the empowerment. N n n N. This is a current situation. It is not my identity. This will change. Love it. Number four, I have debt. Okay, so what? Millions of people have debt. The government has debt. Practically everyone has debt. I can work toward paying it off. Debt doesn't make me a bad person. It's a true statement. Way more helpful than that first one. The fifth one. I haven't paid taxes, bills, loans and so on in quite a while. I'm behind. That's real. But guess what? I'm not the first human being to fall behind on payments. Nor will I be the last. It happens. It's okay. I'm creating a plan to get caught up and it feels good to take action. This is called acknowledging reality without beating yourself up. You're not lying to yourself and just stopping the the abuse because that doesn't help. And the last one, it's not where I want to be yet, but I have a clear vision of where I want to go every day. I can make million dollar decisions they carry my life in the right direction. Things are improving. The best is yet to come. And I've mentioned it before, in this book, she identifies million dollar decisions that help you build a future you want and broke ass decisions that'll keep you trapped in poverty. I so recommend this book. So go back. It's not Rewind. Go back in the video if you need to write down those empowering statements. And the next time you use one of those limiting, damaging, abusive statements in your mind, read through that list. Start reprogramming your mind so it helps you and not hurts you. Because beating yourself up is not how you succeed. No one has ever won a race by telling themselves they were gonna lose. You got this. I know you do. Until tomorrow. I love you. Take care. Bye bye.