Do you live your life at Break Even?

You’ll be familiar I’m sure with the concept of Break Even in your business

It’s that point where you’ve got just enough sales to not make a profit, and not make a loss.

Just break even. Just enough.

I’ve actually never been keen on my clients knowing their break even, which might seem a bit odd coming from an accountant.

You see, we all have a financial thermostat, programmed by that financial mind set we mainly inherited as kids.

Like your heating thermostat at home, you know where that comfort point is. Just warm enough and the thermostat will keep adjusting to keep you house at that “just right” temperature. Well we do the same with our finances.

We’ve got a pre-set level of turnover, or earnings, or profit that we’ve been conditioned to believe we deserve, or can achieve. And if we start to over achieve we sabotage to bring us back to where we think we belong. And remember this is all subconscious so you won’t realise you’re doing it. So you might not follow through on a new lead, pull back on your marketing, or procrastinate about writing a big proposal.

A few years ago when I joined a big (by that I mean expensive) year-long coaching program, I was introduced to this concept and I realised with horror that it was exactly how I thought. Every time the business started taking off I’d over complicate, or stop taking action – it was uncomfortable to be making more money than I’d made before. I’d been too used to aiming for break even and being pleasantly surprised if I made more.  And there’s no doubt I got this from my childhood conditioning.

THEN I realised that my break even mind set towards money was showing up in other areas of my life too.

Just enough energy. 

I’d stay at my desk until I was exhausted, only then did I think I could stop. But then I didn’t have any energy for the rest of my life. (Can you relate?)

Just enough health.

Doing just enough of the right things to keep going, but not enough to be truly healthy and able to ward off infections. Not committing to the things that would give me resilience.

Just enough on friendships and relationships. 

I’ll be honest, work always came first, so I was in the unconscious habit of doing just enough to keep the wheels on (and probably not enough to do that) but not taking the time to really invest in those relationships.

Then you get ill, fall out with someone, feel constantly exhausted, so you do “just enough” to get you back on track. But never more.

And this is something I see a LOT amongst business owners. It’s a tough gig running a business and it can feel like the only thing that matters sometime.

Throw a break even mind set into the mix and you end up with a pretty compromised life.

I’d like you to think about where your financial thermostat is set.

Is there a turnover, or earnings barrier you’ve not been able to break through?

Your mind set is the most likely reason why not.

Next we’ll be looking at the mind-set of the wealthy and financially successful to see what they do differently and how to change your financial programming to get the live you want.

I know you can do it!