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Do you feel like you are never going to get the hang of this money stuff? Like things are just so bad that you would rather not think about it? Financial hopelessness is real, and it can be mentally paralyzing. You work so hard to pay off debt, start a business, or build an emergency fund that you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. There is always something that happens and causes a financial setback that you feel like giving up. Let’s build the courage to fight the feeling of financial hopelessness.

Building courage about your finances will help you get over your money blues. Have you ever heard of Murphy’s Law? Murphy’s Law states, “what CAN go wrong, WILL go wrong.” Murphy is a jerk. He is a force that is so much of a jerk, I can’t think of a better way to describe Murphy. Here are my tips to build courage during tough financial times.

The activity I want to share with you will build your courage when you begin to feel financially hopeless. Feeling hopeless is based on fear. Fear of not achieving our goal or fear of losing something important. Let’s lose those fears!

Facing Our Deepest Fears About Money

The biggest fears about money are losing it and not having enough. Whether you lose your job, can’t pay all your bills, or have an unexpected expense come up that you can’t afford, the fear can be overwhelming. Facing your fear and putting it down on paper can be liberating and it is the first step to building courage.

I want you to take 1 piece of paper and fold it in half. At the top of one half of the paper, I want you to write “Money Fears”. In this column, you will list all of your fears or current problems you have about money.

Build Courage by Creating an Action Plan

Next, at the top of the other half of the paper, I want you to write “Action Plan”. You are going to create an action for every fear you have about money.

Creating an action plan for your fears builds the courage you need to continue on your financial journey. Having an action plan will boost your confidence knowing that you can handle any financial issue that may come your way.

Your paper should start to look like this…

It is important to note that some actions in your action plan may be tasks you can do now or it may be tasks for a plan B in the future. Creating a plan about how to get over a challenging financial situation is the key to defeating hopelessness.

One Fear at a Time

After you have created your list, start to tackle one fear at a time. The hopeless feeling comes, not only when we don’t know what to do, but when we have too much to do. When you set your focus on one thing at a time, you can accomplish more than trying to do everything at once.

Some of the benefits of tackling tasks one at a time:

• Reduces stress
• Improves time management
• Get more done, quicker

When you put your time and energy into one task instead of dividing your time and energy into various tasks, you will not feel overwhelmed.

Surround Yourself with Positive People

Once you start crossing off your fears from your list, and your courage begins to shine, it is important to be around positive people. I’m not saying kick everyone out of your life that doesn’t have anything nice to say…well actually…that’s what I am saying. If you don’t want to kick them out, put them on pause.

Now is the time for you to build a circle around you with encouraging friends and family to help you break through your fears. Negative people will only bring stress, anxiety, and self-doubt; all the qualities that can bring back your financial hopelessness.

Building your financial courage is something we all need to do. It is so easy for Murphy and self-doubt to creep in and create a sense of hopelessness in our minds that we can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. So, when this happens, it is best to diminish our fears by creating a plan of action for every fear that we have. We can’t stop unexpected events from happening, but we can change the way we feel about them.

How do build financial courage when it feels like all hope is gone?