Creating Money Stories That Work for You, Not Against You

Posted On 2 May 2025

Whether we know it or not, we all have money stories. Some of these stories work in our favor, others work against us. These money stories can also be referred to as soundtracks that run through our head, or computer scripts that pop up when they are triggered.

In this post, my aim is to help you identify these stories. After you have learned to identify some of your stories, I am going to share with you some simple techniques for changing the stories that are not working for you.

Identify Your Current Money Story

Where do these money stories come from? The short answer is that they come from our past experiences as well as what we’ve heard people say about money.

Are these stories true? Yes, at least in some context. Maybe they worked in the past, but they no longer work – even though we are still using them! These stories can be true from a skewed perspective. Other times, these stories are more myth than legend.

Regardless of where these stories came from, the important part is learning to recognize them and question them. These stories form our limiting beliefs that hold us back. So that you know what I am talking about, let me give you some examples of money stories.

• “I never seem to have enough money.”
• “Money doesn’t grow on trees.”
• “It takes money to make money.”
• “Money is a necessary evil.”

The Power of Shifting Your Narrative

Here at Canoosa Finance, there’s an expression: “Shift Happens”. Yes, that’s some good wordplay! It also is a great analogy for the concept of making a shift in our life. By just adding a single letter, it changes the statement from things happening to us making positive things happen.

We don’t have to throw out all our money stories – often, we can simply modify them to completely change them! Let’s take the first story I listed: I never seem to have enough money. Now, let’s swap out the word never with always. Revised story: “I always seem to have enough money.” What a difference!

From Scarcity to Abundance

Economics is often defined as the study of scarce resources. Frugality focuses on how we can get the most use or value out of a resource. While being frugal does make things last longer, I want to share a different view on frugality.

When we talk about frugality, are we coming from a scarcity mindset or an abundant mindset? There is a difference. The scarcity mindset is based in fear and lack – we might not find that product again at that price, or we might not be able to buy that product again.

An abundant mindset is that we don’t want to waste extra product or money, but we know that we can always get more. This is a mindset that is based in trust and opportunity – we know that we can get it again when we need it, or there might even be something better!

Changing your money story from scarcity to abundance can truly be a game changer. If we look at nature, we see that there is enough to go around. That is what I am talking about with abundance – there is enough to go around.

Embrace Discomfort

Most of us grew up looking at the world as a limited place. Shifting our mindset is mental growth. Growth happens outside our comfort zone. Growth also means that we have new experiences.

Since you are still reading this, I am assuming that you want to grow. By venturing out of our comfort zone we start to feel familiar with the new area. In time this familiar zone, which is just outside our comfort zone, can become our expanded comfort zone.

We can adopt the story that we are temporarily outside our comfort zone and we can always return to our comfort zone. Learning to embrace this discomfort for short periods of time increase our mental toughness – our durability.

Action Over Excuses

In order to leave our comfort zone, we must take action! Excuses are the things that we use to keep ourselves in our comfort zones. We can incorporate leaving our comfort zone into our money stories.

A long while ago I remember hearing that an excuse was the skin of a reason, stuffed with a lie. Excuses are stories that we make up so that we can feel better about not doing what we must do to achieve our dreams.

If we are not careful, we can imprison ourselves in our comfort zone. The crazy truth is that we have the key to let ourselves out.

Consistent Small Wins

The easiest and most effective way to build confidence is through winning. It doesn’t matter if it’s a big win or a small win – simply winning builds confidence.

When you combine your financial wins with your updated money stories, you have something that is very powerful! Let me give you an example of this.

You start with the affirmation, “Money is always available to me.” Then, you follow Canoosa Finance’s recommendation of carrying cash all the time. Now, you are not only telling yourself that you always have money, you always have cash in your pocket if you need it.

Surround Yourself with Better Stories

What’s the most effective way to learn a foreign language? Surround yourself with people that speak that language and practice it with them regularly. You can apply the same technique to your money stories! Read, listen to, and spend time with people who model healthy money mindsets. Limit your time with those who don’t have that same kind of mindset.

As you find that your money stories are changing, you will find it harder to spend time with people who have poor money stories. Don’t worry, though, because they will have a hard time spending time with you as well.

Please do not be antagonistic to people. Everyone has enough challenges and struggles without someone else adding to them. We also are not able to change other people – we can only change ourselves. Changing is a personal task. Each person has to want to change in order anything to happen.

Wrap-Up & Call To Action

Your money story isn’t fixed. It’s a narrative you can adopt, edit, or completely rewrite. The important point is that you realize that you are the one responsible for your own money stories.

This week, catch yourself in the act of repeating a poor money story. Pause and ask: “Is this story helping me or holding me back?” If it’s not serving you, reframe it – even just swapping a word or two can spark a transformation. Then take one small action to live out your new story. That’s how change begins – one shift at a time. Then take one step to reinforce your new money story. We work on money stories like these in our Next Level Adulting sessions, because durable wealth starts in the mind. If you’re ready to rewrite your money script, check out Canoosa Finance’s coaching options.

I want to leave you with a final thought: Money flows where energy goes. Direct yours wisely and you will be on the path to becoming unstoppable!