What to Do When You are Stuck in Your Career and Finances – Episode 330

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[00:01] Welcome to the Prosperity Podcast. I want to welcome you to an amazing episode of the Prosperity Podcast. And today we’re going to be talking about what to do when you’re stuck in your career and your finances. Kim Butler, we are with open ears wanting to hear what you have to say today. Oh, thank you so much. I love the setup. That’s kind of like giving a standing ovation before you hear the speaker, right? Which we love to do inside our prosperity economics movement, give standing ovations when the speaker is introduced and then of course afterwards as well. Absolutely. So what to do when you’re stuck? Such a great question because we all get in places when we’re stuck. So I want to cover the career first because it impacts everybody. And of course,

[00:52] money follows that. So we’ll do it in that order. And I think one of the most important things to do in both instances, frankly, is to find things that you’re grateful for, which is super hard. When you’re feeling stuck, you’re feeling typically a little bit down. Mellow is the word that I like to use sometimes. It’s just one of those times that it’s really important to dig out the positive focus and really get clear as specific as you can on what you’re grateful for. So as an example, rather than just like, oh, I’m really grateful that I get a workout at my house. I’m really grateful that I get a workout at my house and that I have a gorgeous view from the location that I work. And because of that, I can be more present with the clients that I’m on the phone with.

[01:44] And I get to hang out with my dog along the way. And because of that, I’m in a better mental space and like physical feeling space than I might be otherwise. And I mean, you just keep digging and digging. And you also include the why. So you’ll notice in each case I gave like something kind of material that I’m grateful for, like the dog or the view or the house or whatever. And then I gave the why, like the dog helps me just be in a happier mood and being in my place where I have a good view makes me be more present. So it’s like the material thing and the spiritual thing almost, or the physical thing, and then the why thing, if you will. Those are absolute necessities when you’re feeling stuck.

[02:39] Oh, that’s really good. You know, when you think of it, when we’re trying to solve a problem, oftentimes we’re digging down that why chasm. So we’re figuring out, okay, then why, and then we ask again, why. And what you’ve done is you’ve attached those two pieces to it. Before we forget, or I should say before we even start to dig ourselves out of that, why do you think people get stuck? What causes that? You know, that’s a good question. I think sometimes it’s external issues. The corporation that they’re in just has them in a place and they can’t get out. Or the business that they’re trying to build is in a spot and it just doesn’t seem to be going forward. You know, you almost have to wonder if we fall into a period of

[03:27] in gratitude and that’s what causes the stuckness. I’m not sure, actually. That’s interesting. And so we, and all of us, none of us are immune to it and it can be at different degrees. But now we’ve got at least a little bit of a lifeline. So we’ve climbed up this ladder. We’re showing that gratitude is one of those things to start to get us unstuck. That would imagine, give us a little bit of momentum. So what’s next on the momentum piece? Well, that’s so well said. And this is where we can start to turn into the money. And I’ll tell a story actually of a time when I was feeling very stuck monetarily, very, very stuck. There just seemed to be high debt that we were dealing with and just barely enough

[04:15] income to keep things going. And one of the things that I chose to do in a literal effort to get and keep money moving because that’s how money stays alive. It’s moving from place to place and it’s doing good. I donated, it was either 20 or $25, whatever the minimum was at the time, to kiva.org, which is an organization that helps entrepreneurs in third world countries. And there really didn’t appear to be 20 or 25 extra dollars, but we always know that there is. And maybe for you, it’s 25 cents. Maybe for you, it’s $25,000. I mean, whatever the number is, it doesn’t really matter. You can put as many zeros to the left or the right of the decimal point as you like. And yet when you are stuck either monetarily or career wise,

[05:11] being grateful and then doing something to get things moving. And so many times we don’t really know the full direction. And yet taking that first step, like I did with the monetary or the dollar figure donation, maybe it’s writing a thank you note to somebody. Maybe it’s making a phone call to somebody. Just taking that first step, even if we don’t know if it’s the right direction. Even if we have to reverse course and go do something else or stop doing what we were doing or start something else or whatever it is. The first step with gratitude and the second step with action is so critical. I couldn’t agree with you less. I mean, that is amazing. So that truly is movement, getting some type of action. And that’s a principle

[06:00] of prosperity. Absolutely. And it absolutely applies to money. It applies to our lives. It applies to our bodies. I mean, it applies to our thought. I saw a scale recently of thought and it was zero to two or three hundred was kind of in the fear and scarcity and hate modes of thought. And then it jumped to like five hundred where that was more a level of abundance. And then it jumped to maybe seven hundred. That was a level of joy. And then it jumped to a thousand. And that was some level of spiritual something or other. I can’t remember. This scale is not as relevant as the message that came with it. And that message was many people circle and circle and circle in their same mode of thought. And I would say

[06:56] they do the same thing with their money. They circle and circle and circle in the same monetary space, never changing their thought enough to get out of it. And so let’s talk about careers again. There’s a fun story of a young person that I know in their teens working at a restaurant doing dishes. Miserable, hating their work. And they got kind of a quiet voice message of you’re not ever going to get out of this job until you figure out how to love your work. And so he would put glasses on the shelf once they were clean. And he decided that needed to do it with love instead of with hate. And if he didn’t put the glass up with enough love, he made himself take it down and put it back again. And this lasted literally for two

[07:56] or three days. Like he shifted his thought and then he started putting the glasses up with love. And two or three days later, there was massive breakthrough in his work environment. And so he decided that he was going to love even more. And then he got even more breakthrough in his work environment. And so that shift in thought and again, the action that went with it is what got him unstuck. And our money is no different. We’re circling with debt or we’re circling with the same stock market investments every single time. Or we’re circling with the same financial planning advice, prepay your mortgage, fund your maxed out 401k, buy term insurance. If we’re circling with that same thought and that same advice,

[08:46] never having different thoughts, consequently never having different actions, then we must stop. We must shift our thought and our actions and do everything we can to get different input. And so you brought up the seven principles of prosperity. I mean, those are a great way to go seek guidance, a friend, somebody that you can chat with that will cause you to think differently so that you can get different actions so that you can get different results. I would say let’s take that last rant and let’s bottle that up and create a poster out of it because that was seriously good. That was great. And I think all of us are now going to maybe even look at the glasses in our kitchen and when we pull one down or when

[09:38] we put one up, say, can I do this with love? Can I do this better? Can I have some more gratitude? Those questions are awesome. Those are equally as good as my moments of ramp. So thank you. Yes, absolutely. For you listeners, we want to let you know something that’s really important and that is we’re grateful for each and every one of you because you’ve taken the time to listen to this podcast and you’re investing in yourself. And in these episodes, our goal is to give something of value and help you. And if you’re looking to learn even more, if you’re looking to improve your career or your finances, a podcast is a wonderful way to do it. If you want an episode that’s longer, maybe even an audiobook that Kim’s written, that might be something to dive a couple

[10:31] hours into to help you. Can you think of one that would be really helpful that we can suggest to our listeners right now? My favorite that’s very career-oriented is busting the retirement planning lies because it has some examples of people that have found work that they love and have continued to do that work for many, many, many years. So that’s my suggestion. There’s an audiobook, as you said, and it is done by me. And so when I read the book, I’ll just add, because the stories are personal, I’ll add whatever feeling goes with those stories to it. And again, that’s busting the retirement planning lies. I trust that it would be beneficial for people that are in this space, whether they’re feeling stuck or not, because

[11:18] we can all do better, me included, about being grateful for the work that we have and the good that our money is doing. So very true. We’ll put a link to that in the show notes. And what a perfect way to wrap up the episode. Thank you, Kim. And listeners, thank you for spending time with us today. Thank you for listening to the Prosperity Podcast. To take control of your money and have it work for you, visit us at partnersforprosperity.com. If you liked this episode, make sure you subscribe and leave a review.