The very first time someone tried to ride a push bike, people would have been saying “Your mad! It’ll fall over! It’s only got two wheels! There’s nothing to hold it up!”

The very first time someone tried to water ski someone else would have said it was absurd and that it couldn’t be done.

When two water skis did work and someone tried to ski on just one ski, critics would have been saying "Surely you will fall over and get hurt".

The very first time someone tried to water ski with no skis at all people would have said, “You’re mad. You can’t do that!”

In the early days of motoring, scientists came out and stated that if anyone went faster than 60kph (35mph) they would suffocate and die because of an inability to exhale due to the air pressure at such high speed.

When someone tried to ride a pushbike with only one wheel! How many people said it was a stupid idea that could never work? No one had ever tried it before because it was obviously a stupid thing to even think of, let alone try to achieve.

The strangest thing is that after someone proved that it could be done, hundreds, even thousands of people have now proved how easy it is. The same also applies to all the other examples above.

Once people knew that it was possible, it was easy for them to do it as well.

The mind is an incredible thing and its power is unmeasurable. I would be safe in saying that nobody even goes close to harnessing all the power of their mind. For all the examples I have given above there is one key element of the mind that makes all the difference. That element is belief. Once people saw these things were possible they could believe it was possible for them and then they could achieve them too. Belief is such an incredible power.

When I learnt to bare-foot water ski many years ago I took quite a beating with every failed attempt. Had I not believed it was possible I certainly would not have put myself through the busters I experienced otherwise.

A person I was listening to at a seminar recently said something that I thought was a lot of rubbish at first. He said “you can change your beliefs in an instant”. I thought to myself, “I have beliefs that I have held for a long time and intend keeping till I die so that can’t be right”. He then went on to say that it is values that we can not change quickly (if at all). This made me re-think what he had said about beliefs and in the next two minutes he produced evidence that proved without doubt that something I had believed for some time was in fact not true.

I changed my belief in an instant!

During the following half an hour I saw quite a few surprises that challenged things I thought were impossible but had to change my beliefs about rather quickly.

What beliefs do you have about yourself that are holding you back personally and financially? If you believe them, what makes them true? Are you really too short, too tall, too blonde, too dumb, too disorganised, too lazy, too plain, too poor, too busy, too single, too fat, too skinny.....?

Isn't it just the fact that you believe them that they are true? Aren't there other people who have more money, more success, more love, more friends, more fun etc.. who have stronger reasons than you to be no good at whatever it is?

Some time ago I was trying to help a client with her budget. When we got to the income part I was absolutely staggered to learn how little she earned even though the work she did was specialised and required a great deal of skill. She had been in this line of work for over 25 years and obviously had such a wealth of experience and skills to draw on that she could easily have doubled her hourly rate and solved her money problems in an instant.

What was the problem?

I could see it was a belief problem! Her beliefs about herself and what she was worth was the major limiting factor in her finances and probably many other parts of her life.

Your financial experiences (bad or good) are a direct outcome of your beliefs about what they will be. Your actions are driven by your beliefs and these actions produce the outcomes you live with every day. (You get what you expect!) Quite often you will say that you WISH things were different or that you WANT to do better (maybe you promise to spend less and save more), but your underlying beliefs about what will happen produce the same old actions and outcomes.

The good news is that if beliefs can be changed in an instant then there is a strong possibility that a lot of things in your life, including your finances, can change for the better.

So, the big question is:- how do you change your beliefs about yourself and your finances and for that matter, any other area of your life you might want to change?

Let’s go right back to the beginning of this article. All of the examples I gave made reference to someone who challenged traditional thinking. Someone who believed they could do something that had not been done before and more importantly someone who could overcome the fear of failing and looking really stupid. Once they had done it, others could believe in it as well. Half the battle was over, the belief was there and the fear was gone. The door was open for others to achieve the same result and perhaps even improve on it. It was probably really exciting to stand at the threshold of doing something that was previously not thought possible and actually prove it could be done!

Now here is the kicker:- Do you want more excitement in your life? Then do something that is contrary to your limiting belief. If you believe you are too shy, without thinking about it, just say hello to everyone you walk past today. To overcome your fear, make it a rule rather than an option and there will be no room for fear. Tonight you will be so excited that you actually did it, tomorrow you will want to do it again!

If you believe you can't save any money, on payday just go and bank some anyway. You won't die! The fear of running out of money before next pay day can be overcome. If you set a rule to make no discretionary purchases until the day before next payday you will then be able to make some purchases you don't have to feel guilty about because you did last the week and tomorrow is payday! You will find there is excitement in waiting rather than in spending. Do it every week and get excited when you see you have some money in the bank.

If you believe you are too tall, put on some high-heeled shoes and see that nothing gets any worse (I was going to say walk around on your knees for half an hour but thought that might kill the moment). If you believe you could never quit your rotten job because you might not find one that pays as well, imagine you just got sacked and urgently start looking for a better job before it is too late.

You will realise that fear and belief are so closely related. You have a limiting belief that holds you back, but it is the fear of letting go of the belief that is really the problem. What might happen to you? You might not be able to cope with so much success, so much money, so much love, so many friends, a job you don't know about. At least you can cope with your current life. What if it changes? There is safety where you are - You know you can live like you currently do. Something different is a fraught with danger because you don't know what it will be like!

As I am writing this I am in a Jumbo Jet flying 30,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean headed from Brisbane in Australia to Los Angeles in the USA. I have seen an image in my mind for many years of myself speaking in front of a large crowd of people telling them about how I discovered a better way to plan a personal budget and how they can take control of their personal finances once they know how it's done. A few days after I arrive in L.A. I will be presenting at a Seminar to over 1000 people. I have believed it will happen for a long time and now it is going to happen. Do you think I will have fear before going on stage? You bet I will, but I believe without a doubt that what I have to tell them is absolutely critical to improving their financial future and so fear will have to take a back seat. The only way I will overcome the fear will be to walk out on stage and open my mouth. Once I have done it a few times I will be ready for 10,000 people! My fear will shrink and my belief that I can handle the pressure of such a big crowd will grow.

If you’re not so sure about this, don’t worry. All you need to do is look at what other people have achieved and then say to your self, “If they can do it, so can I”. Believe you can - see yourself already achieving it and then act as if it is going to happen. Expect it to happen. Believe it will happen. So long as you are not prepared to accept that you have reached your full potential and you are prepared to do something about it then you are bound to succeed. Believe it!

Everyone wants to do better. That is human nature. But we often say we want something like a new house or a new car, but take no action to make it happen. We have replaced the belief we can have it with the belief we won't have it. Your current financial situation can improve. It is time to believe it and to take action. Have you taken the first step and planned out your budget for the next year? Have you printed it out and put it where it is easy to see and refer to regularly? Have you compared where you are now with where you were 12 months ago? By taking the time to plan a successful financial journey through the next year before it actually begins, you will create a belief within your mind that you can and will succeed at making it happen. 12 months from now things can be much different!

Think of the One Wheeled Bike. Who would ever have thought someone could ride one? For those of us who can’t do it, it seems like a difficult thing to do and we have a fear of even trying. We might get hurt or look stupid when we fall off. For those who can ride one it is a ‘piece of cake’. Nothing is hard once you can do it.

Managing your budget is not hard either. Believing you can do it is half the battle. Then you just need to follow a proven formula until it becomes easy for you too.

I would love to help you if you have a challenge with budgeting and managing your cash flow. The Simply Budgets software is the tool that makes it easy. If you don’t have a copy you are making the job hard for yourself. Maybe you believe managing and succeeding with money is just too hard for you, or that you just don't earn enough money. Get a copy of Simply Budgets and then apply yourself to it and follow the system. It becomes really easy! Don’t resign yourself to more of the same. Believe you can ride that bike and make it happen. It IS possible. I 100% money-back guarantee it! To order a copy now Click Here.