How Can I Lock In My Financial Wins and Make Them Last?

Speaker A00:00:00

You've done the hard work, you've broken those chains. You've made progress. Maybe you paid off debt, maybe you've built that savings account. Maybe you've completely shifted that mindset.But now comes the question that nags at so many people, Ralph, what if I slip back? What if these wins don't last? And the truth is, most people do.Studies show that 73% of people who reach a financial milestone slip back into old habits within two years. And that's why this breakthrough that we've talked about for the last 30 days isn't enough. But I've got great news for you today.God doesn't want you to experience a moment of victory. He doesn't want this to just be some flash in the pan. It's quick win. He wants you to build a lifestyle of peace.And today I'm going to show you how to lock in your wins. I want to show you how to solidify your habits and truly turn progress into permanent confidence.I'm going to launch a little mini series now, but this is where transformation becomes lasting. So make sure you join me today.This is Financially Confident Christian, your daily dose of gospel, grounded insight and faith driven tips to help you break the cycle of financial shame with confidence. Hello there. Welcome back to Financially Confident Christian. I'm Ralph. I'm so glad that you chose to join me.We just wrapped up a 30 day series of Breaking the Chains and guess what? I'm going to do a little mini four day series helping you answer this question because this has been pressing.I've seen comments, emails have come in, they've asked me this question time and time again. Again, Ralph, how can I become a financially confident Christian and how do I keep up this momentum?Like I said, we just wrapped up our series on that. If you missed any of that, you can go check it out@financiallyconfidentchristian.com so today I want to start this new series.I'm calling it your financial momentum, just four days long.The goal here for the next four days is to take those wins that you've had, those 30 days that you just got through, whatever that looks like for you, whatever those wins are. And I want to make them last. So today's question is this, how can I lock in my financial wins?Because listen, if you're like me, you've gained some clarity. Maybe you've paid off debts, you started saving, finally you've got that budget that you're using.But then that fear starts to talk in the back of your head again. You start to develop this fear.You start to think if those old habits creep back in because you go think about your past and you thought in the past, but those strong starts. But then like many people, like so many people like me, I'm going to be honest with you, you start to fade out a little bit.When that fade starts, you start to feel discouragement. Can I really do this? Yeah. I did it for 30 days, man, but I don't know if I'm going to be able to continue. And that leads to stress.You start to stress about every decision that you're making. You're starting to get that mindset is shifting back to that scarcity. And then you start to have a lot of self doubt.And that's a critical crippling thing for so many people. And you have this fear. You fear you're losing those hard won wins, that hard won progress.And I saw this statistic in the Journal of Behavioral Finance and I thought this was Perfect. It said 80% of people who don't set up systems after a win relapse within six months. And that's what I talk about today.Because if you truly want to win, you need systems. If you don't have a system in place, those things are going to fade. And here's the thing. Transformation isn't just about big moments.So many people think transformation will be this magical moment, this aha moment. But that's not what transformation is. Transformation lives in the trenches. It's about those habits, those daily decisions.Hey, maybe for you it's those hourly decisions. Am I going to avoid those impulse buys? Am I going to make decisions to be content? Am I going to make decisions to be generous?It's those habits, those day in and day out habits that truly stick because the Word gave us this truth. It said God completes what he starts. And I love this verse from Philippians chapter 1 6. And I used this on the show so many times.I used this the other day, but I thought this was so important as we discussed this little mini four day series again, Philippians 1:6. He who began a good work in you will carry it on the completion until the day of Christ Jesus.And as I've said so many times on this show, God's desire, God's heart. And I want you to hear this. Whatever you're doing right now, just listen to me for one second. God's desire is for his children to have lasting peace.He doesn't want short term relief for us. He doesn't want us to take an aspirin and we'll feel better for a little bit. He wants us to lock those wins.He wants us to live in that financial peace. In order to do that, we've got to be proactive with this. We need to solidify those habits.We need to relapse, we need to reduce that relapse of fear and we really need to build lasting freedom. And there's a guy named James Clear, wrote a book called Atomic Habits. And I thought this was perfect for today. As we launched this four day series.This is what James Clear said. He said, you don't rise to the level of goals, you fall to the level of your systems.So now the big question for today is how can I make progress permanent? And you're going to be surprised at what I tell you. It's kind of an unusual but a different take on this.Celebrate those wins, truly celebrate those wins, tie them into habits and then review those things consistently because you can transform those little breakthroughs into lifestyle rhythms. And I love what Zig Ziglar said. Zig Ziglar's one of these leadership experts.So what Zig Ziglar said, he said, repetition is the mother of learning, the father of action, which makes it the architect of accomplishment. I want to read that one more time because it is so striking to exactly what we're talking about again, Zig Ziglar.Repetition is the mother of learning, the father of action, which makes it the architect of accomplishment. So here's your one action step for today.To truly embrace this new season and to break that fear of falling back into your past history, your relapses, if you will. You don't want to be one of those statistics. Identify those wins right now, today.Write down one or two specific wins, whatever those things look like for you, whether you paid off your debts, maybe you hit that savings milestone. Hey, maybe for you, you never had an emergency fund and you're like, Ralph, now I've got an emergency fund.I don't have to go to that credit card anymore. Think about the habits that you built. Think about that mindset shift that you've gone through. You don't look at it as a finish line anymore.You look at it as a perseverance. You look at as a journey. And then once you write those wins down right next to it, think about what habits made that possible.See, a lot of people don't make the connection. They don't connect the dots, if you will. What? When I was a kid, I used to love those connecta words things in school.But ask Yourself that what habit made this possible? Was it that budget check in? Was it finally measuring where your money's going? Was it tracking those income and expenses? Was it automated?That savings account, did that help you build that savings because it just was gone when you got your paycheck? Was it that pause before your purchases rule? But think about these things, schedule those things. What are those wins and what are those habits?Make this a calendar reminder, a non negotiable thing, that you sit down frequently and tie those wins into habits. And then I'm going to encourage you to do one more thing today, and that is work with your accountability partner.We've talked about this on the show so many times, whether to be a spouse, a friend or a mentor, whatever those things are, because that will strengthen you, verbalize. Because when you verbalize, it strengthens the commitment to what you've committed to doing.And celebrate together, celebrate the joy, celebrate that momentum.Because when you live in these wins, when you really embrace those, when you understand the habits that are changing and you work with your accountability partner, whoever brings you strength, it's going to battle that fear of losing progress. So many of us battle that you're not alone in that. Trust me, I do this for a living and I battle that almost every day.And when you do these things, it's going to strengthen that discipline and it's going to strengthen that feeling of peace and, and it's going to turn those breakthroughs, those little mini breakthroughs, some little things that don't seem like much. It builds them into a lifestyle routine. And that's what we're really aiming for here, is changing the lifestyle.My doctor said to me not too long ago, he said, ralph, stop thinking about it as a diet and start thinking about it as a lifestyle. Well, that applies to our finances as well. Start to think of your finances as a lifestyle decision. What are those habits?What are those, what are those wins and how do you keep that progress going? It's all about prayer. It's all about being in stewardship and being in communion with the Lord. Well, let's start that right now by praying together.Father God, thank you for the incredible progress you've given us in these past weeks, Lord.And we confess sometimes that we fear our wins won't last or we feel like we're going to slide right back into those bad habits that we did, those old patterns. And Lord, we just ask that you would help to lock in our progress. Just lock it in for us, Lord.Show us the habits that we need to sustain this peace surround us with accountability and encouragement, Lord. And may every financial win be a testimony to your faithfulness.And may our confidence grow stronger each and every day as we walk this journey with you, Lord, you said you will never leave us nor forsake us, Lord. And we ask this in confidence in the name of Jesus, Amen. Lock in those wins, because that's how confidence lasts.So I'm gonna encourage you today, celebrate one win, tie it to one sustaining habit, because you're not just experiencing a moment of change, you're building a lifetime of confidence in Christ. And I love what John Maxwell said. Small disciplines repeated with consistency every day lead to great achievements gained slowly over time.That's what it's all about. Those small disciplines repeated day in and day out, they lead to achievements gained over time.And right now, if this show is helping you, if our series or the last series you went through, whatever those things are, if they're helping you, I'm going to encourage you right now. Share it with a friend. Maybe, you know, somebody that's struggling financially, you know, they're in the dark, they're really battling these things.You might very well be the very encouragement that keeps them going. Just send them to our website. You can send them to confident.You can send them to financiallyconfidentchristian.com and listen, while you're there, I want to give you something for free. There are no strings attached to this. I just finished writing my third book. It's called how to Become a Financially Confident Christian.And it's yours absolutely free.You can download it right on the website because I want more people to experience the peace and the joy and the true communion with the Lord that they can gain by being a financially confident Christian. Just go to our website. That's FinanciallyConfidentChristian.com/becoming again. That's FinanciallyconfidentChristian.com/becoming.And go download my book. You're going to love it. It was a passion of mine. And I really going to be impactful for you today.Now, tomorrow on the show, we're going to talk about your secret weapon against losing motivation. So many of us battle this fear of losing motivation. So I'm going to encourage you, don't miss tomorrow's show.And I want to remind you right now, you can do this. I believe in you, believe in yourself. And more importantly than any of those things, God believes in you.He wants to see you be a financially confident Christian. So I'm encouraging right now, stay financially savvy. God bless you. And you Have a great day today.