I’m not one to say “I don’t know” when I’m talking money. I think I know a lot about money because I have my own self-help book, but that doesn’t mean I’ve reached the right level of self-awareness to really say I know.
As I’m sure you’ve noticed, being “self-aware” may just be overrated. The term was coined in the early 2000s to describe people who were so smart, they could do anything they set their minds to. In that sense, its not that hard. What may be difficult for some is to actually figure out if you want to be self-aware or not. When I started writing my book, I said I was writing it for self-aware people.
There are a few ways you can actually become self-aware. One way is by finding other people who are self-aware. It’s not hard to be aware of your own shortcomings, so you may not have to look beyond them to see if they exist. You can also become self-aware by looking at yourself. If you’re not honest with yourself, you will find it difficult to be self-aware.
You can also become self-aware by becoming aware that you are aware of yourself. If you can admit to yourself that you are aware of yourself, then you can become self-aware.
Some people are so aware of their own shortcomings, they believe they can look beyond their own shortcomings to find the best path forward. That is often seen as arrogant, but it’s not arrogant to admit you have shortcomings. It is arrogant to assume you can look beyond them to your own shortcomings. You can look past your own shortcomings to your own strengths.
The same goes for financial self-awareness. One of the most common mistakes I see is people who claim to have financial self-awareness and then don’t actually do anything about it. They seem convinced that if they just take a long hard look at their own financial situation, they will see how they got into this mess, but it seems they simply don’t want to. As I’ve talked to many people who have a long history of financial self-awareness, that’s a pretty common mistake.
Most people I see who have a long history of financial self-awareness actually have financial awareness in some way. I guess it just takes some time and effort to get there.
People who are self-aware are aware of their own financial problems. They don’t just get a little smarter with time. Most people who are self-aware are actually aware of the fact that they are in a pretty bad financial situation, and they don’t just fall for the “if only I had more money I could pay off my student loans” excuse.
This is a subject that really needs a lot of study and writing on. Myself and many others who are self-aware have realized that we are in a really bad financial situation, and it is not going to get better by just spending a couple million dollars more and taking out a mortgage. A friend of mine is currently in financial crisis. He has a few thousand dollars in his account, but refuses to let me know because he has been so secretive about his finances.
I know this. I have been there too and have experienced it firsthand. My friend has no idea that he has a significant amount of money in his account.
