The important point is to recognize that these biases exist and they have a profound impact on our ability to make sound decisions with our money. The purpose of engaging in self-talk is to challenge our internal biases and to bring more decisions—especially the important decisions we make—into working memory as opposed to giving agency to our biased, subconscious mind.

Our goal is to make better decisions about what we spend money on so that we can use our money more wisely. As an individual consumer, we want our assessment of value to exceed the price we pay. We want to minimize the likelihood of buyer’s remorse (feelings of regret) by thinking more carefully about the things we buy without tipping over into the spin cycle of analysis paralysis.

Financial success is dependent on making better decisions with our money. Making better money decisions depends on our ability to appropriately assign value to the things we buy. Turning off our mental autopilot tendencies and thinking more consciously about value is a prerequisite to improving our financial position.

We need to apply more effort as a society and as educators to making math more approachable and relevant. Why? Because our businesses and institutions are populated by millions who lack the necessary numeracy skills to be effective in their jobs. They’ve been conditioned to think that math doesn’t matter in the real world when math— the basis for finance and accounting—is literally the language of business!

Financial literacy and success are tightly interrelated—not because success is equated with having a big pile of money (which for some people it is)—but because financial literacy is an enabler for living the life you want to lead. A life in which you can live your purpose and pursue a vision for your future that aligns with a one-size-fits-you definition of success.

You’ve resolved that the skills and characteristics of grit, determination, persistence, perseverance, drive, and resilience are key ingredients to success by any definition of the word.

So what’s next in the list of universal ingredients to success?

Grace, competence, financial literacy, curiosity, effective communication, and good old fashioned showing up!

To recap, you’ve determined that you want to be successful, you’ve done the work on yourself to create an authentic definition of success that aligns with your personal purpose and values, you’ve identified your personal blockers to success and have developed the courage to challenge your internal itty-bitty-$hitty-committee and the expectations of society and your network. So what’s the next ingredient to achieving success?

Grit, Determination, Persistence, Perseverance, Drive, and Resilience

I believe strongly that being grounded in one’s personal purpose leads to a higher probability that intermediate-term vision statements and definitions of success will be more aligned and authentic to who you are at your core—minimizing the likelihood that you’ll adopt other people’s definitions of success. What’s better? Authenticity or superficiality?

The problem was that I didn’t know what was really important to me. I just knew what was important to others. Self-reflection and curiosity about what mattered to me was not encouraged in my youth. Independent, introspective thought was labeled as weakness and was not a “manly pursuit.” The lack of coaching and guidance to determine what mattered to me meant that my IBSC was ripe for undue influence and manipulation. Third-party expectations were driving the bus, not me.

So what’s step one on the road to writing your own, authentic success story? Step one is to work on you. To understand your own needs and desires. To build a one-size-fits-you roadmap for your future. To create a customized vision statement that’s based on the definition of your desired future state.

In lieu of a rah-rah speech about the wins of 2024 and the promise that 2025 hold for us, today’s Muse is focused on the skill of decision-making. Why? Decision-making is one of the most important skills that you can build for personal and professional career success. It is a higher order skill that relies on myriad subskills such as courage, creativity, communication, analysis, problem solving, compassion, self-awareness, situational awareness, financial literacy, business acumen, constructive conflict, teamwork, and the list goes on…

We know that humans are resistant to change. We’re hard wired that way. We also know that change is all around us. If we keep doing the same thing through time, it’s only logical that someone else has figured out a better way to do whatever thing it is we’re doing, and our calcified, habitual way of working is now out of date. What was efficient is now inefficient. This is entropy—with enough time, everything falls apart. What was once good for us is now bad because there is a new best-practice that has overtaken ‘the way things have always been done.’

So yes, habits can be powerful and beneficial. They can also become an anchor to progress and detrimental to career growth. Habits can become the fast pass to a fixed mindset.