258 | Be Willing to Be Wrong

What if you’re wrong?

If you believe there’s nothing you can do to change your finances, you’ll never even try to do anything to change your finances.

Sometimes that kind of thinking is the only thing holding us back from the results we want.

In this episode, let’s talk about how a willingness to be wrong can be the key to unlocking new possibilities and achieving your goals.

• • the mindset of seeing the negative in advice you receive
  • learning from people who have done what you want to do
  • being willing to be wrong about your perspective of your situation

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You’re listening to Personal Finance for Lawyers. I’m Rho Thomas, and as a busy wife, mom, and former Biglaw associate, I know all too well the tension between the culture of the legal profession and pretty much everything else you want to do in life. That’s why each week, I’m bringing you the information and tools you need to improve your money mindset and manage your money to create true wealth. Because ultimately, it’s not about the money. It’s about the freedom and flexibility the money affords.

Hey, friend. Welcome back.

Today we are talking about being wrong.

Do you know those people who ask for help or have some sort of situation, but everything you suggest, they have a reason for why it’s not going to work for them? Like some people can see the negative in every positive, and I see it like I encounter these types of people a lot in the work that I do. Like these lawyers who are so committed to their story of struggle and everything is happening to me and nothing is going to work and I have no control.

That is a mindset issue and there’s nothing anyone can do to help someone like that. Like that’s something that that person has to work on on their own.

But I thought that I would share a few thoughts for you so that you don’t fall into this same mindset trap.

So as you’re listening to my podcast or you’re learning something new or you’re seeking help from someone, I encourage you to have an open mind about what you’re hearing. Don’t be so quick to think that’s not going to work for me and just dismiss the information. Be willing to be wrong. Because if the person you’re listening to has achieved something that you want, and you haven’t been able to do it yet, then there’s something they know that you don’t know.

But if you want to be right and you want to cling to your story about how you have these special circumstances and whatever they’re saying won’t work for you, then you’re going to stay stuck in the same place.

One of my business coaches used to always say you can be right or you can be rich, and what she meant by that was people would come to her talking about these issues that they’re having with their businesses, where their business wasn’t working. And as she’s telling them how to make the business work, how to fix the issue, they’re giving her all of these reasons why what she’s saying is not going to work.

They’re arguing with her about why they are going to stay stuck in this position like they hold on to that mindset and they stay stuck in the same place. And so her point was, you can be right about what you’re saying, that this isn’t going to work. That it’s not going to work, whatever, or you can take the advice that I’m giving you and fix the issue and get your business working again.

As a lawyer who has overcome my own struggles with money and who has helped hundreds of other lawyers with theirs, there’s not too much I haven’t seen. Like most people get on calls with me and they think that they have the worst financial situation, and none of it is nearly as bad as they think it is.

Because of my experience and also just by virtue of being an objective third party who’s not tied up in the situation and all the emotion of it, I’m typically able to see things that the lawyer on the other side who’s experiencing the situation can’t. But you can’t see it if you’re convinced that nothing will work for you from the outset. You’re convinced that your situation is different, that you have this super special circumstance that makes you different from everybody else, and so the things that whoever is telling you aren’t going to work for you.

That is being more committed to your perceived limitations than to the growth you want to experience or the results you want to achieve. All of the things that you think about yourself are in your head.

We put these limitations on ourselves. And another coach said something to the effect of your insecurity is not reality. Like, the things that you believe about yourself about your situation are not necessarily objective fact.

So my advice to you is to be willing to be wrong, because if you’re right and your situation is so special and nothing anyone suggests will work, then there’s nothing you can do. You’re just stuck in the situation you’re in. There’s no point in you seeking help because none of it’s going to work anyway.

That mindset will keep you stuck in the situation you’re in, which is perfectly fine if that’s what you want. But as I’ve said in the past, then let yourself off the hook. Don’t keep beating yourself up over something you don’t actually want in the first place.

If you want to be right, then be right and stay stuck in your situation, and stop telling yourself it should be different. But if you’re willing to be wrong. You can explore how what this person is saying is true, how what this advice that you’re reading can help you, how you can change your situation. Be willing to be wrong because wanting to be right when you already don’t have the results you want does you no good. It just keeps you stuck in the same.

Alright. So that is it for this week’s episode. Please take a second and share this episode with a friend or two who you think could use this information.

Sharing is how this podcast grows, and I greatly appreciate your support and helping me get this information in as many lawyer’s hands as possible.

As we close out friend, I pray that you take the information you learn here, apply it in your life, and open up to the realization that wealth is available to you. As you do that consistently, week after week, you’ll continue to take steps to take back control of your time, build wealth, and live the life of freedom and choice you deserve. Talk to you later.