The world of finances is wide and deep. From building a budget to understanding insurance and everything in between; it can be intimidating. Jumping in all at once can result in a harsh flop followed by a defeated retreat.

Schedule + Show Up

So here’s the first thing you need to do to start caring about your finances: open up your schedule and set aside dedicated finance time each week. Do it. Now. Block it off. Make it recurring.

Start with 30 minutes or if your ability to focus hasn’t totally atrophied from cell phones and social media, schedule an hour of focused finance time.

Block it off and commit. Don’t schedule meetings or drinks or phone calls or anything during that finance time. Make it a time that you can stay committed to. And just show up.

Look at Your Finances

During your first week of scheduled finance time, start slow. Look at your bank accounts and review your transactions; it’s amazing the insight that comes along with just looking at how you spent your money. If you have debt, look at your balances and recent payments. Once again, just being aware is a really great first step.

Reflect

After you’ve done that, I invite you to think about this question and maybe go so far as answering it: what are the things in your financial life that you no longer want to tolerate?

Some examples include, but are not limited to: continuously being underpaid, not having a budget, looking at Instagram to quiet your anxieties about finances and turn up your anxieties about some other bull shit, not knowing how much you save each year, not knowing anything about taxes, not knowing if you could be doing something to protect your family if you aren’t around. Here’s our list if you need help with your list.

Get to Work

Once you have your list, you’ve got your priorities. Everything on your list is either something you can learn about and or something you can work on changing. The list might be long, but at least you’ve already set aside the time to work on it.