Book Review: ‘Overcoming UnderEarning’ Part 11
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I just finished reading and reviewing a book by Barbara Stanny called ‘Overcoming UnderEarning’! I learned a lot from it and I hope you found my reviews helpful also! A guide to the whole set of reviews is here.
The last chapter was called ‘Putting it all Together’ and focussed on one particular person’s story.
What I’m going to do with this post is review my reviews of the other chapters and highlight my favorite parts – as well as the parts that I want to keep in mind best I can to help my own situation:
“replace a bake-sale mentality with a grander vision”
one common trait of underearners is “a high tolerance for low pay”
“the key to upping your earnings is rarely working longer hours …”
“high earners ‘think’ differently which results in different choices and outcomes. And some of the inner voices that tend to hold us back like “you do not have what it takes”.
“The Most Important Financial Advice You’ll Ever Get”. And the answer is:
You’ve got to be willing to be uncomfortable.
“underearning can no longer be an option, keep your commitments, don’t let yourself get derailed, do what you dread.
“… if you don’t do what you say you are going to, it chips away at your self-esteem
“Not one of us will ever make more money until we explicitly decide that’s what we want to do. I saw this with every six-figure woman I spoke to.”
“you’re willing to walk through fire to make it happen.”
“Making a decision means slamming shut all the doors to other options, blocking off the exits, and, no matter what happens, keep moving toward your destination because anything else is unacceptable.”
“You need to be stubborn about the results you’re going for, but very flexible on how you get there.”
“Resistance emerges as soon as you enter the Discomfort Zone, the space between where you are now and where you want to be”. Barbara then lists 12 signs of being in resistance. I won’t list them all here, just the ones that stood out to me:
- You’re scared into inaction
– You fog up, space out
– You feel paralyzed
– You find reason not to act
“Whenever you decide to do something different … the desired result always lies just beyond reach, in the Discomfort Zone.”
“Your biggest barrier is fear.”
“There’s no escaping the Discomfort Zone.”
“From this day forward, find ways to stretch on a regular basis.”
“Create Community
4 kinds of supporters: True Believers, Confidantes, Way Showers (role models) and Messengers1) Realize no one will do this for me, but I don’t have to do it alone.
2) Reach out, ask for support.
3) Hang out with the kind of people you want to be, not who you’ve been.
you need to shift your mindset from whatever it is now to that of a wealth builder.
“Think big. Act small. And never, ever stop until you attain your goal, no matter what.”
5 steps:
1) Tell the truth about what’s not working, and what is.
2) Make a firm decision about what you truly want.
3) Look for opportunities to stretch by doing what you think you can’t do.
4) Surround yourself with a supportive community.
5) Respect and appreciate money by taking good care of it.
Throughout the book Barbara had inspirational quotes here and there – these were my favorite ones:
“Thoughts become words. Words become actions. Actions become habits. Habits become character. Character becomes destiny.”
— unknown
“Life is not about finding yourself.
Life is about creating yourself.”– George Bernard Shaw
“The truth is the only safe ground to stand on.”
“The question I ask every day is the same it’s always been. How much further can I stretch to reach my fullest potential.”
— Oprah Winfrey
“If you grow your money so you have more than you need, that’s wealth. If you use your money to make a difference, that’s power.”
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Related Posts:
- Overcoming Underearning: Book Review Part 10
- Overcoming Underearning: Book Review Part 7
- Overcoming Underearning: Book Review Part 6
July 17, 2008
Overcoming Underearning: Book Review Part 10
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[I just realized I wrote this post last week and saved it but forgot to publish it.]
This week I’ve read Chapter 9 of ‘Overcoming UnderEarning’ by Barbara Stanny.
This chapter starts section 3 and is the second last chapter of the book.
“Your Game Plan”
“Think big. Act small. And never, ever stop until you attain your goal, no matter what.”
Barbara reminds us that overcoming underearning is a gradual, long term process that involves following her 5 steps:
1) Tell the truth about what’s not working, and what is.
2) Make a firm decision about what you truly want.
3) Look for opportunities to stretch by doing what you think you can’t do.
4) Surround yourself with a supportive community.
5) Respect and appreciate money by taking good care of it.
The Overcoming Underearning Promise
Small steps consistently taken lead to remarkable results.
She also suggests a plan to help you get in the habit of respecting money:
1) Every day, read something about money.
2) Every week, have a conversation about money.
3) Every month, save.
Next are some exercises where you write out your earnings goal, list your next steps, write a contract with yourself and a couple more.
Next time – Chapter 10 – the last of the book.
Time for my favorite quote from this chapter:
“Thoughts become words. Words become actions. Actions become habits. Habits become character. Character becomes destiny.”
— unknown
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Related Posts:
- Book Review: ‘Overcoming UnderEarning’ Part 11
- Overcoming Underearning: Book Review Part 9
- Book Review: ‘Overcoming UnderEarning’
July 10, 2008
Overcoming Underearning: Book Review Part 9
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This week I’ve read Chapter 8 of ‘Overcoming UnderEarning’ by Barbara Stanny.
In this chapter Barbara goes through step 5 of the 5 steps to make you a ‘doer’.
Step 5: Respect and Appreciate Money
The name of this step pretty much describes what this chapter is about. Now, personally, I don’t have a problem with taking care of the money I have, my problem is figuring out how to make more of it. But given the rate of savings in the U.S. and how much the average person is in debt, this chapter is probably pretty valuable to a lot of people out there.
“If you want it to last, you’ve got to take care of it.”
Barbara says that she met many people while researching this book and that “the ones with the highest net worth were not necessarily the ones who made the most money“.
Next she lists the Four Rules of Money:
1) Spend less
2) Save more
3) Invest wisely
4) Give generously
She also discusses how you need to shift your mindset from whatever it is now to that of a wealth builder.
From my own experience I can say that, yes, at times it was difficult to go without something I wanted – but I keep a close eye on my savings account. And it felt really, really, good to see that number get bigger and bigger over time. Sure, it takes a while. You have to be patient. If you can only save a little bit each month it takes a while, but it does all add up. And once I had a decent amount saved I was able to think about actually investing some in mutual funds. I ended up buying the ‘Mutual Funds for Dummies’ book and that really helped me a lot to understand what I needed to do.
Anyway, back to the book:
This chapter includes a 2 part exercise also:
Part 1: Track your Spending
Part 2: Spending Review
These are really important. I used to keep a notebook where I would write down everything I bought, all my expenses, etc. And see where I could cut back so I could save as much as possible.
Barbara is really giving some good advice in this chapter – do what she says and in a few years you will be very happy that you did!
Next time – Chapter 9.
Time for my favorite quote from this chapter:
“My advice to you is if you can’t afford it, don’t buy it.”
— Warren Buffett
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Related Posts:
- Overcoming Underearning: Book Review Part 10
- Book Review: ‘Overcoming UnderEarning’
- Overcoming Underearning: Book Review Part 7
June 26, 2008
Overcoming Underearning: Book Review Part 8
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This week I’ve read Chapter 7 of ‘Overcoming UnderEarning’ by Barbara Stanny.
In this chapter Barbara goes through step 4 of the 5 steps to make you a ‘doer’.
Step 4: Create Community
Barbara explains how there were some people she worked with who worked really hard to get ahead, but still weren’t. She calls them the ‘Doers Who Didn’t’. She realized that it is important to interact with people who were supportive. And that ‘underearners either operate in isolation or gravitate to people like themselves’. (I think this is a key thing for me – I’m pretty isolated.)
She then goes on to list the 4 kinds of supporters: True Believers, Confidantes, Way Showers (role models) and Messengers. She has an exercise where you are supposed to list all the people in your life in those 4 categories and also the naysayers. I didn’t have many people to list in those first 4 categories. Although the Way Showers don’t have to be people you’ve actually met or who know you, so I could think of some people to add there.
Barbara then goes through 6 principles to create a powerful community:
1) Realize no one will do this for me, but I don’t have to do it alone.
2) Reach out, ask for support.
3) Hang out with the kind of people you want to be, not who you’ve been. (But how do you find these people or even get them to give you the time of day when you do?)
4) Recognize the role of the naysayer.
5) Watch what you talk about.
6) Respect yourself by taking time for you.
In general this whole idea of creating a community sounds a lot like what you need to do to have a successful web site or blog. And is something I’ve been working on. It doesn’t come easy for me – I’ve pretty much always worked in isolation.
Next time – Chapter 8.
Time for my favorite quote from this chapter:
“Apologizing for unintentional, low-profile, non egregious errors erodes our self-confidence and, in turn, the confidence others have in us.”
— Lois Frankel, author of Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office
Sorry this weeks review is kind of short – uh oh – I’m apologizing for an unintentional, low-profile, non egregious error! You’re not going to lose confidence in me are you?
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Related Posts:
- Overcoming Underearning: Book Review Part 10
- Overcoming Underearning: Book Review Part 7
- Overcoming Underearning: Book Review Part 9
June 19, 2008
Overcoming Underearning: Book Review Part 7
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This week I’ve read Chapter 6 of ‘Overcoming UnderEarning’ by Barbara Stanny. (I’m a little sleepy tonight, so this might be a bit brief.)
In this chapter Barbara goes through step 3 of the 5 steps to make you a ‘doer’.
Step 3: Stretch
“Whenever you decide to do something different … the desired result always lies just beyond reach, in the Discomfort Zone.”
I think I know where this is going and its already making me nervous!
“Your biggest barrier is fear.“
Fear has always been my biggest problem with everything.
Barbara says “feel the fear, endure the discomfort, observe the resistance, and go for it anyway”.
I’ve been trying that, but it isn’t always easy.
“There’s no escaping the Discomfort Zone.“
I think you can escape it, but not if you want to be successful.
Next she has a Journal Exercise: “If you were not acting out of fear, what would you do?”
That’s a good question. I need to think on that one a while. Sometimes I imagine what I would do if I were someone else in my situation. Generally, that ‘someone’ else is somebody who isn’t afraid.
“From this day forward, find ways to stretch on a regular basis.”
I need to do that too. Later in the chapter Barbara has a couple more exercises – 1) making a list of what you need to let go of that is holding you back; 2) think of and write down a stretch you want to take but have been afraid to.
That’s three really important things I need to think about from this chapter:
1)What would I do if I wasn’t afraid
2)what do I need to let go of
3)Think of a stretch to try everyday
Next time – Chapter 7.
Time for my favorite quote from this chapter:
“The question I ask every day is the same it’s always been. How much further can I stretch to reach my fullest potential.”
— Oprah Winfrey
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Related Posts:
- Book Review: ‘Overcoming UnderEarning’ Part 11
- Overcoming Underearning: Book Review Part 6
- Overcoming Underearning: Book Review Part 10
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