The way to achieve (or move toward) “money harmony” involvesn “practicing the nonhabitual” or “being where you ain’t” or “doing what doesn’t come naturally.” Many of the most worthwhile changes in life involve practicing the nonhabitual. This leads to increased self-love and self-respect, more intimacy, more flexibility, and more choice .

So how does each money type practice the nonhabitual?

Hoarders need to learn to spend money on themselves and their loved ones more as a matter of course, without having an anxiety attack or an attack of self-loathing.

Spenders need to learn to “hoard”-to delay gratification for deeper fulfillment of their longer-term goals. For them, getting out of debt and making their money start to work for them is part of practicing the nonhabitual.

Money avoiders need to take on tasks they usually avoid, one task at a time-once a week, or once a month, or once a day-it depends on what task we’re talking about. Worriers need to give up worrying more of the time, but how do you get a worrier to stop worrying? Having them write down their worries once a day at least, at the hour when they tend to worry most, and give up worrying for the rest of the day, is a good way to start. They should write down not only their worries, but how they will cope if their worst-case scenario happens. Living through their fears like this helps them worry less over time and feel more confident.

Money monks need to focus on the positive aspects of money and find examples of folks who defy their prejudice-people who both enjoy their money and live out their deeper values, without being too personally greedy or ostentatious.

Money amassers need to spend some down time not focusing on amassing their money, but enjoying other aspects of their lives, which are not money-centered.

Risk-takers need to take fewer risks, and risk-avoiders need to take more. For these types, as with hoarders and spenders, they live in opposite universes, and practicing the nonhabitual will feel horribly uncomfortable at first. But if you hang in there, the rewards will be wonderful and will exceed whatever you imagined in terms of flexibility, self-respect, and even intimacy.

Understanding your own money type will give you more self-acceptance and more creativity as you design tasks of practicing the nonhabitual for yourself. If you do them, you should reward yourself, but not by taking actions that compromise your progress. In other words: Spenders you can’t spend a lot of money on a reward, and hoarders, you can’t hide more money under the mattress as your reward.

Finally, if you write down or speak into a tape recorder how you feel about your new actions and attitudes, you’ll track your progress and your resistance, and experience the benefits more fully.

Go!

Keep the concept of doing money your way in mind as you continue reading about how to reduce your debt and increase your cash. As you read, formulate in your mind how you might accomplish it in a style that is authentic to you.

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