On the Honesty Muscle and Financial Boot Camp

Lisa Nichols, in No Matter What, refers to the honesty muscle as a critical component of moving forward in our lives. To get to where we really want to be, we have to know where we are; we have to be honest with ourselves. When it comes to our finances, this can be extremely challenging on many levels. To know where we truly are means that we have to discuss money, a very private, personal, and sometimes painful subject. Where exactly do we do that?

A success of Financial Boot Camp is that it gives people a forum where they get to - and have to - talk about their own money. In the first few sessions, it’s a challenge to convince the group that its not only ok to talk about their own money, but also to ask each other direct questions. We’re raised in a society that frowns on open discussions about money, yet we’re expected to know how to manage it. In the Boot Camp group we’re working with now, honesty has appeared in a number of ways:
 

• Some have been honest with themselves and the group that they really don’t like how they are earning money;
   
• Some have been honest with themselves and the group that how they have invested money makes them unhappy and discontent; and
   
• Some have been honest about their lack of clarity with their monthly spending.

Some of the group, if they had listened to their own little voices, knew these things before Boot Camp. With some, you could see the light bulb of honesty and realization come on right before our very eyes. To get to where we really want to be, we have to know where we are; we have to be honest with ourselves, and sometimes others. Each one of the Boot Camp group has used that honesty to make movement in their lives, movement toward where they really want to be.

-Stacey Powell