Read Time: 4-minutes
Happy Saturday,
Here is this week’s edition of 6-Point Saturday — financial insights to help you make smarter money decisions.
Table of Contents*
*Clickable in the online version.
Point #1 — Your Money & the Art of Improvement
Josh Waitzkin became a chess grandmaster as a child, then walked away from the game to become a world champion in Tai Chi Push Hands. Then wrote The Art of Learning (unaffiliated) to explain how he did it.
What he told entrepreneur Mackenzie Burnett over dinner about changing your default behaviors is something you can use to improve your finances.
“After a dinner with a group that included Josh Waitzkin, Mackenzie Burnett got to talking with Josh about some of the ideas in his book, The Art of Learning.
At one point, he asked Mackenzie if there was anything she was trying to get better at in her professional life.
The cofounder and CEO of Ambrook, Mackenzie said she was ‘trying to experiment with being more aggressive in how I make decisions, rather than primarily staying in my default of being observant and methodical.’
The best and fastest way to cultivate aggressiveness in your professional life, Waitzkin told her, is to ‘try being more aggressive in all areas of your life, not just at work.’
Mackenzie is an amateur boxer, and at the time of the conversation with Waitzkin, she was studying poker. ‘If you practice being more aggressive when boxing and playing poker,’ Waitzkin said, ‘it will transfer over to your work.’
Just as her non-aggressive approach at work had been transferring over to the rest of her life—’in boxing, my sparring style tended to be more technical and defensive,’ Mackenzie said.
‘And in poker I tended to like to try to read people first before making aggressive moves. So my default style at work was carrying over into all these different mediums.’
Then when she started experimenting with being more aggressive in the ring and at the poker table, ‘I slowly started noticing myself being a little more aggressive at work too. And some of the best decisions I made last year at work’ came from that carryover.”
Your default tendencies in one area of your life can easily spill over into others.
Research backs this up, too. Studies show that increased self-efficacy (your belief in whether you can do something) from one task can carry over into others.
It’s not unlike the training Mr. Miyagi put Daniel through in Karate Kid…
The skills and traits Daniel learned and developed while waxing cars, sanding floors, and painting fences paid dividends in his karate.
You can do the same thing with challenging areas of your finances, too. Whether you’re trying to:
Aggressively pay off credit card debt.
Be more mindful of impulsive spending
Develop systems to reduce the need to rely on discipline
Experimenting in your low-stakes environments (e.g., your hobbies) can build these “muscles.”
So, let’s look at the 3 steps to do this. Your own “Wax On, Wax Off” gameplan to improve the habits and mindsets behind your finances.
Point #2 — The 3 Steps to Stop Avoiding Your Finances
The counterintuitive move: don't start with your finances.
If money feels heavy and overwhelming, going straight at it is often the hardest possible entry point. As Waitzkin suggested above, a better move can be “building the muscle” in another area of your life first, somewhere with lower stakes.
Here's how to do it in three steps:
Step 1: Identify where you're being passive with money right now. Get specific. For example, "I haven't looked closely at my credit card balance in three months." Or, "I keep saying I'll set up automatic savings and haven't."
Step 2: Pick one area of your life this week where you can practice being more aggressive. Something that doesn't carry the same type of dread. You can push harder in a workout. Make a decision at work you've been sitting on. Or negotiate something small.
Step 3: Notice how it feels, then bring that same energy to one financial behavior the following week. Just one. Call the credit card company. Set up that automatic transfer. Open the account you've been avoiding. You’ve already proven you have what it takes to succeed.
Your Move: So, what’s one area of your finances you want to get aggressive with? What’s your favorite hobby or activity you can start practicing this in?
Point #3 — “Avoided Bank Account like it was Haunted”
"I used to avoid looking at my bank account like it was haunted. Budgeting felt restrictive, like a punishment. But a few months ago, I gave it a real shot, nothing fancy, just tracking what comes in, what goes out, and where it all actually goes.
And wow… it’s not about limiting myself. It’s about giving every dollar a job.
I still have fun. I still get coffee. But now I plan for it. And for the first time in forever, I don’t feel like I’m drowning by payday.”
Stories like this are the ultimate goal: moving from a budget that feels “restrictive” to a spending plan that is empowering. This person went straight at it, and it worked. That's one valid path.
But if staring down your spending right now feels like too much, start somewhere with less emotional baggage. An easy example you're probably already partially doing: tracking your steps or other health metrics.
If you have an Apple Watch, a Whoop, or a Fitbit, your wearable is already counting the steps. You just need to check in with your data. Look at your numbers without judgment. Notice patterns. Find what works. Then bring that same habit of awareness to your spending.
Point #4 — The Psychology Behind Avoiding Your Finances
If you've ever avoided opening your banking app, ignored a credit card statement, or put off a financial decision you knew you needed to make, your brain may be doing something it’s naturally inclined to do.
Psychologists often describe this as avoiding anticipated discomfort or “pain,” and when you consider it within the context of money, the research is pretty revealing (and fascinating!).
Research involving behavioral economist Drazen Prelec and colleagues suggests that the prospect of paying, especially high or unwelcome prices, can activate brain regions (like the anterior insula) that are also involved in processing physical pain and other negative emotions.
And Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky’s work on loss aversion shows that, in many contexts, people experience losses as roughly twice as impactful psychologically as equally sized gains, even though the exact ratio can vary.
Taken together, this helps explain why many people are tempted to avoid looking at their finances: when you open that app, your brain may anticipate negative feelings, so it subtly nudges you to do something else instead.
This is also why the “Wax On, Wax Off” approach in Point 2 can be helpful: practicing a similar habit in a neutral, low‑stress area first can build your confidence, which you can then transfer to handling your finances where the emotional stakes feel higher.
Point #5 — Quotes of the Week
Which of these quotes resonates most with you?
“Man who catch fly with chopstick accomplish anything.”
“The one who does most to avoid suffering is, in the end, the one who suffers most…”
“Lateral thinking — the ability to take a lesson from one thing and transfer it over — I think is one of the most important disciplines that any of us can cultivate.”
Point #6 — My Question of the Week
Think about something you're genuinely good at (e.g., a sport, a hobby, a skill at work) and enjoy. What would it look like if you brought the same “energy” to your finances?
Reply to let me know! I read every response.
Thanks for reading — I hope you found a helpful idea or two.
I’ll see you next Saturday with more.
Have a great weekend,
Benjamin Daniel, CFP®
Founder, Money Wisdom
P.S. Want to take control of your money, stop stressing about your expenses, & feel confident about your financial future? There are 2 ways I can help you:
Financial Health Check: Get your biggest money questions answered, understand where you stand financially, and get a personalized action plan from a CFP® professional. Book a free Intro Call here to see if you’re a good fit.
Financial Coaching: If you’d like some accountability in getting your finances into shape, engage in financial coaching. Build the habits & systems to help you start building wealth, pay off debt, and feel confident about achieving your goals. Reply to this email and say “Coaching” to join the waitlist.
Disclaimer:
This material is not investment or tax advice. No responsibility for loss occasioned to any person or corporate body acting or refraining to act as a result of reading this material can be accepted by the publisher.
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