If you want to be successful in your career, I have a little-known secret for you. It’s not what you do to get ahead; it’s how you think. Through my years of helping women find careers they love and succeed, I have seen many clients really close to getting their careers unstuck, BUT they all have one thing holding them back, their mindset. 

You can’t get your career unstuck if you are not in the right mindset to get your career unstuck. If you take all the actions but don’t work on your mindset, you will not get the success you want.

A few weeks ago, I shared three mindsets you need to attract the job you want. Today, I want to share with you the five money mindsets you need for career success.  You may not realize it but your career success and how you think about money are very closely intertwined. Once I was able to get my money under control, I had so much more flexibility to be able to pursue a career I loved. I truly believe that your financial decisions and priorities directly affect your career. These mindsets are crucial so start thinking them today!

5 Money Mindsets You Need For Career Success

Mindset #1: You Are Self-Employed (Even If You Aren’t)

“To take control of your career is to view yourself as self-employed.  See yourself as CEO of a company with one employee: yourself.  See yourself as 100% responsible for your life and for everything that happens to you. –Brian Tracy

When you put yourself as the CEO of your own career, you don’t count on anyone else but yourself to get ahead. This is crucial. You can’t count on your manager to create your personal development plan. You can’t count on HR to make sure you get the salary you deserve or to make sure that you are continuously learning and growing in your field.

To earn more, you must learn more. You are in charge of your career success and career growth. You can’t rely on anyone else to manage your career for you.

Mindset #2: You Are Worth Your Dream Salary

What is your dream salary? Pick a number. The sky is the limit. If you don’t have a number in your mind of how much you want to earn, you will just continue to get small raises. Think about what you want before you think about whether it is even a reality. In the long run, you determine how much you get paid and everything that happens to you. Don’t doubt yourself.

After you figure out what you want to make, find out what the people earning the money you want are doing differently than you right now. How can you increase the value of the service you bring to a company?

Get clear and focused on what you want to attract. Thoughts attract things. The more clear you are, the quicker it appears. Imagine your dream salary being put into your checking account each pay period. Put things in writing. Write down what it is and look at your goals every day. Put yourself in the moment of feeling what it would be like when you receive that dream salary. How great does that feel?

Mindset #3: Debt Is Your Enemy

Pay off your debt now so you can have control of your career. Without debt controlling your life, you can make life and career decisions that really make you happy.  You have nothing hanging over your head nor do you have student loan, credit card and car loan bills piling up to pay.  You have savings available for emergencies, and you aren’t living paycheck-to-paycheck wondering if you will ever have the life and career you dreamed of.

Not having to worry about debt allows your mind to open up so that you can really think about what makes you happy and what you really want to do with your life. That is exactly what happened to me.

My husband and I got out of debt in April ’12. I untrapped myself from my debt and other options came flooding into my life that I could take because I was no longer drowning in debt. If you need to pay bills and students loans, you may continue working at a job that you may not enjoy just because you have to pay those bills. Which is fine! But, set a goal to pay off your debt in the next year or two and then move on to something that makes you happier!

Get yourself out of the debt that is clouding your professional future and instead find areas that you will succeed at even more because you are passionate about them. There are so many things you can do if you aren’t worried about paying off your debt. You could travel, start a business, or take a 50% pay cut to explore and evaluate your professional future like I did. You aren’t trapped. Plan your work around your life, not your life around your work.

Mindset #4: You Love Giving

I tithe 10% of my income to the people, places, or institutions who have fed me spiritually. They’ve inspired me and helped me to remember who I am. Keep your focus on giving. Don’t give with the expectation of getting.

Enjoy how good it feels to focus on what inspires you. Give and let go!

Mindset #5: Everything is Negotiable

A person who accepts a $40,000 starting offer for an entry-level job isn’t just making $7,000 less than a colleague who negotiated a $47,000 starting salary. The person who negotiated stands to make hundreds of thousands of dollars more during her lifetime—and that’s before retirement is taken into account.

Whether it is a raise, a promotion, or a discount on a training course or business proposal, always try to negotiate because you never know what you might get!

What do you think? How do you make sure you have the right money mindsets for success?