Nothing regulates your nervous system like financial stability.

You cannot out-hustle a dysregulated nervous system.

Not having enough money is a mental illness.

It’s time we call it what it is, because until we do, it’s a problem that won’t get solved for many people. And that’s a f*cking tragedy.

The title of this essay is a direct quote from Juliete Mirella. She suggests that when you have financial stability, it regulates your nervous system. It’s a bold claim that’ll probably piss a lot of people off.

Let’s dissect how money relates to your mental health, so you can finally break through and get closer to your version of wealth.

Money problems are a mental illness

What stops you from making more money is your psychology, not your skills and experience. This is an idea a lot of people haven’t figured out yet.

They get distracted with earning more credentials, consuming more information, begging for promotions, looking for passive income opportunities, or believing all they need is the right business idea.

These are all shiny objects.

If you’re not at your ideal income goal, then to get to that next level, it’s entirely psychological. This isn’t obvious. It’s probably the last solution people try (if at all).

My money problems almost ruined me. I didn’t have enough money and it led me to a minimum wage job I hated. When I paired depression with financial stress, I ended up with a type of mental illness that almost became inescapable.

Honestly, I didn’t want to live anymore at that point.

Fixing my financial psychology became a big goal. I eventually did it but it took longer than I expected. I wish I had known what I’m about to share with you.

How money bizarrely affects your nervous system

Therapist Dani Green says money itself doesn’t regulate the nervous system.

The antidote is to reduce chronic uncertainty. And when you have financial stability that’s one of the main ways to create that sense of safety.

Too many people obsess over getting rich. Instead, they should obsess over gaining financial stability first. The sad part is the modern job has very little safety because regular layoffs are now a core part of how corporations run.

This is why the new economy of creators and solopreneurs has gained so much traction. It’s not the money that made this trend explode, it’s the sense of safety.

Entrepreneurship makes you self-sufficient. You hunt and eat what you kill. You own the sales, marketing, and delivery. And you also own the upside, which is how you escape being chronically underpaid the way you are in the typical job.

When someone goes from sucking the corporate teat for milk money and moves over to creating their own income streams, the real change isn’t just financial. It’s psychological. I love to say that entrepreneurship is just extreme self-improvement in disguise. That process rewires your brain.

When your self-created income streams eventually are your only income streams, it regulates your nervous system and helps you have more certainty. Modern freedom is having a sense of safety which the traditional system can no longer deliver.

Unpopular opinion: working a 9-5 job is extremely bad for your mental health.

Yep, throw things at me. You’re probably mad I said this.

But deep down we all know it’s true. Being told what to do, having little agency, working as a cog in a giant machine, being underpaid, the threat of constant layoffs, extreme disruption from AI – these are leading to a 9-5 mental health crisis.

As the economy gets more desperate, the average job becomes a Hunger Games match to the death. Few get ahead so everyone just throws each other under the bus and behaves badly as a last-ditch attempt to make more money or get promoted – or worse, save their mediocre job from extinction.

This is what I see in my inbox every day. People just pissed off at the mental health issue that is their pain in the ass career.

The days of 40 years at the same job, and sucking up to some boss so you get one of the “jobs for the boys” are over.

Business has never been more transparent and efficient. AI can see the gaps, present better data, and often make better decisions than biased humans who will favor their mate.

As the global workforce continues to experience this modern-day mental health crisis, the world will self-correct. People will choose careers and businesses that stabilize their nervous system, instead of pinging their brain to death with a bunch of urgent emails that aren’t urgent at all.

Peace of mind is the new luxury.

More money equals more time

A lack of time is the real crisis right now.

Everyone is busy and doesn’t know why. The promise of technology was that we’d work less, yet everyone I talk to is working 3x more. A lack of time is a real problem. You only have so many hours in the day and when you don’t have enough free time, it becomes a mental illness too.

You have to make sacrifices like not attending your kid’s sports activities. It eats you up inside. Time passes faster than it normally would. Your nervous system feels unstable and you don’t know why.

A big part of the solution is money.

When you have more money you can buy back time. You can pay people to do things that save you time. You can make decisions without obsessing over how much money they cost. You can take weeks, months, or years off income-producing work.

Money gives you options.

Few people talk about that. People would rather show the material possessions they can buy with money instead of the positive psychology investments you can make that most people can’t see.

You can’t think straight when you haven’t figured out the money problem

A guy I worked with last year is a good example.

Right before we met his wife divorced him. Then he lost his home and had to sleep in his car in the middle of San Francisco. I was trying to help him figure out his product idea. Problem was the money issues had become so big he couldn’t think straight.

The conversations about product I had with him were nice to have. He had nowhere to shower and couldn’t afford food. Until he solved the money problem nothing else mattered. And he couldn’t focus or feel any level of calmness.

Most people aren’t sleeping in a car. But the psychological state isn’t as far away as they think. Society loves to say money is evil or to gaslight people into ignoring the money problem.

Instead of solving the money problem, we’re taught to eat the rich and fling poo at trillionaires and billionaires. That robs us of our personal power.

When you solve the basics of financial security, and later, financial freedom, you can suddenly think clearly. You have the bandwidth to zoom out, consume some stoic philosophy, and come up with new ideas in a more relaxed environment.

Your best thinking happens when you’ve solved the money equation, not before. This is when your creativity & imagination come alive and you do the best work of your life.

“Money doesn’t make you happy.”

No sh*t.

This is how some people will respond to this essay in the comments. They’ll think they’re Harvard-smart and expect a round of applause. So let me address it.

Money doesn’t make you happy, of course. At the same time, without money you can’t function in society and have your basic needs met.

So money doesn’t make you happy, but without money you are guaranteed to become unhappy because you’ll get stuck on a hamster wheel working a job you hate and having very little free time. Those downsides guarantee your life contains no pleasure.

Reframe: you’ll be unhappy if money is a problem.

So which comes first? Neither. It’s a loop. Financial stress hijacks the brain that would otherwise solve the financial problem.

That’s why willpower doesn’t work here — you can’t out-hustle a dysregulated nervous system. You have to break the loop at the psychological end, because that’s the only end you have leverage on today.

Here’s how to reprogram your money brain

This is controversial to say, but I believe generating any form of wealth is entirely a mental game. If you think like sh*t there’s no way you’ll ever generate any real money, unless you have access to a trust fund or daddy is rich.

Once you master your mind you can literally do anything in life, including making however much money you want to make.

It’s called limitless thinking.

You only see opportunities instead of problems. And you’re stupid enough to believe you’ll find a way to access those opportunities and profit off them.

These are the basic steps to reprogram your money mind:

1. If you tell yourself you’re going to always be poor, you’re going to always be poor.

What you speak in your head becomes your reality.

The financial blocker doesn’t start with ideas of how to make money. It starts with whether you’re telling yourself making more money is even possible. Most of us don’t want to admit it, but we have this quiet voice in our head that sabotages every opportunity to make money.

It tells us we’re not good enough, or people will laugh, or we’re being cringe or salesy… and it’s entirely full of sh*t. If you don’t recognize this beast and silence it, financial opportunities will be dead before you’ve even started.

Making real money is a series of experiments. Some will fail, some will cause you to be rejected, and some may even attract massive laughter (perhaps like this essay will for me). But never trying is a form of financial repression.

Ignore the voice in your head that says you’re not enough. Replace it with the voice of “I’m trying stuff out and whatever happens, happens, amigo.”

2. Let the evidence make your financial future undeniable

Your brain looks for evidence to help form stories.

Most people try to think their way to their ideal financial future through plans, supposed business strategies, income stream ideas, and drowning in information.

This approach gets you nowhere.

Through neuroplasticity and brain science there’s another way. S.M. brain coach explains:

Repetition is how your mind learns. Not motivation. Not inspiration. Repetition. Do something consistently, and your subconscious accepts it as truth. That’s how you reprogram.

So… in simple terms you must prove you can make more money. Evidence creates more confidence. It’s why focusing on landing one client or making your first $1000 online is way smarter than having grand plans that involve no action.

When I made $70K a month outside of my job, it became undeniable that I could be an entrepreneur, even though I didn’t believe it in my own mind.

3. Remove this hidden blocker

I remember working with this guy who had 2M Youtube subscribers for his music reactions channel and he couldn’t even make $1000 a month. I wanted to help him. He wanted me to help him.

But I couldn’t help him.

I damn well tried, but this guy had a massive ego and wouldn’t get out of his own way. He was entitled, didn’t listen to feedback, and refused to change his business model to sell something that actually solved a real problem.

He thought he was famous when the truth was his channel was dying and most of his Youtube views were the result of other people’s music. If you let your ego run your financial life, you won’t change.

You’ll hold onto the past, and you’ll think you’re too good to do hard things. You’ll expect people to pay you without doing anything helpful for them in return. And you’ll rely on stupid business models like ad revenue share that you have no control over and are designed to pay you pennies.

The wealthiest people are the most humble about their financial life. You must be too.

4. Dare to explore this dark part of your psyche

Limiting beliefs are the real financial poison in your mind.

Problem is it’s hard to see your limiting beliefs. You don’t want to admit them, or you will make up excuses. Worse, you’ll blame friends, family, your country, or your upbringing for these limitations.

A little exercise I’ve done many times helps you see your financial limiting beliefs. Ask yourself these 3 questions and write detailed answers down in a blank google doc:

• What do I believe about money? (Hold nothing back)

• What if I believed something different? (Dare to dream)

• Hardest question: What would I have to believe to be wealthy? (Imagine someone has a gun to your head and you must speak the truth)

In question one, assuming you don’t BS yourself, you’ll quickly see your money beliefs. The trick is to compare those beliefs to financially successful people you look up to. Notice the gap? It’s uncomfortable when you do but that’s the opportunity.

When I did this exercise I noticed I would drive 30 minutes to buy cheaper gasoline for my car when people I looked up to would never dare do that because their time was too valuable. I felt stupid at the time, but I also felt empowered.

What you believe about money determines your financial future.

What this all means for you

You can’t be happy or enjoy life without mastering money.

The spiritual gurus and the romantic artists will have you think otherwise, but they’re lying. Basic human psychology is not worth arguing with.

A stable nervous system needs a stable income that is large enough to give you free time, create some savings, and allow you to invest in assets and your own self-education. Anything less is an unnecessary tragedy.

You cannot escape financial problems with the scarcity mindset that created them, or by trying to cut expenses and save money

The answer to money problems is 1) Reprogram your brain 2) Then make more money.

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P.S.

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