I’ve been fascinated by the idea of financial freedom for as long as I can remember. In the early days, I diligently followed every piece of mainstream financial advice: I created a budget and stuck to it, I sliced away frivolous expenses, I invested in index funds, and I even explored side hustles for extra income. But here’s the catch: even as my bank balance improved on paper, I still felt broke. It was as though I was wearing a pair of mental goggles that highlighted every dollar I didn’t have—no matter how much progress I made.
My name is Lachlan Brown, founder of Hack Spirit and Small Business Bonfire. Over the years, I’ve immersed myself in psychology, mindfulness, and self-improvement. What I discovered was simple yet surprising: often, our sense of financial well-being has less to do with our actual bank balance and more to do with our mindset.
The Illusion of “Doing Everything Right”
The first real shocker for me was realizing that you can follow all the right moves—tracking expenses, funneling a chunk of each paycheck into savings, diligently paying down high-interest debt—and still not feel secure. You might look objectively sound on paper, but the nagging feeling of scarcity remains. I remember vividly how I’d cut corners in my day-to-day life: skipping the daily coffee run, diligently curtailing entertainment, yet still feeling like I was on the brink of financial collapse.
Psychologist Daniel Kahneman’s work on “loss aversion” shed some light on why I couldn’t shake this anxiety. Essentially, we feel the pain of losing money more keenly than the pleasure of gaining it. So even if I managed to save up a decent emergency fund, a sudden medical bill or an unexpected car repair would send my brain into panic mode. I was so focused on avoiding losses that any step backward felt cataclysmic—even if it was just a normal hiccup in life.
Unmasking the Scarcity Script
Around this time, I stumbled upon a quote from Carl Jung: “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” That quote resonated with me more than any financial advice I’d received. I began to ask myself: was there an unconscious script running the show? And did this script keep telling me that I was always on the brink of being broke?
Turns out, the answer was yes. My beliefs about money were formed early on in life. I didn’t come from a particularly wealthy background, and I’d seen how stress about finances could shape daily decisions. Even after my own financial situation improved, that old sense of scarcity followed me around like a shadow. I realized that no spreadsheet, no matter how perfectly planned, could override the deep-rooted conviction that “it’ll all fall apart eventually.” If anything, being excessively meticulous about finances only fed my anxiety, reinforcing the belief that money was scarce and needed tight controls.
Discovering Mindfulness and the Power of Awareness
As I continued to expand Hack Spirit’s content on mindfulness, I realized how much mindfulness could help my own relationship with money. Jon Kabat-Zinn defines mindfulness as the awareness that arises from paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally. Applying this to my finances meant noticing each time I felt that anxious twinge in my chest when expenses popped up. Instead of getting swept into a spiral of fear—“What if this is the beginning of the end?”—I practiced simply acknowledging the emotion.
I’d tell myself, “Okay, there’s that fear again,” and let it pass. At first, this felt awkward and unnatural; money conversations often carry a strong emotional charge. But with consistent practice, I began to recognize that my anxiety was like a wave—powerful, but also impermanent. The more I allowed it to wash over me, the quicker it would recede. And I discovered I could still make rational financial decisions in its aftermath. That was a turning point. I stopped letting fear dictate whether I would invest, cut spending, or chase some new money-making scheme. Instead, I let it be part of the mental landscape without letting it take the driver’s seat.
Embracing a Growth Mindset Over a Fixed Mindset
Digging deeper into psychological research, I discovered Carol Dweck’s work on the “growth mindset.” Dweck explains that people with a fixed mindset see their skills and outcomes as predetermined—either you’re good with money or you’re not—while those with a growth mindset believe in the power of learning and adaptation. When I was stuck feeling broke, I was locked into a fixed mindset about money. Every financial setback confirmed my worst fears: “I’ll never have enough.” Every fluctuation in my investments or unanticipated bill felt like an omen.
Shifting to a growth mindset was transformative. Instead of catastrophizing about a dip in my bank account, I started to see it as a learning opportunity. “Okay, this month was tough—what strategies could I try next month? Is there a new skill I can develop or an opportunity to collaborate with someone?” That openness to possibility didn’t magically erase the stress, but it helped me look for solutions instead of succumbing to despair. My sense of feeling perpetually broke began to ebb away as I actively worked to solve problems rather than ruminate on them.
Hedonic Adaptation: Why More Money Doesn’t Guarantee Less Stress
Part of the reason I couldn’t escape the feeling of being broke was something known as “hedonic adaptation.” The concept explains why a salary increase, a bonus, or any major financial milestone produces only a temporary spike in happiness. Soon enough, you return to your baseline level of contentment—or discontentment. That’s exactly what happened to me. Each time my income went up, my lifestyle inched up with it. I upgraded my home, traveled more frequently, and before I knew it, my finances felt tight again.
Realizing this was crucial. I recognized that a bigger paycheck wouldn’t bring the peace of mind I craved unless I learned how to manage my baseline. I had to stop making decisions based solely on increased income and start focusing on whether I was truly satisfied. That’s not to say I cut out enjoyment entirely. I just became more deliberate, ensuring that each purchase or upgrade brought real value to my life rather than just feeding a fleeting sense of novelty.
Viktor Frankl’s Wisdom: The Mindset Shift That Matters
During one of my lower points—when stress about future bills and market swings hit a peak—I revisited Viktor Frankl’s “Man’s Search for Meaning.” His idea that “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves” felt like a direct challenge to my own thinking. I couldn’t stop unexpected expenses from popping up. I couldn’t control the broader economy. But I could change how I responded to them.
The key was learning to invest in my own capacity for resilience. I used to believe the smartest move was micromanaging my finances into absolute predictability, but life is rarely that neat. Accepting uncertainty as a constant changed everything. By gradually allowing for unpredictability, I found I was more prepared—and less panicked—when it inevitably showed up.
Discovering “Enough” in a World of “Never Enough”
Perhaps the biggest realignment in my relationship with money came when I started valuing the concept of “enough.” It’s not a term thrown around much in mainstream financial circles, which tend to emphasize relentless growth. But as Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs suggests, after a certain point of meeting basic needs and some comforts, the real pursuit shifts to personal growth, fulfillment, and relationships. No amount of wealth in a spreadsheet can replicate the feeling of truly connecting with loved ones or having creative outlets that light you up.
Once I realized that enough is a moving target—an internal sense that you’re safe, secure, and able to invest in what matters—chasing the next zero in my bank account felt a lot less urgent. That allowed me to focus on projects and partnerships that genuinely excited me, rather than those that merely offered the greatest possible return.
From Broke to Balanced: The Ongoing Journey
Make no mistake, I still keep a close eye on my finances. But these days, it’s balanced with an inner awareness that no number in my checking account can singlehandedly dictate my sense of well-being. Whether the market is soaring or sinking, I aim to stay rooted in the mindset shifts that pulled me out of my perpetual “broke” feeling: recognizing old scarcity narratives, practicing mindfulness, embracing the growth mindset, and honoring the concept of “enough.”
This journey won’t look the same for everyone, but I can say one thing with certainty: if you’re feeling broke despite taking all the right financial steps, it might be time to look inward rather than outward. Because in many cases, the strongest walls we face aren’t made of numbers—they’re built from the stories we tell ourselves. And once you start rewriting those stories, you’ll find that real financial security starts from the inside out.
