The average American is enduring more economic stress than ever. Alleviating their financial burdens requires smart, actionable insights that they can apply even when feeling overwhelmed and less able to do more. What exactly can be done to stop treading water, and make significant gains towards lasting financial freedom?

What Is Financial Stress?

Financial stress is any physiological stress response resulting from fears about finances. Take note that financial stress is pervasive and affects millionaires and the poverty-stricken alike. How is that possible?

For most Americans, it’s even more stressful to debate why; for now, it just is. The only way forward is to buckle down, evaluate where you are, and galvanize your commitment to lasting financial freedom. We’ll provide several tips for hunkering down and strengthening your foundations, then several tasks that have helped countless Americans just like you achieve economic might once more.

What To Do About It

1: Think Big

Igniting a powerful mindset when you’re tempted to play defense may seem impossible, but the mind is a powerful ally — or your own worst enemy. If you continually ask, plead, and beg the heavens for just enough to scrape by, that’s probably all you’ll get.

The good news is, it means you can probably get something better by keeping your mind in the best possible frame.

2: Work Small

Staying motivated and fomenting a passion for wealth is important, but not at the expense of the here and now. Adopting a work ethic that no detail is beneath you has served countless entrepreneurs and aspiring professionals. It will keep you grounded in your ambitions, but the goal is to not let the latter fade. Keep looking far ahead, but admit it when “the small things” trip you up.

3: Master Your Habits & Embrace the Challenge

In the wildly popular self-help classic Think and Grow Rich, author Napolean Hill tells a story of cutting the word “impossible” out of his dictionary. He considered it a tangible step towards removing “failure consciousness” and replacing it with “work consciousness.”

Bruce Lee similarly envisioned briefly writing down negative thoughts, crumpling them up, then burning them to maintain impeccable mental hygiene. Navy SEALs candidates are instructed to use positive visualization to stay motivated under extreme duress, and it’s because it works.

Overcoming financial burdens might not exactly seem like a fullscale martial campaign, but it can seem like the whole world is against you. Becoming your own best ally is a non-negotiable step to building new habits — and that’s what achieving financial goals amounts to.

4: Stay (Mostly) Humble

There’s something humbling about the fact that everyone, rich and poor, are in the same boat. Rather than view your present financial state as a “predicament,” make peace with the fact that life has a way of prodding everyone to keep moving and transform stressors into strengths.

Adam Smith, the veritable “father of economics,” wrote soberingly about the basic pressures spurred the innate human drive towards wealth. He observed that more specialized and well-rewarded labor primarily arose due to slow, arduous pressures for survival. But Smith also tempered that primal view with an even stronger ethical underpinning that one’s selfishness also compels an “interest […] in the fortune of others,” including their happiness.

This takeaway from The Wealth of Nations offers tremendous help in getting the best from others when our own efforts reach a limit:

“WE ADDRESS OURSELVES, NOT TO THEIR HUMANITY BUT TO THEIR SELF-LOVE, AND NEVER TALK TO THEM OF OUR OWN NECESSITIES BUT OF THEIR ADVANTAGES.”

If that doesn’t help during your next job interview, we don’t know what will.

#5: Get. Busy.

Nothing above will matter much without rubber-to-the-road movement. Plug the following into your to-do list — and enjoy what there is to enjoy about learning to swim just when it feels like you might sink.

• Identify the source of your current financial stress. Keep it straightforward; is it rising rent, a lost job, missed mortgage payments, or a rocky relationship with Uncle Sam? Whatever it is, write it down and focus on it fully. It’s the only way to even begin brainstorming solutions, but once you do, it’s surprisingly easy to see new ways around your obstacles.
• Start tracking your finances. Nothing compares to knowing exactly what you’re taking in and how much is going out the door. Begin by and itemizing expenses and earnings. Then, start adjusting those figures until you’re consistently out of the red, and resolve to stay that way. If you find this difficult at first, become acquainted with the impressive range of budgeting tools and apps out there, or build a solid spreadsheet habit.
• Earn more. Whether that’s putting more work in or leveraging resources to start (building) that passive income stream you’ve been fantasizing about, now’s the time. There are more flexible side jobs out there than ever, but they require strengthening your time usage habits. It’s the best way to find out just how good of a boss you are.
• Create an emergency fund, even if it’s not much. Knowing you can set something aside just when it seems almost impossible gives you confidence and a sense of greater possibilities. Do it often enough, and the “fix” of small throwaway purchases will pale in comparison to the greater feeling of earning continual willpower victories.
• Consider alternatives, even if it hurts to admit you may have been going in the wrong direction. With greater economic uncertainty, many are looking in alternate directions for greater wealth preservation strategies. Whether that’s through a turn to liquid precious metals, banking on the blockchain, or even just learning to grow your own food, there’s always something fruitful you can do with your time and energy.
• Start boosting credit. There are numerous strategies for building credit, even if you aren’t eligible for a credit card. Opening a signature-secured or “estate” loan at a bank can boost your credit score by up to several dozen points in just six months. Get a foothold into the credit-worthiness game now, and watch financial stress start to gradually dissipate.
• Reach out for help and enhance your communication skills. It’s no secret that financial stress breeds relationship stress. All your work righting your financial ship could topple right over again if you don’t also renew your interpersonal skills and ability to delegate.

The hardest part with all these tips is taking the need for ultra-sustained effort seriously. Just when the specter of financial hardship arises, that’s your cue to pare things down and tread carefully. Do it consistently, and you may start doing the backstroke in no time.