When I was a child, I had a comforting and albeit a bad habit that involved me sucking on my pointer finger and playing with my ear.  My parents love telling stories of how, when I was a baby, I would take my bottle and stick it in my ear and then put my finger in my mouth. Let them tell it milk would just be pouring all down my face. I’m sure it was a sight to see.  As I grew older, I continued this habit (sans any liquids in my ear), but I would sit quietly in a corner, twisting and bending my ear while sucking my finger and by this time I’d been practicing this habit so much that I had two small callouses on my finger.

My grandmother and many others in my family disliked that I sucked my finger; she hated it so much that she tried everything in her power to get me to stop. She bribed me; she lathered on this solution on that made my finger taste disgusting when I put it in my mouth, told me pretty girls don’t suck their fingers, and she would even give me that stern look, you know the one you’re parents give to show their sign of disapproval, whenever she caught me.

Nothing worked. Try as I might, I couldn’t stop. I wasn’t troubling anybody by doing it and yea looking back can see how cringeworthy it was for me to have my finger in my mouth and then go and touch someone or something. I was grade school when I finally stopped sucking my finger COLD TURKEY. The magic solution was my grandmother, probably in a fit of exasperation, told me that I wouldn’t get a boyfriend if I didn’t stop. Surprisingly, that was all I needed to hear. Over time the callouses on my finger went away (thank goodness), and life was normal.

Habits are harmless until they aren’t. Sucking my finger and playing with my ear was a harmless habit; however, going shopping using my credit card and telling myself that it was okay because I could afford to make the monthly payment wasn’t. Our poor financial practices usually begin innocent enough. We have good intentions going in, but find such ease and comfort in the action that we don’t realize how detrimental it can be to our future. You may have a habit of:

• Taking advantage of family members because you know they will always say yes when you ask to borrow money.
• Spending money that you initially set aside for savings.
• Not being able to stick with your budget.

What many of us fail to realize is that habits are a form of strongholds placed in our lives to prevent us from accessing the blessings that God has already laid out for us. Identifying your negative financial habits is one of the first steps to breaking down the walls that are hindering you from progressing forward. You can’t make a change until you acknowledge that a change needs to be made.

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While a harmful habit may manifest itself in physical action, it starts with a thought in your mind. It’s a limiting belief or attitude that you have that tells you-you aren’t good enough, smart enough, or don’t deserve better.

• How many times have you tried to break a pattern of behavior and then quit because you felt it became too much?

• How many times have you believed going back to the old routine was more comfortable than making a change?\

1st Corinthians 10:13 (NIV) reminds us that through Christ we are conquerors,

“No temptation has overtaken you, except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”

While you may not be able to break your habit cold turkey the same way I did with sucking my finger, you can rest knowing that God has given us the tools we need to excel.

Follow these steps to conquer your habit.

Step 1:

Start by identifying your habits. What is that one thing you keep doing that’s detrimental to your financial goals?

Step 2:

After you’ve identified the negative financial habit/s seek Gods help through prayer and look to replace the harmful practice with a positive one. For instance, if you have a pattern of excessive credit card usage switch to using money envelopes, as you can’t spend money that isn’t there.

Step 3 :

Don’t choose to suffer in silence. We’re all struggling with breaking habits, even me, and that’s why we need people to help hold us accountable for the things we say we’re going to do. Remember, it’s through community where we find power.