On this fine Sunday, how is your money feeling? The answer will most likely be based on your state of mind. And so the next question will be, do you feel like a winner?

If you do, then congrats! However, if you feel otherwise, read on as we will consider ways you can think like a winner when you feel otherwise. Lili Balfour writes on the Huffingtonpost.com that, “A winner is a loser who was relentless in his or her pursuit of success.”

Interesting!

One of the most critical things you can do is define what success means to you. And funnily enough, its not really about the actual cash in your hand.

How many times have we seen in the local and overseas media that lotto winners end up broke? It’s not the money, it’s the state of mind.

So we need to clean up the junk inside ourselves when it comes to money so that we can feel like winners, be clear on our definition of success, and attract the life that we want.

Andrew Newberg, a neuroscientist at the University of Pennsylvania noted, “The more you focus on something-whether that’s math or auto-racing or football or God-the more that becomes your reality, the more it becomes written into the neural connections of your brain.”

Women & Money Magazine gives five tips to change your mindset and think like a winner.

1. Ask yourself what your core beliefs are, ask yourself if they’re true beyond a doubt (they almost never are), and then create new empowering beliefs. It sounds simple, but there’s a trick to it. Repeat them as many times a day as possible, every day. Say them, read them, listen to yourself saying them on your iPod. Feel them, see them, experience them until they embed themselves and become your new normal.

2. Assume everything is possible (unless it physically is not) and ask yourself how to achieve what you want. Create a plan to accomplish it. This turns on the brain’s motor planning, and fires up the centres in your brain that help you innovate, find solutions, and hone in on opportunities.

3. Phrase everything you assume is impossible as a question so your brain will look for solutions.

4. To achieve a goal you want, start by imaging it as a movie or story with a beginning, middle and end. Practise your imagery in a quiet place at least once a day for six weeks.

5. Expect the best. Frankly, this is a tough one because we live in a superstitious culture that teaches us from birth that if things are going well, something has to go wrong (think Murphy’s Law). But to be wealthy and successful (and happy), you have to ignore pack mentality, limited thinking, and outdated superstitions.

Can you achieve all of this overnight? Maybe; however, it is really about a daily effort to change what is going on in your mind. As always, reach out to a financial coach or a licensed financial advisor to get help in retraining your state of mind to improve how your money is feeling.

Dennise Williams, MBA (Banking & Finance) is a journalist, TV Producer, certified practioner NLP coach and has 15 years experience in the financial services industry. You can see more of her work at www.youtube.com/financiallyfocused.