🔥 3 Simple Exercises That Made Me Fearless for 2025

🟣 A cynicism-free, supportive, and creative space to set your money intentions for 2025

📣 Quick Update for Paid Subscribers:

I’ve added two new perks to your growing collection of tools and services to support your financial well-being:

• Enjoy £25 off the Vestpod Money Management and Investing 6-Week Bootcamps. The Money Management Bootcamp kicks off next week, and, imo it’s a fun, practical, and effective way to cover key money topics all at once and feel a lot more confident in managing your money.

• Download your "Intentions" chapter from The Money Feelings Workbook—This isn’t just another resolution worksheet. It’s your financial compass for 2025, featuring creative exercises, prompts, and practical tips to help you start the year with clarity and stay on track all year long.

Find all the details in your exclusive Money Feelings corner 👇

🎟️ The Paid Corner: Perks for Your Eyes Only

Unpopular opinion:

I love seeing everyone’s 2024 reviews and resolutions for 2025. Call me basic, but watching people step off the hamster wheel for a moment to reflect on the past and set new intentions is inspiring.

I see a lot of cynicism around this practice, and it frustrates me because I’ve read how effective it is in far too many psychology and cognitive science research papers.

Plus, cynicism is a draining emotion. It saps our energy and the energy of those around us.

I loved reading financial planner and coach Gabbi Cerezo mention last year’s Wall Street Journal article that said, "Only 20% of people who make a New Year's resolution make lasting change.”

She suggests reframing it like this:

"Wow! 20% of people who make a New Year's resolution make lasting change!"

Sure, there are many reasons to be cynical and skeptical about the perfectionism and rigid pressures that come with New Year’s resolutions…step goals, calorie tracking, and the number of workouts per week. It’s exhausting, unattainable, and often meaningless.

But what if we tweaked this ritual?

What if we swapped those rigid resolutions for meaningful intentions? Or ReVolutions like I’ve read somewhere else. (Call it whatever makes it feel less cringe for you!)

Setting intentions isn’t about manifesting millions from the universe (although nothing wrong with that). It’s about being clear with yourself. It’s about deciding what truly matters and finding the discipline to honor those decisions.

When it comes to financial health specifically, intentionality is a game-changer. I don’t know an excellent finance writer or financial advisor who doesn’t talk about intentionality because:

• Intentionality shapes your money behavior.

• It helps uncover and stay aligned with your values.

• It reduces impulsive decisions that derail your goals.

• It makes your financial life feel more purposeful and empowering.

• It makes every money conversation not just interesting but fascinating.

That shift can be mighty, especially if you go as far as setting implementation intentions, a concept introduced by German professor of psychology at New York University, Peter Gollwitzer.

An implementation intention is like setting a GPS or a compass for your brain. It’s not just saying, “I want to save more money” and hoping for the best. It’s about giving your goals a clear roadmap with specific directions.

It also fits perfectly with everything we learned from UCLA psychology professor Hal Hershfield in our series on the Future Self, particularly that we plan better for our future when we take time to imagine our ideal future.

Here’s how it works:

You create an if-then plan that connects a situation (the “if”) to an action (the “then”). It’s not about relying on willpower; it’s about programming your brain to make the right choice automatically when the moment comes.

Example
Instead of: “I’ll spend less on takeout this month,”
Try: “If I feel tempted to order takeout, then I’ll check what I already have in the fridge and cook a simple meal.”

See the difference? An intention says, “I want to be better.” An implementation intention says, “Here’s exactly how I’ll do it.”

It’s small but mighty, a simple shift that takes your intentions out of the clouds and plants them firmly in your reality.

Ready to define your financial intentions and set the tone for 2025?

Three Exercises to Start the Year With Clarity

I highly encourage you to share the results of these exercises with us in the comments because:

1. You’ll find support for your wildest dreams. This is a F*ck Being Humble zone.

2. You’ll feel accountable. Writing your intentions down and sharing them with others dramatically increases your chances of sticking to them.

3. You’ll help me shape future Money Feelings sessions to align more with your current concerns and dreams.

🙋🏻‍♀️ I’m sharing mine below.

🟪 One Word, One Anthem, and One Image

Pick one word, song, and image that captures how you want to feel this year.

I know. It’s tough to choose. But don’t overthink it. No single word will cover everything. Just go with the first one that comes to mind.

Pin that word and photo where you can see them daily, and play that song!

🟣 One Sentence and One Word

• Reflect on your biggest financial challenge in 2024 and sum it up in one sentence.

• Now, choose one word that captures how you want to feel about your finances this year. Is it secure, proactive, risk-tolerant, or something else? Pick the word that resonates with your vision.

💜 The Stop, Start, Continue Review

Break your financial habits into three categories:

⏹️ Stop: Habits that no longer serve you.

▶️ Start: New habits you’d like to build.

🔁 Continue: Habits that are working well.

My Intentions For 2025

Hi everyone, greetings from my office in Amsterdam. I see and appreciate all of you. Here are my answers to the three exercises—because I always practice what I preach, and this is a chance for you to get to know me better.

🟪 One Word, One Anthem, and One Image

In 2025, I’m ready to let go of some specific fears I’ve been carrying for too long. The fear of success (the feeling that stepping into my full potential will lead to more pressure, higher expectations, or loss) + the fear of judgment + the fear of being seen.

Writing newsletters to thousands of people around the world and occasionally daring to post a photo of myself was one big step I took last year to challenge all of this.

But in 2024, I still turned down a book deal (twice) and two podcast invitations because I was too scared to share my ideas, show my face, and speak up. So there’s still work to do.

I’ve chosen to play Shine Bright Like a Diamond by Rihanna on repeat as the soundtrack to these intentions. It’s a song I’ve turned to for the past ten years whenever I’m in combat mode.

For an image, I picked this picture of my 4-year-old, who loves himself and has never once cared about pleasing anyone. In 2025, I want to be more like him (fashion choices included).

🟣 One Sentence and One Word

🟡 My financial struggle of 2024

In 2024, I stepped into the world of solo entrepreneurship. I've learned a lot, made many mistakes, and tested a lot. It was exciting, but it also left me feeling financially vulnerable. Not a nice feeling.

🟡 One word to define my financial life in 2025

I want to solidify my finances so I no longer feel vulnerable but strong and stable, no matter what happens.

For instance, I’d like to ensure that, in the unexpected event of my partner’s absence, I can provide for my children and myself without stress, keep our home, and maintain our lifestyle.

I’m focused on building financial security for all scenarios.

SO-LID.

“READY” is another good one:

ellevest

A post shared by @ellevest

💜 My Stop, Start, Continue Review

⏹️ Stop: Minimizing my financial ambitions and undervaluing my work.

▶️ Start: Consistently contributing to my private pension fund every month after taking a break for a year.

🔁 Continue: Talking openly about money feelings with my partner (and the whole world).

👏 Well done for making it this far and investing time in your financial well-being.

What did you think of this session? Did you complete the exercises? If you did, don’t forget to share your answers with us for support and accountability and to annoy the cynics ㋡.

If you found these exercises helpful, you’ll love the Money Feelings Workbook chapter on Intentions, a complete kit of creative exercises and practical tips to start 2025 with clarity and stay on track all year.

It includes an exercise to create your implementation intentions.

An extract of the Intentions Chapter - to download from The Paid Corner.

It’s available with a paid subscription to Money Feelings, which is 50% off for one last week (I run discounts only 3 times a year).

Take care,

Pauline 💜