Esther Han
Stop Being a Financial Nincompoop!
What does your routine have to do with building financial flexibility as a speaker? You have to hear Esther's take on this!
Even if you start as a financial nincompoop we will discuss how an abundance mindset, coupled with an intentional environment will foster growth. We will not be forcing growth like the foolish farmer ‘pulling the seedlings to help them grow’ 拔苗助长 (bá miáo zhù zhǎng). Just imagine that your small daily actions matter, and compound into the continuous learning turning knowledge into wealth. Turn your expertise into income! You can do it. This blog is packed with can’t-miss ideas to boost your motivation, execution, and results—helping you improve your relationship with money and take control of your financial future so you can monetize your message and fulfill your mission. You will also learn my secret to mastering a language whether that is Mandarin or the complex world of spreadsheets and percentages. It is simply relationships and people after all.
Am I a financial Nincompoop?
If you have ever tucked tail and cowered like I have when looking at intimidating financial realities it is ok. You are not alone, and you do not need to keep your head in the ground like an Ostrich hoping it will fix itself. The Cavalry isn’t coming, there are no Eagles flying down to take you out of the clutches of an onslaught of Orcs like you are in Lord of the Rings. You will have to pull up your big boy pants and start where you are. Yes that is as much for me as it is for you. All of us have challenges and
The fact is you and I don’t know everything
At 19 years old, I chose to serve a mission for my church The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and it was required of me to speak Mandarin. It was humbling being sent to serve in Taiwan, I didn’t realize how prideful I was and how little I knew until I had to question every word I was accepting into my new system of communication. Each new concept was like a new world of possibilities open up to me. For example, You may have heard that confucian saying, ””知之為知之，不知為不知，是知也。(Zhī zhī wéi zhī zhī, bù zhī wéi bù zhī, shì zhī yě.) ‘True Knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance‘. Therefore as I see it, knowledge is never complete. True knowledge is starting with what you do know then discovering what you don't know you don’t know. This process keeps us humble and ever improving, recognising that we are ignorant of most things the master teacher leaves us open to learn. So I hope that you will come to this blog with an open hand, open mind and ready to see how you can benefit from at least one actionable idea to improve your speaking and monetize your message while increasing your financial IQ.
"You can’t possibly “know it” because If you knew it you’d do it"–Michael Huggins (best-selling author of 7 financial cheat codes)
Esther Han used to be a self proclaimed “Financial Nincompoop” who didn’t even have the log-ins to her bank account, no idea what was in them. This never really mattered until tragedy struck her to the core. She had a dual income household, both her and her husband enjoying a six figure income each. What could possibly go wrong? Her husband worked in banking so YOU do everything finances” and let him take care of everything. Is it possible that the most traumatic and challenging part of her life, a devastating crippling don’t want to get out of bed Divorce may have been the best thing that ever happened to her? Let’s see what this means for you
“Whenever I know I need to do something I don’t feel like doing, I just do it anyway.”– Esther Han
Activation Energy and the 5 second rule
During her depressing and devastating divorce, Esther was debilitated to the point even getting out of bed was an undertaking. She discovered a simple tactic to mash her inability to move. She deployed the ‘5 second rule’, which was introduced to her by Mel Robbins. Esther used the 5-second rule to combat her bed’s tantalizing clutches on her productivity. Instead of lingering in doubt or waiting for a magical moment to feel motivated, she employed the 5 second rule to force herself to get out of bed and take action. By counting down and launching into action immediately, she stopped overthinking and made progress.
I read Mel Robbins’ Book called The 5 Second Rule and the simple strategy works.I took her TEDx talk challenge to wake up a half hour earlier without snoozing, and boom, I did it. Just like Esther said, when she didn’t want to do something—like get out of bed—she would 'just do it anyway.' Since applying that strategy, I have been consistently getting out of bed by 5 AM. It’s wonderful to generate enough inertia to take the first step. A total game changer for creating that startup energy to move.
Deactivation Energy: Deep Work & Compartmentalisation
Interestingly, I have often had trouble leaving work alone because I work from home. I have also found that this is just as effective to turn down and initiate a shut down sequence. I got this core Idea from a book called Deep work by Cal Newport and I combined the shutdown sequence just as powerful as the start-up energy. 5-4-3-2-1 Done. ust like a computer has a power-up mode to start its day and a power-off mode to shut down, I thought, why not apply this idea to my work-life balance? By intentionally switching into 'power-off' mode at the end of the workday, I can leave work behind and fully focus on family time. This creates clear boundaries and helps me recharge for both my personal and professional life.
So far the shutdown countdown has been a game changer. Last night I noticed I started steering all of our conversations back to work and bringing it up with my wife which was causing some dissonance. As soon as I was made aware of my hijacking of the conversation I used the 5 second rule shutdown sequence out loud to quiet those thoughts that were distractions so I could refocus on my wife and our personal conversation. I got my family time back on track and was able to have a very enjoyable evening. This was amazing, and I am going to keep using it. I challenge you to give it a try. Compartmentalization is something That everyone talks about but this is the first time I've been able to create a barrier mentally for that to happen.
John Rampton, Calendar.com’s Founder, told me while I was interviewing him last year that his secret to productivity was compartmentalisation. He was adamant about making sure that you had a proper compartmentalization for what he was doing. Each activity and task had a relationship to the overall goal and value of what he was doing, each role. I didn’t know how to apply his wisdom until I figured out this release or deactivation with the 5 second rule.
For example, John brought up how his mother works for him in his office and the only way they can function well is when they are at work she treated as an employee and used her given name. Then after work their relationship shifts and he calls her by mom outside of work their language even changes as the time is blocked. Try combining these ideas of countdowns and you will be surprised how much progress you can make in eliminating procrastination or as founder of The Final Percent, Dr. Greg Kimble calls it “Tactical Avoidance”.
Why do we wait until the New Year to make changes? Every day gives you a chance to take action, whether it’s for your career, personal life, or health. The 5-second rule shows us that we can start right now—no need to wait for a fresh start or a magic moment. Stay in momentum and avoid the cascade.
Routines: 75 Hard Vs. Project 33
Esther declaird strong routines were her key to success in understanding herself and directly affected her abliity to improve her financial IQ. Early on in her morning routine development whe attempted Andy Frisella’s 75 hard program. She went in with the mindset that she was developing new habits, but found quickly that it was too strict to keep her in momentum. So she did the program but not quite as written. Most people give up because the skill and discipline level is unreachable at the beginning, however Esther maintained a powerful mindset of "I’m going to do the best that I can."
'This wasn’t a singular experience. I have seen dozens of amazing people struggle to make those actions in 75 Hard a real routine.
Esther did a “75 easy” Esther version. That is where 75 hard fails foremost is if you fail then go back to the beginning and the strictness makes the “fail” cascade into useless failure, but Esther unlike many others gave herself grace and stayed building her routines even when setbacks could have derailed her.
The best way I've personally experienced to build and maintain healthy routines from scratch has been on the TFP Connect App’s Project 33. The motivational videos share simple ways that you can habit stack your personal growth. It helped me tremndously with vitality and is an amazing program. It is even free which means you have no excuse. Breaking news too, soon Project 33 will have a third level later this year! This program was instrumental to help keep me going on my own health transformation this past year where I used it as a motivational tool while working with my vitality coach Devin Thaut. I released 40 pounds in 99 days going from 245 to 205. My knees ar thanking me for that, Did you you know What's crazy is that you too can achieve similar results if you build the discipline of doing the program to get in momentum.
Once you have completed the Project 33 levels and if you want to attempt 75 Hard, sure make it happen. My only issue with 75 Hard is that its strict rules give no bend for mistakes. For instance my mentor Greg had almost finished the program and forgot to take one progress photo and morally had to start over, but before he went back and started at the beginning he got a couple hamburgers he had been depriving himself of. He calls this the origin of why he created Project 33. Your discipline level is a powerful indicator of your personal and professional development. Furthermore as self proclaimed Credit Nerd, Eric Counts says, “Don’t Jump the creek”. He shared that idea with the context of credit building just like in life and health. Patiently progress do things intentionally when building your credit personally and for your business. Your health financially is tied to your health physically too.
Esther discovered that her vitality was dramatically impacted by how much sugar she was eating and she said she now can ‘imagine what drug addicts feel like’ having such powerful withdrawals from sugar. Even 5 days in she was experiencing the brain fog that makes it all seem like she wasn’t being healthy, however as she stuck with it her routine helped her eliminate that brain fog.
Now I am not suggesting that you will get the exact results Esther got from taking control of her routine, however I know that being more intentional with what you do on a daily basis can only help you. When you design the life you want more efficiently than leaving it up to chance, good things tend to happen. Think about this: if all you did was download one new habit that helped you read 12 pages a day as your minimum, how many books could you read in a year, in a lifetime?
Esther wanted to make some progress in her health and it made her realize that she is open to focus on momentum and daily routines. Let’s assume you read 12 pages a day, and you did it everyday all year long you could finish around 21 books that were around 200 pages in a year. What if you add in a habit of learning one new thing every day no matter what and applying it you wouldn’t recognize yourself in a year. But let’s say you keep this pace up for 5 years, that is over 100 books. Do you think that if you read 100 books in your field of study that you would become close to a leading expert?
How much change can you make for good by applying a simple routine of your choice! Taking action, however small and aligning that action with what you know will make all the difference in your success years down the road. You will start to notice slight almost imperceptible shifts in your mindset,skillset and toolset as you start to get used to operating within your routine.
Steve J Larsen, founder of Capitalist Pigs, jokes that financial literacy isn’t enough on its own, you have to take massive intentional action, ”If learning was all you need, all librarians would drive Lamborghinis”
So what could you do to change your life, 5-4-3-2-1 Go Download the TFP Connect App now and start building your own powerful routine and do it with us in The Final Percent Network.
