How One Person Changed the Way They Think About Money (and Started Living Better)

He used to believe that if you wanted to be rich, you just had to make more. That was the whole thing. More income, more hours, more side gigs. But then he looked around — really looked — and realized a bunch of the people making more than him were still broke. Always behind. Always worried. So he started paying attention to how they thought about money. That’s when everything started to shift.

It wasn’t some big epiphany. More like a slow realization. He noticed it while messing around with some casino online games late at night. Nothing serious, just playing for fun. Still, it struck him how some players would throw everything on one spin, lose, and double down in a panic. Others would play small, quit while ahead, or just walk away when they’d had enough. It wasn’t about luck. It was about how they thought. Weirdly enough, those habits mirrored real-life financial behavior.

He wasn’t a financial guru or anything. He just started noticing patterns.

Like how some people

• Always have a plan before payday
• Don’t let sales pressure them
• Wait before buying stuff
• Actually know where their money goes and how others, well, don’t.

There wasn’t a book or course that taught him this. It came from watching, screwing up, trying again. Money stuff was never really taught in school. You picked it up along the way — or didn’t.

One thing that helped him was keeping a little notebook. Not to track every cent — just to jot down thoughts. “Why did I buy this?” or “Was this worth it?” Little stuff like that. Over time, patterns came into focus.

And no, he didn’t stop spending completely. He just got  pickier. Smarter, maybe. Or just less reactive.

Here’s what he started doing:

 

A Few Habits That Changed Things:

• Stopped impulse-buying stuff at night
  That’s when he’d scroll endlessly, usually out of boredom. A lot of dumb purchases happened after 10 p.m.
• Started asking one simple question
  “Do I want this, or do I want to not worry about money later?” Surprisingly effective.
• Made spending slightly annoying
  Moved money into a second account that wasn’t linked to his phone. If he wanted to buy something, he had to transfer it manually.
• Used guilt as a tool
  He’d imagine future-him looking back, shaking his head. That version didn’t care about cool sneakers. That version wanted options.

Not everything worked. He tried budgeting apps and spreadsheets. Hated them. Made him feel like he was being punished. So he ditched them. What did help was setting rough limits and just checking his account more often. Awareness helped.

He also noticed that entertainment spending — especially online — was sneakier than expected. Monthly subscriptions, apps, games. And yeah, sometimes a little flutter on a casino online site here or there. He wasn’t ashamed of it. But he started being more honest with himself: “Is this fun worth the money every month?”

One week, he went back through three months of transactions. He saw stuff he didn’t even remember buying. That hit different. Not in a guilt way—just wake-up-ish.So he made another list.

Stuff He Stopped Doing:

• “Retail therapy” when sad or bored
  It didn’t work anyway.
• Acting like future-him would be richer by default
  Future – him was just him. With more back pain.
• Ignoring bank notifications
  He used to swipe them away without looking. Now he reads them. Weirdly grounding.
• Comparing himself to Instagram people
  Most of them were lying anyway.

Somewhere in there, money got less scary. Not because he had a ton of it, but because he understood it better. It wasn’t magic. It was a series of choices. Some hard, some easy. Some tiny. But they added up.

He still played the occasional casino online game when bored. Nothing wild. But even there, he played differently now. Walked away earlier. Didn’t chase. Just like with real money — he made his decisions before emotion kicked in.

Now? He’s not rich. Not yet. But he doesn’t panic about bills. He buys things he actually likes. And he’s got some breathing room — real breathing room.

The biggest change wasn’t in his income. It was in his thinking.