My checking account balance is $152.85 after selling business for a life-changing amount

I sold a business for life-changing money.

Yet these are my account balances:

• Checking account: $152.85
• Savings account: $0.00.

Wtf happened?

It started when I was about 10 years old.

I had a paper route on my bike; one of my first summer jobs.

I didn’t make a ton of money, but definitely more than I needed at that age.

My dad said, “one of the best things you can do to save money, is put everything you need slightly out of reach, and forget about it.”.

I’ve been doing this for so long now that I had in a sense forgotten that I even do it.

But when I was asked recently if I think the mindset required to be successful as an entrepreneur can be “hacked”, I realized a few things I do out of habit that could be considered mindset hacks:

I create (perceived) scarcity in things I wish I had more of:

1. Money: I keep very little money easily available. Seeing $152.85 in my checking account, for example, makes me feel a sense of urgency in making more.

I pay myself my average monthly expenses, then automatically put everything else a bit out of reach, such as in index funds.

I know in the back of my mind I can get it if need be, but I never have needed to except when buying a house.

2)Time: We’d all love more time in the day, but that ain’t gonna happen.

Flipping that on its head - if I only give myself two hours to work in a day, it forces me to prioritize meaningfully.

Note: My average work day is about 2 hours.

TLDR; Creating perceived scarcity in time and money puts a fire under me to cut out all the non-critical tasks, to focus on what moves the needle.

This is why I update not my todo list, but my "needle movers" list, and make sure what I’m doing is gonna move the needle is an impactful way.

I share what I've learned on this journey from $0-$58k MRR and an exit, in The SaaS Bootstrapper, subscribe if you're into that kinda thing.