Ep 508: How to Invest in Yourself and Thrive In 2026

Summary

HerMoney with Jean Chatzky

Episode 508: How to Invest in Yourself and Thrive in 2026
Guest: Maha Abou Elanain
Date: December 31, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode is dedicated to the concept of self-reliance as a foundation for financial and personal growth, particularly for women navigating unique career and life challenges in a rapidly changing world. Host Jean Chatzky is joined by Maha Abou Elanain, global communications expert and author of Seven Rules of Self Reliance, to explore actionable strategies for building confidence, value, and opportunity in 2026 and beyond.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. What Does Self-Reliance Really Mean?

[04:01] Maha:

• Self-reliance is about leveraging your skills and abilities to drive your life forward, not about isolating yourself or being selfish.
• It's a strategy for becoming valuable to yourself and others, equipping yourself with the right tools to shape your future.
• Quote: “The power that exists in this world is you... Self reliance is like, hey, I have skills, I have abilities. I have the ability to drive my life in the direction I want it to go.” (Maha, 04:06)

2. The Opposite of Self-Reliance: Being a “Waiter”

[04:51] Maha:

• Self-reliant people create their own opportunities rather than waiting for things to happen.
• The “waiter” mindset holds people back from action—waiting for permission or the perfect moment.
• The antidote: reverse engineer skills, volunteer, take online classes; leverage the free resources available.

3. Financial Independence vs. Building Confidence

[06:32] Maha:

• Self-reliance is both financial and personal. Reputation and personal brand are currencies that create opportunities.
• “Your name is the only thing you actually own.” Invest in your reputation and brand to unlock business, financial, and personal security.
• Quote: “Think of your reputation as a currency, like it's money—what's it worth and what's its value?” (Maha, 06:36)

4. Maha’s Personal Journey to Self-Reliance

[10:28] Maha:

• She recounts moving from a dream job in Minnesota to Egypt at 27 to care for her ill mother, with no job, network, or Arabic language skills.
• Starting over: took a secretarial job for a billionaire to learn, network, and add value, eventually becoming his business partner.
• Lesson: “Listening and learning how to create value for other people was how I survived.”
• Quote: “I started as his secretary. I ended in four years as his business partner.” (Maha, 13:13)

5. Rule #2: Be a Value Creator

[16:21] Maha:

• Ask “How can I help?” to understand where you can add value for others, which builds trust and relationships over time.
• Value creation isn’t just monetary; it can be simple acts like introductions or sharing someone’s work.
• Quote: “It’s the single thing that built my career—I always went into a relationship thinking, what can I do to be of value to them without wanting anything in return.” (Maha, 17:45)

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Five Core Characteristics of Self-Reliant People

[19:27] Maha’s Framework:

1. Initiative
   • Be proactive, build relationships intentionally via small daily actions (e.g., 15 minutes on LinkedIn).
   • Quote: “Your network is not there for you to ask them for favors. It's really for you to contribute to theirs, right?” (Maha, 20:39)
2. Adaptability
   • Lifelong learning is crucial—embrace new technologies (e.g., AI) and be open to change.
   • Curiosity and the willingness to pivot supersede rigid career credentials.
   • Quote: “I'm looking for people who are adaptable... who are curious. You have to have curiosity in order to be adaptable.” (Maha, 23:16)
3. Decision Making
   • Accept that perfect decisions are rare; acting on available information is key.
   • Reframe “failure” as part of the success process.
   • Quote: “There are no wrong decisions in life. You might go down this street and then have to pivot and go down another street.” (Maha, 25:38)
4. Leadership
   • While not unpacked in detail, leadership is suggested as acting intentionally and setting your own priorities.
5. Growth Mindset
   • Constantly seek growth and prioritize learning for personal, professional, and financial improvement.
   • Quote: “No one's gonna put you at the top of your priority list but you.” (Maha, 30:10)

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Building Habits and Achieving Consistency

[32:24] Maha:

• Small, daily habits trump grand resolutions for lasting change.
• Examples: 10–15 minutes a day on LinkedIn, a short walk, reading.
• Quote: “The small things are the big things… it's building a habit of doing something consistently for 10 minutes a day.” (Maha, 32:25)

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The Motto: “Stay Low, Keep Moving”

[33:20] Maha:

• Borrowed from military terminology, this mantra means focusing on your own path and progress despite distractions and setbacks.
• The approach helps avoid comparison, maintain focus, and continue incremental progress.
• Quote: “Stay low is about how can you stay focused... Keep moving is because life happens, right? People get sick, you have a bad day… life happens, right? So how can you try to, like, despite the hard days, despite the bad days, keep moving.” (Maha, 33:38)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “The power that exists in this world is you.” (Maha, 04:06)
• “Your name is the only thing you actually own.” (Maha, 06:43)
• “There are no wrong decisions in life. You might go down this street and then have to pivot and go down another street.” (Maha, 25:38)
• “Failure is not the opposite of success. It is part of success.” (Maha, 25:46)
• “No one's gonna put you at the top of your priority list but you.” (Maha, 30:10)
• “The small things are the big things.” (Maha, 32:24)
• “Stay low, keep moving.” (Maha, 33:20)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:21] Episode intro: investing in yourself for the new year
• [04:01] Maha defines self-reliance; difference from selfishness
• [06:32] Self-reliance: balancing financial independence and confidence
• [10:28] Maha’s personal story: relocation and career reinvention
• [16:21] The value-creator mindset and building relationships
• [19:27] Five key characteristics of self-reliant people
• [22:07] Networking tips for introverts and intentional relationship-building
• [22:52] Adaptability and lifelong learning in the age of rapid change
• [25:35] Decision-making and reframing failure
• [32:24] Why consistency and small habits matter more than big goals
• [33:20] “Stay low, keep moving” as focus and resilience mantra

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Final Takeaways

• Self-reliance is about intentional growth—cultivating your skills, relationships, and mindset to generate opportunities rather than passively waiting.
• Building your reputation and personal brand is a foundational form of personal “currency.”
• Daily, consistent action and focus matter more than setting giant, abstract goals.
• Own your priorities—no one else will make you their main concern.
• Stay focused and persistent through distractions and setbacks; steady movement is crucial to thriving.

Maha’s practical and candid advice is a reminder that women’s financial and life journeys are unique and that investing in oneself, in every way, is the surest route to thriving in the coming year.

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Transcript

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[Maha Abou Elanain]

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[Jean Chatzky]

Hey everyone. Welcome to Her Money. I'm Jean Chatky. As we step into a brand new year, one filled with fresh goals, big dreams, a few inevitable curveballs, there is no better time to talk about what it really means to invest in yourself. Not just financially, but mentally, emotionally, professionally. Look, self reliance is not just a buzzword, it is a life strategy and my guest today knows exactly how to help us harness it. Maha Abou Elanain is a global communications powerhouse, a personal branding expert, and now the best selling author of seven Rules of Self Reliance. How to Stay Low, Keep Moving, Invest in Yourself and own your future. Her book, it's a masterclass in building confidence, adding value, and taking real action. Especially in today's world where everything, everything feels like it is moving at warp speed. Maha, welcome to Hermoney. So nice to see you.

[Maha Abou Elanain]

Thank you, Jean. I am so delighted to be here. I have been following your work for such a long time and to be on your show is truly a full circle moment for me.

[Jean Chatzky]

It's great to have you here. Maha and I met at a conference in Minnesota. Hit it off. Right away, right away, right away. So this is fantastic. In the book, you start right out by saying the importance of self reliance is now and it's the future. I want to unpack that. What exactly is self reliance as you define it?

[Maha Abou Elanain]

Yeah, I'm so glad we're starting there because I think when people see the term self reliance or the word self, they think it means selfish. And what I want people to think about when they think of the term self reliance is not about, I'm independent, look at me, I don't need anybody. I can do it on my own. And it's actually the opposite. It's the power that exists in this world is you. And self reliance is like, hey, I have skills, I have abilities. I have the ability to drive my life in the direction I want it to go. I just need a couple tools to help equip me to get there. That's what the concept of the seven rules of self reliance is. What are those seven things you need to rely on yourself so that you can be of value to yourself and others and own your future.

[Jean Chatzky]

On the flip side, what is it that separates someone who is not truly self reliant?

[Maha Abou Elanain]

Yeah, I mean, I talk about it in the book about being a waiter, right. Do you think you're waiting, waiting for someone to give you that promotion? Waiting for someone to bring you a job opportunity, Waiting until you lose £10, waiting until you get more money in your bank account, Waiting for permission from others to do the things you actually care about. So what I talk about, the opposite of self reliance is you're just waiting for things to come to you. And life is so short. So I always talk about how can you go from being a waiter waiting for things to come to you versus creating them. And so I would always get often asked like, well, Maha, how do I create the opportunities I want to see in my life? I don't have those skills. Well then what are the things you need to reverse engineer in the time to build those skills? Or if you don't have the experience you need to do the things you want to do in your life. What do you need to do to take those steps to get that experience? Do you need a volunteer? Do you need to be an intern again at any age? Do you need to take some online classes? Do you need to fill a gap to get that experience? So much of what we have access to today, gene like it's at our fingertips, right? The Internet is for free, YouTube videos are for free, podcasts are for free. And so what I would like to inspire and empower everybody to think about is how much of that, if you just put a little bit of effort, can you go out and get yourself?

[Jean Chatzky]

When we think about self reliance or at least the listeners to this shift show think about it, I know many of their minds are going to go straight to the money. Earning it, saving it, investing it. How much of self reliance is financial independence and how much is the confidence and skill building side?

[Maha Abou Elanain]

Yeah, I mean it has a lot to do with both of those things, money and confidence, right. So I always think about, there's two things I want to share. I always talk about have your reputation, think of it as a currency, like it's money, what's it worth and what's its value. And if you have a good reputation, that'll help you get indoors, it'll help you build the right relationships, it'll help you get into opportunities you didn't get in before. And that will help you create more money, that will help you create more opportunities for yourself. And so I always think about, when you think about yourself, think about your image, your reputation, your personal brand that is valuable. Your name is the only thing you actually own. How can you use your name? By investing in your brand and thinking about how you show up in your presence to turn that into business opportunities, to turn that into financial security. And I always think about, you know, everybody has a job and they work, but they also might be entrepreneurs or solar entrepreneurs or own their own family business or own their own companies or you know, own a dog grooming business or a nail salon owner. And they need to figure out how can they rely on themselves and to keep and sustain their business. It starts with having a strong reputation and investing it and being intentional about it.

[Jean Chatzky]

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[Maha Abou Elanain]

Yeah, I mean it's. Thank you for asking. You know, I'm 100% Egyptian. I'm born, raised in Minnesota. I grew up in a small town called Mankato, which is like the home of Little House on the Prairie and Laura Ingalls Wilder. A very small town in Minnesota and I lived here most of my life. When I was 14, my mother became ill with multiple sclerosis and when I was an age where I'm supposed to be parented, I was really helping take care of my Sick mother. She had Ms. For about 22 years.

[Jean Chatzky]

Wow.

[Maha Abou Elanain]

When I was 27 years old, I'm living in the U.S. i'm working for General Mills. I have the coolest job working for the coolest brands in sports marketing. Wheaties, Betty Crocker, Pop Secret. I am like the it girl at the IT company. My parents tell me that they're going to move back to Egypt after living in the U.S. most of their lives and actually my whole life. And at 27 years old, I moved back to Egypt with my parents because I was taking care of my mother. So I'm 27, painting the picture. I'm single, I don't have a job, I don't speak Arabic, I don't have any friends, I don't have a network. And I'm literally plopped into for better terms of you going there. It's like a foreign country to me and I have to rely on myself to figure out how I'm going to navigate my new life. First of all, I'm taking care of my mother. She's very sick. I'm building all my new relationships and trying to find out what I'm going to do. I applied for jobs at like P and G and Coca Cola and and all the US based companies in Cairo, Egypt can find a job. I end up getting offered to be a secretary for a billionaire. And I went home that night just crying to my dad like, I don't want to be a secretary. I had this cool job in General Mills. I have my master's degree. I'm overqualified to being a secretary. I was wrong. He said, you should take this job. You just moved here, you don't know anybody. You got to start from the bottom. You have to learn about how they do business here. You've gotten a perfect opportunity to take this role as his secretary because you will be able to network and meet people and anyone who wants to go through his office has to go through you. And reluctantly, the next day I accepted that job because I took my father's advice. And it was the best thing that ever happened to me. After that moment. I started as this gentleman's secretary. I learned how to network, how to build relationships. I was going to be a pleasure to work with. I learned the value of adding value to other people. I thought, well, how can I make this job what I want it to be? Like? Do I want to sit outside his office and be his secretary forever? The answer is no. But is this the price for me to pay to learn about the business? To Learn about what he does. I started studying every piece of paper, going in and out of his office, trying to understand what does he actually do so then I can figure out where I can be the most valuable to him. So if you're thinking about this, how it relates to you in this story is you need to be listening and learning and absorbing so that you can figure out what's your secret sauce, what's the value you can create and put your thumb on the scale and make a difference for him. So I spent six months just zipping it up, listening and learning, putting my head down, answering phone calls, filing papers, taking meetings, doing what he asked me to do. Then I started being a squeaky wheel. I could do more. Put me in coach. Let me help, let me take notes, let me. I was just such a nag that I was like, I was determined that I could do more. I will tell you that I started as his secretary. I ended in four years as his business partner. I ran the largest IPO in the history of Egypt. I worked on the largest acquisition of the history in Egypt. I was relentlessly willing to outwork anybody because I kind of had a chip on my shoulder because I knew I wasn't the role he hired me to do. But I was willing to put in the hard work to prove to him that I could do more. And I met everybody in town and in the region by doing that job so well and thinking about the value of building relationships and building my reputation by being good at being good to people and being valuable to people. And that's kind of my journey of how I had to be self reliant when I moved to Egypt, learned how to create value for other people when I was there. I went on to be the head of communications at Google and Public Policy. I went on to be the launching Netflix in the Middle east and I ran their communications for five years. I served three under Secretaries of State for Public Diplomacy as an advisor, helping them understand how to communicate between Americans and the Arab world. I ended up working in the office of the ruler of Dubai and I own my own strategic communications firm. I ended up moving. I lived in the Middle east for 23 years and in 24 hours I decided to move home because of COVID and the pandemic. So I've been back here for five years and I really spend time helping people take their own self reliance to create their own value. I only had myself to depend on.

[Jean Chatzky]

I think that hidden in that amazing story, and it is, it is an amazing story. I'm Moving, moving to an Arab speaking country, not knowing the language. And I say this having taken two years of college, Hebrew, where the Alphabet is just, it's just, it's hard, difficult.

[Maha Abou Elanain]

Yeah, right.

[Jean Chatzky]

It is, it is. You think of a foreign language, this is a foreign language language. It is really, really hard. But in that story, you asked yourself the question, what do I need to do to be of value to this guy who hired me? And I think that's the secret to succeeding at any job, at any job, scaling at any job. If you can make yourself invaluable, then they're going to want to keep you around, they're going to want to promote you, they're going to want to put you forward, but you're serving others first. And I just wanted to shine a light on that because I think it's so, so, so that's rule number two.

[Maha Abou Elanain]

Of the book is be a value creator. So in any situation that I'm in, Jean, I'm trying to figure out how I can add value to that person. And it starts with anyone listening with a very simple question. How can I help? Ask somebody, how can you help? Because you don't know what they care about. And you want to know where you can add value by asking them how you can help, they'll tell you their ambitions, their problems, their dreams, their goals, their challenges. Then try to find one of those strings that you can pull that you know confidently you can help with, even if it's something small. Adding value can be many things. Is it making an introduction to somebody? Is it sending them an important article or something of interest to them? Is it solving a problem for them? Is it helping them, like hire a talent that they were looking for? Like, doesn't need to be something of monetary value. It could just be sharing their work on social media and giving them a shout out because you want to create value for them by opening them up to your audience. It can be a very small thing, but when you think about spending your life and your work and your efforts by creating value for other people, and I call it putting deposits in other people's trust banks, Imagine going through life putting deposits in many people's trust banks, one day you might need help and you want to make that withdrawal and one day you might not. And that's also good because you do things for the right things, for the good intentions.

[Jean Chatzky]

It is.

[Maha Abou Elanain]

The single thing that built my career is I always went into a relationship thinking, what can I do to be of value to them without wanting anything in return.

[Jean Chatzky]

Yeah, I Try to remember to ask that question all the time. And people are often flabbergasted that you're willing to help them. But. But you're right, of course. It's how you forge relationships. We're going to take a very quick break. Then we're going to come back and talk about the five characteristics of self reliant people.

[Maha Abou Elanain]

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[Jean Chatzky]

Get that early booking [e-mail] we are back with Maha. The book is the Seven Rules of Self Reliance. All right, five characteristics that you've got you pinpointed. Initiative, adaptability, decision making, leadership, and having a growth mindset. Let's unpack them, let's take them one by one.

[Maha Abou Elanain]

Okay, so first, one initiative, right? Taking initiative to help other people. I feel like, you know, this is sort of the concept of don't be a waiter. How can you think about how you can be proactive in helping other people? And I always think about creating value for others, making simple introductions for them. And a lot of times Gene, like everyone has a LinkedIn page. But what about taking initiative to spend maybe 15 minutes a day to use as a proper tool to network and connect with many people? It is an easy, low lift thing to do. It's 15 minutes a day spending time commenting on people's posts, sharing their work, catching up with your connections, reaching out to people. It's about being intentional. Like I can control the relationships I build and the reason why relationship building is so important for people who are self reliant. I can't come to you, Gene, and say you've built a lifetime of a career. You can I borrow those relationships? Can I use your relationships that you've invested in, that you've nurtured, that you've served? No. I want people to learn. This is one of the skills of being self reliant is I know how to build my own network. I know how to nurture my own network. I know how to serve my relationships. Your network is not there for you to ask them for favors. It's really for you to contribute to theirs, right?

[Jean Chatzky]

Absolutely. What do you say to people just who struggle with this part because they're shy, because they're introverts, because it's tough for them to get up and out and in front of people?

[Maha Abou Elanain]

Actually, the introverts are the best networkers. Right. Extroverts are out there at events, walking, working a room, collecting business cards, talking to people, taking those selfies. They're not making real relationships, they're collecting confetti is what I call it. Like, introverts are very effective about being intentional. Like, you need to work at the speed and the environment that works for you. If going to a big event and trying to network in meet room and shake hands with people is daunting, don't do it. Try to find a speed that works for you. Is it maybe making an intention of meeting two people that you really cared about seeing at that event and making a connection with them and then taking that into a different environment, A cup of coffee in a quiet, you know, environment, going for a walking, meeting, sharing a phone call with that person. I really believe that anyone who's an introvert, who's daunted with the idea of networking, you need to redefine it for yourself. It's about building an intentional relationship. Just so you know, we're coming on a new year, 2026.

[Jean Chatzky]

Yeah.

[Maha Abou Elanain]

I have a list of like four or five people that I want to build a relationship all year. I'm not trying to get to meet everybody. And do I have four or five people that I really want to invest in next year that'll be important for me, important for my business, important for my clients. That's all. I am very social person. I'm a very outgoing person. I'm a very extroverted person. But I am not trying to spray and pray. I want to be intentional with my relationships so I can nurture them, invest in them, spend time with them. And so introverts who are listening to this, who are thinking about that, I want you to pick one or two people that you really, really care about and go all in and invest time in that relationship.

[Jean Chatzky]

Spray and pray. I'm definitely going to borrow that. Talk to me about adaptability.

[Maha Abou Elanain]

So I think we live in a world where the market changes so much, right. So you see a lot of, you know, technology, advent of AI and you really need to Be adaptable to how market and times are changing, right? You don't want to be left behind because you don't know things. How can you be adaptable to changes in the market? Whether you're a solo entrepreneur working at a company or at home, you just had a baby, you want to get yourself back into the job market. You're not sure where to start. Think about where the market is going and how you can be adaptable to it. The biggest advice I would give you is start to be a lifelong learner. Is it reading books that you love to do? Is it listening to podcasts that makes you kind of learn new things? Is it taking online courses, joining group coaching? Try to be adaptable. When I think about my company and my team, I used to look at CVs or resumes and look at their job titles and their college degrees and I don't do that anymore. Like that is, I'm out the window. I've unlearned that way of looking at talent. I'm looking for people who are adaptable. I'm looking for people who are ready to pivot with me. I'm looking to people who are curious. You have to have curiosity in order to be adaptable to what's happening. You know, are you really scared of AI? It's not hard, it's new. So you need to think about what do I need to do to change my mindset. This isn't hard, it's just new. And so I need to spend some time getting up to speed with it and learning about it. You know, I, I admire your work so much Jean, because you, you unlock for us understanding the very complex things such as like our livelihood of we need money to survive and to build and care for our families and put food on the table and roofs over our heads and you help us understand. It's not hard, it's just new. It's a new skill you need to build, it's a new muscle. You need to educate yourself. And so I think about adaptability is about feeding that curiosity to learn new things and to understand that if you don't, you will be left behind and nobody wants that.

[Jean Chatzky]

I'm fascinated by the next point too because I think it ties into adaptability, which is decision making. There is so much information from AI, not from AI that is flowing our way that a lot of people just get stuck when it comes to making even simple decisions these days. And I think part of being self reliant is being able to make decisions, right or wrong, live with them. Tweak them just sort of roll, roll with what happens from that decision.

[Maha Abou Elanain]

Yeah, I mean, I'll tell you, and this is part of my career was like, I, you know, you have to make a decision based on the information you have at that time. There are no wrong decisions in life. You might go down this street and then have to pivot and go down another street. And I feel like we're hard on ourselves. Right. Nobody's judging yourself as much as you're judging yourself. Right. No one's judging you as much as you're judging yourself. And so I think if making a decision, you know, if you make the decision with the information halves and it doesn't turn out, that doesn't mean you make a wrong one. Just like circumstances and times change. And I always do, you know, when I think about decisions I've made in my life, that I've made mistakes, you know, we have to rethink how we think about failure. Failure is not the opposite of success. It is part of success, because that's what teaches you. So when you think you failed or you've made a wrong decision, I need you to rethink the way you're talking to yourself about the decisions that you're making in your life. Because everybody makes mistakes or makes decisions that they regret, but there's always lessons and value in them that taught you something, and that's invaluable.

[Jean Chatzky]

The investing course that I teach, Investing Fix, which is our investing club for women, we talk about this a lot because many women are late to the investing party simply because it's impossible to make a perfect decision when it comes to investing. You have to be okay with making decisions that are good enough. And a lot of women, especially, I find struggle with that. How do you get yourself over the need for the answer to be correct?

[Maha Abou Elanain]

I mean, I think a lot about this. Like, I had, you know, through my life and decisions that I've made and thinking about, like, I have to get it right. I don't think about it that way anymore. Like, about, if I don't get the decision right, I'm going to ruin my life or something's going to go wrong. Or sometimes the decisions that are made for you that happen to you end up being the best things that happen to you. I. I was head of communications and public policy at Google. I overseed 18 countries. I had the coolest job, and I left that career to go back to my company and then Facebook knocked on my door and said, hey, would you like to come work for us? And not only give you 18 countries, we'll give you all of Africa and Turkey and other countries. And it was like a huge opportunity. I was like, oh my God, this is going to be my dream job. I'm like moving up the bigger company, better remit all this kind of stuff. And I went through the interview process and I didn't get the job. And I was devastated. I was actually embarrassed. I was like, oh my God, I can't believe I went from this role and I had this opportunity to get even a bigger one and I didn't get it. And I came off that mountain and I was just crushed. And it ended up being the best thing that happened to me because I ended up getting a better opportunity like two months later. And had I taken that job, it would have changed the whole trajectory of my future career. And so I feel like you're not gonna get it right. And that's okay.

[Jean Chatzky]

I'm smiling because I just had a conversation with my husband this morning. My husband and I met well before we got married because he interviewed me to be his assistant at gq. He was the number two editor. I was just graduating from college. He didn't hire me.

[Maha Abou Elanain]

He didn't hire you.

[Jean Chatzky]

He did not hire me. And for some reason it showed up. He has wacky dreams, but it showed up in his dream last night and he said, what would have happened if I hired you? You would have gotten stuck in that Conde Mast career. You would have been fine. You would have gone on to be an editor at Glamour, Mademoiselle or one of the other magazines. You probably would never have found your way to finance, which is so true and kind of scary.

[Maha Abou Elanain]

Yeah.

[Jean Chatzky]

And when I didn't get that job as a 20 something year old, I was really unhappy, Devastated. And yet, you know, you turn around and you look at all of these other doors that open because things just shake out a different way and they're meant to be.

[Maha Abou Elanain]

And he's like, you don't see it now and you won't know now why. And you know, it just reveals itself at a time when it's ready to reveal itself.

[Jean Chatzky]

Yeah, leadership. I understand why you need that in order to be self reliant. Talk to me a little bit about having a growth mindset. Why does that play into the equation?

[Maha Abou Elanain]

Yeah, I think, Gene, like, you know, no one's gonna put you at the top of your priority list but you. Not your husband, not your boss, not your manager, not your co workers, not your children. So I always think like, if I wanna have that growth mindset that I always need to be thinking about, how am I growing myself? How am I growing? How am I learning? How am I taking advantage of all the free access to information that I have? I always say we've never been at a better time to be alive. Like, I can know your morning routine or what's in your bag, or what's your finance secrets, or of anybody on earth that I follow and want to get to know and to model or who are privately mentoring me without them knowing, right? So having that growth mindset is like, I. I need to grow. Because if I'm growing, I'm learning, and if I'm learning, I'm getting new opportunities. And if I'm getting new opportunities, I'm creating better wealth or more relationships or improving my reputation. All of those things matter, right? And I know everyone listening here doesn't want to be in the same spot a year from now, from today. They want to be more financially free. They want to have better relationships. They want to be less stressed. They want to be happier. So what are you doing to grow? Even when it comes to my health and my longevity, I have that growth mindset of, like, I need to grow my understanding of what supplements should I be taking, how much sleep do I need? How do I. What are the things that will help my health so that I could have that mindset to be able to spend more time with my family or go on those trips I really wanted to go to. So that growth mindset is all about learning. It's about investing in yourself, and it's about prioritizing yourself.

[Jean Chatzky]

You know, it's interesting that you talk about not wanting to be in the same place because it's that time of year, right? It's that time of year when we are setting the big goals. We are planning out 2026. You say that is not the right way to go about it. That as we look at what we want for this year, whether it is career growth, financial growth, relationship growth, emotional growth, whatever. Whatever it is that you want that the focus needs to be on the daily consistency. How do we do that? What's the rx?

[Maha Abou Elanain]

I always say the small things are the big things, right? Don't put my big New Year's resolutions, big, bold, you know, audacious goals that are difficult to break down and get done. I work in micro moments like, can I spend 10 minutes a day? And it's building a habit of doing something consistently for 10 minutes a day. So listening to a podcast, taking a walk for 10 minutes a day getting on my treadmill for 20 minutes a day. Like, what is the small thing that you can consistently do that gives you confidence? It builds a habit and it builds a routine. So is it 15 minutes a day on LinkedIn? I'm going to try to do that. I can do that. If you say, give me an hour on LinkedIn, I don't have time for that. But I can do 10 to 15 minutes a day on LinkedIn to build relationships, talk to people, answer messages, comment on people's posts, intentionally read. So when I think about a new year and setting goals for myself, I say, what are the small habits I think I can do consistently? And that's what I want you to focus on.

[Jean Chatzky]

One of my favorite phrases in the book is stay low, keep moving, because at some point we're going to get stuck, we're going to have a bad day, our heads are going to explode. How does this work?

[Maha Abou Elanain]

So the concept, this motto has been something that's been in my Life for about 30 years, and stay low, keep moving is actually a military term where you're kind of crouching down in your stomach, you're staying low and you're keeping moving. You're inching your way on your stomach to get. Avoid getting hit by Arsenal. But I took it for a metaphor for life, right? There's so many distractions, Gene, in our life right now. You know, it's your friend obligations, work obligations, comparing what people are doing on social media. Oh, they're going on these trips, they're wearing these clothes, they're doing these things, they're going to these retreats, they're buying these. It's all the comparisons, right? And then it's like family obligations, your neighborhood, community obligations. So stay low is sort of my way of like putting on the blinders to focus. Because if I spend all my time lobbying tennis balls, I'm not actually doing the things that I need to work on. So stay low is about how can you stay focused so that you're not up here doing what everyone else wants and then not getting your own things done that fill your cup or make you happy or progress you forward a month, a year, six months from now. Keep moving is because life happens, right? People get sick, you have a bad day, your mood changes, you're upset about something, economic downturns happen, people get laid off. Like, life happens, right? So how can you try to, like, despite the hard days, despite the bad days, keep moving. So that's sort of been a mantra of mine. I sign in all my Emails and I put it out there on my social just because I want people to like, you gotta stay focused. And it's really hard right now to do nothing. Yeah, it takes effort to do nothing. Like if you have like a afternoon off where you have nothing to do, you feel like you should be productive in doing something. Use that time. Is it Tuesday nights or Sunday mornings? Can I block off one hour where I'm gonna be reading? Can I block off one hour where I'm gonna be knitting? Can I block off one hour to play pickleball or one hour to learn how to bake sourdough? It's about being intentional with your time and to stay low. Not be low profile, but just stay low and focused on what you want to achieve. And if I were to give anyone listening some advice for this new year coming up, I want you to think about looking at your calendar, looking at your time. Where are you spending it, who are you spending it with and what are you spending it on? Because where you focus and where you spend your time is where your actions and effort goes. So if you're spending a lot of time doing a lot of things that aren't really adding up to your priorities and you will find the year go through and you haven't achieved a lot of things you you set forth to want to do. So unless you plan for it, unless you carve it out, unless you stay low and keep moving, it is going to be difficult to achieve it.

[Jean Chatzky]

We are going to leave it there. Maha. The book is seven Rules of Self Reliance, how to stay low, keep moving, invest in yourself and own your future. Thank you so much for doing this with us.

[Maha Abou Elanain]

Thank you. I'm so grateful.

[Jean Chatzky]

Total pleasure. And Maha will be back answering your questions in a mailbag that we will be dropping soon. So make sure to listen for that as well. Thanks everybody. If you love today's episode, please take a moment to leave us a five star review on Apple Podcast. Your feedback means the world to me. If listening to this episode has you thinking, all right, I am ready to get serious about growing my money, but I still don't feel 100% confident about investing. I want to personally invite you to check out our Investing Fix program. It's a live weekly investing club designed for women by women where we break down what's happening in the markets, explain how different investment works and give you all the tools that you need to build your own confident long term strategy. And now is a great time to start. While the markets are still showing strength and interest rates are shifting. So if you want to make 2026 the year you finally feel in control of your investments, go to investing fix.com. that's Fix with two X's. I'd love to see you there. Her money is produced by Hayley Pascalides, and our music is provided by Video Helper. Thanks so much for listening, and we'll talk soon.