# CHAPTER 6: Money, Time’s Twin — The Wake-Up Call Behind the Hustle
Hello everyone, it’s me again! How are you all doing? Today I will continue to walk with you and review CHAPTER 6 of "Cultivating Audacity read online." This is the chapter that asks us to look at our bank accounts and our calendars with the same honesty—and then to ask why we treat exhaustion like a trophy. Get comfortable, because this one is tender, practical, and quietly revolutionary.
The chapter opens with a confession that will feel familiar to anyone who has ever confused being busy with being worthy. The author admits she once believed money and respect had to be earned through pure grind. If you weren’t working your tail off, the story became: you don’t deserve it. The hustle was her identity. At one point in her adult life, she had three jobs. While transitioning to reporting at ESPN, she was producing during the week, sideline reporting on weekends, and writing freelance pieces for ESPN The Magazine. Seven days a week, no time off—and she was proud of it.
At her peak, she was calling nearly 100 live events a year. In 2009, she was anchoring news breaks in Fox’s studios, calling games as a play-by-play announcer for four different sports on ESPN, raising two toddlers, and expecting a third child. Then a colleague asked her a simple question: “Why do you work so hard?” She was confused, even insulted. She thought he was judging her time away from her kids—the very thing she already felt guilty about. The struggle zone had become her comfort zone.
But then came the moment that cracked her open. Her oldest son started freshman year at a university two time zones away. During his senior spring in high school, she missed many milestone events. He told her it didn’t matter that she wasn’t there. It mattered to her. She sat in a hotel lobby in Türkiye, on assignment, watching his high school graduation on her laptop with tears running down her cheeks. She calls it a decision she regrets.
When she returned home, she looked at her other two children—15 and 11—and thought: They are leaving soon too. I need more time with them. That realization forced her to reevaluate how she spent her time. She stopped prioritizing the biggest networks or the highest-paying offers. She began taking games close to home, catching crack-of-dawn flights the morning after events so she could be back in time to take her kids to school. Over a few years, she dropped her workload from 96 to 50 live events a year. Did her income drop? Yes, but only for a short time. With her time reallocated, she booked more speaking engagements, earned more per event than per television game, and her income rose even while she cut back travel and work hours.
That is why she calls money time’s twin. The approach to overcoming time and money barriers is similar. Those who struggle to budget their time often struggle to budget their money. Before we can decide how to allocate money wisely, we must get clear about how much we have and what we truly believe about it. A 2023 Capital One study found that 73 percent of Americans rank finances as the number one stressor in their lives. Quitting a job to pursue passion and purpose without a deep dive into your financial reality is reckless. The only way forward is to explore your money story.
The chapter then asks: What’s your money story? Think back to childhood. Were money conversations open or tense? Was your family careful and saving, or free-spending and lavish? What you came from is what you know. Once you dig into the roots of your ideas about money, you can start shaking up old habits that aren’t doing you any favors. The author grew up with parents who made wise decisions. They didn’t buy many toys or gifts, didn’t eat out often, didn’t wear fancy clothes. Her mother taught her how to balance a checkbook. She never heard her parents fight about finances. As a result, she and her four brothers are comfortable working with and budgeting money. That healthy attitude may be one of the greatest gifts her parents gave the family.
To explore this further, she spoke with Maryalice Goldsmith, a life coach who helps people build online businesses. Maryalice’s first step with clients is to evaluate their financial backstory. When the author said she didn’t think she had any attitude about money, Maryalice pointed out something striking: “Notice how your relationship with time and money are similar. You don’t lament it; you just distribute it in alignment with your goals because that is what you saw growing up.” The word lament resonated. The author doesn’t attach anxiety, angst, or emotion to money. Whether she earns a lot or below her rate, it doesn’t shake her emotionally.
Maryalice’s story was different. As the youngest of seven, her family had enough for basic needs but not abundance. There was an unspoken understanding that men could spend as they pleased, but women needed permission. She didn’t feel financially worthy because asking her father for money was hard. When he gave it, he would grudgingly say, “Why should I give you money so you can go to the movies? How does that benefit me?” That was her money story. When she wanted to take her business from five figures to six, she knew she couldn’t stick her head in the sand. She had rarely looked at her bank balance because just seeing it stressed her out. So she made checking her account part of her morning routine. Every morning, after brushing her teeth and combing her hair, she checked her bank balance. Whether there were thousands of dollars or ten dollars, she said, “Thanks so much for being here.” She didn’t judge the balance. She just thanked the money for being there. She created a spreadsheet, a budget, and nurtured it daily. She grew her business to multiple six figures. She realized she was more comfortable giving than receiving, and guilt and shame were attached to finances. “The more I allowed myself to desire the money, the more I allowed myself to make,” she explained. She gave herself permission to live abundantly by embracing the idea that if she made more money, she would have more to give.
The author then drives home a hard truth: the money story constructed during childhood is not your fault, but it is your responsibility to examine it and write your own story. Blaming your past isn’t the answer. Where you are now is what you have allowed. When you know better, you do better. Don’t focus on a low bank balance; concentrate on growing what you already have. If you focus on the roots—financial health and clarity—the fruit will be amazing.
The chapter also revisits Tammy, the masseuse who wanted to become an organizer. Time was her primary barrier, but money was closely related. Tammy felt guilt about taking time away from the restaurant and obligation to employees who had worked there for decades. She had been sacrificing and grinding her whole life, especially after her father passed away. She was so blinded by daily obligations that she couldn’t see that trading a $65-an-hour massage for $90 to $150 per hour of organizing would bring in more money, not less. We all must decide: remain stagnant in our relationship with money, or invest in deconstructing that story and building a new one. Ask yourself: What would my life look like if I allowed myself an abundance of wealth? Don’t confuse abundance with greed. Allow yourself to want a nice car, travel, experiences. Don’t shove your deepest desires back into a box and punish yourself with guilt. So many people apologize for making money. Shed that skin. Changing your money story won’t heal your friend’s money story.
On the flip side, if you have overspent because of a lavish upbringing, that also needs recalibration. Ask why you need the designer dress. Do you need the expensive car for comfort or to impress friends? Notice your feelings when you see someone in worn-out clothing or an older car. Do you see them as “less than” because you once felt less than? The author shares that her ex-husband Matt grew up on the free lunch program, with worry about basic needs. Three years into their marriage, they moved to Colorado. One February day, their house was roasting, but Matt kept turning the heat up. When she asked why, he snapped, “We can afford heat, so we are gonna have heat!” He grew up in New York with heat turned off because of unpaid bills. He and his siblings shivered in winter coats in bed. Once he became aware of that childhood link, they could have a more moderately heated home.
The chapter then asks us to choose the story we pass on. Since we inherit money stories, most people subconsciously adopt them. When money becomes a source of stress and limitation, it seeps into every corner of life. Parents who struggle or exhibit irresponsible financial behaviors inadvertently teach financial hardship and scarcity. One of the most stressful scenarios for a child is standing at the checkout counter wondering if a parent’s credit card will be denied. If you grew up hearing, “I hope this credit card works,” you may live the same way and pass it on. It is inherited, just as a girl who hears her mother say, “I look so fat in this,” may struggle with body image. The author never thought of being frivolous with money because she grew up respecting, saving, and managing it. But she did need to learn how to spend money. Sometimes you have to spend money to buy back energy to make pursuing your dream achievable. Some people refuse to spend a penny and deny themselves comforts that would make the audacious quest easier or more satisfying.
This leads to a powerful reframe: money is energy. The adage “time is money” can evolve into “money is energy.” Maryalice urged the author to view both time and money as commodities to be traded for whatever helps her succeed. The hours spent on contracts, business travel plans, and following up with speaking clients were impacting her writing. She was exhausted and not giving her best to her jobs or family. Maryalice helped her see that paying someone to help with paperwork was prioritizing important tasks over urgent, repetitive ones. So she hired an operations manager, Fabi. It felt pretentious at first, like an unnecessary luxury when she should save every dime for college and a rainy day. But within six weeks of hiring Fabi, she began booking more speaking events because she could prospect new clients instead of getting bogged down in details. The money she exchanged by paying Fabi correlated directly to an increase in her income.
The chapter also offers practical guidance. Just as we separate time into urgent and important categories, we can put money into buckets. Necessary expenses include housing, bills, credit cards, basic living standards, and obligations. Don’t put those on the back burner to pursue audacious goals. Urgent equates to necessary. The other category is discretionary income, which may need to be redistributed after basic needs and bills. Don’t go clutching your coffee money just yet. If your morning cup of joe gives you pleasure, have it. Look for other areas in your discretionary bucket to adjust.
Tracking your spending is a crucial first step. Choose a method that fits your lifestyle—pen and paper, spreadsheets, or budgeting apps. Categorize expenses into housing, transportation, food, utilities, entertainment, and miscellaneous. Create subcategories like groceries, dining out, and coffee. Gather bank statements, credit card statements, receipts, and bills. The author admits this is where she stalls and procrastinates, but it is important to capture all transactions. Record each transaction with date, amount, and category. Make it a daily or weekly habit. Look for trends, fluctuations, and areas of overspending or underspending. Ask: Are you sufficiently funding your audacious goals and the things that are important to you? Find opportunities to optimize, reduce discretionary expenses, or renegotiate recurring bills. Allocate resources toward priorities while maintaining a balanced, sustainable approach. Consider budgeting envelopes, spending caps, or automatic transfers. Revisit and revise your budget as circumstances evolve.
The chapter closes with a gentle but firm challenge. Becoming comfortable with digging into your money story can free you from shame, embarrassment, and anxiety. Love yourself enough to trust that until now, you have done the best you could given your money story. Then love yourself enough to figure out a different path if the story needs revising. Don’t wait. Spend time dissecting the stories you have become invested in and rewrite them. Who was that voice shaming you for not knowing how to manage your money? It wasn’t you. It was your inner critic. That is a barrier we all share to different degrees. Turn the page.
## Reader’s Impressions & Star Rating This chapter hit me harder than I expected. It is not just about budgets and bank balances; it is about the stories we inherit, the guilt we carry, and the quiet ways we sabotage our own abundance. The graduation scene in Türkiye was heartbreaking, and Maryalice’s morning ritual of thanking her money—whether it was thousands or ten dollars—was oddly moving. It reframes money not as a source of shame but as energy to be stewarded. The practical steps on tracking spending and separating necessary from discretionary expenses make the chapter actionable, while the personal stories make it feel human. I also appreciated that the author does not pretend to have it all figured out. She admits she procrastinates on detailed financial work and needed help to change. That honesty makes the lesson stick.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 4.8 / 5 Stars
## Next Chapter Prediction The final line—“Turn the page”—and the mention of the inner critic suggest the next chapter will dive deeper into mindset, fear, and self-doubt. I predict we will explore the voice that tells us we are not enough, not ready, or not worthy, and how to recognize it as a barrier rather than truth. The book may move from money and time into courage, identity, and the audacious action that follows self-awareness. Perhaps we will meet another character who must confront imposter syndrome or the fear of being seen. Whatever comes next, I expect it to challenge readers to stop waiting for permission and start writing a braver story.
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