Growing or Dying?

Posted on November 8, 2011 by monyguru

“Don’t wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions.  So what.  Get started now.  With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful.”

– Victor Hansen

I had a conversation with a loved one yesterday, they were asking why they always want to do the right thing in their life, but when it comes times to put up… they find it difficult to do what they know they should do.

I told them to join the club, we all struggle with this…

Do I get up early, or hit the snooze a few times?
Do I clean my car, or sit on the couch and watch TV?
Do my homework, or go on Facebook?
Live on a budget, or spend my money as I desire at the moment?

The fact of the matter is that most of us need someone or something to “motivate” us to do the right thing.  As children it was our parents, we feared the consequences or disappointing them, but either way we were motivated.  As we grow older it was our peers (thus the importance of choosing good friends), who motivated us to keep up with them, it was subtle but if our friends did well in school and cared about their studies, we tended to do the same.

So, now as an adult how do we keep ourselves motivated to do the “hard things” we need to do to be successful?

GROWTH demands that we do the hard things – This morning I ran 2 miles.  I didn’t want to, didn’t enjoy it while doing it, but did it anyway because if I didn’t push myself past my comfort zone I cannot grow.  Muscles must be worked BEYOND what they did yesterday to grow stronger, that is an undeniable physiological truth. The God who created you and loves you cares about your growth, and the way He has designed you to grow is through challenges.  Are you INTENTIONALLY growing stronger (physically, emotionally, spiritually) every day?

GOALS help us keep moving when we lack motivation – If we want to grow we must  get over the idea that the goal is for us to go through life with as little effort or discomfort as possible.  This is similar to the mistaken notion that we don’t need to change because God loves us just the way we are.  God does love us just the way we are, but He also loves us too much to leave us that way.  He wants us to grow and at times pain is necessary in order to gain something of greater value.  Our goals keep us focused while enduring (notice I didn’t say enjoying) the disciplines we must practice in our lives to reach those goals.  Do you have CLEAR goals that you have shared with others that you are working toward every day?

GOADING is necessary when all else fails – To goad is to stimulate, drive, push or motivate.  All of the above are needed at times, there are times when we all need to be encouraged and told “you CAN do it.”  On the other hand there is also a time when we need to be told to get up off our lazy butts and just get it done whether we feel like it or not.  Take a moment and think. Can you remember any period of growth in your life that didn’t involve effort and even some level of discomfort?  The truth is that all growth involves discomfort.  And most people don’t do uncomfortable things without someone or something thing “goading” them to just push through the discomfort and git er done.  Who is it in your life that you have shared your struggles and AGREED to let them push you to grow?

These are not new ideas.  I am not reinventing truth.  But I do want the next generation (and mine too) to rediscover what has always been true — and one thing that has always been true is that in order to grow we must do hard things. We must challenge and stretch ourselves, step outside our comfort zones and do something difficult. It’s how we’ve grown before, and it’s the only way we’ll grow for the rest of our lives.

“It is hard; but the sort of compromise we’re hankering after is harder — in fact, it is impossible…. We are like eggs at present.  And we cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg.  We must be hatched or go bad.” – CS Lewis

In other words, we can’t just go on being ordinary, only doing what we want and enjoy, never pushing ourselves, never sacrificing, never staying outside our comfort zone for long.  Either we are hatched and learn to fly or we are a dud that will soon start to stink.

The choice is yours!

Dave

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5 simple rules to remodel your finances

Posted on November 4, 2011 by monyguru

Change is the constant. The individuals best prepared to succeed are those who can learn, modify, and grow, regardless of age, experience, or ego.  People, places, technology change but economics don’t.

The rules are not new or earth shattering, but rules we were probably taught by our parents and have not practiced as we know we should.  As with any discipline, daily practice transforms them into habits, and good habits practiced daily are the foundation for positive changes in our lives.

1) Spend less than you make – although simple, this one rule will revolutionize your finances in the following ways:

  • You will begin to eliminate debts because spending less than you earn frees up money you need to make larger payments on your debt.  Over time, they begin to disappear thus reducing your bills and giving you more breathing room.
  • You will begin to save by building up some cash reserves in your savings account.  This enables you to handle emergencies (car breakdown, home repair, etc) without incurring new debt.  You then have the confidence and motivation to begin investing long-term for your retirement.
  • You have less stress because you have fewer debts, less emergencies, you are saving for retirement… you sleep better, your health improves, and you feel better about your life.

2) Talk about money – this is the one rule that trips up so many families.  Somewhere between one spouse controlling the finances, and each spouse doing their own thing… is a middle ground.  Both spouses discussing their finances, debt, spending in a non threatening, loving manner in the context of their mutual long-term goals, plans and dreams.  Things like:

  • Do you have the same dreams for your future? Are their debts you are hiding? Do you both agree on the financial condition of your household?  Are your relationships fulfilled and making you happy?  Do you have a financial plan for your future?
  • Are your children expecting you to pay for their college? Are you expecting to? Are they expecting you to help with their wedding?
  • Are you constantly doing things with your friends that cost more than you are comfortably spending?  Are you buying things to try to impress or keep up with others.

3) Monitor your progress – Let me illustrate with an example.  If you were to go to the gym and enlist the services of a personal trainer, one of the first thing he would do would be to evaluate where you are now physically, and where you want to be 1-3-6-12 months down the road.  He would set short, intermediate, and long-term goals with you.  The first step is to compile your net worth (all assets – all liabilities) TRY THIS ONE. Begin to track your assets, track your debts, track your net worth.  These are markers to gauge your progress, if the goal is to reduce your debt each month, and add to savings the worksheets will aid you in this.

4) Establish a debt repayment plan – Here are the steps:

  • Get out a piece of paper and the latest statement for every single debt you have.
  • Make 4 columns on the paper listing the debtor name, balance of debt, minimum monthly payment, and interest rate, add the amounts.
  • Make a new list on the back side of the paper but reorder the list from smallest overall debt amount to the largest amount.
  • Determine how much extra you can pay above the amount needed to pay all the debts.
  • Begin adding the extra dollars to the smallest debt amount, once that debt is repaid take the amount you were paying on that debt and add it to the next debt on your reordered list (now the smallest debt amount).  Continue until all debts are paid.

5) Plan your spending – How much do you spend on groceries each week?  How much on gas?  How about eating out, or soda and snacks?  If you have a plan for your spending you know this BEFORE you spend it, because you plan in advance.  Let me ask you if you know how much you earn each month?  If you know how much you earn, than you should know in advance what you will spend.  If you don’t follow this rule chances are you will always struggle financially!

I told you the five steps are simple, and they are actually easy once they become established habits in your life.  It has been said we can achieve success in any area of life by identifying the optimum strategies and repeating them until they become habits.  Just do it.

Let me know if I can help.

Dave

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5 things happen when you are completely honest.

Posted on November 2, 2011 by monyguru

Honesty does not always bring a response of love, but it is absolutely essential to it. – Ray Blanton

People confuse “honesty” with a type of “happiness”.   They say something like, “He can be honest because he is happy.”  But it’s not true.  Life is a series of failures punctuated by brief successes.  That’s is honesty.  Failure is not necessarily bad, it’s reality.

So the question we need to ask ourselves is not, “What will we do IF we fail?”, BUT “How WILL I respond when I fail?”

Now, some of you are wondering why I am being so negative with all this talk of failure.  To that I say, this is not being negative… it is being honest.

We are often guilty of lying to ourselves.  This is like cheating at solitaire.  How can we improve if we insist on lying or cheating?  If we make a mistake (or just plain screw up), we must stop trying to cover it up.  We have to stop assigning blame to others for our mistakes.  The choice is ours, we can either:

  • admit its our fault, commit to not make the same mistake again and in doing so become better than we were yesterday,
  • deny responsibility, and become worse than yesterday.

OK, now for the things that will happen when you are honest.

      1. Some people will stop speaking to you. – Family members, colleagues, and some friends will begin to avoid you.  I have experienced this personally, under the guise that I should be more tactful, because everyone is not in the same place as I am.  The truth may hurt you, but if told with the right spirit it will not harm you.  Let me illustrate the difference.  Kids love candy & sweets, they taste great and make life good. However they are ultimately bad for you and cause cavities.  On the flip side, filling cavities at the dentists hurts us but ultimately makes us feel better. The lesson here is that some things can hurt us, without harming us (filling cavities) AND things that feel good can really be harming us (eating sweets).
      2. People may think you are crazy. – One of the definitions for crazy is an unpredictable, nonconforming person.  Why is it that we are thought of as crazy when we are merely practicing the Golden Rule as taught by Jesus, “Treat others as you want others to treat you”, He then says this sums up the entire Old Testament.  WoW!
      3. Many folks will find you entertaining – If 100 people are lying, and 1 is telling the truth than the one is going to stand taller than anyone else.  People will come back to you, at first probably because you’re like a “live” reality show, but then because they admire you.
      4. People will trust your advice. – People will come back for advice.  Not because they agree with you, but because they know the advice is TRUE, coming from the heart and not because there is anything for sale.  Honesty is sometimes about the scars and the blemishes.  It’s more than just bragging about failure, but about truly helping people.  We all have worked very hard to hide our failures in corners where it is dark and faded.  But when someone brings their life close to the light,  (For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light – Ephesians 5:8), we can encourage, by being honest with ourselves and others.
      5. You become FREE. – (You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free – John 8:32)  The walls we build in our lives are for our security.  They protect us from others seeing who and what we really are… “if we tell the girl we like her, she might not like me back”, or “if I say X, everyone else might say Y.”  Jesus said it better than I ever could in Matthew 5, “let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

Every day, just push out those boundaries a little further.  Reach for that freedom. We may never truly get there.  Strive to see how far you can go, just like a little child with their parent.  Eventually, the boundaries are so far away we begin to feel the pleasures of true freedom.

Dave

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Are you willing to do the heavy lifting?

Posted on October 31, 2011 by monyguru

The Vikings were fierce pirates and warriors who terrorized Europe from the late 700’s to about A.D. 1100. Brutal and fearsome they looted and burned parts of England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Russia, and Spain. Other Europeans were so frightened of the Vikings that a special prayer for protection was offered in the churches: “God, deliver us from the fury of the Northmen.”

Most historians attribute the Vikings devastating effectiveness to their warships, which were swift and light and could be easily dragged ashore. This allowed them to strike suddenly and then quickly retreat to the safety of the sea. However, my wise father has identified another contributing factor—one that holds incredible significance for all of us: The Vikings rowed themselves to battle.

Unlike the Romans, who used galley slaves to row their great warships, the Vikings took full responsibility for this strenuous activity. This tells us two things: 1) the Vikings didn’t feel that rowing was beneath them—they pursued competence in every area pertaining to their success, and 2) they were seriously ripped. – Taken from the book Do Hard Things

We did a study with the high school boys last year, and it contains some principles that apply to all of us.  The story above explains the first one:

  1. Life can will bring us difficulties and we grow stronger as we work through them rather than look for a way out of them.  We all can recall times in which our backs were against the wall, we had to put up, deal with the issue, man up, buck up, etc.  After we emerged from the battle (with our giants) victorious (although possibly bruised and bloodied) we felt better for having faced the difficulty, and dealing with it.  Unfortunately, many of us put off facing the giants (financial, health, weight, fears, phobia’s, family) because we fear losing the fight.  Well, guess what, by avoiding facing the giant, we have already lost.  We know it inside, and our outside reflects the fact that we are afraid to face the truth, it messes with our confidence, our energy, our attitude, our achievement.  Victory over ANYTHING requires facing the truth, and fighting for what you want and believe in.
  2. You cannot really succeed unless you are willing to risk failing.  Did you know Henry Fords first car company failed, Bill Gates first company (Traf-O-Date) failed, Michael Jordan was cut from his tenth grade high school varsity basketball team, Steve Jobs was fired from Apple (the company he started) in 1985.  What do all of these folks have in common?  1) Failure pushed them to work harder and smarter, 2)  they used their failures as a step ladder to their future success,  3) they were willing to risk failing again, because failure is not permanent, just a life lesson, a temporary setback that provides us the wisdom (gained from failure) to ultimately succeed.  But, failure can only benefit us IF we learn from her, she is a teacher, but we must be wise enough to learn from her as a student learns from a teacher.
  3. Many times, the hard things are small tasks we do everyday.  Does it sometimes seem that doing the mundane daily tasks that makeup our lives are more difficult than the big ones?  What I mean is being consistent in the quality, and consistency of these everyday tasks.  These are the things that no one praises us for, yet they build (or reveal) character in our lives.  Things like making up our beds, doing the dishes, handling our money wisely, keeping up the lawn, regular quiet time.  They build life skills such as self discipline, honesty, consistency, thoughtfulness.  Although they may seem like small insignificant tasks, learning to do them well & consistently can lead to big payoffs because they help make us better, stronger, and equip us with life skills to succeed.

This proverb from Solomon says it well:

One day I walked by the field of an lazybones, and then passed his vineyard;
They were overgrown with weeds, thick with thistles, all the fences broken down.
I took a long look and pondered what I saw; the fields preached me a sermon and I listened:
“A nap here, a nap there, a day off here, a day off there, sit back, take it easy—do you know what comes next?
Just this: You can look forward to a dirt-poor life, with poverty as your permanent houseguest!”
Proverbs 24:30-34

Dave

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7 steps to transform your LIFE in 30 days

Posted on October 26, 2011 by monyguru

Action is the foundational key to all success… Picasso

What if I told you that  in only 30 days YOUR LIFE would be radically transformed.  It is possible to begin to change the direction of your journey by following the 7 steps below.  You may know about these steps, you may have tried them before, BUT when done together they generate a synergy that is greater than you can imagine.
              1. Start your day ahead of schedule – One of the greatest lessons I ever learned was to set my clock 10 minutes ahead and to rise 30 minutes earlier each day (Proverbs 6:9-11).  This simple act changed my life.  Getting up earlier in the morning and having time to spare by setting your clocks ahead, are two simple ways of relieving large amounts of stress.  How often do you rush around because you are going to be late?  How often are you actually late?  Being behind schedule in any setting is stressful, doing this on a regular basis can be hazardous to your health in the long-run.  By implementing these small acts, you can solve those issues in an instant and you wont even notice the difference.
              2. Plan ahead – Save yourself time by being prepared (Proverbs 21:5).  One way of saving time is to live life during off hours, go grocery shopping at lunch, hit the gym before work or fill up on gas on your way home from work and not during the morning rush.  Planning ahead and utilizing off-time can save you a great deal of time that can be better spent on yourself and your life.
              3. Discard regularly, both people and possessions, that have no use in your life – Clutter creates chaos.  Every once in a while it is important that we clear our lives of the clutter that is weighing us down (Hebrews 12:1), this applies to both physical items and people.  Look around you right now, how many things do you see that have not been used in one month?  three months?  six months?  a year?  Now consider the people in your life.  How many drag you down?  Get rid of anything that has either no purpose, no positivity or no presence.  Repeat regularly.  One caveat, if there are people in our lives that we are serving, they have a purpose… even if just to remind us that we are called to serve others.  
              4. Set goals for yourself, both large and small, and work towards them – Having goals is a great way to challenge yourself.  When considering goals it is best to create both short and long-term goals to achieve.  Small goals will bring you quick satisfaction, usually while helping you along the path towards you larger, more long-term ones.
              5. Control or regulate your routine – Creating a good routine and sticking to it is an important part of simplifying your life.  Ensure that you are getting enough sleep, that you are making time for family, friends, your spiritual life and yourself, and that your schedule leaves you plenty of time to do those things that make you happiest.  (see step 6 when establishing a routine)
              6. Prioritize – We all are busy, have may things to do and sometimes feel overwhelmed.  To beat the heat of stress and over working yourself be sure you prioritize your tasks accordingly.  Consider what it is that is most important, what truly needs to be done, and face those things first (Make a list daily and weekly).  Work your way down to the least important things, those that really have no great effect on you or your well-being.  
              7. Dare to dream – Too often we are told to ‘grow up’ which is all a part of life, but for some reason for many of us growing up means losing sight of our dreams.  Well, forget that… If that’s what growing up is I want to stay a kid forever.  Let your imagination run free, dream of being rich or famous, pretend you’re a princess and aim to marry a prince, dream what your life would be like if you were debt free.  Never ever limit yourself, the sky truly is the limit… and sometimes beyond.  Then let your dreams motivate you to take action.

Dave

(Thanks to Katherine for the inspiration and suggestions)
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I’m not feeling very inspired.

Posted on October 24, 2011 by monyguru

Disciplines – training that corrects, molds, or perfects the mental faculties or moral character.

Do you not know that the runners in a stadium all race, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Now everyone who competes exercises self-control in everything. However, they do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one. Therefore I do not run like one who runs aimlessly, or box like one who beats the air. Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified. – Paul in 1 Corinthians 9

I am a big believer in practicing disciplines in ones life to improve performance as well as develop helpful habits in our life.  One of the disciplines that I have begun is writing this blog 3x a week.  This morning, it is not something that I fell inspired to do, or have the “fire in my belly”, yet that is what discipline is all about… pushing on whether you feel like it or not.

In the New Testament the word “self control or temperance” is the same word as self-discipline.  The most common Greek word for self-control is enkrateia.  Its root meaning is “power over oneself” or “self-mastery.” Self-control, in the broadest sense is… mastery over our desires.  Self discipline is the practice of holding our appetites in check, controlling our will or regulating our conduct.

When it comes to money management, very few Americans seem to be able to practice SELF control on a day-to-day basis.  Rather than living on a budget that allocates how they will spend the money they earn, their passions and desires dictate how they spend.  In their head they may know they should pay down their debt, and begin to save/invest on a systematic basis.  Yet, in their daily practice… they choose NOT to exercise the self discipline, instead they indulge themselves and put off doing “the hard things” necessary to succeed financially.

In many cases it is a lack of goals, and a plan to reach those goals that holds them back.  The picture above says it best, “Discipline is the BRIDGE between GOALS and ACCOMPLISHMENTS.”  If you want to begin self-discipline, begin by taking some time to sit alone and evaluate where you are today vs. where you want to be down the road.  Be brutally honest with yourself, and also take the time to dream about the future you want for you and your family.

In my life the date was January 3 2001, and I was running a report on my financial status, preparing for tax time.  I was 39 years old at the time, and after looking at my financial snapshot it became clear that my finances were a mess.  I had a negative net worth, credit card debt, other revolving debt, little savings or retirement funds.  The net result of almost 20 years of working was I had a negative net worth!  Now I could give you all kinds of reasons (excuses) for why things were like they were, but the bottom line was I was failing financially.

So I determined right then that the next 20 years would be different, that I had the power to change things but it would requires developing some goals, then a game plan to reach those goals.  To execute that game plan in my life required SELF-DISCIPLINES that would need to be started and continued if the next 20 years would be different.  Good intentions are not enough, they are a start but the road of our lives are littered by folks who have fallen by the wayside with good intentions.  As the cliche’ goes, “If you keep doing what you’ve always done you keep getting what you’ve always gotten”.

What about you?  Are you ready for a change?

  1. Start by sitting down with your spouse, or a close friend and evaluating where you are today.
  2. Determine specifically where you want to be at a point and time down the road.
  3. List the changes that will need to be made to accomplish these goals.
  4. Begin the process of self-transformation by establishing disciplines in your life to keep you on track.

If I can help you in any way feel free to shoot me a note.

Dave

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Find your passion… again!

Posted on October 20, 2011 by monyguru

Passion – any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, such as love or hate

So when asked, “What are you passionate about?”  Why do so many people look away, ponder and then find it difficult to verbalize what in their life they are doing that is motivated by their passion? (I know my 8th grade English teacher would say that sentence is a mess grammatically)  I believe it is not because they have no passion, but because it is locked away in their heart in a closet.  If they will take the time to “look for it” they will find it… and with it a renewed enthusiasm and energy for living!

Here are a few reasons many of us have a hard time identifying our passion:

  • We define ourselves (to ourselves) by our shortcomings and insecurities more than our hidden, forgotten, and suppressed dreams.
  • We feel insignificant or overwhelmed in contrast to the vastness of the world and believe we cannot make a difference.
  • We are too busy maintaining an overbooked life and therefore don’t have time to consider why we’re working ourselves to death.
  • We are afraid if we identify it (our passion), we’ll have to do something, act on it (and that means risking failure).
  • We believe that our life is OK now, dreaming is for children and not for us living in the real world… we are satisfied (not necessarily happy) with the status quo.

Do any of these excuses fit you?

The slave/abolitionist Harriet Tubman said “Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”

Here are 5 exercises for you to work through finding for the first time, or rediscovering your passion for life.

*Ask others about your “one thing”… Take the time to email, post on your Facebook wall, even call some friends and ask them the following question.  “What is my one thing?  If you had to describe to someone else my one thing, what would it be”  We are often to close to ourselves to be able to identify it without the input of others who know us.  You may be surprised how similar the responses are and this will aid you by letting others aid you in the discovery process.

*Name your 3 favorite movies…  Without thinking too much list you three favorite movies.  Mine are below;

  1. Back to the Future
  2. Star Trek
  3. The Jerk

Now, examine the 3 movies and look for the common thread that runs through each.  Hmmm… 1) the future holds an adventure that is better than the past and 2) a misfit (or group of them) are able to overcome their past to make a better life for themselves and others.  You will be surprised how closely your threads hints at your passion.

What do you like to talk about?   The topics of our conversations can definitely tell others what we are interested in and may give us some insight into our passions. One very good way to figure this out properly, is to ask your friends.  Ask them what they believe you like to talk about the most, and what topic makes your eyes brighten up, and changes your entire behavior.

What makes you angry?   What kind of situations and circumstances make your blood boil?  What behaviors do you see in society, your church, your work, your school that you feel in your heart is wrong (and makes you angry) and needs to be made right?  These may hint to an area to explore for your passion.

What makes you unafraid of failure?   When we are doing what we are passionate about, we have total confidence in our abilities.  This makes us not worry about failing, because in our mind, how can we fail when we do what we love?  We can only feel like a failure if we don’t at least try.  Something that you do not have second thoughts about. Think about something that you feel you must do and that failure is not even a concern of yours, because the mere act of doing it is like the journey and the destination all wrapped up in one.  This may indicate an area to look for your passion.

Now, you’ve identified your passion, so what next?  A couple ideas:

  • Begin to reorient your life around your passions.  It is time to switch out of a life of Survivor into a life of Transformer.
  • Make the difficult decisions (financially, vocationally, emotionally, educationally) in order to do the thing God has uniquely created you to do.

Just think of how this world and the Kingdom of God would explode if we dared to live from our passion!

Dave

* Thanks to Mary DeMuth for these questions.

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Transforming your life… start today.

Posted on October 18, 2011 by monyguru

So how do we begin the process of transformational change in our lives?  What is the pivotal decision that we need to make that begins the process?

Folks, it’s about priorities.  deciding what really matters and then, as Stephen Covey says, “putting first things first”!

I would start with

As you do this, it will increase your productivity (and satisfaction) and grant you a greater sense of purpose, and as a bonus it may bring you increased freedom and peace.

As an example that more is NOT better see the link below

Freakonomics > Marriage: More Money, More Problems.

So here is a list of 9 suggestions to begin to transformation via simplification…

      1. Turn off all technology for 60 minutes a day and focus on doing your most important work.  (How about working on your spiritual life?)
      2. Start your day with exercise, it is a discipline and you will feel better about yourself.
      3. Be obedient to the sabbath! (Take a day off each week,  learn how to really rest and refuel.)
      4. Learn to say no… which leave you free to say yes to the things that are important.
      5. Plan your week ahead of time. (Try to spend 30 minutes every Sunday evening looking at your goals/tasks for the upcoming week and planning spaces for work, rest, exercise, social, etc.  Make a list of things you want to get done this week, remember, 1st things 1st.)
      6. Clean out your closets, your car, your garage. Get rid of things you never wear, don’t use anymore, or haven’t used in the past 6 months.  The rule of thumb is, if you wouldn’t replace it if you lost it,  then you don’t need it.
      7. Stop watching TV or at least cutback to no more than 1 hr per day (or 7 hours a week).  If you’re an average viewer, you’ll save over a hundred precious hours each month.  What could you do with 100 “extra” hours next month (4 days) to do whatever you want?
      8. Learn to protect your time.  Distractions destroy productivity and complicate your life.  (Yes, that means you cannot productively do homework, have Facebook open, text, and listen to music at the same time)  This “multitasking” leads to the ADHD society we have today.  Focus requires practice… focusing on one thing at a time!
      9. Online banking, automate bill paying as much as possible.  I use Online Banking – ING DIRECT USA – Save Your Money!®

Dave

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Change starts… tomorrow?

Posted on October 17, 2011 by monyguru

“Procrastination is one of the most common and deadliest of diseases and its toll on success and happiness is heavy.” ~Wayne Dyer

“Procrastination is, hands down, our favorite form of self-sabotage.” ~Alyce P. Cornyn-Selby

“Procrastination is like a credit card: it’s a lot of fun until you get the bill.” ~Christopher Parket

“The lazy will not get what they want, but those who (stop talking and) work hard will.~Solomon

You know what drives me crazy about my kids… it literally annoys the… the… snot out of me.  They seem to wait until the last-minute to do everything.  Whether schoolwork, chores, getting up, homework, etc…

You know why I think it bothers me so much (and I hate to admit this), because I do it too.  This past week while at the gym, I was speaking with a friend who shared his struggle to stay motivated, especially at work, when working on tasks that are not very fulfilling.  I admitted that like him, I share that struggle to get some tasks done BEFORE they must be done… especially when I am not interested/motivated.

When it come to money and our financial future, we find ourselves doing the same thing.  It isn’t a matter of knowing WHAT to do, we’re just not motivated to begin today.  For example, we all know we should:

  • Begin living on a budget, but…
  • Begin preparing for retirement, but…
  • Stop using our credit cards, but…
  • Enroll in college to finish our degree, but…

Why don’t we begin any or all of these things that we all agree NEED to be done?  Procrastination is the biggest  reason.   We may have some legitimate obstacles, but if you don’t execute your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan.  And guess what they have planned for you?  Not much.  Every journey begins with one step in the right direction, the question we must all ask ourselves.  Am I be carried through life by the current, or swimming upstream with a destination in mind?

There is a saying about self-discipline that describes my thoughts well, a person without character, self-discipline, and a plan… is a slave to whatever happens to captivate them at the time.

Begin today to live each day with a purpose, with a plan.  Over this weeks posts will discuss some steps we can take to begin these changes in our lives.

Dave

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3 money disciplines I discovered as a child, and regret not practicing.

Posted on October 14, 2011 by monyguru

There are so many money clichés’ we heard as children that we could fill a blog with them, here are just a few…

A fool and his money are soon parted.

There’s no such thing as a free lunch.

That money is burning a hole in your pocket.

A cliché’ is defined as a stereotypical platitude, and that is how I viewed most of the money lessons I discovered as a young person.  They may have been true, but I didn’t really care about them at the time.

As I think about some of the financial advice I was given over my childhood years, there are three disciplines that standout (and I can remember).

  1. Save a little bit from every dollar you earn.  The lady who lived across the hall when we lived in the apartment on Jackson street told me about this discipline and went on to explain how she and her husband put aside $10 every week in a savings account.  They would use that money at the end of the year to buy Christmas gifts for the family.  That $10 was about three hours pay at minimum wage (about $25 in 2011 dollars).  So if I had started practicing this discipline 33 years ago when I discovered it…  I would have substantially more savings than I have today.
  2. Write down a list of things you “want”, it can only contain 5 items, wait 30 days before buying.  A neighbor told me about this technique when I came by asking him if he had anything I could do to earn money.  He said that he and his wife had a list on their refrigerator of the five things they wanted (not needed), but before buying that “thing”, they had to wait 30 days and see if they still wanted it.  Also they could only have five items on the list, so they couldn’t add an item without removing another.  This discipline helped prevent impulse buying and…  I would add one more stipulation, it must be bought with cash no credit.
  3. Budget your money.  I remember going to my sister’s house and asking how they could afford to eat out at nice restaurants.  She told me that they budgeted their money, setting aside money each month for what they would spend.  This was an alien concept to me, I worked at the time and when I got my check on Friday, I was usually broke by the following Monday.  If I had started practicing living on a budget, set by me, reflecting my priorities 30 years ago (as a young adult), it would have radically changed my life financially.

The moral of the story – it is never too late to start a new beginning.

Dave

How about you?  What is one piece of financial advice you heard as a child that you wish you had taken to heart?

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