Despite a past reluctance or, more like, resistance to really tuning into the opinions of financial gurus, I have started to tune into the podcasts of some respected financial “stars” and am finding great benefits in doing so. I have several reasons for my past reluctance/resistance. One, I am trained, have trained others and spent many years inundated with all things finance so it was hard to listen to a lot of the same things. Two, at one time it was my job. I am sure there are a few who like to lounge around in their spare time and spend free time dwelling on things related to their job. Well, fabulous, but not me. My third reason, however, I believe, is the one thing that many can at least partially relate too. I knew what I should do, I knew the right ways to handle money in general (not saying I am the stock guru or anything but I really know a great deal of the same things I hear on the podcasts), but that didn’t mean I always made the right decisions. I should have buckled down and rid myself of the student loan sooner. We should have worked harder to pay off any car loans. We could have made many better decisions. We did stay out of credit card debt, we did save up retirement, and we did set up emergency savings. We weren’t as prepared as I know we could have been for this layoff and job change that we are dealing with now.
It doesn’t ever seem to be enough to do some things right, we condemn ourselves for what we know we aren’t doing right. Why? I don’t know, but it seems to be a normal human reaction. I see many people that end up hating the budget because it brings past mistakes to the forefront and they focus on that rather than the efforts they are making to change. I see people deciding not to start saving for retirement because they started too late. We need to focus on what we do right and surround ourselves with anything that helps us with our goals. If you want to lose weight, you don’t go hang out in the fast food restaurants expecting success. You walk, go to meetings, read magazines about health and exercise, and anything else that will encourage you, inspire you or inform you. If you want to reach the height of financial success, you surround yourself with the same things: inspiration, encouragement, and information. You really can’t hear it or see it enough. Maybe that is why you are even reading this blog. Every tiny tidbit of information will be one more bit of fuel that will thrust you from the “fail” side to the “win” side. Therefore, I just thought I would share the idea with you. Read it, hear it, and think it.
It doesn’t ever seem to be enough to do some things right, we condemn ourselves for what we know we aren’t doing right. Why? I don’t know, but it seems to be a normal human reaction. I see many people that end up hating the budget because it brings past mistakes to the forefront and they focus on that rather than the efforts they are making to change. I see people deciding not to start saving for retirement because they started too late. We need to focus on what we do right and surround ourselves with anything that helps us with our goals. If you want to lose weight, you don’t go hang out in the fast food restaurants expecting success. You walk, go to meetings, read magazines about health and exercise, and anything else that will encourage you, inspire you or inform you. If you want to reach the height of financial success, you surround yourself with the same things: inspiration, encouragement, and information. You really can’t hear it or see it enough. Maybe that is why you are even reading this blog. Every tiny tidbit of information will be one more bit of fuel that will thrust you from the “fail” side to the “win” side. Therefore, I just thought I would share the idea with you. Read it, hear it, and think it.