Eliminate Financial Problems Through Self Discipline
I think the following raises some excellent points about financial problems. I’ve included a few of the highlights for you to get the gist of the article:
The primary reason for financial problems in life is lack of self discipline, self mastery, and self control. It is the inability to delay gratification in the short term. It is the tendency for people to spend everything they earn and a little more besides, usually supplemented by loans and credit card debt.
Today, the savings rate in America is too low to achieve financial independence. After a lifetime of work, the average American family has a 200 net worth of only about $8,000. People continue to spend and borrow as if there is no tomorrow.
The good news is that we are living in the most affluent time in all of human history. There are more opportunities to achieve wealth and prosperity today, for more people, in more different ways, than have ever existed in the history of man. It has never been more possible for you to achieve financial independence than right now. But you must make a resolution to do it, and then follow through on your resolution.
The Reasons For Financial Problems
The primary reason that most adults have financial problems is not because of low earnings. The reason is lack of self discipline and the inability to delay gratification. Why is this weakness of character so prevalent among the majority of adults in society today? It goes back to early childhood.
When you were a child and you received money (whether it was your allowance or a gift from a friend or relative), the first thing you thought of doing was to spend that money on candy. Candy is sweet. Candy is delicious. Candy fills your mouth with a wonderful, sugary flavor. You liked candy when you were a child, and you probably could seldom get enough of it. Many children will eat candy until they become physically ill because it tastes so good.
As you grew older, you developed what psychologists call a “conditioned response” to receiving money from any source. Like Pavlov’s dog, when you receive money, you mentally salivate at the thought of spending this money on something that makes you happy, at least temporarily.
Spending Makes You Happy
When you become an adult and you earn or receive money, this automatic reaction continues. Your first thought is, “How can I spend this money to achieve immediate pleasure?”
When you go on vacation to a resort of any kind, you find that the hotels and streets are lined with shops selling useless trinkets, bobbles and trash, plus clothes, artwork, and other items that you would never think of buying at home. Why is this? Simple. When you are on vacation, you feel happy. You have a conditioned response to associate happiness with spending money. The happier you are, the more unconsciously compelled you are to go out and spend money on something, or on anything.
Use Self Discipline To Rewire Your Responses About Money
The starting point of achieving financial independence is to for you use self discipline to rewire your attitude towards money. You reach into your subconscious mind and disconnect the wire linking “spending” and “happiness.” You then reconnect that “happiness” wire to the “saving and investing” wire.
To reinforce this shift in thinking, and eliminate financial problems open up a “financial freedom account” at your local bank. This is the account in which you deposit money for the long term. Once your money goes into this account, you resolve that you will never spend it on anything except to achieve financial freedom.
What do you think? Maybe you’d like to read on? Check out the full version here then give me a call to discuss how this might impact your own business: 0401 714 406. Alternatively, email me at [email protected].
Thanks,
Darren