I was reading Petunia’s blog and it got me thinking why some people fail and some succeed.
My first thought was having a “what” or a vision. You start by dreaming what would by life be if I was debt free. But that isn’t the answer. We all have dreams but not all of us will achieve them.
Maybe it’s the “how”. After all, it wasn’t the “what”. Well, it’s really not hard to get out of debt. You budget less then you make or pick up another job and throw the excess at the debt. Not rocket science and I could even give you a formula. Income – expenses = what’s left for debt reduction.
The leaves us with the “why”. But not any old “why” will do. You see if I said to you your life would be better off if you could save $30,000 this year. Could you? Maybe and then again maybe not. What happens if you need to save $30,000 because your spouse or child needs an operation. Well now, that’s one big “why” and I can tell you I would have $30,000 saved will before operation whether 6 months or a year away.
But with the first scenario, it would be a hit or miss. Yea, it would be nice, but then life happens (nice vacation, eating out, etc.).
My point? A big enough “why” keeps us focused and on point and our dreams can be achieved. For spouses, the “whys” maybe different but should be big enough.
My “why”? For me and my wife to feel more secure and spend more time together as a family. And the first goal is getting out of debt with the second goal to reduce my hours away from the family.
I know the “how” for the first but not the second, because my “whys” got me focused.
And Happy Marathon Monday from Boston!!!!
Is your “Why” big enough?
April 21st, 2008 at 03:21 pm
April 21st, 2008 at 03:54 pm 1208793295
I can remember when we were getting out of debt and having to say no to many people and events that we wanted to do. Many people won't understand what you are doing and will try to deter you from what you're doing but you have to put all of that to the side. After all, months, a year, two years, and you're out of debt and those same people are where they were or even farther into debt.
April 21st, 2008 at 03:56 pm 1208793394
April 21st, 2008 at 04:31 pm 1208795480
April 21st, 2008 at 05:51 pm 1208800300
April 21st, 2008 at 06:13 pm 1208801627
April 21st, 2008 at 07:21 pm 1208805680
April 21st, 2008 at 09:40 pm 1208814016
April 21st, 2008 at 10:00 pm 1208815259
Besides I hear the Whos don't care about how big the Why is, only that I know the How to do What with it!
April 22nd, 2008 at 01:21 am 1208827300
With the first, you read about something/hear about something/come up with an idea for something and think "Hey, I could do that!"
With the second, you read about something/hear about something/come up with an idea for something and think, "Why bother? It will never work./ The government/Mom and Dad/My friends and family will take care of that for me./Interesting idea - I think I'll go watch TV now."
My experiences lead me to believe that most people tend one way or the other on this. I'd guess that most of the bloggers here fall in the first category.
April 22nd, 2008 at 02:23 am 1208830983
Petunia - my point is even if someone isn't motivated or have a can do attitude, a big enough why would force them into action. But some people do need smaller whys to motivate them.
April 22nd, 2008 at 03:40 am 1208835620
Yogi Berra
April 22nd, 2008 at 02:09 pm 1208873371