MindsofWealth.com

“One who fears failure limits his activities. Failure is only the opportunity more intelligently to begin again.”

-Henry Ford

When walking the path to wealth, organization is a very important habit. Being able to find things when you need them effortlessly is a key component to anyone’s success. How many times do you personally go to look for a piece of paper-work only to find out it is misplaced?

This is something I do all the time. I have tried several different techniques when trying to organize but some just do not work. There are several on the other hand that make my life so much easier. I have adopted three habits that probably save me close to ten hours a month of free time. Not to mention the amount of stress it saves me from not having to look for keys, papers, phone numbers etc.

Below I have the three techniques that I started with. Remember that everyone starts somewhere and if you are to succeed at anything you have to take it one step at a time. So take a step in the right direction and find out what it takes to be organized.

 Step 1 - Your Keys

This may seem petty but don’t neglect this important topic. Eight out of ten people loose their keys at least three times a week. Whether they are on their way to work or they are just in a hurry to get somewhere, people lose their keys. It’s a fact of life and it has happened to me thousands of times. One simple technique I picked up from a book I read stated this: place your keys in the same exact place, every time you come home for 21 days and you will never loose them again. I personally hang them on a hook by my door and although it took me a couple of weeks to remember to hang them there, that is where they go every time I come home. You can put them in a basket or next to the sink, whatever you choose to do. Did you know that if you loose your keys and are looking for them a total of twenty minutes a week you have spent close to eighteen hours a year just looking for keys? This is almost a full day of your life wasted looking for something as small as your keys. Keep that in mind and remember that it is the little things that count.

Step 2 - Filing Folders

Always, always, always, always file papers and documents away. I personally have a filing cabinet that has every bill I have ever paid in it. During the year every time I get say, an electric bill, I pay it then it is thrown into the “electric” folder. Along with filing it I put the date it was paid so that I know when I sent the check. This keeps everything neat and tidy so that if the electric company ever calls to say I never paid, guess what? I have it documented with easy access as to when and how it was paid. This goes for all paper and documents. I have all insurance papers filed an placed in folders as well as all of my old pay stubs from previous jobs. This makes everything so nice so that I do not have to hunt for anything.

Buy a filing cabinet and organize every piece of paper that is sitting on your desk right now. Believe me, when you need something you will be thankful that all you have to do is open a drawer and there you have it.

Step 3 - Very Important, Important, and Not Important Folders

I have three folders on my desk that are labeled very important, important, and not important. Every time I have something that need to be done right away I put it in the very important folder and deal with it either that day or the following day. If something is fairly important I put it in the important folder and you get the picture. This saves clutter from my desk and also provides information as to what I need to take care of now and what can wait. I schedule a few days a week to clean each of these folders out and because of that I rarely have a mess anywhere regarding paper work. These folders are mainly used for documents and papers that do not require filing. Say you have a loan application you need to fill out you would probably want to place it in the “Very Important” folder. This way you do not forget and you have it ready to go when you need it. I also place customer information such as estimates and billing questions in there. This is just another simple task that has made my life a little easier.

Please, I urge you to practice these techniques. Like I said by just doing these three things I have saved myself countless hours.

Try one a week or use them in succession. What ever is easier for is what we want. Just remember that nothing will happen unless you take action. So take action, buy some folder and get yourself organized. Check back with other posts on organization and successful habit forming techniques.

If you are asking yourself: Why would anyone want to give up sweet carbonated beverages??? Then you may want to pick another item to read, for the rest of this post is for those with a desire to give these up.

For the purpose of the rest of this blog I will refer to the carbonated drinks(Pepsi, Coke, Mountain Dew, etc) as PSC (Pop/Soda/Coke). This will prevent any regional arguments about what exactly to call these beverages.

Their are several reasons for wanting to give up PSC. Perhaps you want to lower your sugar intake. Maybe lower the amount of caffeine. For the diet drinkers out there maybe its cutting back on Phenylalanine?

I personally crossed PSC off of the habit list back when I was 15. I started practicing for high school football and was strongly advised to drink only water before, during and after practices. PSC would impact my performance it was said because caffeine, sugar and more were bad for endurance training and strength. So there it was after my initial dismay, I parted with my PSC lifestyle with a big cup of water in hand.

So how can you cut out PSC?

Step#1: Prepare yourself. If you aren’t ready to stop drinking it, you won’t. If you don’t have anything else to drink then you won’t quit for long. My suggestion would be to focus on this goal. Write it down, and set a short term date that you will quit for good. Buy bottles of water. These will help in a moment of weakness when PSC rears its ugly head. Keep in mind ALL dine-out places have plenty of water, all you have to do is ask. Please remember that ALL PSC machines also have water as well.

Step#2: Start changing your Self-Talk. This is the little voice in your head that will tell you its ok to drink PSC when you’re having a bad day, or when you are really thirsty, or when you are ordering a Combo Meal at McD’s. You have to step in and tell yourself that this is not in my best interests. The person who knows your Self-Talk best is you. You have to sell yourself on this for it to work. You know what objections it will have, so you must be prepared to overcome those each time they are brought up.

Step#3a: Ok this is where those rare strong folks out there give it up. Done. End of story. It will be tough, but its all or nothing. I give great Kudos to those individuals.

Step#3b: For the rest of us: Ease your way toward your ultimate goal date. Talk yourself out of that daily PSC during lunch, or at dinner. Each week cut out 1 PSC per day, and eventually you’ll be down to Zero. As mentioned earlier, make sure you know what your options are when you are thirsty.

Say goodbye to PSC, and hello to the new world of healthy non-carbonated beverages like WATER!

To read up some more on healthy eating stop by the 3-2 Eating plan post.

A.D.

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This article may seem awful close to the previous post I did titled, “How to Deal With Difficult People.” Actually this is a post I feel I should write due to some experiences I have had over the past couple of days. Most people I know have friends or relatives that just seem to be going nowhere. Either they are not motivated or they feel that their purpose on this earth is meaningless. Little do they know that this is not the truth. Everyone and, I repeat everyone has a purpose on this world. Man was created for success and achievement, not to sit around and feel sorry for themselves.

Earlier this week Adam, Jim (A friend of ours) and I sat down and spoke with my mother. Since she was a younger girl her father degraded her and put her down. Everything from being fat to stupid was repeated to her several times while she was a child. As you can see this can be terrible for a young girl. Self esteem and confidence go right out the window. She feels that everything she does is wrong and there is no hope for her. Wrong again!

We all talked to her and gave her some advice on what she needed to do in order to get out of this mental slum. My mother including myself all have limitations. These limitations however are completely and honestly IN OUR HEADS. Maybe you have something you are afraid to try. Or maybe a relative started a business back in the day and because of their failure you are afraid the same thing will happen to you. Either way these F.E.A.R.’s are thoughts and HABITS that are in your head. No more, no less.

Below I have a few tips that the three of us gave to my mother in order to boost her confidence and get her on the right track. If you have a family member that is having trouble or if you feel that these might apply to you, feel free to use them, they work!

Note: What I have learned over the last couple years is that you cannot help everyone. Sometimes I even have to turn my own mother down when she needs help. People that always feel sorry for themselves and need attention will always come to the person they feel will give in the easiest. If they feel that they can ALWAYS ask you for money and you would never say No, guess what? YOU will get a phone call. If you start to notice this needy behavior without an improvement, stay away. Believe it or not you are hurting them more than helping them if you give them everything they want. So if you are someone dealing with a needy person and the problem persists, back away. Or if you are that needy person and you want some help, read on.

 

 

Step 1 – Your Social Group

There has been study after study of people and their social groups. I know you have heard the phrase “Birds of a Feather Flock Together?” Anyway, here is an example of what I mean. Say you are someone dealing with a drug problem and one day you finally realize you need help. You call a relative a thousand miles away and ask if you could come and stay with them for a few months while you get clean. A couple months go by and you are now sober and free from drugs. You decide to go home. Do you know that nine times out of ten if you go back to associating with your previous reference group (drug dealers, friends who do drugs, etc.) you will go back to your old habits? That is what we told my mother. If you want to be a millionaire then speak with someone that had done it. Simply put, you have to change who you associate with. Doing this will sky rocket your success to better habits.

Step 2 – Learn

Everything that is worth doing requires more knowledge. You have to indulge yourself in audio tapes and CD’s that preach success and wealth building habits. I have several books and tapes that teach these things. My collection of knowledge is probably my most prized possession. Buy book, meet people, and have fun with it. There are even several groups out there that you can join for what ever your interests might be. As a habit I read and or listen to something educational at least for an hour or two a day. This motivates me in the morning and push’s me into doing the best I can do.

Remember: Learning takes time. Do not think that something you read will have it’s effects right away. You have to apply and use it. If you do this you will be on your way.

Finally

Step 3 – Love Yourself

I have saved the best for last. If you do not love yourself first you will never progress. You have to realize that who you are is special and that hating what you look like and how your hair is styled is irrelevant to your success. You are a unique individual and realizing that alone will put you ahead of the crowd. Look at it this way. Zig Zigglar, a world renowned speaker and teacher says it best. You are worth millions and millions and possibly billions of dollars. Here is why he says that. Do you know that insurance companies have given people millions of dollars for loosing an eye while on the job? Do you know that some have been granted hundreds of millions of dollars for a leg, or an arm? Putting this in context shows that people have been awarded crazy amounts of money for their body parts. In essence what Zig says is true; you ARE worth millions and millions and possibly billions of dollars.

So apply these several tips in your own life or teach them to others. Either way they are true and will be until the end of time. So please, if you are having friend or family problems take these into consideration and see what you come up with. I guarantee that the results will amaze you!

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In Budget Your Way to Billions Part 2 Matt talked about how to make your savings automatic. This is fantastic stuff! Everyone loves easy, and the easier something is the more likely you will stick to it.

In Part Three I will talk about what you can do after you have wrote out all your expenses and income.(Budget You Way to Billions Part 1) .

I started doing this years ago, but I didn’t quit doing it after the first time. I re-evaluate my expenses every month and see how I could have done better.

When I have my list of expenses in front of me I ask a very important question: How can I lower my expenses?

I also asked myself: What things did I buy that I didn’t really need? Am I buying things that I could be buying cheaper somewhere else? Am I spending money on things that will increase my knowledge?

The most important thing is to be honest with yourself. Only you can decide which things are necessary. At the moment you are fully conscious of what you are spending and see on paper the money you could have if you reduced your expenses you will be well on your way to Billions.

The Technique

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Here I will talk about my own personal technique on how I minimize variable expenses, and easily keep track of them on a monthly basis. This technique is simple and effective but I encourage you to copy it, change it, adapt it to your own lifestyle. I have found it very helpful and have put the same practice into our lawncare business. The Technique is to set a high level budget. I like to use post-it notes. I write down each bill, the amount and the due date. Every single month, every single time. You can get the information for this from the expenses you wrote down in part 1. I also add a section for Income. Like most people I am paid twice per month. Each time I get my paycheck I write in how much that is. I currently work in a job that pays commission so my paychecks vary from month to month. You may know your monthly income beforehand.One of my “expenses” is my ING Direct Savings account. This is where I pay myself first, just like Matt talked about in part 2.

Another expense is my “credit card“. I’m blessed enough to have several different ones, but I only use one. I would suggest using one that gives you reward points to maximize your benefits. I charge everything during the month that I possibly can to this card. Gas, groceries, dining out, entertainment, cell phone bills, clothing, online purchases, etc.

There are several advantages for doing this:

# 1 You don’t have to write down every transaction in your checkbook. This eliminates the chances of forgetting something, and/or overdrawing your bank account due to an error.

#2 Any unauthorized charges that may happen are not holding up your cash, they are holding up what I like to call “MasterCard’s Money”

#3 In most cases you are given a 20 day interest free grace period when you pay your balance in full each month. By making most purchases with the card you are getting an interest free loan for 20-40 days. That’s using MasterCard’s Money for free! On my last statement gas I purchased on June 20th was not due until August 1st. That’s 41 days!

#4 At the end of each month you get all the transactions on one statement. Its easy to sort out what is what. You get 1 bill, and make 1 payment. This makes your high level budget so much simpler. Instead of writing down gas, groceries, entertainment, clothes, etc. You write out one thing: “Credit Card“.

Don’t get me wrong.. you still need to take a careful look at the statement to make an assessment about how much you are spending on each of those things. The goal is to make sure those expenses are minimal and under control. This constant evaluation will be the key to your success.

Challenge yourself. I like to set goals to lower this “credit card expense”. For example let’s say last month I charged $500. This month my goal is $450. Because its a high level overview I can reduce spending in any area as long as my overall total comes to $450 or less. I can login to my card’s online billing to check on my balance from day to day.

Another key expense I have is called: “ATM” This is the budget I have for actual cash purchases during the month. I generally only use cash for small off-hand purchases. Lunch at work normally, or maybe a drink at the bar. A rule of thumb that has helped me out is the less cash I have on me the less I can spend. I know there are many people out there who enjoy carrying lots of cash on them. Others carry ALL of their cash on them because they don’t trust anyone else to have it. I challenge you to try and carry only a minimal amount of cash on you. My magic amount is $40. When I go to the ATM I only withdraw $40 at once. I will not go back to the bank until I have zero. I’ve found this to be effective because I’ve developed a feeling that lets me know if I’m spending money too fast. If $40 normally lasts me one week, and all of a sudden I’ve visited the ATM twice in the past 5 days then I need to cut back on spending the rest of the month. If you set a monthly budget of $240. Then you can only visit the ATM 6 times. Once again, I always try to challenge myself to “Beat the Budget”. If I can cut that down to 5 times, I can lower my budget next month and stick the extra $40 in ING.

So alas, we have all of our income, and projected expenses for the month. I take my income minus expenses. Whatever total remains is the exact amount I deposit into my savings account. This is the first transaction of the month, every single month. If your budget has a remainder of $0(mine does on occasion) I put down zero, and push myself harder next month to make sure I have something going into that savings account.

“Beat the Budget”:

I always leave $100-$200 extra in my checking account at all times. I use this as a safety cushion for unexpected things. Its important though to not leave more than a minimal cushion. Excess money in your checking account is costing you interest in your savings account. I had a hard time with this because when I was in college my checking account balance was very frequently below $100 . Now that I am finally in a position to avoid that I must tell myself its O.K. to only have $100-$200 left in the account. I only need to check my savings account balance to re-assure myself that I’m doing the right thing.

The beauty of this technique is that it can be applied if you make $100,000 a year, or $20,000 a year. Managing your money is a step you MUST master before you can take the next step to buying assets. I know people who are making $40,000 a year that save twice as much money as those making $100,000. What path will you take? The Path to Wealth starts Here…

A.D.

We will talk about more details in future posts such as how to build up credit, how to increase your income, what to do with money that you have saved, how to buy assets with other people’s money and more!

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