{"id":488,"date":"2012-08-05T21:22:39","date_gmt":"2012-08-05T21:22:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eagleoneresources.com\/?p=488"},"modified":"2012-08-05T21:30:03","modified_gmt":"2012-08-05T21:30:03","slug":"could-daily-reviews-be-your-secret-weapon-to-financial-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eagleoneresources.com\/?p=488","title":{"rendered":"COULD DAILY REVIEWS BE YOUR SECRET WEAPON TO FINANCIAL SUCCESS?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I met with “Susan” this week and asked if we could review the record she was keeping of what she spent her money on; her expense log.\u00a0 She pulled a notebook out of her purse with some apprehension and quietly told me that it was “pretty embarrassing.”<\/p>\n

Susan went on to tell me that she had been afraid to keep this record; that she feared it would make her look like a bad person because of what it revealed about her decision making.<\/p>\n

She continued, “This morning, I reviewed my notes and they confirmed my worst fears.\u00a0 I made a lot of really bad decisions.”<\/p>\n

This is a very common reaction when people first begin keeping records of their spending and taking responsibility for how they manage their money.\u00a0 They feel like the record they keep is full of bad news.\u00a0 It was fun to tell her that the record is actually full of GOOD NEWS.<\/p>\n

“Susan, your expense log may feel<\/em> like bad news, but it’s really full of good news; and, here it is.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0“First, you took a really big step in choosing to keep this record.\u00a0 It took real courage and commitment.\u00a0 It’s very important that you give yourself credit for taking this big step.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0“Second, each of us has a personal board of directors in our minds.\u00a0 Think of your board as those little voices that are always whispering “good choice”, “smart move”, or “ooo, you could have done better”.\u00a0 This board is always looking at what we’ve done in the past and what we can do in the future with the goal of helping us do our best.\u00a0 When you reviewed your expense log this morning, your personal board of directors expressed its disappointment in some of your spending choices.\u00a0 As the CEO (Chief Excellence Officer) of yourself, you agreed with your board of directors and said, “yes, I could have done better”.\u00a0 The GREAT NEWS<\/em> is that you took a responsible step and decided that you wanted to make changes in your future spending decisions.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Third, the even GREATER NEWS<\/em> is that your get to make your own plan for making those changes!”<\/p>\n

By now, Susan was smiling as she realized that her fear of confronting what she thought was a real weakness had turned out to be a winning move as she took a big step toward financial independence.<\/p>\n

Want the secret weapon that Susan used in this real life story?\u00a0 Here’s what you can do …<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Identify three areas where you do not like the choices you have made about how you’ve spent your money.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Set a goal of what<\/em> you want future decisions to look like.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Write down how<\/em> you want to reach that goal.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Promise yourself that you will make the changes that will enable you to reach this goal; and, continue to write down your expenses so that you can measure your progress.\u00a0 (Bonus … if you just sighed and thought that this is too much work, take a second and write down just 1 thing you spent money on today.\u00a0 Just one<\/em>.\u00a0 How long did that take?\u00a0 Don’t let your emotions fool you into overestimating how much time this will actually take.)<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Set a date when you will review this record and decide if you have reached your goal.<\/p>\n

Susan left our meeting with renewed confidence that she could control her money rather than have her money control her.<\/p>\n

Ironically, the effectiveness of this process is not confined to personal finances.\u00a0 It can be applied to all aspects of life.\u00a0 Our internal board of directors is always conducting an on-going performance review … looking at our goals (or lack of goals), the plans we’ve created for reaching those goals, the progress we’ve made toward the attainment of the goals, and rendering a judgment every day; exceeds expectations, satisfactory, or unsatisfactory.\u00a0 When we receive the board’s daily verdict, we choose how to respond.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0We accept the accolades for a job well done and vow to keep up the good work;<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 We take credit for the accomplishments and responsibility for the shortcomings and make a plan for improving performance where it is needed; or,<\/p>\n

Well, the third choice is giving up; but, that is not an acceptable choice.\u00a0 The board of directors is not an external body that we can choose to ignore.\u00a0 Rather, it is a living, breathing, part of who we are and it will always be whispering in our ear.\u00a0 It cannot be disregarded.<\/p>\n

Has your<\/em> board of directors conducted today’s review?<\/strong> If it has, you know what you want to work on.\u00a0 If not, there is still time to make today’s review a favorable one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I met with “Susan” this week and asked if we could review the record she was keeping of what she spent her money on; her expense log.\u00a0 She pulled a notebook out of her purse with some apprehension and quietly told me that it was “pretty embarrassing.” Susan went on to tell me that she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32,44,48,13,35],"tags":[18,19,15,27,25,28],"class_list":["post-488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-financial-coaching","category-financial-planning","category-goal-setting","category-money-management","category-personal-finances-2","tag-budget","tag-cash-flow","tag-finance","tag-getting-the-most-for-you-money","tag-money-management-2","tag-personal-finances"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eagleoneresources.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eagleoneresources.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eagleoneresources.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eagleoneresources.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eagleoneresources.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=488"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/eagleoneresources.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":490,"href":"https:\/\/eagleoneresources.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488\/revisions\/490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eagleoneresources.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eagleoneresources.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eagleoneresources.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}