Understand Your Financial Self

Perhaps as important as understanding ideas is understanding ourselves and the way we manage our money. The action step we want to suggest now has to do with the latter. This step can prove to be a very powerful one over time.

There are two parts to this step. The first one is short term and the second is long term. The one can be accomplished over just a few days, possibly at one setting although it should not be rushed. The other is something that can profitably continue a lifetime.

First you want to do a self analysis of your current attitudes and practices in the way you manage your money. This will involve reflecting on some of the issues raised by this process.

In preparation you may want to read over my article on the second law of money, The Law of Commitment, titled, Learning to Respect Money. Think about how this principle applies to your life.

The Law of Commitment: Money is a trust that we must choose to manage wisely, productively, and honorably for our own good, for our families, and for others.

Now take a sheet of paper and write at the top, “How I Manage My Money Today.” Write a paragraph or so answering each of these questions.

1. How seriously do I take my responsibility to be a good manager of my money?
2. To what extent do I set good priorities in spending choices?
3. How much of a priority have I given in the past to savings for retirement, emergencies, and other important personal needs?
4. Do I make financial choices based on what I really think is reasonable and best for myself or do I let others have more influence on my decisions than I should?
5. What changes do I need to make in order to become a better manager of my money?
6. Am I willing to recognize personal money management as a more important responsibility than I have made it in the past.
7. Am I willing to make becoming a better manager of my money one of my top priorities?

Part two helps us escape the inadequacies of the past and encourages positive progress in the future. Where we are now is important only as it helps us plan where we want to be tomorrow.

So on a second sheet of paper, or better yet in some sort of journal, write this title: “My Success With Money Journal.” What you want to record here is a personal story of your own thoughts, decisions, successes and failures in managing your money. You will want to add to it over time.

You've heard it before. Writing crystalizes thinking. It really is true. As you think through your daily wins and loses, record them. Write out new insights. Record any new commitments and later, as you apply them, your success putting them into practice.

Find a convenient place to keep your journal. At least once a month take time to review it and write a paragraph evaluating your current progress.

This technique is very likely to become a key tool in helping you increase your rate of success. It has proven helpful in many other areas of life such as weight loss and career advancement. It will work here, too, sometimes with dramatic results.