Why I Didn’t Have an Emergency Fund Until I Was 39

Why I Didn’t Have an Emergency Fund Until I Was 39

From Cash For Tacos

I don’t need an emergency fund. This was me for the majority of my adult life.  The thought of saving up all of that money “just in case I needed it” wasn’t very appealing.  Thankfully, I was lucky enough to have never found myself in need of an emergency fund.  It wasn’t until I was 39, five years into my personal finance journey, that I finally convinced myself that an emergency fund was essential for me.  

And I’m so glad I changed my mind. My emergency fund allowed me to easily replace an air conditioner in the middle of a humid midwest summer. And more importantly, it has given me peace of mind. 

If you are anything like past Mel and struggling to motivate yourself to tackle the emergency fund goal, this article is for you. Or if you are simply curious as to why it took me so long to have an emergency fund, read on. 

Here is why I didn’t have an emergency fund until I was 39 and why I changed my mind.  But first, a real quick explanation of what an emergency fund is.

What Is An Emergency Fund And What Is It Used For?

An emergency fund is a stash of cash that is meant to be used for an urgent need.  The keywords here are “urgent” and “need”. 

Urgent needs are considered things such as: 

• Home repairs like a flooded basement or broken water heater

• Car accident

• Veterinarian bills

• Costs of taking care of a loved one

• Medical Emergency

• Loss of income

On the flip side, emergency funds are not meant to fund our sudden wants. 

Things like:

• Last-minute vacations

• A shopping spree when you are feeling down

• New living room furniture because you are tired of your current stuff

• A new car simply because you want one

Now that we know what an emergency fund is for, let’s dive into how I convinced myself that it wasn’t a priority to create and save for an emergency fund. 

Reasons Why I Didn’t Have An Emergency Fund Until I Was 39

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.cashfortacos.com/emergency-funds-why-i-didnt-have-one/

10 Attributes of Wildly Successful People

10 Attributes of Wildly Successful People

Lambeth Hochwald

You know those people who seem to ace everything in life? Researchers have uncovered their secrets to success.

Secrets Of Success

We all know people who seem to be accomplished in their every pursuit. So it’s especially interesting to read a new British study that drills into the 10 attributes that make people extra good at what they do.

And they all have a few things in common. For starters, they identify and understand their strengths when pursuing a goal, says Amanda Potter, the lead researcher, founder, and managing director at Zircon Management Consulting, a business psychology company in England.

High achievers also tend to be motivated by a negative or positive life event, and they credit their success to having someone in their life who believed in them.

After conducting interviews with 42 high-achievers, including a range of CEOs, entrepreneurs, sports stars, and media personalities, Potter concluded that we all have a different combination of winning attributes—in other words, no two winners are exactly the same—however, all successful people have some or all of 10 specific attributes.

“For example, it may be your single-minded focus and determination or it might be your curiosity and willingness to disrupt the current situation that makes you successful,” she says. Read on as our two experts explain why the qualities that engender success and why they’re so key.

Burning Ambition

Successful people are driven to achieve their goals, but for the ultra-successful there’s an even bigger mandate, says Isaura Gonzalez, PsyD, a licensed clinical psychologist in New York City.

“Burning ambition takes into account the desire to hit your mark each and every time as well as an unrelenting desire to be the best of the best.” Say these mantras every day to reach your goals.

Dogged Determination

Being doggedly determined means that obstacles are not deal-breakers, but mere inconveniences that need to be overcome. “There is no hesitation, just action, when it comes to success,” Gonzalez says.

“Success comes when you have hit your mark, and determination is the road on which you travel to hit that mark.” Get ready to troubleshoot with this guide to handling tricky interpersonal situations.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.rd.com/list/attributes-of-super-successful-people/

Common Causes of Very Bad Decisions

Common Causes of Very Bad Decisions

Oct 1, 2020 by Morgan Housel

Italian psychologist Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini was once asked why people keep making the same mistakes.

He said:  Inattention, distraction, lack of interest, poor preparation, genuine stupidity, timidity, braggadocio, emotional imbalance, ideological, racial, social or chauvinistic prejudices, and aggressive or prevaricatory instincts.

Let me add some more:

Incentives can tempt good people to push the boundaries farther than they’d ever imagine. Financial boundaries, moral boundaries, all of them. It’s hard to know what you’ll consider doing until someone dangles a huge reward in your face, and underestimating how adjustable the boundaries can become when rewards rise is a leading cause of terrible decisions.

Tribal instincts reduce the ability to challenge bad ideas because no one wants to get kicked out of the tribe. Tribes are everywhere – countries, states, parties, companies, industries, departments, investment styles, economic philosophies, religions, families, schools, majors, credentials. Everyone loves their tribe because there’s comfort in knowing other people who understand your background and share your goals. But tribes have their own rules, beliefs, and ideas.

Some of them are terrible. But they remain supported because no one wants to argue with a tribe that’s become part of their identity. So people either willingly nod along with bad ideas, or become blinded by tribal loyalty to how bad the ideas are to begin with.

Ignoring or underestimating the full range of potential consequences, especially tail events that seem rare but have catastrophic effects. The most comfortable way to think about risk is to imagine a range of potential consequences that don’t seem like a big deal. Then you feel responsible, like you’re paying attention to risk, but in a way that lets you remain 100% confident and optimistic.

 The problem with low-probability tail risks is that they’re so rare you can get away with ignoring them 99% of the time. The other 1% of the time they change your life. Lots of little errors compound into something huge. And the power compounding is never intuitive. So it’s hard to see how being a little bit of an occasional jerk grows into a completely poisoned work culture. Or how a handful of small lapses, none of which seem bad on their own, ruins your reputation.

The Great Depression happened because a bunch of things that weren’t surprising (a stock crash, a banking panic, a bad farm year) occurred at the same time and fed on each other until they grew into a catastrophe. It’s easy to ignore small mistakes, and even easier to miss how they morph into huge ones. So huge ones are what we get.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.collaborativefund.com/blog/bad-decisions/

How Financial Advice Triggers Painful Money Shame

How Financial Advice Triggers Painful Money Shame

BraveSaver.Com

Maybe you’ve heard: debt is bad.  I have. I was raised on the conviction that debt=bad. I saw the effects of debt on family members and family friends. Dave Ramsey, the first financial figure I knew, centers his teachings on debt — and getting out of it to “financial freedom.”

I even heard about debt at church, making it a moral question. Debt was there: in bible study and Sunday school, used as a metaphor for sin — or a topic on its own.

The sum of all these messages I heard about debt was this: getting into debt was unwise, a sign of a weak will or mind. Debt was a form of bondage or slavery, and once you were in it, you were in danger of never getting out.

Fast forward to me, in 2012: 23 years old, in around $50,000 of debt — mostly student loans with a car loan and credit card debt, too.

I’d tried to make the best money choices from the options I was aware of, from taking out student debt for my undergrad degree to putting half an international trip on a credit card. But now, though, I was second-guessing myself. Would it work out? Could I really pull through?

One morning I sat at my $40 Ikea dining table in our roach-infested Los Angeles apartment, eating breakfast, unemployed and on a job search.  A barf sound effect interrupted my thoughts — a regular gag on the local morning radio show I had on in the background. It’d never bothered me before, but today, I felt queasy at the mere sound. Weird, was my first thought. Then, a few dots connected. Oh no, was I…? Three tests later and I knew for sure: I was pregnant.

My money shame: Financially failing at parenthood

This new event doubled my feelings of anxiety and shame about my financial situation. I was excited, but also terrified and ashamed.

I cried the first time I went shopping for maternity clothes. I started a job shortly after finding out, but I waited as long as possible to tell my manager. I loathed grocery shopping once I started showing. I wasn’t self-conscious about my changing body itself, but rather what I felt it told people about me. They could simply look at me and know the deep, shameful truth: I was pregnant and completely unprepared.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://bravesaver.com/2020/09/23/financial-advice-money-shame/

Money Is Everything … Until You Master It. Then It’s Nothing at All.

Money Is Everything … Until You Master It. Then It’s Nothing at All.

By Joe Freedom ·

I have been accused at times of worrying too much about money. And my retort is always the same: I don’t worry about money at all. But I do spend time carefully managing it, as I do with any other valuable resource.

The alternative of having no concern for money and devoting no time to prudently and wisely managing it seems to me to inevitably lead to financial hardship and ruin. But avoiding these adverse outcomes through concerted effort does not mean a lifetime of worry about money.

To the contrary—it means a lifetime free of worry related to money. I have a set of rules and guidelines that manage my financial behaviors, and a process for the related administrative work. I attend to money matters, I do not worry about them. There is a significant and meaningful difference.

Categories of (Money) People

I have observed three distinct categories of people in terms of their governing money-management psychology:

1. People that constantly worry about money (because they have no control over it). This group spends and consumes with reckless abandon, and as a consequence is perpetually worried about how they will fund tomorrow’s excessive consumption. This group is trapped in work and often trapped in debt. It’s a miserable existence. But most of them are blinded to the reality that it does not have to be this way.

2. People that never worry about money (and have no control over it). This can be great fun. Until the music stops and the reckless behavior catches up with you. Then there will often be a painful reckoning. But it’s fun while it lasts, which can often be a long time.

3. People that spend zero time worrying about money (because they have mastered it). This group understands that money is a valuable resource and a tool to be used responsibly and wisely. They understand what it can and cannot do, and have cultivated a healthy relationship with it.

They have a zen-like peacefulness in their money outlook, and are master of their own (money) domain. (Note here: While there may be a fourth group comprised of people that worry about money (but have mastered it), I have not seen much or any of this breed.)

Why the Heck Aren’t People Interested In Managing Their Money Resource?

Every time I get a new power tool that I haven’t used before I am initially intimidated by it. The raw power and potentially destructive force are, well, scary. But as I study the device and learn how to safely and correctly harness its power and apply it to my will, the fear diminishes and the elation of the possibilities of what I can do with the tool emerge.

Money is similar—you must devote some amount of time to learning how to safely and responsibly use the tool in order to deploy it in a productive fashion and to eliminate the fear that can result from potential misuse.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

http://trappedinwork.com/2017/06/money-is-everything-until-you-master-it-then-its-nothing-at-all/

QFS Stops The Deep State In Their Track

QFS Stops The Deep State In Their Track

Final Wake Up Call  By Peter B Meyer

The Quantum Financial System QFS

Little is it known that this new system has been designed in preparation for the takeover of the Central Bank Monetary Debt System to end the financial slavery and control over the populace. The Alliance gave President Trump the magic wand of taking over the old banking system without changing it.

Humanity does not have the technology to fight the Deep State’s financial system. Exterrestrials came to the rescue with alien or even other dimensional technologies to accomplish this task. In Quantum Computers, intelligence is embedded without 3D proprieties. No 3D creation is able to replace the power of a living being. To this end, artificial intelligence (AI) was designed to replace conscious beings.

 A spiritual entity was set up to fulfil physical realisation for all beings above the fourth dimension. Our earth is like a living being that obtains its life force from the planetary symbol ring. The QFS is expected to operate on Quantum Benevolent Intelligence with interaction on any financial transaction anywhere in the financial world.

As a guarantee that every transaction; is legal and transparent for every account holder. Someone who has mastered quantum physics can understand the effect this quantum information technology has on every financial transaction that passes through the quantum financial system. – It cannot be modified.

The confirmation and disclosure of this fortunate component of the QFS is the assurance and hallmark of a one hundred percent reliable, neutral and secure transfer system.

Some people try to discredit the QFS which is the greatest financial advancement of all time. This misunderstanding may be a result of the fact that the QFS has no comparison to anything that has ever been presented to the world before. It is like an antigravity machine compared to an automobile. There is no real basis to understand this technology.

It has no peer; it has no equivalent in advanced technology that anyone has had before. It is new. It reigns supreme in the technology it uses to accomplish the financial security and transparency needed for currency holders to perform all financial humanitarian objectives. With the QFS, the world can be flooded with gold-backed currencies that are designed to eliminate the old Cabal financial system with central banksters in control over all financial transactions.

QFS Destroys Central Banking System

With the activation of the QFS, the Alliance will have completely destroyed the Rothschild Central Banking system that has been designed by Meyer Amschel Rothschild (1744 – 1812) to control the world economy and put the world population into debt slavery.

R   http://finalwakeupcall.info/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/No-Inflation-300x225.png

Truth is, the QFS has been running in parallel with the Central Banking System for some time and has countered many hacking attempts by the Cabal to steal funds. In the process, many banksters have been caught red handed and arrested.

This powerful quantum computer system could assign a digital number to every fiat dollar/euro/Yen sitting in every bank account all over the world and consequently monitor in real time money streams; knowing exactly where particular monies went, when it was transferred, who sent it by their login info, and which account received the money.

Imagine the frustration of a banker who has just stolen some money and this illegally transferred to another account and subsequently being arrested in real time for theft. These poor bankster devils, have been defeated. They are taking their last gasp of air before the weight of their ‘death plans’ comes crashing down on their pathetic, baby-blood-sucking, bodies.

Only gold-backed currencies that have a digital gold certificate can be transferred through the QFS. The gold certificate references a serial number on a piece of gold held in reserve to back the currency. Off-world technologies are used to quarantine the gold used to back the currencies. There is no way it can be stolen or taken out of the secure vaults where they are stored. That is why it is called gold-backed currency, it has to reference back to the piece of gold in the vault that is backing it.

References to ‘asset-backed currencies’ is the process of establishing a currency based on assets within the country of origin. Assets are the justification to establish the amount of currency available in a country, but all denominations of currencies must be resided within the QFS and been given a gold certificate to be active within the QFS.

If the assets are mined or extracted from the earth, they will be sold on the marketplace as with any other commodity. This is an enormous process, an assignment of no small feat to accomplish. But, a required process to ensure worldwide value to all currencies used within the QFS.

Any Fiat currency that cannot be regarded clean, clear, non-terroristic and not established to support illegal activities, that disqualifies most Fiat currencies, cannot become a legal currency in the QFS. – Fiat currencies received from legal activities will be exchanged for gold-backed currencies at the bank.

QFS Has No Equivalent In Advanced Technology

The Quantum Financial System – QFS has no comparison to anything that has ever been introduced to the world before. It has no peer; it has no equivalent in advanced technology of any other system before it. It is brand new. It reigns supreme in the technology it applies, in order to accomplish the one hundred percent financial security and transparency all currency account holders require.

With the QFS, the monetary system of the world can easily be changed to encompass gold-backed currencies that completely eliminate the use of the old Cabal central banking system. Regrettably, to fully comprehend the advanced QFS-structure, there doesn’t exist an equivalent technology to serve as an example.

Global Currency Reset

Without the ability to certify existing money into the new QFS, all Central Bank activities will cease to have any relevance within this new financial system. A country that is not GESARA compliant will be left out of the QFS and eventually will be left out of the international trade. Their oil or grains, or whatever, are still valuable but how is a GESARA compliant nation going to pay for commodities to a non-participant in the QFS?

The money cannot be transferred. Non-compliant countries, if any, will be left to barter commodities or work out a credit exchange with other countries, a system that is not presently available to do business at any level of relevancy. Talking about third world countries – non-compliant countries will be relegated to fourth or fifth world countries.

Each country must be GESARA compliant to participate in the QFS. The Alliance will use a specific quantitative formula to establish the amount of currency available, “in a country,” which is to be gold-backed in the QFS. The results of the formula will establish a fair value of each country’s assets as compared to one and another.

There is far more gold than needed to accomplish the gold-backing of all world currencies. Once established through the GCR, the price of gold will become irrelevant for the value of a specific currency against each other. All monies are equally calibrated.

If the price of gold goes up, the value of all currencies will go up as well, resulting in no net change to the par value of all currencies. The formula includes, in ground assets, the economy of the country, its awake population – which is one of the country’s assets, and a number of other parameters to determine the value of the country’s currency. This formula is to be applied to each country so that all currencies will be on par value with all other countries. 

The application of the formula and the common value of all gold, means that one country’s currency has to have the same value as another country’s currency. This is called the Global Currency Reset – the reset of all currencies on par with all other world currencies and each one has a gold certificate to validate authenticity.

It’s a requirement of each country to use the reset formula and apply the worldwide standard, to assure the QFS to function as planned. That is the reason why a country must be GESARA compliant to participate in the QFS.

Donald Trump re-elected as first President of the new Republic of America

The Alliance has confirmed that their goal of defeating the Deep State has been far more complex, time-consuming and difficult than had been anticipated and planned for. It is becoming increasingly obvious that world-changing information is about to be made public, probably sooner than expected.

This is likely to be accompanied by the much-anticipated mass arrests. There are literally over one hundred seventy thousand sealed criminal indictments ready to be executed, and partly already have been executed. Once Donald Trump is re-elected as the first President of the new Republic of America in this coming November, this sequence of events will take place, it will be up to the awakened readers to help everyone to understand what is going on, explaining the positive nature of the changes that already are occurring and those that are underway.

Never forget; the deliberate debasement of our fiat currency by central bankers is theft, and is the current monies are counterfeited. The Founding Fathers of the United States of America saw counterfeiting as a serious crime, deserving the death penalty.

The Deep State elites are in a panic, as more people are awakening and they realise they cannot stop it. They are continually trying with COVID, face masks, social distancing, riots, etc. to prevent or suppress this process, but the truth is coming out and cannot be stopped anymore.

 Now, it is time people learn to think for themselves, by becoming detached from hypes, in which for example multitudes of people, due to a mindless kind of group-think, come to the conclusion that something like fiat paper money is valuable, whereas if they were to think logically, they would come to the conclusion that this is not the case. Much in the world has been intentionally misinterpreted and misrepresented by the media.

For example, the idea Democracy is good and Anarchy is bad, which in fact is exactly the opposite. There is a great lack of independent, critically thinking people. This lack can easily be lifted by reading and studying my book THE GREAT AWAKENING, part 1 and part 2, and consequently experiencing and consciously understanding the upcoming developments with joy.

 To defeat the Deep State for once and forever; it is necessary that at least 50% of the populace is awake. If, just each one of the awake, wake up two more people and if those on their turn awake 2 other people, is in just 54 rounds the whole world populace awakes. It is very important for all of us that as many people as possible wake up and stay awake. Informing people in their native or familiar language is essential in achieving this goal; the goal of ultimately liberating humanity.

 Unity makes power

Awake people want to meet other awake individuals, without masks, for the reason, we together are stronger, and abler to defeat the Deep State cabal quicker. Our liberation process cannot be stopped anymore. Uniting with others who are like minded people creates and shapes our best reality. World wide awake networks are created, like in the Marbella / Malaga area who have been around for several months with increasing numbers of participants. If you would like to meet up with them contact Peggy via email.  Meetings and lectures in English are organised on a regular basis. 

If you found this information interesting, helpful, or insightful, please share it with everyone you know to help waking them up.

And don’t forget to put up your national flag showing the world you are awake.

The more flags out show the cabals are losing their grip of power over us.

There is much more enlightening information to follow, you most likely don’t want to miss! For which you could subscribe free of charge in the subscription box on this FWC-site.

http://finalwakeupcall.info/en/2020/09/30/qfs-stops-the-deep-state-in-their-track/

What I Heard From Stephen Hawking’s Daughter Last Week

What I Heard From Stephen Hawking’s Daughter Last Week

Notes From The Field - Simon Black, Sovereign Man

September 28, 2020  Palma de Mallorca

[Editor’s note: This letter was written by our Sovereign Woman—Viktorija.]

There’s something about our home towns... We either have fond memories about where we grew up, or we never want to go back.   I grew up in a small village outside the capital city of Lithuania. So you can probably guess that I am in the second category: I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

Lithuania is a tiny country that, when I was growing up, had just emerged from decades of Soviet rule. In fact, technically when I was born, Lithuania was still part of the Soviet Union.

Those first years of independence were difficult.  They had to rebuild the economy, establish credit, build a new banking system… almost all of it from scratch.  No one had any money (least of all my family), and the entire economy struggled to find its way.

Now I’ve been gone for a decade, and I find myself spending more time in Lithuania, and its capital city of Vilnius.

I have to admit, it’s growing on me. Simon really likes it too, which is why he holds our annual entrepreneurship camp here.

The city is beautiful and vibrant, yet inexpensive. And the economy has flourished.

One very interesting point about Lithuania is that this country has become a hub for tech entrepreneurs.

Lithuania has slashed its bureaucracy to make it easy to do business… which is a pretty big deal in a world where capitalism is under constant attack, and politicians are doing their best to make it more difficult for entrepreneurs to get started.

You can register a company and start running your business in a single day. Taxes are low, and there are a lot of lucrative tax incentives for startups.

Financial technology companies in particular have been flocking to Lithuania because this place has become the fastest, most straightforward country in Europe to obtain a banking license.

Several prominent technology companies are either based here, or have a significant presence in Vilnius.

We are invested in a fast-growing AI startup that recently relocated from London to Vilnius, due to the extremely high-quality talent that’s available in Lithuania at a fraction of the price.

Overall Lithuania has a very cool, entrepreneurial culture. And I’m surprised it hasn’t garnered more attention from the Digital Nomad crowd.

One recent testament to Lithuania’s entrepreneurial culture was a tech innovation conference they just held here a few days ago called LOGIN.

And, yes, I mean an ACTUAL CONFERENCE.

It was incredible: real people gathered in a room sharing knowledge and insights.

Naturally there were preventative measures like social distancing and temperature checks. But the event was VERY well attended. And the energy was palpable.

LOGIN takes place every year in Vilnius; it started in 2007 as a blogger gathering, but it has grown into a full-blown innovation festival attracting forward-thinking tech leaders and entrepreneurs from around the world.

The topics this year ranged from creating a new, private education system to new trends in artificial intelligence.

And of course there were entrepreneurs pitching their businesses, which is the primary reason I attended; we’re always on the lookout for great investments.

But the highlight of the conference for me was the keynote speech given by Stephen Hawking’s daughter Lucy.

We all know of Stephen Hawking’s celebrated intellect. But Lucy shared some beautiful personal stories about her father’s tenacity and determination.

Stephen Hawking spent the vast majority of his life suffering a terrible disease, with countless ‘experts’ constantly telling him “no”.

These experts filled his head with limitations, telling him he only had a short time to live, and all the things he COULDN’T do.

Regardless of how many times he beat the odds, how many years he continued to live, how much he traveled, how many adventures he had around the world (including a zero gravity flight and a trip to Antarctica), the experts rarely changed their tune.

And this may have certainly contributed to one of Hawking’s famous quotes:

“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance. It is the illusion of knowledge.”

It reminds me of the Ronald Reagan quote that Simon likes to bring up--

“It isn’t so much that [the experts] are ignorant. It’s just that they know so many things that aren’t so. . .”

(This seems like the perfect summary of so many governments around the world right now, given the extreme policies they’re forcing upon people.)

There will always be experts to tell us how to live our lives… what we can/cannot do… and even what we’re NOT capable of doing.

I’m sure so many of you have been told, at some point in your life, that you can’t do something, that you’re not capable of something. I certainly have. So has Simon.

But sometimes the experts are wrong. Sometimes the things they know just aren’t so.

These ‘experts’ might even be right next to you… friends or family who seem to think they know how to live your life better than you do.

Perhaps they’re telling you to NOT start that business you’ve been thinking about, or to NOT move to another city or country where the opportunities are more abundant and you could thrive.

Sometimes the best thing we can do is ignore the experts… and have the will to live the life they tell us we can’t have.

It might mean changing your environment-- perhaps to a place where the culture and energy align with your own values.

(The world is certainly full of plenty of those places, including potentially right here in Lithuania.)

But even in the darkest of times, near-infinite opportunities are available to us. We can learn, grow, and prosper to the fullest extent of our ambition.

As Stephen Hawking said before his death in a message that was transmitted towards the nearest black hole, “I am very aware of the preciousness of time. Seize the moment. Act now.”

To your freedom and prosperity   Simon Black, Founder, SovereignMan.com

https://www.sovereignman.com/trends/what-i-heard-from-stephen-hawkings-daughter-last-week-28932/

Why Attitude Matters

Why Attitude Matters

by Jim Rohn | Mar 23, 2020 | Personal Development

Our lives are greatly affected by what we know, since what we know determines the decisions we will make.

Just as we are affected by what we know, we are also affected by how we feel.

While philosophy deals essentially with the logical side of life—information and thinking habits—attitude focuses primarily on the emotional issues that affect our existence. What we know determines our philosophy. How we feel about what we know determines our attitude.

Like thoughts, emotions have the capacity to propel us toward future fortune or future disaster. The feelings we carry within us about people, our work, our homes, our finances, and about the world around us collectively form our attitude. With the right attitude human beings can move mountains. With the wrong attitude they can be crushed by the smallest grain of sand.

The right attitude is one of the fundamentals of the good life. That is why we must constantly examine our feelings about our role in the world and about our possibilities for achieving our dreams. To create the brightest future, we must confront our feelings about the years and decades to come, but also our past and our present.

The Past

One of the best ways to approach our feelings about the past is to use it as a school, not as a weapon. We must not beat ourselves up over past mistakes, faults, failures, and losses. The events of the past, good and bad, are all part of the life experience. It is easy to allow the past to overwhelm us. But the good news is that it is also easy to allow the past to instruct us and to increase our value.

Until we have finally accepted the fact that there is nothing we can do to change the past, our feelings of regret and remorse and bitterness will prevent us from designing a better future with the opportunity that is before us today. If we can establish an intelligent approach to the past, we can dramatically change the course of the next year or longer.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.jimrohn.com/why-attitude-matters/

What Basketball Can Teach Us About Responsibility

What Basketball Can Teach Us About Responsibility

by Jim Rohn | Mar 13, 2020 | Personal Development

During the years when professional basketball was just beginning to become popular, Bill Russell, who played center for the Boston Celtics, was one of the greatest players in the professional leagues. He was especially known for his rebounding and defensive skills, but like a lot of very tall centers, Russell was never much of a free-throw shooter.

In fact, his free-throw percentage was quite a bit below average. But this low percentage didn’t really give a clear picture of Russell’s ability as an athlete, and in one game he gave a very convincing performance.

It was the final game of a championship series between the Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. With about 12 seconds left to play, the Lakers were behind by one point and the Celtics had the ball. It was obvious that the Lakers would have to foul one of the Boston players in order to get the ball back, and they chose to foul Bill Russell.

This was a perfectly logical choice because statistically, Russell was the worst free-throw shooter on the court. If he missed the shot, the Lakers would probably get the ball back, and they’d still have enough time to try to win the game. But if Russell made his first free throw, the Lakers’ chances would be seriously diminished—and if he made both shots, the game would essentially be over.

Bill Russell had a very peculiar style of shooting free throws. Today, no self-respecting basketball player anywhere in America would attempt to shoot this way. Aside from the question of whether it was an effective way to shoot a basket, it just looked too ridiculous.

Whenever he had to shoot a free throw, the 6-foot-11-inch Russell would start off holding the ball in both hands, about waist high. Then he’d squat down, and as he straightened up, he’d let go of the ball. It looked like he was trying to throw a bucket of dirt over a wall.

But regardless of how he looked, as soon as Russell was fouled, he knew the Celtics were going to win the game. He was absolutely certain of it, because in a situation like that, statistics and percentages meant nothing. There was a much more important factor at work, something that no one has yet found a way to express in numbers and decimal points

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.jimrohn.com/what-basketball-can-teach-us-about-responsibility/

32 Wise Benjamin Franklin Quotes to Learn From

32 Wise Benjamin Franklin Quotes to Learn From

By  Dan Western

Benjamin Franklin was one of the founding fathers of the United States, and was born in 1706 and died in 1790. Franklin was everything; an author, politician, theorist, inventory, scientist and more.

This is a compilation of 23 wise Benjamin Franklin quotes that we can all learn from. Please share them with all your friends and family . 

23 Wise Benjamin Franklin Quotes

1. “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” – Benjamin Franklin

2. “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” – Benjamin Franklin 

3. “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” – Benjamin Franklin 

4. “Money has never made man happy, nor will it, there is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more of it one has the more one wants.” – Benjamin Franklin 

5. “It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.” – Benjamin Franklin

6. “To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions.” – Benjamin Franklin 

7. “It is the working man who is the happy man. It is the idle man who is the miserable man.” – Benjamin Franklin 

8. “Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out.” – Benjamin Franklin

9. “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin

10. “We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.” – Benjamin Franklin 

11. “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” – Benjamin Franklin 

12. “Lost time is never found again.” – Benjamin Franklin

13. “It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.” – Benjamin Franklin 

14. “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” – Benjamin Franklin

15. “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” – Benjamin Franklin 

16. “Well done is better than well said.” – Benjamin Franklin

17. “Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship.” – Benjamin Franklin

18. “He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money.” – Benjamin Franklin

19. “When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.” – Benjamin Franklin

20. “You may delay, but time will not.” – Benjamin Franklin

 21. “All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move.” – Benjamin Franklin

22. “Anger is never without a reason, but seldom with a good one.” – Benjamin Franklin

23. “A life of leisure and a life of laziness are two things. There will be sleeping enough in the grave.” – Benjamin Franklin

24. “Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones.” – Benjamin Franklin

25. “I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion about the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it.” – Benjamin Franklin

 26. “There are two ways of being happy: We must either diminish our wants or augment our means – either may do – the result is the same and it is for each man to decide for himself and to do that which happens to be easier.” – Benjamin Franklin

 27. “He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.” – Benjamin Franklin

 28. “If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed.” – Benjamin Franklin

29. “I wake up every morning at nine and grab for the morning paper. Then I look at the obituary page. If my name is not on it, I get up.” – Benjamin Franklin

 30. “Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.” – Benjamin Franklin

 31. “How few there are who have courage enough to own their faults, or resolution enough to mend them.” – Benjamin Franklin

 32. “In my youth, I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.” – Benjamin Franklin

 Summary

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5 Money Principles You Need to Know

5 Money Principles You Need to Know

by Jim Rohn | Aug 1, 2018 | Personal Development

Although finances shouldn’t be the highest priority in our lives, I will say money plays a major role and we need to see it for what it is: a tool. As my good friend Zig Ziglar says, “Money isn’t everything, but it ranks right up there with oxygen!”

Money is a tool that, depending on how we use it, can bring much joy to our lives or it can bring destruction. We need to be aware of all the possibilities it offers as well as the pitfalls. Some of the most amazing things have been done because people had the financial resources to fund them—businesses have been built, schools started and philanthropic charities founded that have accomplished much good. On the other hand, friendships have been ruined, illicit gains profited and lives destroyed—all over money.

So today, I want to focus on applying some simple financial principles, but I also want to teach the underlying philosophies that govern what good people can do and what tremendous accomplishments can be made when we see money for what it is: a tool to improve our lives and the lives of others.

John Wesley said, “Earn all you can, save all you can and give all you can.” A person who sees the powerful force for good that money can be will more likely keep their own life in balance by pursuing the disciplines of earning, saving and giving, which, together, create the perfect tension and balance.

But we must also remember that money has a seductive side and tells you it will solve all of your problems, but it won’t. It is great to have money—lots of it—as long as your life is in balance and you keep the proper perspective. It is important that we own our money and not the other way around.

The first way to make sure money doesn’t own us is to deal with the issue of debt.

Amer icans, along with most of the world, have more debt than ever. We would do well to remember the old proverb, “The borrower is the servant to the lender.”

When we are in debt, we owe someone, and because of this, they have a certain amount of control over us. We are, in essence, their servant. This is not the way of financial freedom.

Interestingly enough, when it comes to debt, I have found that many otherwise intelligent people just don’t get it. So, for a little help, here are five things you must understand to achieve financial freedom:

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.jimrohn.com/money-principles/