TipsForSuccess: Does Money Control You?

 

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Does Money Control You?

Are you controlling money or is money controlling you?

10 Signs Money Is Controlling You

You constantly worry about having enough money
You often wish you could buy more things
Your only goal in life is to get rich, but you have no realistic plan
You spend money to feel better
You blame others for your financial problems (government, boss, spouse)
You judge people based on the amount of money they have
You lie, cheat or steal to get money; even a little lying or cheating shows money is controlling you
You take unnecessary financial risks
You use credit to buy things that decrease in value, such as expensive cars or expensive clothing
Money controls your mood-you feel good or bad based on your finances

10 Signs You Are Controlling Money

You decide to buy something, save the money, and get what you want
You buy things that increase in value
You invest in yourself, such as more education or personal improvement
You donate to causes you believe in, even if just small amounts
You keep your financial agreements
You have good credit
You pay your taxes
Cheating you out of your money is very difficult
Each year, your earning power improves and financial worth increases
You use money as a tool to follow your dreams and reach your goals

Five Ways to Control Money


1. Spend your money according to a plan.

"THE LESS AMOUNT OF INCOME AN ORGANIZATION OR AN INDIVIDUAL HAS, THE MORE CAREFULLY AND WISELY FINANCIAL PLANNING MUST BE DONE." -- L. Ron Hubbard

If you spend money as you get it, or to pay off squeaky wheels, you have no plan. You spend a few bucks here and a few bucks there until your money is gone. Instead, take control and write a financial spending plan. Decide in advance how you will spend your money.

When you plan your spending, you make better decisions. Examples: "If I buy these extra classes, I'll get a raise." "I want a new car and will set aside $60 per week until I have the full amount." "If I pay off this credit card with the minimum payments, it'll take me 23 YEARS to pay it off! I'd better pay $100 extra each month and cut the stupid thing in half!"

2. Never spend more than you make.

"Make all the money you can. Spend less than that. That's the simple ABC of financial control." -- L. Ron Hubbard

When planning your spending, ensure you follow the above rule. For example, "Each week I will set aside $______ for the house, 10% to education, 5% to savings, pay current bills and buy food. Anything left can be spent on fun things like movies and vacations."

3. Stop wasting your time trying to get money without earning it.

"One has to produce something to exchange for money." "One exchanges something valuable for something valuable." -- L. Ron Hubbard

Do not gamble, play the lottery or try to cheat others. Do not wait for your fortune to arrive or expect someone to hand you money. Count only on yourself.

Get rich the old reliable way. Create something valuable and exchange it for the money you want. You deserve it, because you earn it.

4. Increase your productivity and improve the quality of your work.

"Produce in abundance and try to give better-than-expected quality." -- L. Ron Hubbard

For example, if you give haircuts for a living, find ways to make your customers' hair look more beautiful. If you fix furnaces and usually fix two per day, figure out how to fix three furnaces per day . . . and then train and manage other furnace-repair people.

5. Make constant, steady progress.

"THE TOTALITY* OF POWER IS ORDERLY PROGRESS." -- L. Ron Hubbard *(Totality: quality or state of being total or complete.)

Keep track of your financial progress. For example, make a graph showing your total debts and total savings. Then make sure your savings go up every month and your debts go down every month, even if just a little bit.

When you know you are steadily improving your financial condition, you are controlling it.

Once you are in control of money, you can focus on your more important purposes. 

 

Provided by TipsForSuccess.org as a public service to introduce the technology of L. Ron Hubbard to you. 

  

Copyright © 2012 TipsForSuccess.org. All rights reserved. Grateful acknowledgment is made to L. Ron Hubbard Library for permission to reproduce selections from the copyrighted works of L. Ron Hubbard.

 

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TipsForSuccess: Why You Must Be Unreasonable

                

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Why You Must Be Unreasonable

You succeed when you are unreasonable about succeeding. You neither give nor accept excuses. You insist on becoming a success, no matter what it takes.

L. Ron Hubbard defines reasonableness as "faulty explanations." When you agree with faulty explanations, you are too reasonable.

Examples of faulty explanations:

"I can't repair your furnace today as it might rain." The truth is, the repairman is going to drink beer with his friends.

"None of the staff will work past 5:00." The truth is, the manager does not want to work past 5:00.

"I can't pay you as I promised as my wife is sick." The truth is, he is spending the money on a new boat.

Why Agree?


If you agree with faulty explanations, you agree to fail. Excuses, justifications and reasonableness produce nothing.

Yet disagreeing with failure, with problems and with excuses, helps you succeed.

"If you can't fix the furnace today because of the rain, I'll find someone who repairs furnaces, despite the rain."

"I believe lots of people will work past 5:00. You are the manager and need to handle the schedules. Do you need me to show you how to do it?"

"Well, I'm sorry about your wife, but don't see how that's related. You agreed to pay me today, so I'll have to get the money from you right now as you promised."

When you disagree with faulty explanations, when you are unreasonable about failure, the sun shines, the rainbows appear and everything improves.

Statistical Justifications


The most important thing you must be unreasonable about is decreased productivity. When your statistics in life (how much you earn or produce) are going down, you fail if you make up excuses. You cannot accept faulty explanations for failure.

"Never JUSTIFY why a graph continues to be down and never be reasonable about it. A down graph is simply a down graph and somebody is goofing." -- L. Ron Hubbard

Justifications for failures are everywhere:

"Reading skills are getting worse in the United States because we have too many television channels."

"I had to close the business because of the economy."

"No one buys cars from Pete because he's too old."

If you are reasonable and accept these excuses, you cannot solve the problems.

However, when you disagree with explanations and find the truth, the solutions become obvious.

Examples:

"Television has nothing to do with reading skills. What else could it be? Oh! Are children taught to use a dictionary so they can understand what they read?"

"Your business didn't fail because of the economy. It failed because you didn't know what you were doing. Did you advertise? Did you deliver what you promised? Did you add new products or services that people wanted to buy?"

"People buy cars from salesmen older than Pete every day. Was Pete working every day? Has anyone trained him to sell?"

Be Unreasonable with Yourself


Not only must you be unreasonable with others, you must be unreasonable with yourself. For example you think, "I'm tired because I work so hard."

You then say to yourself, "Too bad! I need to disagree with this silly explanation. I've worked harder than this and felt great! I'm tired because I'm working hard on the wrong things. I'm going to WAKE UP, stop wasting time and make this day a productive day!"

More examples:

"I just don't know how to do it." "I will stay up late every night and I will learn how to do it."

"No one is successful in my area." "I'll be the first to succeed in my area, no matter what it takes!"

"I would get the job done today, but I promised myself I could watch the football game." "To heck with the game! I'm getting the job done, even if I have to work until midnight."

The barriers to your success are excuses, faulty explanations and justifications. As soon as you decide to get unreasonable with these barriers, you find the solutions you need to become successful.

Exercises


In the examples below, decide which are reasonable explanations and which are the truthful statements.

"I have no money because (I spend more than I earn) (of the cost of gas)."

"I can't lose weight because (I'm too busy) (I'm lazy and addicted to chocolate)."

"I'm single and lonely because (I don't get out and meet people) (no one likes me)."

"I can't find a good assistant because I (am too busy) (am not taking the time to find one)."

"I let people boss me around because (I'm kind and caring) (I don't stand up to them)."

Recommendations


1. Write down a failure you have had in your life.

2. Write down all the excuses and faulty explanations you have invented or accepted for this failure.

3. Get unreasonable and disagree with all of them.

4. Accept full responsibility for the failure and find what you did or did not do that caused it.

5. Turn the failure into a success.

If you continue to be unreasonable with excuses, justifications and faulty explanations, you will make it go right and turn the failure into a success.

 

Provided by TipsForSuccess.org as a public service to introduce the technology of L. Ron Hubbard to you. 

  

Copyright © 2011 TipsForSuccess.org. All rights reserved. Grateful acknowledgment is made to L. Ron Hubbard Library for permission to reproduce selections from the copyrighted works of L. Ron Hubbard.


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TipsForSuccess: The Whole World Stinks

 

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"The Whole World Stinks!"

Have you ever noticed how the world seems to change depending on how you feel?

For example, while Grandpa is taking a nap on the couch, his seven-year-old grandson gets some Limburger cheese from the refrigerator and smears it on Grandpa's mustache. (If you've never smelled Limburger cheese, it is very strong!)

When Grandpa wakes up, he says, "This room stinks!" He goes to another room and says, "This room stinks." After walking throughout the house, he says, "The whole house stinks!"

Grandpa goes outside and takes a deep breath and says, "The whole world stinks!"

How does the world smell to you?

Three Examples


1. You hear the bad news about the world's problems and suddenly worry about your family, your job or business, your lack of savings and your bills. You look outside and the weather seems uncomfortable, the sky seems darker. You notice the people walking by seem to look at the ground more than before. Everyone seems afraid.

2. After you have another argument with your spouse, you go to a movie. You notice that nobody seems to smile. Couples seem to be bored with each other. The movie's happy ending seems phony.

But then you make up with your spouse and feel deeply in love. You go for a drive and notice the beauty of the trees and buildings. Everyone you see appears to be content with their lives.

3. Despite the economy, your business made a healthy profit this month. You celebrate at a restaurant where the food tastes great and the waitress is cheerful. When you go outside, the air smells wonderful. The cars look clean and the traffic is orderly. Everyone seems to be smiling.

Why Life Changes


In an article "Is it Possible to Be Happy?" L. Ron Hubbard writes:

"You remember when you were maybe five years old, and you went out in the morning and you looked at the day, and it was a very, very beautiful day, and you looked at the flowers and they were very beautiful flowers.

"Twenty-five years later you get up in the morning, you take a look at the flowers--they are wilted. The day isn't a happy day.

"Well, what has changed? You know they are the same flowers, it's the same world, something must have changed.

"Probably it was you."

"One's attitude toward life makes every possible difference in one's living."

"The day when you stop building your own environment, when you stop building your own surroundings, when you stop waving a magic hand and gracing* everything around you with magic and beauty, things cease to be magical, things cease to be beautiful." -- L. Ron Hubbard (*gracing = to give beauty, elegance or charm to something)

How can you start building your own environment? How can you make your surroundings more beautiful? How can you remove that Limburger smell from your world?

Suggestions for Adding Magic to Your Life


1. Look around you. Notice your immediate surroundings as they are right now.

2. Write down some things you can do to make your environment a little more cheerful.

3. Write down some things you can do to make your environment a little more beautiful.

4. Write down some things you can do to make your environment a little more magical.

5. Do these things until your world is happier!

6. Read the complete article, "Is it Possible to Be Happy?" at www.genuineauditing.org
 

 

Provided by TipsForSuccess.org as a public service to introduce the technology of L. Ron Hubbard to you. 

  

Copyright © 2012 TipsForSuccess.org. All rights reserved. Grateful acknowledgment is made to L. Ron Hubbard Library for permission to reproduce selections from the copyrighted works of L. Ron Hubbard.

 

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TipsForSuccess: Who Trusts You?

 

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Who Trusts You?

To succeed, you must gain a reputation as someone who can be trusted. You need to be someone who can be relied upon. You need this strong building block in all your relationships.

Whenever someone believes you will do something, they trust you. They count on you. They assume you will keep your promises.

If you fail to do as you agreed, you lose that trust. You make problems for the people who trust you. You hurt your chances for success.

For example, you tell your friend Martha, "If you let me use your truck, I'll bring it back on Monday, perfectly clean, and with a full tank of gas." Your friend agrees. If you bring the truck back on Wednesday, dirty and almost out of gas, Martha can no longer trust you. She may no longer wish to be your friend.

"Mutual trust is the firmest building block in human relationships. Without it, the whole structure comes down."

"Trustworthiness is a highly esteemed commodity. When one has it, one is considered valuable. When one has lost it, one may be considered worthless." -- L. Ron Hubbard from The Way to Happiness

Getting others to trust you takes work.

Seven Ways to Become More Trustworthy


1. Keep all of your promises.

For example, if you are a furniture maker and promise to deliver a new desk on Friday, make sure you show up with the desk on Friday. If you have to work day and night to build the desk, you do it.

As another example, you agree to drive your boss to the airport in the morning. That morning, you get ready and have plenty of time to pick up your boss. But your car won't start. Instead of calling your boss with the excuse, you make it go right. You borrow a car, rent a car or hire a taxi. You pick up your boss, as promised.

2. As well as keeping your big promises, keep your small promises as well.

For example, attorney Jeb promises to write a contract that will keep you out of a lawsuit. He says he'll call you in the morning to discuss it. However, Jeb forgets to call for two days. You then wonder, "If he can't keep his word about calling, maybe he can't keep his word about writing a good contract."

3. Be careful what you promise. Give accurate statements.

For example, you know you can write three reports tonight, and maybe two others, as well. Do not say, "I'll write five reports tonight." Instead say, "I'll get three reports done and hope to write two more, as well."

Before you sign any written agreement, read it carefully to ensure you can do what it says. For example you say, "Before I sign this, I want to change paragraph 12 to give me an extra week, just in case I have a problem with the weather or other matters."

4. If you realize you will not be able to keep your word, no matter what you try, tell the person immediately.

Examples: "Shelly, I said I'd take you to dinner tomorrow night, but I may have to cancel." "Boss, you wanted the wall painted by Sunday, but I need an extension until next Wednesday." "If you can give me one more day to fix your car, I'll take off 5% for the delay."

5. If you lose your trust with someone, do not avoid the issue. Restore your reputation by doing all you can to earn back the person's trust.

For example, you agree to pay Jill $1000 on Monday. You forget until Tuesday and realize you do not have the $1000. Instead of avoiding Jill, you call her. "Jill, I am so very sorry I didn't pay you on Monday. I should have called you. I will have the money on Friday. I hope that by paying you on Friday, I'll regain your trust." Of course, you then do whatever it takes to pay her on Friday.
    
6. If you have destroyed your reputation by breaking your word and not being trustworthy, make up the damage.

For example, "Fred, I know I have let you down. I agreed to fix your computer last month and I did not. I didn't call and truly regret what I did. I would like to fix your computer for free, if you'll let me."

Another example, "Martha, I can't tell you how sorry I am that I didn't return your truck on time or with gas in it. Even worse, it was dirty. How can I make it up to you? Will you let me wash it and fill it with gas this afternoon? I'd also like to replace the burnt bulb in the tail light, okay?"
 
7. If someone has lost your trust, help him or her earn it back.

For example, "You want me to hire you again after what happened last time? To be honest, I can't trust you, but am willing to reconsider. If you take this class and pass it 100% by the end of the month, I'll hire you on a temporary basis for one week. If you fail me one more time, I'll never reconsider hiring you again. I'm willing to help you succeed, but only if you are trustworthy."

Seven Benefits of Being More Trustworthy


Fortunately, the benefits of earning trust are well worth the effort it takes.

1. When you make big promises and people will not hesitate to believe you.

2. You earn important support from people in positions of power.

3. The people who trust you will recommend you to others. Your circle of contacts increases.

4. Because people trust you, they feel comfortable with you and will confide in you.

5. If you find you cannot deliver what you promise right away, people are more understanding with you.

6. When new opportunities pop up, people tell you about them.

7. Because you know you keep your word, you have more confidence and pride in yourself.

 

 

Provided by TipsForSuccess.org as a public service to introduce the technology of L. Ron Hubbard to you. 

  

Copyright © 2012 TipsForSuccess.org. All rights reserved. Grateful acknowledgment is made to L. Ron Hubbard Library for permission to reproduce selections from the copyrighted works of L. Ron Hubbard.

 

Sign up or learn more about TipsForSuccess at www.tipsforsuccess.org,

  

 

 

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