Imagine Having Patience

Do you find yourself failing to reach your goals?
Are you like a lot of people who are of the mindset, I want it and I want it now!
Do you have enough patience? I mean, enough patience to set long term objectives and work steadily toward success?

I took yesterday off from writing to celebrate my birthday. I spent a good part of the day reflecting on my accomplishments over this this past year and immersed myself in gratitude for all I have achieved.

I, like a lot of people, suffer from the need to fulfill that "instant gratification" urge. In our fast paced world of "hurry and do this", "hurry and get that", the marketing guru's of mass media have set the stage for failure for a good many people out there. Implementing "instant gratification" into their frantic paced sales pitches skillfully designed to separate you from your money, masses of people are buried in debt, working egregious amounts of hours, living far beyond their means and suffering toxic levels of stress trying to maintain it all. The word patience, does not exist in their world.

Years ago, however, I made a conscious decision to suppress that urge. Opting instead, to carefully start planning when, where and how I was going to save and spend my hard earned dollars. Ignoring the urge to "impulse buy" nearly anything that required an immediate decision, exercising instead, patience.

The results of visualizing my life, debt free, has become a reality. I have more than I have ever had, I am not a slave to my job and am financially stable. It took a lot of self discipline, planning and patience to reach my objectives.

So the next time you have the urge to "impulse buy" something, try using the following rules to evaluate whether you should actually commit to the purchase:

1. Is it easily maintainable (serviceable) and can it be maintained at little or no cost?
   
2. Can I financially support it on half my income over it's usable lifespan?
3. Is the benefit to cost ratio at least 1.5:1 (if it costs $1000 it should return 1 1/2 times its cost to you in either time savings or income over the next year.)
   
4. Is it something you want or something you need? Apply rule #3
5. What is it's usable lifespan? (Is it made to be disposable or will it serve you for years?)
   
6. Can it live up to the marketers claim? (If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.)
7. Finally, do I need it now or can I wait?

If it can meet this test, by all means, "get it". Otherwise, take that money and put it in a one to five year CD or some other high yield investment and watch it grow. And to remember to always pay yourself first. At least 10% of each paycheck should be invested in some form of high yield investment vehicle. At minimum, a decent over 3% interest bearing savings account.

Until next time, be patient with your goals and work steadily toward success.