Habit #1: Pay Attention
You’re driving down the highway when smoke starts billowing from under the hood. Do you keep going, hoping the engine fire will magically put itself out? Of course not. You pull over and face the reality of your situation. Same with building wealth. You can’t get where you want to go unless you Pay Attention to where your money is going first.Press Pause
In a swift-swipe world of credit cards and Apple watches, it can be hard to track your spending. Sure, the speed of instant transactions is convenient – but it’s taken away “The Pause”: the opportunity to ask yourself, “Do I really need this?”Picture This
- “Budget” isn’t a four-letter word. But if you’re too busy to put your wallet under 24-hour surveillance, try this:
- Take a picture of a goal: the house you want to buy, the child whose education you want to fund.
- Tape that picture to your “plastic.”
- Every time you use a credit card, ask yourself, “Does this purchase serve my future goals?”
- “The Pause” and the picture will help focus your priorities: “I really want that house” or “My kid’s college fund comes first.”