Over the past two nights I’ve watched two TV shows.
On Wednesday it was “Operation Transformation”. A man called Paul was getting some tough words from a dietician, Aoife.
Aoife had a food plan mapped out for Paul to follow. But he wasn’t following it. Given his lifestyle, Paul claimed that he didn’t have the time to shop and cook these dinners. Aoife said he could bypass that difficulty by, e.g., cooking two dinners at once and microwaving the second one the following day. But Paul was pushing back hard against that – saying he didn’t like microwaved dinners.
Aoife then said: “Sometimes we need to do the stuff we don’t want to do to get to where we want to go to“. You’d have to wonder though how Paul will get on wouldn’t you? You wouldn’t be too confident as things currently sit…
Last night I watched another show – “How to be Good About Money“. James and Rachel were stuck in the rent-trap. They had a decent income but their spending, including rent, was steep. They were also carrying a lot of debt – personal loan, credit union loan, and credit card debt.
Unless they changed, they were looking at 10+ years before they could afford to get on the property ladder. By which time James would be 50 and their daughters would be 14 & 11.
Their financial advisor, Eoin, mapped out a plan for them. A plan that would need a lot of discipline. A lot of sacrifice. Within a couple of months though, they were ahead of schedule. They had eliminated their rent by moving in with Rachel’s Dad. They had cut their outgoings on entertainment and groceries. And they were using the savings in two parallel ways – paying down their debt (credit card debt first as it has the highest interest rate) and putting away some money for rainy days (so that they wouldn’t need to use the credit card). In James’ words, they were “penny-pinching for a cause”.
Paul was struggling.
James & Rachel were thriving. And Rachel said part of the reason was that they were now accountable to someone else (Eoin).
Our results come from random luck and our actions. And let’s give random luck the attention it deserves – none!
Which leaves us with action.
Our actions come from our decisions. And it was tough decisions by James & Rachel that have set them on the road towards owning their own home.
Our conscious decisions come from our attitudes, our thinking, our beliefs.
So you want different results in your business? Work less hours? Have more freedom? Be more productive? Have more time for your family, friends and hobbies?
Acting the same way won’t do it. Making decisions the same way won’t do it.
You need to change something. You don’t like change? Well then, your results won’t change. End of.
However, if you are willing to change, take a look at this. Because, as James Belasco said, “nothing changes until you do something.“