Elephants Don't Bite

When was the last time you heard of someone being bit by an elephant?  You probably can't think of ever hearing about such a thing.  But what does bite all the time?  Mosquitoes. 

So what does this have to do with money?  Well elephants are the big things in our budget.  Things like our mortgage or our rent, our car payments, our loan payments.  The big stuff we are fully aware of and work into our budgets.  While these items do take a large portion of our income they are very rarely the things that strain us or get us into financial difficulty.

Mosquitoes on the other hand bite us constantly and cause a lot of blood loss in small increments.  Mosquitoes are all the small expenses that we don't even think about when we are spending them.  The coffee at Tim Horton's, the birthday present for the party your kid is going to this weekend, the sweater that was on sale that you just had to get.  The list is endless. 

Think about all the times when you have gone to the insta-broke machine to take out a handful of yuppie food stamps (also known as $20 bills) at the beginning of the week and you get to the end of the week and your wallet is empty and you have no idea where your money.  That is an attack of mosquitoes.

If you want one of the absolute simplest ways to save money and have more left over at the end of the month, instead of more month left over at the end of the money, I will teach you one very simple technique.  Before you buy ANYTHING stop for an extra moment and ask yourself, "Do I REALLY want or need this?"

Most of our daily purchasing is completely unconscious and driven by marketing pressure that we don't even realize.  When you slow down for a second to make a conscious choice about whether or not you truly want to exchange your hard earned money for this impulse you will choose no. 

That one change in behaviour can literally save you hundreds of dollars a month and thousands of dollars a year.  What could you decide to do with all that found money?  Now that is a fun question. 

"Some couples go over their budgets very carefully every month; others just go over them."

            Sally Poplin

Have you ever noticed how quickly time passes?  You blink and the day has completely gone.  A week passes through your life in a flash, and months seem to wiz by us.  As we get older time just seems to speed up.  All the many demands on our lives and in our businesses keeps us moving, but are we actually getting anywhere?

Even though the responsibility for our business falls on our shoulders, we still need to take time everyday to pull back a little bit and evaluate whether or not we are actually achieving our goals.  How much of our time, energies, and efforts go into just fighting the fires in our businesses?  Are our actions moving us towards our dreams or keeping us trapped in the day to day mediocrity?

One of my favourite books is The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Dr. Stephen Covey.  My favourite part is when he talks about Quadrant Two time.  Quadrant Two refers to things that are important, but they are not urgent.  Quadrant Two activities move us forward, but few people pay much attention to these extremely important things for the simple fact that it requires internal fortitude to get them done.  The outside world does not push us to do the things in Quadrant Two.

So what are things that fall into Quadrant Two?  Well a lot of things can be on the list and it is up to you to decide what they are in your life and business and then to actually make time in your hectic schedule to actually work on them.  Here is a list of some of the activities that fall into Quadrant Two in my world.  Systematizing, spending quality time with my family, planning my week, training my team, prepping for team meetings and trainings to make them more effective, creating a marketing plan, staying on top of my bookkeeping, reading good books, attending seminars where I can learn something, writing articles, taking quiet time for myself, and going to the gym.

Life is constantly throwing things on my to do list.  My email inbox is constantly filling up, my phone rings, I have client appointments, and I have a huge pile of other things that need to be taken care of in my business and with my family.  Those things will remind me that they need to be taken care of on a regular and typically loud fashion.  If I don't make a conscious and concerted effort to work on the Quadrant Two activities they will quietly leave me alone.  They don't force me to do anything.  In fact they will watch my days go by as I lose the opportunity to make something special of my life and my business.

Take time every day, even if it is only 30 minutes, to work on your business.  Keep a Quadrant Two list on your desk where you can see it and be reminded of what you are aiming for.  By putting it in your face it still won't nag you, but it will act as a quiet reminder of where you need to be going.  Good luck.

"Every study of high achieving men and women proves that greatness in life is only possible when you become outstanding at your chosen field."

            Brian Tracy

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