10 Bad Habits Which Can Affect Your Finances

“If we are born poor, it is not our fault, but if we die poor, it is!”…… Bill Gates

No matter what you do, no matter who you are, you can never make meaningful progress if you are unable to ditch your bad habits. Nearly everyone is guilty of quite a few bad habits here and there. It takes some firm resolution and discipline to break some of these habits. If you do, the feeling is akin to getting of chains which hitherto have been real obstacles to your progress in life. These here 10 bad habits are the most obvious habits you can do without if you want to make progress real quick.

01. Living above your means. This is one bad habit that can leave you perpetually broke and in financial distress all your life. You must avoid it. So many people are in debt because they keep living a life they can’t afford and don’t deserve. They keep living it in terms of expectations, and not reality. That is the real tragedy. It is a very smart thing to live within your means and even to leave something extra as savings for the proverbial “raining day.”

02. Staying in bad relationships. This includes all relationships and not just romantic relationships alone. Any relationships you are in, be they friends, family and professional connections which have a tendency to get abusive should be avoided at all costs. It is easy to identify people in your life that only make it hard for you to move forward. These are people who drain you physically and emotionally. To make progress, you must consciously decide to get them off your life even if such a decision may be painful at first.

03. Being apologetic for your achievements. You should never feel sorry for the great things that are happening for you in your life. No matter what you do, there are always people who are going to get envious of your modest achievements. You don’t owe these people or anyone like them any apologies for what is going great for you provided you are honest enough about your means.

04. Habitual lateness. Apart from the fact that it is a grossly uncivilized thing to do, lateness is rude, selfish, and disrespectful. Nobody takes dealings with you seriously if they know you are a habitual latecomer. Having the discipline to manage your time efficiently is one great way to avoid lateness. If you can, you earn yourself more respect and admiration from other people who you are compelled by circumstances to interact with and even do business with.

05. Procrastination. Putting off what you can do today to some other day is one very potent way to defer your own progress. Today is that day. So, stop putting a part of yourself or a part of your life on hold for that mythical one day when everything will fall together. That time is now, and the person to get things done is you.

06. Poor habit of cash savings. If somehow you find a way to live below your income, there will always be something left for you to put aside for the proverbial “raining day.” That is savings. No doubt, without the requisite discipline, saving can be tough, but you need it to remain above poverty line when things get really tough as they usually are during economic down-turns or even recession. Naturally, as your income grows, so does your expense. You need to learn to work with it and figure out how to set aside some money for future use.

07. Not exercising. A healthy mind in a healthy body ensures that you have unhindered progress in life. Guaranteeing that is by way of regular exercise. Even if you hate it, you need to push yourself to at least do some form of exercise to safeguard your good health. It is by way of exercise that you can guarantee good health without which, you won’t be able to do any of the stuff you want to do in your life.

08. Giving up easily. Don’t let yourself be defeated easily by life’s constants. Truth is, life’s challenges are before everyone not you alone. Your ability to stick with things inspite of all odds is what guarantees your uninterrupted progress in life. Everyone has their own challenges to get over, their own set of heartbreaks and their fair share of disappointments. That’s why those things don’t matter. They are there to prove you have the ability to rise above them and to stay the course.

09. Lying. Interestingly, liars do need more lies to shield their previous lies. Clearly that is an enormous task. The fewer the lies you tell therefore, the easier it is for others to trust you and to rely on you. The habit of not lying at all, easily attracts good people to your life.

10. Uncontrolled temper. Getting angry is temporary madness. Not very many people want to do business with people who are short-tempered. The tighter you keep your temper in check, the better for your progress in life.

Why Anyone Can Make Money

 “If we are born poor, it is not our fault, but if we die poor, it is!”…… Bill Gates

Chief M.K.O. Abiola, a popular Nigerian politician and businessman had before his untimely death in 1998 banished poverty from his life. His story makes an interesting reading. At a very young age, he is reported to have watched his dear mother pass away because his father could not afford 8 pence for her medical bills. The extreme poverty of his father created so much fear in him at that early age that he vowed never to be poor in his life. He started by taking any and every job that came his way including being a back-up singer. He built on his strengths so much that at a stage, his businesses spanned Newspaper Publishing, Oil and Gas, Real Estate, Bookshops, Bakeries, Telecoms and many others which spread through many continents of the world. History records that at the time of his tragic passing in 1998, he had accumulated so much wealth that the media started referring to him as a “billionaire business mogul.” His rabid fear of poverty and his clear choice to beat it were largely responsible for this feat not because of his black color or his being a Nigerian.

Statistics indicate that a new millionaire is created every fifty-eight minutes in the United States. In that land of opportunity, people make money successfully by taking advantage of the abundant opportunities. The success rate of these people has nothing to do with the color of their skins or their nationalities. The contents of their character play a major role in how much service they are able to render to enable them to make money. Money is therefore not in short supply. The ability to make it is what is in short in supply. Among the many millionaires made every few minutes in the United States, are predominantly immigrant Japanese, Chinese, Hispanics or Latinos, Arabs, Jews, African Americans and many others. They make it faster than Native Americans because they seize any and every opportunity that comes their way. This attitude is usually a fall-out from the deprivations they suffered back in their native countries before they decided to emigrate. This land of opportunity provides a fairly level field for all persons irrespective of their nationalities. Those who make it work hard to make it as a matter of deliberate choice not because of their nationalities or ethnic stock.