Things are only as bad as you make or allow them to be.

I continually hear how people hope things will get better for them and how maybe now with a new president things will get better or now that gas prices are down or now that ……. Stop it already! To be honest I don’t want to hear it anymore. The only way a country gets better is for its people to get better and the only way for your life to get better is for you to get better. Sound harsh? Maybe but until people stop blaming everyone or everything else for their problems they will never change.

The only person responsible for your current situation AND your future is you.

Is the economy in great shape? No, that’s a fact but it will only affect you to the extent that you allow it. If your business slows down, you need to find different ways to receive income or different ways to market yourself. If you get laid off, you need to find another job. If there are no other jobs in your area of expertise, expand your area of expertise. Go back to school; take online courses, read something besides the sports section or glamour magazine. In other words, if the economy has affected you in a negative way, don’t whine about it, do something about it! Some people will allow their lives to be turned upside down from bad economic times while other will prosper. The difference? The choices they make!

Folks! You may not have a choice in the events that happen to you but you always have a choice how you respond to them. You can either become a problem solver or you can become a complainer. Which attitude do you think will live a healthier and happier life?

A pastor I know closed every sermon with the following request:

“Lord, help us to affect this world more than it affects us”

I love those words and try my best to live by them. Why don’t you do the same.

So…. The economy is in the pits right now, what are you going to do about it?

Bob.

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Fight Back!

Yesterday I read about Frank Bettger, a man whom at the age of 11 got up at 4:30 in the morning to sell newspapers to help his widowed mother make ends meet. He seldom had anything for dinner but cornmeal mush and watered down milk. At 14 he had to drop out of school to work as a steamfitter’s helper. There was no welfare, no unemployment, no food stamps, no HUD housing, and no, no-child left behind programs. You worked or you went hungry. You had to take care of yourself and if you had children, they helped. When Frank was injured in an accident at age 29 and was forced to give up his decent paying career he didn’t look for an unemployment check or file a workman’s compensation claim. Instead he started selling life insurance to make ends meet because that was the only job he could get without experience.

Some people would say that Franks story is a sad one, but not Frank. He wouldn’t trade it for anything because it was during those hard times that he learned how to work and work hard. He was forced to do his best or get fired and he learned the value of a dollar. He learned to save for the things he wanted and to make wise purchases. You see Frank’s story didn’t end here; the lessons life taught him the hard way are what gave him the drive and experience to become successful. So successful that he could have retired at 40 years old.

Today; hard work, dedication, commitment and saving for the things we want in life are rarely found. Doing what it takes to put food on the table and keep a roof over our heads, even if it means taking a lower paid job is a rare trait as well.

Now we have government systems that hurt people and drain the economy by making them dependant on a hand out. We are bombarded by commercials to buy the latest and greatest while our mailboxes are filled with credit card offers. Then when we over extend ourselves because we can’t control our need to shop we have commercials from law firms telling us to fight back and file bankruptcy. Fight back?