Progress check

By Elaine Toney

Jackson Advocate Guest Writer

Well, the 1st quarter of the year has come and gone, and we are well into the 2nd quarter.  How are we doing? Let’s do a progress check. 

Have we stopped smoking? Are we exercising? Have we established a savings plan? Are we keeping a debt diary and tracking our spending so we will know where our money is going? Are we cutting back on our WANTS and focusing on our needs? We REALLY need an emergency fund. 

 If you are keeping your New Year’s resolutions and are doing these things, CONGRATULATIONS, and hurray for you! You overcame the odds and did not become one of the 36% who fail to stick with their resolutions after one month.  

If you ARE one of the statistics who has quit your goals, do not despair. It happens to the best of us AND to the rest of us. It is a known fact that sometimes it takes several attempts at something before we succeed.  

I know it’s a cliché, but if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Does that help? Does it give you the incentive to start again trying to make wiser financial decisions? 

How about, “Today is a new day and a new opportunity to get it right.” One of my mother’s favorites, “As long as you have warm breath running through your body, you have another chance.” Let’s try a few more. “Better late than never.” “Your present circumstances don’t determine where you go; they only determine where you start.” “Only I can change my life. No one else can do it for me.” “Your past does not have to define you.” “It’s not a question of if CRAP is going to happen, it’s a matter of when.” “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” “Good things happen when we believe.” 

Maybe if we keep repeating these to ourselves we can figure out how to keep more of our own money in our own pockets.