• Rather than going around in circles and being overwhelmed, ask a professional to help you clarify your priorities and give you specific techniques for changing.
  
  
• List decisions and reorder them. List information needed to make the decisions and make adjustments.
  
  
• Ask if actions will coincide with your new purposes in life. Reevaluate your priorities.
  
  
• Regain control of your finances, your credit, and your management techniques.
  
  
• Be deprogrammed from what advertisers and others have defined for you as the good life with lots of goodies.
  
  
• Say "we choose not to buy or to buy this for now" rather than "we cannot afford it". (Analyze this statement "We choose this for now" to understand how it is more accurate, shows you are in control, realizes the time dimension of sequential meeting of wants, and infers it is a decision by all involved not just one person. This statement encourages decision-making, shows your being in control, demonstrates that you have clarified your priorities, and encourage continued communication).

If you cannot reach your goals,

• Increase income;
• Reduce wants;
• Be more efficient (get similar satisfaction with less expense); or
  Continue to be frustrated.

  Try an adjustment or change for a designated amount of time and reevaluate.

Ability to Change

Although you know ways to change and are willing to change financial behavior, you may not be able to change until:

1) other crises in your life are resolved

2) you are not too tired or frightened/intimidated to try new ideas

3) you are not too comfortable with the old ways

4) you let old habits tie you down, or

5) your purpose in life has changed.

You must be spiritually optimistic; psychologically free and socially mature enough to evaluate your life style, your consumption, your patterns of spending, saving, and sharing, and your meaning attached to money. Although you still have old habits, fears or non-purposeful behavior, when you control your finances, you control your life!

• Develop a wider purpose in life, a broader cause, or a mission.
  
• Obtain stress-management techniques and practice them.
  
• Exercise daily and change the scenery. Hope for a better tomorrow.
  
• Be thankful for what you have rather than thinking of what you do not have.

Be a champion of change. Be aware of changes. Handle changes. Plan to adjust and readjust your plan. Start now in adjusting your behavior and raising your heights on the ladder to economic success and your quality of life. Have courage and confidence to manage your resources to meet your goals.

The formula for economic security is:

E$ = f($, ATT, $ Assets, Personal Assets, MGMT, DG, C R, In, VS)a

where E$ = Economic Security and Success

Start now adjusting your behavior and raising your heights on the ladder to economic success and quality of life. It will change your life!

Ability to Adjust Section I / Section II / Section III Return to Financial Planning