by Liz Clark | Mar 24, 2016 | Business Matters, Getting Stuff Done, Personal Development
“I need to make a deposit,” I said out loud to an empty apartment. I sat on the floor at the foot of my bed with papers spread all around me. Bank statements, receipts, a checkbook, a notebook where I kept track of my “budget.” A curly landline phone cord stretched across the room from its normal spot beside my bed. I punched numbers into the handset, hoping the robot voice on the other end of the line would help me. I was close to overdrawing my bank account. Again. This was a common scene for me in college, in the dark ages before online banking. In fact, this was a common scene for me for the first 10 years of my adult life. Back then, I treated my bank account like a demanding, hungry teenager. It seemed like no matter how much I fed it, it always needed more. I spent my waking hours trying to figure out how to make sure it didn’t get completely empty or worse – overdrawn. It was a constant cycle of stress. I felt like a slave to my monthly expenses. Then, I began learning about the concept of investment. An investment is when you make a different kind of deposit. Not one to cover this month’s spending, but a deposit you plan not to spend. At least not for a long time. Why on earth would someone deposit money and not spend it? So that the money you invest can multiply…and you (or your kids) can spend some of it in the future. This concept of investment began to invade every area of my... read more
by Liz Clark | Mar 7, 2016 | Business Matters, Getting Stuff Done, Personal Development, Pursuits
We all use excuses from time to time in our lives. The “no excuses” movement is unrealistic and dismissive. So, what are excuses and why do we all make them? Do they actually PROTECT us? When do excuses go from being a socially acceptable way to communicate boundaries…to something much more... read more
by Liz Clark | Mar 3, 2016 | Business Matters, Getting Stuff Done, Personal Development
Imagine for a moment a society without structure. Try to imagine the chaos if: Schools didn’t have set start and end times and there were no bells or buzzers to signal everyone to go to their next class. (A dream come true for many kids!) Grocery stores didn’t organize food into categories and didn’t keep regular “hours.” Banks didn’t have procedures for depositing and withdrawing money. Traditional jobs didn’t assign work to employees, never set schedules or coordinated efforts to achieve the company’s objectives. “Developed” societies are built on structure and lots of it. In fact, without structure, we’re often at a loss as to how to behave. Think about it. From the moment you were born, through school, jobs, and every day society – you were given external structure “cues” that helped you understand how to behave, what to do and even where to be at what time. At some point in your life, you’ll likely try do something big on your own – like start a business, write a book or invent something. You think it’s going to be exciting (and it is), but suddenly… There’s no one there to tell you where to be. There’s no one with a textbook on how to write your book or make your invention a success. You no longer “get in trouble” for being late because suddenly… you’re the boss. The problem with a structure-obsessed society is that structure is usually developed for us. We aren’t taught how to create structure for ourselves. We’ve been given a fish sandwich with a side of fries…instead of being taught how to fish,... read more
