A New Perspective

The following is a guest post from Glen Allsopp from PluginID.

We are a generation abundant in such fine qualities as impatience, greed, and the need for a quick-fix. The "magic pill" if you like. When it comes to making money, we're the same.

We want the quick, easy, cash generation solution rather than something we have to work for. That's probably the reason so many people fall for the Spanish Lottery scams or give away their details to their long lost Nigerian relative.

Of course, you don't need to make money more in order to have more; you could just start keeping more of what you do get. The art of saving can be a difficult, long, and winding path. One that we constantly veer off due to those elusive impulse purchases and the slow progress which makes us wonder why we do it in the first place.

Instead of viewing saving as some chore or tough task that we need to form into a habit, today I want to look at things from a different angle. I believe the following three steps will help anyone to massively increase their savings due to the ease of application and the natural desire which they instill.

Have Something That You Really, Really Want

If you think back (actually do this) to anything worthwhile in your life, anything of value, that you have been able to achieve or create, you'll find that each example has something in common. The burning desire for the end result. Although this attitude certainly isn't very zen, I think you'll find everyone of your achievements can link back to this.

When I had a medical issue that doctors said I couldn't do anything about, I spent weeks, day and night, researching everything I could. It was this desire to prove the doctors wrong and solve my problem which kept me going. I did, in the end, stumble upon a natural solution.

When I wanted to quit my day job and work for myself full-time, I focused on the end result and how amazing it would be to not have to answer to a boss. It was this desire that turned my side projects from hobbies into real business ventures, and it wasn't long before I was writing my own paychecks.

When it comes to saving, don't think of the practical side of it or the moral side in that you think saving is just the right thing to do (unless, of course, this works for you). Instead, have a goal, a focus, a need to do it. What is so important to you that you would love to be able to save money for? Your child's college fund, a new car, a home?

Write down a list of all the things you would like to attain from saving more money, and pick one that matters the most to you. One that you would work as hard for naturally as I did with my medical issue or with quitting my day job. You must have a burning desire for some end goal that you can achieve through saving, not just some practical benefit from collecting those pennies.

Map Out What You Will Do to Achieve It

It's all fair and well if your goal of saving money is to have a safety net, but if you can't build a strong desire for that, it's probably the reason you're struggling to save your cash. Similarly, there's no point just feeling like you really want something, without having a plan to get there and taking action.

When I wanted to quit my day job, I set out a plan of attack. First of all, I knew I had to come up with some other income source. I had built websites for a few years so decided to focus on making money online. I had a strong urge to succeed and my desire, coupled with persistence, paid off.

You may want to save $10,000 for a car, or $150,000 for a house, but you need to know how you'll do it. Could you take out the daily Starbucks in your life? Could you start making your meals at home rather than eating out so much? Could you save a tidy $10,000 in 10 months on a $2,400 salary? This guy did.

Work out what it is that you really want, and set aside a plan of action on how you can achieve it. This will be a lot easier than it seems if you have picked an end result which you desire. The first step in this post is crucial to success in this second part.

Re-Frame Everything Towards Your Desire

Reframing is a very powerful technique and its application can be used in a vast number of situations. To give you a good example of this, let's go back to my own situation. When I knew I had to make more money from my websites, I needed to market them and increase the number of visitors they were getting.

Most of my sites were niche based and static. However, I also ran a blog. And, one of the best ways to grow a blog is to write for other blogs to show their audience the type and quality of content you have on offer. It would have been easy, and natural, for me to frame writing for someone else in a negative manner.

For example, I could have viewed it as:

• Giving someone else free content

• Doing a lot of work for little reward

• Yet another article that I have to write

If I had of viewed it that way, I'm sure my progress would have been a lot slower and the work would have seemed that much harder. Instead, I viewed it differently. I focused on the end result; I told myself that this article gets me one step closer to leaving my day job and becoming my own boss.

Can you see how you can use re-framing for your own saving habits?

Instead of moaning about the fact you're biking to work in order to save cash, see it as $5 towards your new car (or whatever your desire is).

Instead of cursing the world because you're having home-made sandwiches for lunch, see it as more money closer to getting what you want.

If you can get the first step in place, I guarantee the following 2 will be far easier than you imagine. Everything in life only has to be as difficult as you want to make it.

Maybe it's time you adopted a new perspective.

Comments

[Rob Bennett]

I think this blog entry makes a highly valuable point.

My belief is that what matters when trying to save money is motivation. Most saving blogs focus on providing tips on how to spend less. There's of course great value in that. But the big problem is that only those already converted to the wisdom of saving pay any attention and that's a small percentage of the population.

If all people were motivated to save, ALL of us would be reading the saving tips. And this would be a better world.

And there is no reason why everyone should not be HIGHLY motivated to save. Saving brings financial freedom. Who doesn't want to be more free?

The problem is that the conventional saving goals provide little motivation. We tell people to save so that they will be able to retire in 40 years. Boring.

Saving well can change a person's life in all sorts of wonderful ways. Effective savers are just people who happened to discover this reality. Once we want to save, we seek out good information on HOW to do it. Once we are looking for it, we find that there is a lot of good stuff out there.

The desire to save needs to be more intense.

Rob

[Liz]

Great article! I fully agree with the "re-framing" advice. I am saving for a home right now and all of this is exactly what I need to be reading. Thanks!