One reason, our debt is growing so quickly, is we moved from the service based society to a service and information and communication based society. The computer has made information and knowledge move so much faster than it did fifty years ago. The people of the world want information.

Things are moving so quickly, in our efforts to keep pace, we’re not watching what’s really happening to us financially. We are just not watching.

The speed of technology and information is resulting in us expecting instant answers. We are so busy living; we think things have been the way they are for eons.

A Quick Tip:
About Being Frustrated With Debt

We’re used to instant gratifications and answers to problems; always the quick fix. Meanwhile, many people are discovering they can’t seem to manage on what they’re making. They’re being frustrated with mounds of consumer debt. They also wonder just how to tackle the ever growing phenomenon.

They are so busy. The quick answers, such as consolidation and home equity loans, are not working. The answer to this challenge takes a little more time than a quick fix. It takes some thinking, pondering and lifestyle changes.

Can we be candid for a minute? I don’t know if you’re like me. I find that whenever I want to work on a certain area of my life, if I focus on that area, it seems to improve.

When I get serious about something I want to do, it seems easier when I can paint myself a mental picture of the outcome. When these improvements are just a whim, I don’t focus on them seriously and the thoughts flitter away for lack of interest.

So often, the decision point happens after considering whether the improvement appears too hard to achieve. We want things to happen, but when it seems too hard to achieve, we tend to let it go. We follow the path of least resistance.

I can remember, at age ten, playing with my friends at a gigantic, vacant lot a few blocks from our house. We played with a small stream coming out of a storm sewer. We decided to dam the stream. We put a big mound of dirt in the path of the water.

The water began backing up a bit. In no time, the water made a new path around the pile of dirt. It was taking a new path of least resistance.

We had to go home and it rained the next day. A few days later, we were playing in the lot again. We came upon the stream. We could tell exactly where we’d put the pile of dirt. The new path the stream had taken looked like it had been there naturally. It looked like we’d never affected it at all.

The change had occurred so quickly, in just a couple of days. The stream now looked like it’d always been there and followed this new course for eons.

Man Is Like A River

Consider a mighty river such as the Mississippi or the Colorado. A powerful river gains its size and power from its contributory rivers. Even these powerful river waters will follow the path of least resistance just as the small stream does. People are a lot like these mighty rivers. People’s life experiences are the sum total of several thousands of contributory ideas they accept or reject.

A river has no choice whether to accept or reject the waters feeding into them. Humans have a choice.

Like the mighty river or the stream, people tend to follow the path of least resistance. In our financial affairs, people want to be successful at achieving a solid, positive outcome. It’s in our nature to want financial success. Often when they consider their finances, they become resistant to the thought of change.

The resistance to any change makes the decision, to reach a better outcome, seem like a silly whim. This self sabotages any idea of becoming a mighty financial giant. Following the path of least resistance, regarding their money issues, is easy to do. The half-truths help them think it’s just too far to reach. They fear financial independence is just too hard and self-degrading to achieve.

The gurus tell us, first, people have to plan and set an enormous goal. Second, go on a budget. Third, wear clothes purchased from a thrift shop so you’ll have the self-esteem of the shopping cart person, living under a bridge. Fourth, deny themselves all simple little pleasures and live like a pauper. Finally let their children blow through the money after they’re gone to the hereafter. It’s such a silly little whim. Why bother? Easier to take the path of least resistance and do what we’ve been doing. Maybe, we’ll get lucky and win the lottery.

You don’t have to go on a budget. They’re like diets and don’t work, unless you change the mind-set. The mind-set change is the key, not the diet. The change in thinking doesn’t come overnight. A little time will need to pass as you digest some different thought processes. You’ll raise your awareness and live your life a little differently, regarding your finances.

You don’t have to dress in rags from the thrift shop. You don’t have to live like a pauper in an old, run-down house or an old trailer out in the sticks or drive an old, unreliable beater. What a drag. I say the money you already earn is enough to amass a fortune and do it relatively quickly.

Do as most millionaires do. Watch every penny coming into and going out of your life, and graph or chart your progress.

Lenny Tumbarello says, you build little success on top of little success. It’s a combination of a few little things, which will make the big difference regarding your finances.

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