Opportunity And Difficulty
September 30, 2010
“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity” – Albert Einstein
Even in difficult times we have to find and make our opportunities. We can’t really do much about the fact that we encounter difficult times. Difficulties are part of life. And they will come and come again.
In the difficulty is where many opportunities are found. If Einstein is right, maybe we need to ask ourselves if we are looking in the right place to find and make opportunities. Are we looking right into the difficulties to find and make opportunities?
Do we have problems that we can solve? Can we learn from these and help others with our solutions? Can we find and create new and better ways?
Difficult times may require a lot of persistence. But how much better can we make things if we get in the habit of finding and making opportunities in our difficulties?
Copyright Kevin Drum 2010
Permission is granted to reprint this article provided it is reprinted in its entirety including this copyright information and it is attributed to
Kevin Drum
Titan Solutions, LLC
Making Opportunities
September 27, 2010
“A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.” – Sir Francis Bacon
Recently I spoke to a group of business people and did a segment on finding opportunities. My observation was that many people are finding that opportunities are harder to find now. We all want to have the opportunity to succeed. This helps us to be happier and more hopeful.
With the current prolonged recession, opportunities are scarcer for a lot of people. We may have to work harder and longer to get our opportunities.
Sir Francis Bacon’s quote above has a great perspective. What we are facing with the current economic situation isn’t new. Sir Francis Bacon lived in the late 1500’s and into the 1600’s. Throughout all of history people had to go out and make opportunities.
If opportunities are difficult to find right now, are we wise enough to go out and create them?
Copyright Kevin Drum 2010
Permission is granted to reprint this article provided it is reprinted in its entirety including this copyright information and it is attributed to
Kevin Drum
Titan Solutions, LLC
Breaking Bad Habits
September 23, 2010
“It is easier to prevent bad habits than to break them” – Benjamin Franklin
Do you develop bad habits and then have to stop them? It’s easy to do. It can be little things like sleeping too late. How about arriving late for meetings? What about your phone manners? Do you come across in a professional manner or do you sometimes get in a hurry and take some bad shortcuts?
Golfers develop bad habits. Sometimes they change something with their swing for the worse and it is hard to get back in the groove.The same thing happens to baseball players when they are hitting and to pitchers with their pitching motion.
Bad habits can be really hard to break. Since they are habits we sometimes don’t even realize what we are doing. Even after we figure out what we are doing, it can be really hard to change and get away from doing what we are used to.
These kinds of things happen to us in our personal as well as our professional lives. We can’t prevent all bad habits, but Ben Franklin had an interesting thought about it being easier to prevent them than to break them.
Copyright Kevin Drum 2010
Permission is granted to reprint this article provided it is reprinted in its entirety including this copyright information and it is attributed to
Kevin Drum
Titan Solutions, LLC
Habits And Character
September 20, 2010
“We build our character from the bricks of habit we pile up day by day” – Zig Ziglar
Have you ever thought about how your habits affect your character? Habits are simply things that we do over and over without really thinking about them.
None of us do things perfectly. Life is an ongoing process and when we make mistakes we need to learn from them and turn them into something better.
With all of the stress and struggles from the current economic situation right now, unfortunately people are prone to do things that they may not ordinarily do if things were going well for them. I wathced people both lie and cheat in their business dealings and try to justify it with most any line of reasoning.
I believe that we can tell a lot more about other people by how they behave when things are not going their way. I know that we can tell a lot more about ourselves by how we conduct ourselves when things aren’t going our way.
How we behave during times of adversity demonstrates a lot about our character. Little things in our life add up. We need to be careful to watch the habits that we develop. The things that we do over and over are part of our character. We need to make sure that our habits are consistent with making the right decisions and doing the right things
Copyright Kevin Drum 2010
Permission is granted to reprint this article provided it is reprinted in its entirety including this copyright information and it is attributed to
Kevin Drum
Titan Solutions, LLC
Habits And Results
September 18, 2010
“When you choose a habit, you also choose the end of that habit.” – Zig Ziglar
Have you ever thought about how your habits affect what you get out of life? Habits are things that we do over and over without really thinking about them. I certainly have habits that I could improve on. What about you?
The person that wants to build muscle has to get in the habit of working out and doing resistance training. If not then this person has to live with the end result of their habit of not working out.
If you want to succeed as a runner then you have to run and train. If you want to succeed as a sales person then you have to get in the habit of making sales calls. You also have to get in the habit of overcoming the rejection that comes with the territory. If not then you have to live with the end result from not developing these right habits.
Sometimes it is easy to forget the role that our habits play in our lives. What we do over and over affects the end result of what we get in life. Maybe this is a good time for me to take a good look at my some of my current habits and see where I can improve. How about you?
Copyright Kevin Drum 2010
Permission is granted to reprint this article provided it is reprinted in its entirety including this copyright information and it is attributed to
Kevin Drum
Titan Solutions, LLC
Remember The Past
September 13, 2010
“Those who don’t remember the past are condemned to repeat it” – George Santayana
The above quote is very well known. It is used quite often. I’ve heard it used by famous people and applied to political and military issues.
It also is very applicable to business and personal decisions. I want to apply it to using good habits in the area of personal money management.
I’ve met a lot of people who got over their head in debt. This is often from overspending with credit cards but it can also come from other reasons. Once the debt starts catching up to them, stress levels go up and getting rid of the debt becomes a major priority.
Then the real challenge comes. When someone gets rid of their debt and this is no longer a priority, will they learn from the lessons of history or are they going to go out and repeat previous mistakes?
What about not saving enough and not keeping an emergency fund in place for down turns? Generally the easiest time to build up an emergency fund is during good economic times. Hopefully you have a surplus of income over expenses and put your emergency fund in place. I’ve talked with a lot of people that would like to start one now but are struggling due to their circumstances and the difficult economic times.
I believe that saving for an emergency is a smart money move. How do you feel about this? If you don’t have one now are you willing to make a change to get one started? Are you going to work to keep this a priority in good and bad economic times? Or will you forget the mistakes of the past and repeat them?
Developing good habits, making good decisions, and consistently doing these things over and over can bring better results. Do you have any areas of your life where you can apply this principle right now?
Copyright Kevin Drum 2010
Permission is granted to reprint this article provided it is reprinted in its entirety including this copyright information and it is attributed to
Kevin Drum
Titan Solutions, LLC
Habits and Money
September 9, 2010
“A fool and his money are soon parted” – Thomas Tusser
Developing good habits when it comes to taking care of our money can help us to reach our goals. This is very important during the economic difficulties that we currently face. But this is also important even in good economic times. The old proverb about a fool and his money is just as relevant today as it was hundreds of years ago.
In fact one of the best times to develop good money habits is when times are good. If we do this, it can enable us to make it through the difficult times. Unfortunately, when the economy is rolling and times seem so good, too many people get caught up in material things and forget that the future will bring difficult times again.
Doing simple right things during good times can bring big rewards during difficult times. Rather than foolishly spending all that we have, why not make it a habit to save some money and build up an emergency fund for the days to come? I know that a lot of people wish now that they did this previously.
But what if you didn’t develop the good habits during good times and you are struggling now? You have to start from where you are at now. But you have to take some steps if you want to get results. Maybe you can’t do as much as you would like to now. But what can you do?
If you can’t save a lot can you find some way to save something now rather than waiting and hoping that things get better? Get in the habit now. Get started and gain some momentum. Then keep it going when the economy improves.
Developing good habits, making good decisions, and consistently doing these things over and over bring better results. Do you have any areas of your life where you can apply this principle right now?
Copyright Kevin Drum 2010
Permission is granted to reprint this article provided it is reprinted in its entirety including this copyright information and it is attributed to
Kevin Drum
Titan Solutions, LLC
Habits
September 6, 2010
“Habit is stronger than reason” – George Santayana
Developing good habits is an important part of a balanced and successful life. It is a simple concept but that doesn’t mean it is easy. Developing good habits may require a good bit of work.
I speak with a lot of people who want to get rid of their debt. Often this is in the form of credit card debt. Sometimes it may also be medical bills, student loans, car payments, or something else.
Most people that I speak with are sincere about doing this. However, not all of them are successful in the process. There may be a lot of reasons for not succeeding. But I find that one of the more common obstacles comes from their own attitude. A lot of people want to “… pay off all of their debt without having to change their lifestyle or cut their standard of living.” This means not cutting their spending and not doing anything else to increase their income either.
To me this is similar to an overweight person wanting to lose weight while eating everything that they want without exercising either. It just doesn’t work like this.
Developing good habits plays an important part in reaching your objectives. I find that a lot of us struggle because we don’t break big tasks down into parts and take it one step at a time. If we develop good habits and do simple right things over and over it can produce big results.
If you need to read a 140 page book in two weeks you can accomplish this by simply reading 10 pages per day for 14 days. I find this to be a good formula for success. Certainly there may be some days where I have some extra time and read more ahead of time. Hopefully this will enable me to finish early. For me this works better than waiting and trying to cram it all in at the last minute.
If you need to cut your expenses, why not find some things that you can cut out right now and keep cutting them out over and over.
Developing good habits and doing these things consistently can produce big results. Do you have any areas of your life where you can apply this principle right now?
Copyright Kevin Drum 2010
Permission is granted to reprint this article provided it is reprinted in its entirety including this copyright information and it is attributed to
Kevin Drum
Titan Solutions, LLC