Few people actively plan to become poor, that is to say, without resources. Most of us hope, and a few of us plan to come into some measure of wealth. However, there are certain character traits or habits that seem to naturally propel a person towards poverty. I’m sure none of you have any of these frailties, but let’s play it safe and double-check ourselves. Why? Because even a little bit can slow us down. I don’t know about you but I want to move forward with dispatch.

Arrogance is typically portrayed with an upturned nose and a downward glance. Some people lean backwards so they can look down their nose at you. If you’re really tall, or they’re really short, this can be humorous as you watch them struggle to maintain balance. In reality, we’re being arrogant anytime we fail to acknowledge that someone else may have expertise in an area we don’t or has more expertise in an area where we do. Arrogance goes by another name, pride. Pride will turn a blind eye to flaws and exaggerate strengths. When pride takes over you’re easily blindsided. In fact, one way to take down an enemy is to feed their pride. Unfortunately, arrogance and pride can exact a heavy toll on the culprit and innocent bystanders as well. As an example the Enron scandal was a result of a few people thinking they were better than everyone and above the law. They were not the only ones to suffer the consequences. The antidote to pride is a healthy dose of acknowledgment of others’ contributions mixed with gratitude. You may have have aced the bar exam but the waitress bringing dinner still deserves of your respect because she’s willing to serve you in the best manner she can. As you liberally distribute acknowledgment and gratitude you will build yourself a network of people who are willing to support your endeavors. Pride, on the other hand, creates a cadre of people looking forward to your fall.

Haste is probably one of those values that modern people have started to believe is actually a virtue rather than a vice. So, let’s be clear, by haste I mean the willingness to take action without a plan. Carrie Underwood’s “Last Name” song is a sad and humorous ditty about the effects of acting without a plan. Plans are for more than buildings and careers. Plans are important for dates and, as Carrie warns us, for nights at the bar. Thousands of home loans were made without adequate forethought about the consequences of rising interest rates, gas prices, and a stalled economy. A few CEOs lost their jobs but even more people lost their houses, savings and credit ratings. Haste is evil!

I’ve only met one person in all my decades of living that admitted to being lazy. I take that back, I’ve met two. Laziness creeps up on all of us. It usually masquerades itself as a well deserved break. It can be devastating. You let something slide today just because you’re tired or bored. Maybe you don’t do a thorough check of a gauge or setting and nothing bad happens so you’re lulled into a false sense of security. I’ve discovered that most people don’t know what “couple” means. As in, “It’ll take just a couple of minutes.” Or, “What’s the big deal? I was only a couple of minutes over on my break.” From casual measurements of people using that phrase I’ve found that they usually mean anywhere from 5 to 10. If one of your employees extends their morning and afternoon break by just a “couple” of minutes everyday, by the end of the year you’ve been deprived of more than 43 productive hours (2 breaks x 5 minutes x 52 weeks). Multiply that times the number of employees doing it and you’re talking some serious productivity gaps. If you’re self-employed or you’re paid according to your performance then that productivity loss comes right out of your pocket. One antidote for laziness is decisiveness. Make the decision to “be here now” by giving the current project or task your full attention. Also, don’t leave your life to chance. Make a plan even for small things. Now “plan” doesn’t necessarily mean reams of paper with everything scheduled to the minute. It could be 5 or 6 lines on a notepad. The more plans you make, the more efficient at planning you’ll become.

Of all the vices I’ve seen the one that gets my vote for being the most damaging and the most insidious is visionlessness. Having no vision manifests itself in any number of forms such as procrastination, depression, hopelessness, despondency, violence, suicidal tendencies, and substance abuse. A person, a community, or even a country can be plunged into poverty and servitude to the one who does have a vision. A person without a vision doesn’t use time, they kill it. I believe that somewhere deep, deep inside the human soul there is something that passionately wants to move upward. By upward I mean from wherever you are to somewhere that is in someway better. If there isn’t anything on which to focus that drive or someone tries to force the focus onto something unimportant to us, we rebel either aggressively or passively. Throwing money at a person will not help them. In fact it will kill them. You have just provided the means to upgrade their method of escape – drugs, alcohol, sex, video games, any kind of distraction. A person with vision, a really hotly desired vision, will create money, seemingly out of thin air. They will make time not waste time. The world is setup in such a fashion that it rewards the go-getter, be it manor bird. When you have no vision you are bound and gagged. Every decision you make is meaningless because it does not move you toward a better place. So what’s the cure? Honestly, I’m not sure. I think it starts with enforcing one choice, then another, then another along a chosen path. I don’t believe the dream has to be grandiose like curring cancer or becoming president. I believe you can start with something simple like losing ten pounds (even if you should lose 50). Add to the dream a reward and a set of steps and you have the makings of a first rate plan. Dr. Joyce Brothers once decided to lose some weight. If I remember correctly, she decided to swim to her son’s home in another state – figuratively speaking. She broke the distance into the number of laps she needed to swim. She set a schedule and started swimming. There were days when she didn’t want to swim. She enforced the choice to swim anyway. Once she swam the distance she boarded a plane for a visit with her son. There’s an old saying that you can eat an elephant one bite at a time. You can build a better life one small vision at a time. The key is you must have a goal and you must push yourself to take each step to get there. Then, set the next goal.

There you have it. Four paths that lead inexorably toward having less resources than you want. But with extra effort you can avoid those dead-end roads. If you acknowledge and appreciate what those around you have to offer, you’ll build a support group deep and wide. Don’t waste time by being hasty. Instead, spend the appropriate amount of time to check the facts and make a plan suitable for the occasion. Don’t allow yourself to be tricked into laziness by either doing nothing or spending time on fruitless endeavors. Finally, and most importantly, develop and guard the vision for your future. It will make all the difference between having more than enough and poverty.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 28th, 2008 at 8:00 am and is filed under Life Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.