Live Like No One Else ...

I owe that quote to Dave Ramsey - that man is so full of wisdom! The entire quote is:

"Live like no one else, so later you can live like no one else."

Sounds redundant, and I thought so too at first. But what he means is that if you have a goal and are competely focused on it, you will give up things, almost anything, to reach that goal. And your friends, family, neighbors, co-workers may joke to you, maybe even make fun of you, about your behavior, but you know that this sacrifice is a means to an end. So you do live like no one else - you stop impulse shopping, you drive your old car a couple more years instead of buying a new one, you bring your lunch to work instead of dining out, you cut back on social activities so that you can stash some extra funds away to pay off bills. Or you do it so that you can focus or healthier eating in order to reach your weight loss goals.

Maybe you are spending more time in the gym to reach your fitness goals. How about you're turning off the TV so that you can read more and enlighten your mind, rather than numbing it? So what if you didn't watch American Idol last night? You finished a book full of new vocabulary, maybe it showed you a new way of looking at a situation.

All this living like no one else will help you reach your goal - whatever it is. So after foregoing all these extras, you are fit - financially, emotionaly, physically, and then when you reach your goal, you can live like no one else. You can go on a dream vacation and pay cash for it. You can go climb a mountain, or hike the Appalacian Trail, with ease and without gasping for breath.

So how does this quote apply to my goals?

Financial

• By not acquiring extra stuff, I am saving the money I used for impuse buying and putting it toward my debts.
• I get up early to work on my real estate work instead of hitting the snooze button. Hopefully this early moring work will lead to some real estate work.
• By packing my lunch and eating dinner at home, David and I are both saving money.

Physical

• Again, packing our lunches and eating at home more often helps us make better food choices.
• I have cut back on drinking alcohol and replaced it with water. Better for my waist line and for my checking account.
• Going the gym makes me feel stronger and is starting to make my clothes fit better. Plus I sleep better and genrally feel happier.

Mental

• I just mentioned at how I feel happier and am getting more sleep.
• My mind is stronger because of the less TV and more reading, plus the reading is making me be a better writer and helps me to be better spoken.

All of these improvements gives me glorious confidence. Confidence, in turn, motivates me to do better and to do more. People notice this confience.

So, a progress report. The furnace guy is 1/3 paid off. I have finished two books: Blink by Malcom Gladwell and The Amazing Adventures of Diet Girl by Shauna Reid. I can go longer on the treadmill (and actually run on it) and Spinning class does not leave me as winded as before, plus I can pack on more resistence.

So this goal setting takes time and effort and the results are showing up a little slower than I would like. But progress is progress and I am glad to see it. The quote of the day is again from Dave Ramsey:

"Every time I read the story the Tortise and the Hare, the hare wins every time."

Keep on living like no one else, so later .....