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Do You Have the Habit of Saving or Spending?

Do You Have the Habit of Saving or Spending?

I am reading the books “Law of Success in Sixteen Lessons” by Napoleon Hill. I just finished Lesson 4 The Habit of Saving. Now this book was written by Hill over 86 years ago in 1928, but all of the principles are as relevant today as they were then.  Obviously, the value of money and cost of goods have skyrocketed with over 80 years of inflation but his percentages are spot on. I found this lesson more intriguing than the first three and I wanted to share some of his philosophy.

Man is a combination of flesh, bone, blood, hair and brain cells. These are the building materials out of which he shapes, through the Law of Habit, his own personality.” This is a very powerful statement to start a lesson. Even going back to Aristotle once quoted “we are what we repeatedly do; excellence then is not an act, but a habit”. The most successful people throughout time had great habits and constantly repeated them for their success. According to Hill, we all have one of two habits. We either have the habit of saving or the habit of spending. Let’s explore these two Hill theories.

The Law of Habit goes hand in hand with the Law of Attraction. Our thoughts are conditioned as such what we believe is our earning potential becomes the most we will ever earn. We put our own limits on ourselves. If someone believes they will never earn $100,000 in one year, they will never earn more than $99,000. As Hill’s quote states, “whatever the mind can conceive and believe the mind can achieve”. This law, just like the Law of Gravity, works whether a person believes it or not. Therefore, the Law of Habit equally works that our habits dictate our circumstances and ultimately our destiny.  We create our circumstances not the other way around.

Napoleon Hill tells stories of men he personally knew who made fortunes and men who lost fortunes. He found the common thread to be the habit of saving or the habit of spending. Those who saved 10-30% of what they earned not only built savings but were rewarded with opportunities time after time. Their earnings literally had nothing to do with it. It was living on less than they earned, they saved systematically the same percentage and avoided debt. Those with the habit of spending saved nothing, crying if they only earned more they could save, which they did earn more and saved nothing, remember it is a habit. They spent more than they earned mainly on “entertainment” and borrowed to keep their life style afloat. Hill wrote “the man who is bound in the slavery of debt is just as helpless as the slave who is bound by ignorance or by actual chains”. Remember we are what we think about most often and if one is being crushed by debt, it would be hard to think of prosperity.  The only true way to be free is to be debt free.

The great news about the Law of Attraction is you can change your thoughts and change your circumstances like changing the station on a radio. The trick is you must truly BELIEVE in order to ACHIEVE. If you have the habit of spending you must change it to the habit of saving immediately. Here is a FREE eBook to get you started. Download a FREE copy of the new eBook The Minimum Wage Millionaire for more free tips to saving and planning your future on your own.

Image by Vichaya Kiatying-Angsuleeat www.freedigitalphotos.net

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Tim Wilhoit is owner/principal of Your Friend 4 Life Insurance Agency in Nashville, TN. He is a family man, father of 3, entrepreneur, insurance agent, life insurance broker, salesman, sales trainer, recruiter, public speaker, blogger and team leader with over 27 years of experience in sales and marketing in the insurance and beverage industries.

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