How's Your Self-Control?

In last weeks article I discussed the difficulty many of us have in managing money.  In continuing that thought, it struck me that part of the difficulty of managing money may come from a lack of self-discipline, or taking responsibility for our actions.  It may appear outwardly that ‘discipline’ has nothing to do with managing money, but without discipline, we may never be able to manage money, or our lives in general.

Many times when we have ‘money problems’, we feel overwhelmed and make bad decisions on how to spend the little bit of money we do have.  I have seen people complain about their inability to make a car payment and then go to lunch with friends and pick up the entire check!  Maybe they are thinking ‘I am already in debt, what’s a few more dollars’.  This is a lack of self-discipline, a failure to take responsibility for your actions.

When you incur a debt you are making a commitment that you will pay that debt at a later time.  You are responsible for fulfilling that commitment.  Being ‘responsible’, requires that we be disciplined enough to live up to our responsibility.  If you lack that discipline in your life, trying to learn how to manage money will only cause further frustration.  To solve the money management problem, you must first solve the ‘root cause’ of the problem, a lack of discipline in your life.

Lyndon Johnson once said ‘there are plenty of recommendations on how to get out of trouble cheaply and fast. Most of them come down to this: Deny your responsibility’.  If you are having difficulty managing money, and nothing seems to help, try looking at the problem from a different perspective.  Are you denying your responsibility?  

Dr. Henry Cloud says 'self-discipline is a fruit of other disciplines.  Submit yourself to accountability and responsibility'.  Are you are holding yourself accountable?  If not, now you have a starting point to solve the money management problem, and more!

- Joe Freeman