Learning to live with money Have you ever had a difficult time dealing with a situation or a relationship? The problem you are dealing with leaves you confused and not knowing what to do or where to turn. Then you get to the point of just tolerating the thing and doing the best you can, hoping something changes. I have learned that things will deteriorate worse if you do nothing. We must be proactive if we want things to change. We must have a plan. Don’t wait till the perfect plan comes along. As the great George S. Patton said “A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.” Money is one of those things people have a hard time learning to live with. I once heard that rich people and poor people can have the same god, money! Why is money so hard to live with? It is basically addition and subtraction, right? No, as Dave Ramsey says, it is 20% head knowledge and 80% behavior. We would never have a money problem if it was only a math issue. There is not an area of life that money does not touch. We give money more power than it deserves in our lives. You may be thinking, yes it is just like oxygen we need it to live. I guarantee you that most people would give every last penny they had to buy a little extra oxygen if it was needed to live. If we really had to we could learn to live with a lot less than what we have. The things we “think” we need are not really necessities. Determine what is important in your life and use money as a tool to get the important things. Learn to live with money, as a tool, and not as if it is life itself. Money is the medium that we use in exchange for things of value. Money is amoral; it takes on the personality of its owner. We have all probably heard this bible verse in 1 Tim: 6:10- For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. We are familiar with the first part but the second part really speaks to me. You can do some crazy things for money if you do not learn how to live with it. Get a plan, and prioritize it according to what is important to you and your family. Get on a budget and execute your plan, violently, and get your life back. Let me know if I can help. Tim West Go West Coaching 5-21-12

Have you quit playing?

Have you quit playing? If you have been getting beat up by life, you may have thought of giving up on your dreams. It is tempting to get mad and just say why keep trying when things have not been changing the way you wanted them to change. I recently went to a Columbia County Chamber of commerce breakfast meeting and got a fresh perspective from the speakers. I didn’t think that I would have enjoyed the presentation as much as I did because our speakers were our state representatives and Lt. Governor Casey Cagle. I, like a lot of other people would think, will endure the political speeches and over abundant applause and enjoy the free breakfast. But to my surprise they were informative and had a good outlook. These people summarized what they have been doing for the state, over the year and cast a vision to where they wanted the state of Georgia to go in the future. Lt. Governor Cagle said “you cannot prosper in business by cutting all of the time.” He went on to tell us how the government was investing in different areas of the state and planning for growth during this time of economic turmoil. Then he made an interesting statement that he believed that more billionaires would be made in the next decade than ever before because of the potential for growth in our state and country. His statements energized me again! Hey, I haven't been motivated by a politician like that in my entire life! Maybe except when one was voted out of office. This breakfast pointed out to me that maybe I have quit playing in a lot of areas that I didn't realize. A lot of people have quit and gave up. So many people have pulled out of the stock market because their retirement has crashed. They also missed the great increases that it has had recently. I believe that there is more than enough opportunity in our country for everyone. We must not quit playing! People I coach come in thinking the light at the end of the tunnel is just another oncoming train. They have surrendered their hope. I want to encourage you to stop cutting and start investing in your dreams and ideas. Keep trying to get out of debt and get your finances in order. Don’t give up on an idea because you think it cannot work . Consider failure as a readjustment to your idea or plan. If you were a farmer would you quit planting seeds? If you did you would starve and not make any money. Things are not easy but if you quit because you are afraid to lose, you will never win. Don't get complacent on the sidelines. Let me know if I can help. Tim West 5-13-12 Oh yeah, Happy Mothers day! Thank you moms for not quitting on us kids, cause I know raising me it got rough!!!