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!!!

Is your mind a coffin?

Is your mind a coffin? What are some of your dreams and ideas that you do not act on? Everything that we do starts in our brain as a thought. We can choose to act on it our not. Some things are just crazy and wild that we come up with. We can either act on ideas or keep suppressing them. If we act on it we either fail or succeed. If you fail keep trying and perfecting/shaping the idea or dream until you succeed. or determine to move on to something else. If we keep suppressing the idea or dream, it can turn into loss of hope or depression. Why do we work so hard to fight living our dream and acting on ideas? Are we afraid of the unknown, or of failure? Do we not want to risk the “safe comfort” that we think we have? We all will die someday, live until you die, don’t just sit around waiting to die and miss life. Your idea may be a business idea or a change of life style. So it leads to the question; “:Is your mind a coffin or an incubator for your dreams and ideas?” A coffin is a funerary box used in the display and containment of dead people – either for burial or cremation. A incubator, for our purpose is-. A place or situation that permits or encourages the formation and development, as of new ideas. So are you burying your ideas and dreams by thinking that it will never work, or I cant do that only other people can. Why don’t we start using our minds as incubator's by putting them in a mental environment that is conducive to growth and development. God has given us these dreams and ideas to develop and not bury. Don’t bury your dreams or passions, feed them by reading, getting a coach, or getting around people who are having success in the areas you are interested in developing. 48 days.net is a great place to incubate! Don’t expect God to “miracle” you to your dream without any effort on your part. Don't let that dream or idea die, incubate it and let it hatch and grow. Let me know if I can help! Tim West Go West Coaching 3-17-12

You can't do business going out of business

You cant do business going out of business With all of the talk of the economy up and down, and gas prices going up again, we tend to think that things are just going to stay the same or get worse. When we think and act that way those results show up in our lives; our actions make them come true. Sometimes we try to change our thoughts and we give it a good try, thinking our situation will change. When the results don’t show up like we think they should we fall back into the same mode, “this is just the way things are” and we give up. The world of instant information, microwaves, calling people on the go and technology in general have made us forget that these things are tools to help us. These great tools don’t replace the seed time and harvest principle that God uses. I see so many people get caught up with the mind set that everything is doomed to fail. The church thinks that way sometimes. Just hang on til Jesus comes and everything will be OK. There is one thing we need to remember, you cannot do business going out of business! I have been taught this from my father in the faith, Wade Trimmer. Now whether you are a Christian or not the principle applies. How do you plan for the future when you think things are over now? You can't, you go out of business if you think things are over now because you just don’t care. What if you opened a business just knowing that it will go out of business eventually? How do you think that would turn out? Every thought and action done without zeal care and hope will push your mindset closer to the “its over” mentality. “Oh just give up, the little man cant get ahead.” I say keep working toward the dreams and things in life you want. Keep trying to get out of debt, even though you income has went down. Make plans for that new career or business you have dreamed about. So keep doing business we need you. Remember Colonel Sanders, he didn’t cook any chicken till he was 67! He didn’t go out of business in his older age! Let me know if I can help! Tim West Go West Coaching 3-10-12

Cost Versus Value

Cost versus Value Most of us have heard the saying we know the cost of everything and the value of nothing. We can apply that to many areas of our lives. Sometimes we have paid more money than we have intended when purchasing something but received a lot of value out of the purchase. To value something, is to esteem and put worth on the item. What are you doing that will or will not bring value to your life now and in the future? Small deposits whether, financially or relationally cost us something. We may deposit a small amount of money to save for something in the future. It will cost us a trip out to eat or a little “thingy” we feel we must have, but it is worth it if you are saving for your golden years or you children s college fund. We fail to plan our lives because it cost to much time and is costly to stick to the plans we make. Sometimes it just doesn't feel good. As Dave Ramsey says “children do what feels good, adults devise a plan and follow it.” It may not be just a financial cost, but a time and energy cost as well. We all have 168 hours a week to invest in our lives. Please if someone can find more than that I need to know where! Subtract 40 hours a week for work, say 56 hours a week for sleep. According to Nielsen Co. we watch 28 hours of T.V. A week! That would leave you 44 hours a week left to live. Our time is very valuable! How you spend it will determine what you value and determine what you get in return. When coaching people we set goals and priorities. Just like when making a budget, telling your money what to do, you can do that with your time and invest in things that will bring you value in your life. So what are you doing now that will bring you value down the road? What do you need to eliminate that is costing a lot and not bringing any value? (28 hours a week of television would be something good to eliminate) Is what you are spending your time on going to bring value to your life? Is your work worth spending your life on? Is your money being spent the best way it can be to bring you things of value in your life? Are things in life costing you everything and bringing little value? Remember you are in charge of you, make the necessary changes. Let me know if I can help. Tim West Go West Coaching 2-20-12

Budgeting 2012

Budgeting 2012 The first month of the new year is almost over. If you are having trouble with your new budget plans don't quit! You only fail if you quit, so hang in there. There are a lot of budget busters that may come up that you didn't plan for this month. Its okay, a budget usually takes about three months before it starts operating smoothly. Just adjust until it smooths out. No one budgets perfectly. So here are a few things you can do to help get you back on track. Remember spend every dollar you make on paper before you get it. If you tell your money what to do and where to go before you get it, your money will not disappear before you pay the necessities. Its easy to go get something to eat at a fast food place when you don’t feel like cooking, but that can bust your budget. Also, subtract your expenses from your income so that you get a zero balance. If you have some left that means you didn't do it right. If you come up short you need to go back and change the amounts in some of your categories or get some extra income. Once you set the amounts in each category, stick to them. If you do not, you will come up short and panic. Try not to borrow from other categories, it can create a bad habit that will cause you to spend more than you need. Use cash as much as you can, it hurts to spend cash more than it does to swipe a card. When we make our budget we tend to put it up till the next month. You must track what you have spent on your budget. If you don’t know the exact amount going out you cannot prepare for it the next month properly. I sit down at least once a week and enter how much I have spent and find out how much I have left. If you don’t track it you will over spend and sabotage your budget. You can either do it with a pencil and paper or down load a budget. If you are really nerdy like me, email me and I will send you one that has all of the bells and whistles. Remember a budget is telling your money where to go before you get it. After you have done it a while it will take you about 15 minutes every month to prepare it. If you don' t take the time it can cause you years of trouble down the road. You would not set out to build something with out a plan. You cannot build a good financial future with out a budget (plan). I struggle like everyone else too, so just don’t quit! Let me know if you have any questions or need any help. Tim West http://gowestcoaching.com/

Focus

Focus You have probably heard the saying to focus on where you are going to get to where you want to be. That is true. You have to know were you are going to arrive at that destination. Or as Yogi Berra would say, if you don’t know where you are going you may wind up some place else. When helping people get out of debt or working with them on career direction, I help clients (friends) keep their eye on the goal. But sometimes, and I have been guilty of looking too far ahead myself. We get so focused on where we want to be that we take our eyes off what we should be doing now and get discouraged. We also miss the lesson we should be learning from the process. We can be so focused on being debt free that we don’t do the small things like put the extra money aside that we squeeze out of our budget for the debt. When we do this it slows our progress down and we get frustrated and have a pity party and buy something instead! (yes I have done that!) Always keep in mind where you want to go, but keep looking at each step you take. If you write a book you want to focus on finishing it, but you have to go one page at a time, and one word at a time to get to the end. So I want to encourage you to look to where you want to be, but focus on the step that you are on. God has you in the place where you are now for a reason, so keep on focusing and don’t sweat the small stuff. You will get there, not in the amount of time you would like, but in the right time. Don't miss the woods for the trees! Tim West Go West Coaching 2-11-12